whole length of that bay, including the harbor of Newport from the
ocean to Providence river, is less than five leagues, and its
greatest breadth not more than three. But the harbor described in
the letter first as extending twelve leagues and then enlarging
itself, formed a large bay of twenty leagues in circumference. The
two, it is clear, are essentially unlike. The great rock rising out
of the sea at the entrance of the harbor, has no existence in this
bay or harbor. Narraganset bay, therefore, affords no support to the
idea that Block island, or any other, is the island of Louise.
Martha's Vineyard, the second of the three islands before mentioned,
is the largest of them, but it contains only one hundred and twenty
square miles of land, and is within two leagues of the main land.
Nantucket, the last of the three, is less than half the size of
Martha's Vineyard, and is about thirty miles from Cape Cod, the
nearest part of the continent. From neither of them is any harbor to
be reached corresponding with that mentioned in the letter. It is
incontrovertible, therefore, that there is neither island nor bay on
this coast answering the description. It is not difficult to
perceive that the island of Louise was a mere invention and artifice
on the part of the writer to give consistency to the pretension that
the voyage originated with Francis. This island is the only one of
which particular mention is made in the whole exploration. Yet it
was not visited or seen except, in sailing by it, at a distance. Its
pretended hills and trees disclosed nothing of its character; and,
under such circumstances, its alleged dimensions were all that could
have entitled it to such particular notice and made it worthy of so
exalted a designation; and to those no island on this coast has any
claim.

There is little room to doubt from the description itself, and the