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BIBLIOTHECA AMERICANA.

"I have gathered a nosegay of flowers, and there is nothing of my own but
the string that ties them."
MONTAIGNE.

.

"To rescue from oblivion the memory of former transactions, and to render
a just tribute of renown to the many great and wonderful productions, both
European and American, William Gowans, of New York, republishes the fol-
lowing Historical, Biographical, Literary, and Antiquarian Researches."

A NEW EDITION WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND COPIOUS HISTORICAL NOTES.

BY GABRIEL FURMAN,

MEMBER OF THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

Of all the lands that heav'n o'erspreads with light!
There's none, ah! none so lovely to my sight,

In wavy gold thy summer vales are dress'd
Thy autumns bend with copious fruit oppress'd;
With flocks and herds each grassy plain is stor'd;

And fish of every fin, thy seas afford:

Woods crown thy mountains, and in every grove
The bounding goats and frisking heifers rove:

Soft rains and kindly dews refresh the field

And rising springs cternal verdure yield.-Homer.

And to be short, all they that have been there with one consent affirme, that there are the goodliest greene
meadows and plaines, the fairest mountains covered with all sorts of trees and fruites, the fairest vallies, the good-
liest pleasant fresh rivers, stored with infinite kind of fishes, the thickest woods, greene and bearing fruite all
the whole yeere, that are in all the world. And as for gold, silver and other kind of metals, all kind of spices
and delectable fruites, both for delicacie and health are there in such abundance, as hitherto they have beene
thought to have been bred no where else but there. And in conclusion it is nowe thought that no where else
but under the equinoctiall, or not far from thence, is the earthly paradise, and the only place of perfection in
this world...
......Richard Hakluyt.

Checked May 1913

M

NEW YORK:

WILLIAM GOWAN S.

1845.

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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by

W. GOWANS,

In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York.

100 Copies printed on large paper Quarto.
4 Copies printed on extra large paper Folio.

WM. VAN NORDEN, PRINTER, 39 WILLIAM STREET.