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HISTORY OF SETTLEMENTS AND TRADE

book the experiments on which they found their conjec-
tures?
Let us proceed to give an account of their argu-
ments. There are three fads in natural hiftory, which
henceforward muft be taken for granted. The firft is,
that the tides come from the ocean, and that they ex-
tend more or lefs into the other feas, in proportion as
their channels communicate with the great refervoir
by larger or fmaller openings ; from whence it fol-
lows, that this periodical motion either doth not exift,
or is fcarce perceptible in the Mediterranean, in the
Baltic, and other gulfs of the fame nature. A fecond
matter of fad is, that the tides are much later and
much weaker in places more remote from the ocean,
than in thofe which are nearer to it. The third fad
is, that violent winds, which blow in a diredion with
tlie tides, make them rife above their ordinary boun-
daries ; and that thofe which blow in a contrary di-
redion retard their motion.-at the fame time that they
diminifh their fwell.
From thefe principles it is moft certain, that if Hud-
fon's Bay were no more than a gulf enclofed between
two continents, and had no communication but with
the Atlantic, the tides in it would be very inconfider*
able ; they would be weaker in proportion as they
were further removed from the fource, and would be
much lefs ftrong wherever they ran in a contrary di-
redion to the wind. But it is proved by obfervations
made with the greateft ikili and precifion, that the
tides are very high throughout the whole bay. It is
certain that they are higher towards the bottom of the
bay than even in the ftrait itfelf, or at leaft in the
neighbourhood of it. It is proved, that even this
height increafes whenever the wind blows from a cor-
ner oppofite to the ftrait ; it is therefore certain, that
Hudfon's Bay has a eommunication with the ocean,
befide that which has been already found out.
Thofe who have endeavoured to explain thefe very
ftriking fads, by fuppofing a communication of Hud-
fon's with Baffin's Bay, or with Davis's Straits, are evi-