1496]

JOHN AND SEBASTIAN CABOT.

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time nearly a year before Columbus beheld the continuation of the same continent, as he sailed southward along the shores of Honduras, baffled in his quest of a south-west strait.

The Cabots, like Columbus, were in search of some land of Ophir or fabled "Golden Fleece"-something that would dazzle the world at home with the relation of impressive grandeur, or, at least, of a charming novelty. But the aspect of the Labrador coast-the bold, rocky cliffs, and the sterile soil, populous only with countless sea-birds-was not very alluring to their expectant gaze. Besides, the line of coast ran not in accordance with their preconceived wish; for, says Sebastian, in the simple language of the narrative, "After certayne dayes, I found the land runne toward the north, which was to me a great displeasure." They followed down the coast, and sailed into the bay which is now our metropolitan port; but the sailors manifesting much discontent at the prolongation of the voyage, Cabot reluctantly returned to England.

A second patent was issued in 1498 by King Henry, but the elder Cabot dying in the meantime, his son Sebastian took charge of the new expedition, a number of merchants assisting in the outfit. Three hundred men, who proposed to establish a colony in the New World, went out in the ships-though these "shippes" were of no greater capacity than about two hundred tons each. Unfortunately for the comfort of the would-be colonists, they were landed too far to the northward. Cabot did not perceive why the latitude of the southern extremity of Labrador, which corresponds to that of Bristol, in England, should be notably colder, and his patent did not give him any claim to the land south of that line. Hence he found upon his return to the colony, after sailing awhile along the coast, that his companions, although suffering much from the inclemency of the weather, had taken no steps to establish themselves upon so bleak a shore where even the mid

summer sun lacked a genial warmth. The demand of the men to be taken home was, considering their unlooked-for hard experience, a reasonable one; so Cabot, after having sailed as far southward, perhaps, as Florida, returned again to England.

The king, very naturally, was not a little disappointed at the ill-success of this second attempt, while Cabot, failing to obtain another patent, pursued his researches in more southern latitudes, being for awhile in the service of Ferdinand of Spain. But his royal patron dying, Cabot went back to England. Henry VIII. had meanwhile succeeded to the throne, and by him Cabot was commissioned, in 1517, to sail once more to America. This time he entered the great Bay, which, years after, was re-discovered and named by the navigator Hudson. Finding no western outlet, and the mariners, as on the previous occasions, complaining bitterly of the rigorous climate, Cabot, to avoid a mutiny, put back to England.

Subsequently, Cabot again went to Spain, was appointed by Charles the Fifth to the station of Pilot-Major, and continued, until upwards of eighty years of age, his favorite pursuits of cosmography and practical navigation. No expeditions of the English followed Cabot's until those of Frobisher and of Humphrey Gilbert, sixty years later-of which due mention will be made in a succeeding chapter.

DISCOVERIES BY THE FRENCH.

It would hardly have been in accordance with human nature, as it certainly would not have been with that of the French, that the exploits of their neighbors in finding new worlds should ring in their ears, and themselves remain quiescent at home. Spain had found an India over the western sea, and was already gathering into her coffers a guilty harvest of gold: the ships of England, in the North Atlantic, were actively

1498]

DISCOVERies of the FrencH.

45

seeking for the passage which should lead to China and a hoped-for traffic bringing rich returns: Italy, in the person of Amerigo Vespucci, who had sailed to the southern section of the new hemisphere, and, realizing the fact that it was virtually a new world and no part of India that had been discovered, gave to all the continent the name of AMERICA: while Portugal, little kingdom though it was, had become famous above every nation for the extent of its discoveries, and its capital of Lisbon revelled in the new-found wealth.

For in that year of mark, 1498, a Portuguese expedition under Vasco de Gama, continuing the exploration of the African coast which had been begun by Prince Henry, rounded the Cape of Good Hope for the first time, and sailed far beyond to Calicut in India. The lucrative trade in spices and indigo, in the rich silks, the ivory, and other captivating commodities of the Orient, began at once. Brazil also was soon afterward discovered, and became an appendage of Portugal; and in 1501, two caravels commanded by GASPAR CORTEREAL, following in the track of Sebastian Cabot, had coasted along the shores of Labrador. Their visit, however, boded no good to the too-trustful natives, fifty or more of whom were captured and carried back in the vessels to be sold as slaves. It appeared that the Portuguese had no idea of going home empty-handed; for they were then, as they have continued to be even to this day, a nation with a strong lust for kidnapping their fellow-creatures. The annals of the time, it is a relief to record, make no farther mention of any succeeding visits by them (except as fishermen) to the North American coast.

Although the banks of Newfoundland and the adjacent island of Cape Breton, were frequented by French fishermen from Brittany and Normandy, within a very few years after Cortereal's voyage; and although the Gulf, afterwards called the ST. LAWRENCE, had also been explored, and a map of its

coast-line drawn by Denys of Honfleur, a citizen of France; yet it was not until the year 1524 that a vessel was despatched thither by the royal commission-that of Francis the First. The command of this single caravel was intrusted to JOHN VERRAZZANI, a Florentine.

It is a fact, in passing, worth bearing in mind, that the first agents of Spain, England, and France, in their American enterprisesColumbus, Cabot, Verrazzani-were all Italians. The merchants of Venice, of Florence, and Genoa, had been the "commercial kings" of the Mediterranean, but now a social and political unrest prevailed throughout the peninsula; the prosperity of the country was on the wane; and the services of many of its skilled citizens were, as we have seen, enlisted in behalf of other nations. Italy, which gave America its name, had no colony of her own to hail her as the "mother country."

The vessel of Verrazzani first approached the low shore of Carolina, in the neighborhood of Cape Fear. Upon the sandy beach was a throng of wondering Indians, who presently pointed out a landing-place and made many demonstrations of welcome. It was in the early spring time, and from the tall forests of pine and of cypress, and the dense undergrowth of laurel and blossoming shrubs, there was wafted a pleasant perfume—or, in the words of the narrative, "did yeeld most sweete savours, farre from the shore." They coasted northward, always received with kindly greetings by the natives, but, in one place, badly requited these tokens of hospitality by stealing a child whom they desired to exhibit at home. They would have captured the mother also, had not her piercing outcries caused them to desist.

Passing by the heights of Neversink, and the long jutting promontory of Sandy Hook, they sailed up the beautiful bay of New York; then continued on by the Long Island shore to where Newport was subsequently built, where they spent fifteen days, most courteously entertained by the inhabi

1524]

VERRAZZANI.

IBRAR i

UNIVERSITY O

47

CALIFORNIA.

tants. Again they spread their sails, slowly following along the rugged, irregular coasts of Maine, to Newfoundland. In these parts they found the natives-who were of the Algonquin tribes-both savage and suspicious; they had heard of the deeds of the plundering Portuguese, and, as well they might, kept themselves aloof from Verrazzani and his crew. Hence, their provisions failing them, they shortly returned to France. From the port of Dieppe, Verrazzani wrote to the king a description (which is the earliest now extant) of the shores of the present United States; and by virtue of this narrative, more detailed than the accounts of the Spanish and English, did France lay claim, upon the pretext of discovery, to a large extent of territory.

Ten years elapsed before a second expedition was sent out. There was a wicked rivalry of kings, that for thirty long years disturbed the peace of Europe-the contest between Francis the First and Charles the Fifth; and now the French king, faithless to the promise that released him from captivity, and sorely beset by the wily emperor, was in too critical a plight to give much attention to the wilderness land in the New World. Nevertheless, Francis assented to the solicitation of the admiral of the kingdom, that the time had arrived when at least some show of effort must be made toward colonizing his recently-acquired dominion of NEW FRANCE.

To JACQUES CARTIER, a hardy mariner of St. Malo, was assigned the command of the expedition. Sailing from the port of his native town with two ships, in the spring of 1534, he crossed the ocean direct to the island of Newfoundland. The voyage was made in the short space of twenty days. Passing around the island, and through the straits of Bellisle, they entered the gulf, and crossed the same to the mouth of a great estuary-the noble river of Canada—which was ascended until land was plainly visible on either side. Perhaps, now at last had been found that broad stream which would lead