[2] Every quality must be judged of by comparison; and, contrasted
with the inhospitable regions of Iceland and Greenland, in lat. 65°,
this country, which was as far south as even beyond the south of
England, must have appeared admirable.--E.

[3] It is true that grapes grow wild in Canada which are very good
to eat, yet no one has ever been able to make good wine from their
juice. Whether these wild grapes are found in Newfoundland I know not.
The species of vines which grow in North America, are named by
Linnaeus, Vitis labrusca, vulpina, and arborea.--Forst.

The propriety of the names imposed by the Norwegians on their new
discoveries is admirable. Iceland, Greenland, Helleland, Markland,
Winland, and many others; which are perfectly philosophical,
excellently systematic, and infinitely preferable to the modern clumsy
appellations, New Britain, New France, New England, New Holland,
Sandwich Islands, Society islands, and a multitude of much worse
names.--E.




CHAP. IV.

_Travels of two Mahomedans in India and China, in the Ninth Century._[1]


INTRODUCTION.

This curious remnant of antiquity was translated from the Arabic, and