discouraged; and if half the golden mountains, or silver mountains
either, which they promise themselves should appear, they will be
very well paid for their labour.

From the tops of the hills on this extremity of the land you may
see out into that they call the Chops of the Channel, which, as it
is the greatest inlet of commerce, and the most frequented by
merchant-ships of any place in the world, so one seldom looks out
to seaward but something new presents--that is to say, of ships
passing or repassing, either on the great or lesser Channel.

Upon a former accidental journey into this part of the country,
during the war with France, it was with a mixture of pleasure and
horror that we saw from the hills at the Lizard, which is the
southern-most point of this land, an obstinate fight between three
French men-of-war and two English, with a privateer and three
merchant-ships in their company. The English had the misfortune,
not only to be fewer ships of war in number, but of less force; so
that while the two biggest French ships engaged the English, the
third in the meantime took the two merchant-ships and went off with
them. As to the picaroon or privateer, she was able to do little
in the matter, not daring to come so near the men-of-war as to take
a broadside, which her thin sides would not have been able to bear,
but would have sent her to the bottom at once; so that the English
men-of-war had no assistance from her, nor could she prevent the
taking the two merchant-ships. Yet we observed that the English
captains managed their fight so well, and their seamen behaved so
briskly, that in about three hours both the Frenchmen stood off,
and, being sufficiently banged, let us see that they had no more
stomach to fight; after which the English--having damage enough,