The buccaneers were now suppressed indeed, but their daring and successful exploits in the South Seas were by no means forgotten. On the breaking out of the general war at the commencement of the last century, some merchants were induced to believe that with a well fitted armament a profitable expedition might be made into those seas, where the buccaneers, ill provided as they were, had met with such extraordinary success. They equipped in consequence two vessels, the St. George, of twenty-six, and the Cinque Ports, of sixteen guns, for this expedition. Dampier, whose character as a seaman was not lowered in the general estimation by the loss of his ship in his last voyage, was appointed to command the St. George; but this choice proved singularly unfortunate. Dampier, although a good seaman, appears to have been a bad commander. He had lived too long with the buccaneers to be able to assume that dignity of carriage which is necessary to insure respect; while, by his too great familiarity, he imparted to his crew that tone of lawless equality which he had learned in his early years. He at the same time endeavoured to maintain discipline by an injudicious severity, and his temper was so bad that it was impossible to continue long on terms of intimacy with him. The ships, too, with which he sailed, were ill fitted for the expedition.

Although, as has been already observed, the greater part of the geographical works transmitted to us by the Arabians are quite divested of the interest of a personal narrative, yet a few volumes of Arabian travels have been preserved, which are worthy objects of curious attention, if it were merely for the strong contrast they exhibit between the Oriental and European modes of thinking and viewing the same object. Among these the travels of the Sheikh Ibn Batuta hold a foremost rank: they embrace all the countries which may be considered as peculiarly belonging to Arabian geography; they adduce some very singular instances of the wide diffusion of the Arabs through the East, and are strongly marked with all the national characteristics. Ibn Batuta may be fairly numbered among the most remarkable travellers of any age or country. The only account of his manifold peregrinations which is known to exist is unfortunately but an extract from an epitome; and by this twofold abridgment it is but just to suppose that the original has lost not a little of its interest. Hasty and superficial notices of the most important places, dry catalogues of names, and the enumeration of the tombs of saints, occupy too large a portion of the volume; but yet these travels are interesting and important, whether considered critically or in a general view.

During these transactions on the southern continent, the spirit of discovery was actively at work in other quarters. Diego Columbus, the son of the celebrated admiral, had arrived, in 1509, at Hispaniola, invested with all those powers and prerogatives which had been so unjustly withheld from his father. He was followed to the New World by a large train of noble and wealthy persons, whose presence gave new animation and vigour to the colonies. Settlements were made in Cuba and other islands, and expeditions to examine the neighbouring seas proceeded advantageously from different points at once. In 1512, Juan Ponce de Leon, governor of Porto Rico, fitted out three ships to go in search of Bayuca, an island, in which was a fountain, as the Indians related, possessing the virtue of restoring all who bathed in it to youth. Tales such as this were readily believed by romantic adventurers. Those who had braved the perils of the ocean to seek their fortunes in a new world fancied that they trod on enchanted ground; and where nature appeared in so new a garb, the invariable laws by which she directs her operations were easily lost sight of. Ponce de Leon failed to discover the miraculous fountain; but, after sailing a considerable distance to the north-west, he fell in with land, to which, from the circumstance of its being discovered on Easter-day, he gave the name of Florida.

The success of Cortez almost realised the expectations formed respecting the riches of the New World, and revived the declining spirit of adventure. By his sagacious policy, his promptitude, and his courage, he had achieved the first conquest of which the Spaniards could justly boast in that quarter of the globe. Instead of confining his ambition to the establishment of a colony, or to the discovery of new and fertile regions, he attacked and overturned a mighty empire, celebrated by every Indian tribe for its power and civilisation, and capable of yielding an ample revenue. The conquest of Mexico fully proved the vast disproportion that existed in respect to courage, strength, and armour, between the American and European warrior. The armour and the discipline of the Spaniards completely secured them from the assaults of their feeble enemies; who, on the other hand, knew not how to resist a volley of musquetry or a charge of horsemen. The superstitious dread with which the Indians were impressed by the superiority of the Spaniards increased the advantages from which it sprung. From these circumstances, and from the deceitful conduct of Cortez, who always announced himself as an ambassador, the bearer of a friendly message, must be ascribed the fall of Mexico, and not to the remissness or misconduct of Montezuma.

It seems to be the destiny of mankind to rise into civilisation by continual struggles with difficulties which demand foresight and perseverance, and to nurture its virtues by industry and toil. In political experience, as well as in that of private life, few examples can be adduced of advantages won without labour ever arriving at a happy conclusion. In the history of Spain and Portugal the commencement of decay seems to be coeval with the extension of those Indian dominions which were supposed to be fountains of inexhaustible wealth. But, on the other hand, the most extraordinary instance of prosperous colonisation that occurs in the annals of the world, is to be seen in the long-neglected and comparatively unpromising region of North America, where nature's richest treasures could only be unlocked by the exertions of persevering industry.

The advantages of the Newfoundland fishery were soon fully appreciated by European states, and all those which possessed a marine hastened to secure a participation in it. About the year 1578, the English vessels employed in this fishery were about fifty in number. Above a hundred Spanish vessels at the same time were annually employed on those banks: there were fifty Portuguese, a hundred and fifty French, and twenty or thirty Biscayan ships; the last being chiefly engaged in the whale fishery.

But the schemes of Eudoxus might have been renewed; the monopoly enjoyed by Egypt might have incited cities and not individuals to attempt opening the passage through the ocean to the East; and the discovery of Vasco de Gama might have been anticipated many centuries before by some citizen of Gades, if the course of political events had not put an end to all clashing of interests among the civilised states of the western world. The conquests of the Romans extended nearly over every country of which they had any knowledge:—from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf, from Britain to Egypt, no sway was acknowledged but that of the imperial city. The jealousies engendered by separate interests were soon forgotten in the security of the empire; and the active cares of an enlightened government left the provinces little room to regret their turbulent independence. Egypt, the seat of the rich India trade, was made an imperial province; that is to say, it was administered under the immediate control of the emperor, without whose permission no Roman was allowed to enter that country, to hold property in land within it, or in any way to interfere with the rights of the natives. This cautious system saved that rich country from the spoliations to be apprehended from a succession of greedy governors, and from disturbances which might have diverted into other channels the trade with India.