Book viii. is divided between Mexico and the country northward to

Virginia, which latter takes up the whole of ix. The last book is shared among New England, Newfoundland, and the English expeditions against Spain. Altogether the arrangement is as confusing as the text, and in both respects far inferior to Hakluyt's; nor is the work as complete as might have been expected. In the attempt to introduce foreign narratives the limits of space were overstepped, to the prejudice of other accounts, which were often injudiciously condensed. Pinkerton remarks, somewhat too severely, I think, that Purchas directed his utmost attention to "selecting the most useless parts of the unhappy authors." _Col. Voy._, vol. i. p. iv.

[Sidenote: THÉVENOT AND HARRIS.]

Purchas' labors found recognition abroad in the well known _Relation de divers voyages_, Paris, 1663-96, 5 parts, by Melchisedech Thévenot, formed mainly with a view to reproduce the best portions of Hakluyt and his successor, while adding some unpublished narratives. Thévenot appears to have been particularly well fitted for such undertakings. A savant, and somewhat of a diplomatist, he was for eight years in charge of the Royal Library at Paris, dying at his post in 1692, at the age of 71. The selection of his material gives evidence of good judgment; yet the arrangement and other points may be questioned.

Another reproduction, and a continuation of the two great English collections, was offered some years later by John Harris, _Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca: or, a Compleat Collection of Voyages and Travels_; London, 1705, 2 vols, folio, with copper-plates and maps. One of its chief aims being to repair the many omissions that had become apparent in the original works, the first volume is devoted to the same period as Purchas' collection, while introducing a number of additional voyages. Its five books refer respectively to circumnavigation, to Asia, to Africa, to the north and north-east parts of the globe, and to America, the latter embracing one third more narratives than Purchas. The mappemonde places the strait of Anian above the island of California, but on the American map this is not marked. The second volume, relating to voyages and travels after this time, chiefly by Englishmen, is less distinct and careful in its arrangement. Books i. and ii. cover Russia, Asia, and the Levant; book iii., Europe; and