III. CHAP. the natives of the north for exhibition to the gaze of Europe, these were all the results which he accomplished. 1577. What followed marks the insane passions of the age. America and mines were always thought of together. A stone, which had been brought from the frozen regions, was pronounced by the refiners of London, to contain gold. The news excited the wakeful avarice of the city; there were not wanting those, who endeavored to purchase of Elizabeth a lease of the new lands, of which the loose minerals were so full of the precious metal. A fleet was immediately fitted out, to procure more of the gold, rather than to make any further research for the passage into the Pacific; and the queen, who had contributed nothing to the voyage of discovery, sent a large ship of her own to join the expedition, which was now to conduct to infinite opulence. More men than could be employed, volunteered their services; those who were discharged, resigned their brilliant hopes with reluctance. The mariners, May having received the communion, embarked for the arctic El Dorado, "and with a merrie wind" soon June arrived at the Orkneys. As they reached the northeastern coast of America, the dangers of the polar seas became imminent; mountains of ice encompassed them on every side; but as the icebergs were brilliant in the high latitude with the light of an almost perpetual summer's day, the worst perils were avoided. Yet the mariners were alternately agitated with fears of shipwreck and joy at escape. 27. 7. FROBISHER'S THIRD VOYAGE. 95 III. At one moment they expected death; and at the CHAP. next, they looked for gold. The fleet made no discoveries; it did not advance so far as Frobisher alone 1577. had done. But it found an abundance of earth, which, even to the incredulous, seemed plainly to contain the coveted wealth; besides, spiders abounded; and "spiders were" affirmed to be "true signs of great store of gold." In freighting the ships, the admiral himself toiled like a painful laborer. How strange, in human affairs, is the mixture of sublime courage and ludicrous folly! What bolder maritime enterprize, than, in that day, a voyage to lands lying north of Hudson's straits! What folly more egregious, than to have gone there for a lading of useless earth! But credulity is apt to be self-willed. What is there which the passion for gold will not prompt? It defies danger and laughs at obstacles; it resists loss and anticipates treasures; unrelenting in its pursuit, it is deaf to the voice of mercy, and blind to the cautions of judgment; it can penetrate the prairies of Arkansas, and covet the moss-grown barrens of the Esquimaux. I have now to relate the 1578. first attempt of the English, under the patronage of Elizabeth, to plant an establishment in America.3 It was believed, that the rich mines of the polar regions would countervail the charges of a costly adventure; the hope of a passage to Cathay increased; and for the security of the newly discovered 95. 1 Best, in Hakluyt, v. iii. p. 2 Settle, in Hakluyt, v. iii. p. 63. How rich then the alcoves of a 3 Hakluyt, v. iii. p. 71–73. III. CHAP. lands, soldiers and discreet men were selected to become their inhabitants. A magnificent fleet of 1578. fifteen sail was collected, in part, at the expense of Elizabeth; the sons of the English gentry embarked as volunteers; one hundred persons were selected to form the colony, which was to secure to England a country more desirable than Peru, a country, too inhospitable to produce a tree or a shrub, yet where gold lay, not charily concealed in mines, but glistening in heaps upon the surface. Twelve vessels were to return immediately with cargoes of the ore; three were ordered to remain and aid the settlement. The northwest passage was now become of less consideration; Asia itself could not vie with this hyperborean archipelago. 1578. May 31, to Sept. 28. But the entrance to these wealthy islands was rendered difficult by frost; and the fleet of Frobisher, as it now approached the American coast, was bewildered among the immense icebergs, which were so vast, that, as they melted, torrents poured from them in sparkling waterfalls. One vessel was crushed and sunk; though the men on board were saved. In the mists and dangers, the ships lost their course and came into the straits, which have since been called Hudson's; and which lie south of the imagined gold regions. The admiral believed himself able to pass through to the South Sea, and resolve the doubt respecting the passage. But his duty as a mercantile agent controlled his desire of glory as a navigator. He struggled to regain the harbor, where his vessels were to be laden; and, FROBISHER ABANDONS META INCOGNITA. 97 III. 1578. after encountering peril of every kind; "getting in CHAP. at one gap and out at another;" escaping only by miracle from hidden rocks and unknown currents, ice and a lee shore, which was, at one time, avoided only by a prosperous breath of wind in the very moment of extreme danger, he at last arrived at the haven in the countess of Warwick's sound. The zeal of the volunteer colonists had moderated; and the disheartened sailors were ready to mutiny. One ship, laden with provisions for the colony, deserted and returned; and an island was discovered with enough of the black ore "to suffice all the goldgluttons of the world." The plan of the settlement was abandoned. It only remained to freight the home-bound ships with a store of minerals. They, who engage in a foolish project, combine, in case of failure, to conceal their loss; for a confession of the truth would be an impeachment of their judgment; so that unfortunate speculations are promptly consigned to oblivion. The adventurers and the historians of the voyages are all silent about the disposition which was made of the cargo of their fleet. The knowledge of the seas was not extended by the voyage; the credulity of avarice met with a rebuke; and the belief in regions of gold among the Esquimaux was dissipated; but there remained a firm conviction, that a passage to the Pacific ocean might yet be threaded among the icebergs and northern islands of America.1 1 On Frobisher, consult the orig- and Best, with R. Hakluyt's ininal accounts of Hall, Settle, Ellis structions, in Hak. v. iii. p. 52–129. CHAP. to While Frobisher was thus attempting to obtain wealth and fame on the northeast coast of America, the western limits of the territory of the United States became known. Embarking on a voyage in 1577, quest of fortune, Francis Drake acquired immense 1580. treasures as a freebooter in the Spanish harbors on the Pacific; and, having laden his ship with spoils, gained for himself enduring glory by circumnavigating the globe. But before following in the path, which the ship of Magellan had thus far alone dared to pursue, Drake determined to explore the northwestern coast of America, in the hope of discovering the strait which connects the oceans. With this view, he crossed the equator, sailed beyond the peninsula of California, and followed the continent to the latitude of forty-three degrees, corresponding to the latitude of the southern borders of New1579. Hampshire.' Here the cold seemed intolerable to June. men, who had just left the tropics. Despairing of success, he retired to a harbor in a milder latitude, within the limits of Mexico; and, having repaired his ship, and named the country New-Albion, he sailed for England, through the seas of Asia. Thus was the southern part of the Oregon territory first visited by Englishmen; yet not till after a voyage of 1542. the Spanish from Acapulco, commanded by Cabrillo, a Portuguese, had traced the American continent to within two and a half degrees of the mouth of Co1593. lumbia river;2 while, thirteen years after the voyage 2 Forster's Northern Voyages, in Hakluyt, v. iii. p. 524; John- b. iii. c. iv. s. ii. son's Life of Drake. 1 Course of Sir Francis Drake, |