from the harbour of St. John's, Newfoundland, would seem to indicate that some intercourse already existed with those parts-probably by fishing vessels, which, in emulation of the early Bretons, may have resorted thither.

Nine years afterwards, (1536,) another voyage was made in the same direction by a company of adventurers, many of whom were young lawyers from the Inns of Court, and gentlemen of good family. They were reduced to a wretched condition, and even, it is said, resorted to cannibalism, devouring one another; at last, obtaining by stratagem, at Newfoundland, a French ship, weil furnished with supplies, they made their way home, whither they were soon followed (in the ship they had left) by the French crew, clamorous for redress. It would appear, from laws passed not long after for the protection of the fisheries at Newfoundland, that this branch of national industry had already made a fair beginning; and only a few years later, from thirty to fifty English vessels, it is said, came annually to that region.

The fate of Willoughby, in seeking a north-east passage, in 1553, and the success of his officer, Chancellor, in discovering a sea-route to Russia, and opening a lucrative commerce with that empire, have already been mentioned. The English marine, under the auspices of Cabot, rapidly increased in extent, and the English mariners in skill and boldness; and the brilliant reign of Elizabeth, so fertile in every department of greatness, was illustrated by numerous naval exploits, both in war and attempted discovery. The attention of the learned and enterprising was revived to the scheme of effecting a North-west Passage-an undertaking, in the language of Martin Frobisher, "the only thing of the world, yet left undone, whereby a notable mind might become fortunate and famous."

For fifteen years, that navigator, afterwards so famous in almost every sea, vainly sought the means of pursuing his grand design; and it was not until 1576, that by the favour of the Earl of Warwick, he was enabled to fit out a little flotilla of three vessels, the largest of which was only thirty-five tons, and the smallest but ten. With this slender equipment, on the 19th of June, 1576, he sailed from Yarmouth on his long-cherished enterprise. "In reviewing the history of these early expeditions, the most casual reader must be struck with the humble and insignificant means with which the grandest enterprises were attempted and often accomplished. Columbus, amid the storms of a most tempestuous winter, made his way back to

Europe, after his great discovery, in an open caravel; Hudson, with only ten men, undertook 'to find a passage to India by way of the north pole;' and the good Sir Humphrey Gilbert, after voyaging safely to Newfoundland in his little Squirrel, (of only ten tons,) was finally whelmed in a tremendous gale beneath the 'pyramid-like' seas of the Atlantic."

On the 11th of July, this little squadron came to the southern extremity of Greenland, and, keeping to the westward, on the 18th of August again made land on some part, it is probable, of the coast of Labrador. Here the voyagers fell in with parties of Esquimaux, who came off to the vessels in their seal-skin boats; and five of the crew, who 'too rashly went ashore with them, were carried off, and could not be recovered. This land was named by Frobisher "Meta Incognita." One of his little vessels was swallowed up by the sea, and another deserted him; yet he pressed on, and made considerable surveys in those dreary regions. On his return to England, certain bits of glittering stone which he had found there were confidently pronounced by the English goldsmiths to be no other than gold ore. The announcement of this fancied discovery of the precious metal stimulated the nation to fresh enterprise, and even relaxed the strings of the royal purse (in general most reluctantly unloosed) to a slight disbursement. With a ship of an hundred and eighty tons, furnished

by the queen, and called the Ayde (Aid), and with two smaller ves

sels, on the 26th of May, 1577, he again set forth in quest of gold mines and the North-west Passage.

He passed Friesland, and thence, stretching over to Labrador, sailed up the straits which still bears his name, and which he sup posed to be a channel dividing Asia and America. A plenty of the glittering trash which had deluded him was found, and stowed aboard the ship; and for thirty leagues he made his way up the strait, confidently supposing that it led to the Indian ocean. In some boats of the Esquimaux, various European articles were found, probably belonging to the mariners who had been lost on the preceding voyage. To recover these or to revenge their death, he engaged in hostilities with the savages, who fought with much desperation, flinging themselves, when mortally wounded, into the sea. A number of them having been slain, the rest took refuge among the cliffs, all the men of the party making their escape. "Two women," says the journal of the voyage, "not being so apt to escape as the men were, the one being olde, the other encombred with a yong childe,

wo tooke. The olde wretch, whom divers of our Saylers supposed to be eyther the Divell or a witch, had her buskins plucked off, to see if she were cloven-footed, and for her ougly hewe and deformitie, we let her goe; the yong woman and the childe we brought away." All attempts to recover the lost mariners proved fruitless, and on the 21st of August, ice having begun to form around the ships, Frobisher perceived the danger of attempting to remain or proceed. Accordingly, he put about, and with his vessels freighted with two hundred tons of shining earth, returned to England.

Wonderful to state, the fallacy of the imagined El Dorado was not yet discovered. The ore was pronounced genuine by men of science, and, as usual where the thirst for gold is fairly awakened, men flocked in crowds to join a fresh expedition. Fifteen ships, with preparations for a settlement, were fitted out, and, under command of Frobisher, on the 31st of May, 1578, again sailed for the land of imagined treasure. After encountering much danger from storms and icebergs, the fleet entered a great strait leading westward, probably the chief entrance to Hudson's Bay. Finding that he was not in the passage he had formerly entered, in the region of imagined gold, Frobisher put about; but was so long in getting to the desired locality that winter almost set in before he arrived there; his sailors and colonists, disheartened by the length of the voyage, clamoured for return; one ship, laden with supplies, deserted; and, compelled to abandon his plans for colonization and discovery, the admiral, freighting his ships with the supposed treasure, returned to England. By this time, its worthlessness had been fairly discovered; and though he eagerly besought the means at least for continuing his attempts at the North-west Passage, the public and the crown, discouraged by their losses and misfortunes, refused to lend him further assistance. The remainder of his life was passed in naval warfare and adventure, which perpetuate his name as a bold leader and skil ful navigator. He died in 1694, of a wound which he received in an expedition to the French coast.

CHAPTER III.

ENGLISH ENTERPRISE.-DRAKE.-SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT -HIS FIRST ATTEMPT TO COLONIZE AMERICA.-SIR WALTER RALEIGH.-SIR HUMPHREY SAILS FOR AMERICA SHIPWRECKS AND MISFORTUNES. THE RETURN VOYAGE. --TEMPESTS.-LOSS OF SIR HUMPHREY AND HIS CREW.

ENGLAND, in the midst of continued loss and misfortune by her attempts at discovery, at mining, and at colonization in the New World, was now fairly embarked in her grand career of naval enterprise the wealth and renown acquired by her daring mariners in their half-chivalrous, half-piratical expeditions against the Spaniards of America serving to keep alive the national interest in that region, and a knowledge of the Western Continent being incidentally but materially promoted by their cruises. At the same time that Frobisher was making his unsuccessful voyages in search of gold and of the North-west Passage, Francis Drake, a mariner of similar and yet greater renown, after his memorable passage of the straits of Magellan, was engaged in a survey of the western coast of North America, in the course of which he touched on the shores of Oregon, which he named New Albion.

The example of enterpise, stimulated by motives purer and more honourable than those of either, was not long in presenting itself. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a man of high character and amiable temper, both a soldier and a civilian, had interested himself much in the daring but futile voyages of his countrymen in search of a North-west Passage. He had even written a treatise, founded on the testimony and opinion of "many learned men and painfull travellers," "to proove by experience of sundrie men's travels the opening of some part of this North-west Passage; whereby good hope remaineth of the rest." No words could have phrased more effectually that expectant longing, which now for three centuries has beset men of courage, of enterprise and inquiry, to solve the grand problem-"the one thing yet left undone upon the earth whereby a notable mind might be made famous and fortunate"-of a communication between the two oceans. That terrible problem, whose final solution we have just witnessed,

will ever remain burdened with the saddest associations, both ancient and modern, of heroic courage and indefatigable perseverance doomed to repeated suffering, disappointment, and destruction.

In the year 1578 he obtained from Elizabeth a patent, conferring sole jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, over a very extensive territory in America, not precisely located, on condition that he should plant a colony there within six years. His half-brother, the famous Sir Walter Raleigh, then twenty-six years of age, his imagination fired by the narratives of Columbus, of Cortes, and of other famous pioneers of the New World, also engaged in the enterprise. This expedition, delayed and weakened by various misfortunes, finally sailed with only two vessels, one of which was captured by the Spaniards; the crew of the other returned without effecting any thing in the way of settlement.

An interval of several years elapsed, during which Raleigh rose high in the royal favour; and in 1583, the brothers renewed their enterprise, Sir Humphrey, in person, commanding the expedition. The queen, to express her favour, at his departure bestowed on him. an anchor of gold, with a great pearl set in it, which, during the remainder of his life, he wore, with allowable complacency, on his breast. The fleet consisted of five sail, the largest of which, the Raleigh, was furnished by the famous man after whom it was named. There were two hundred and sixty men on board, including mechanics and mineralogists; and a learned Hungarian, named Parmenius, was taken as the chronologer of the expedition. There was also provided, says one of the commanders, "Musike in great variety; not omitting the least toyes, as Morris-dancers, hobby-horse, and the like conceits, to delight the savage people, whom we intended to win by all faire meanes possible."

Soon after their departure, the Raleigh, on account of an infectious disease, put back; and Sir Humphrey, with the remainder of the fleet, kept on to Newfoundland. At St. John's Harbour, at that island, he summoned the Spanish and Portuguese fishermen to witness the ceremony of taking possession in the name of the English sovereign-an operation which he performed by digging a turf, and setting up a pillar, to which the arms of England were affixed. Silver ore, as it was supposed, was discovered, and was taken aboard the vessels, one of which was abandoned, while with the remainder Sir Humphrey pursued his voyage along the coast towards the south. On his way, the largest ship remaining, with the ore, was wrecked,