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CHAP.

III.

The Spaniards were more successful elsewhere. The explorers of the west coast of the Gulf had heard of the 1520. famed empire of Mexico and its golden riches. As evidence of the truth of these marvellous stories, they exhibited the costly presents given them by the unsuspecting natives. Under the lead of Fernando Cortez, six hundred and seventeen adventurers invaded the empire; and though they met with the most determined resistance, in the end Spanish arms and skill prevailed. Defeated at every point, and disheartened at the death of their em1521. peror, Montezuma, the Mexicans submitted, and their em1821. pire became a province of Spain. Just three hundred years from that time, the province threw off the Spanish yoke, and became a republic.

Rumor told also of the splendor and wealth of a great empire lying to the south, known as Peru. Pizarro, another daring adventurer, set out from Panama with only one hundred foot soldiers and sixty-seven horsemen to invade and conquer it. After enduring toil and labors almost unparalleled, he succeeded; and that empire, containing millions of inhabitants, wealthy, and quite civilized, 1531. was reduced to a province. Pizarro founded Lima, which became his capital. He oppressed the natives with great cruelty, and accumulated unbounded wealth drawn from mines of the precious metals, but after a rule of nine years he fell a victim to a conspiracy.

CHAPTER IV.

ENGLISH AND FRENCH DISCOVERIES.

John Cabot discovers the American Continent.-Enterprise of his son Sebastian.-Voyages of Verrazzani and Cartier.—Attempts at Settlement.

IV.

WHILST these discoveries, conquests, and settlements CHAP. were in progress in the South, a series of discoveries was going on in the North.

John Cabot, a native of Venice, residing, as a merchant, in Bristol, in the West of England, made application to Henry VII., the reigning sovereign, for permission to go en a voyage of discovery. The king gave to Cabot and his three sons a patent, or commission, granting them certain privileges. This is said to be the most ancient state paper of England relating to America.

As Henry VII. was proverbially prudent in money matters, he would not aid the Cabots by sharing with them the expense of the expedition, but he was careful to bind them to land, on their return, at the port of Bristol, and pay him one-fifth part of the profits of their trade. They were, in the name of the king, to take possession of all the territories they should discover, and to have the exclusive privilege of trading to them.

Bristol, at this time, was the greatest commercial town in the West of England, and had trained up multitudes of hardy seamen. These seamen had become habituated to the storms of the ocean, by battling tempests in the Northern seas around Iceland, in their yearly fishing excursions. It is quite probable they had there heard the

1497.

CHAP. tradition, that at a remote period the Icelanders had discovered a country to the west of their island.

IV.

1497.

Cabot and his son Sebastian sailed almost due west, and before long discovered the American continent, it is supposed near the fifty-sixth degree of north latitude. What must have been their surprise to find, in the latitude of England, a land dreary with snow and ice, barren rocks, frowning cliffs, polar bears, and wild savages! This discovery was made more than a year before Columbus, on his third voyage, saw the South American coast, at the mouth of the Orinoco.

Thus the Western continent was discovered by private enterprise alone. The next year a voyage was undertaken for the purposes of trade, and also to ascertain if the country was suitable for making settlements. The king now ventured to become a partner in the speculation, and defrayed some of the expense. Sebastian Cabot sailed, with a company of three hundred men, for Labrador, and landed still further north than at his first voyage. The severity of the cold, though it was the commencement of summer, and the barrenness of the country, deterred him from remaining any length of time. He sailed to the South and explored the coast, till want of provisions forced him to return home. The family of the Cabots derived no benefit from their discovery, as the trade to those barren regions amounted to nothing.

It is a matter of regret that so little is known of the many voyages of Sebastian Cabot. Around his name there lingers a pleasing interest. He is represented as being very youthful, not more than twenty years of age, when he went on his first voyage. Mild and courteous in his manners; determined in purpose, and persevering in execution; with a mind of extraordinary activity; daring in his enterprises, but never rash or imprudent; he won the hearts of his sailors by his kindness, and commanded their respect by his skill. Such was the

VOYAGE OF VERRAZZANI.

IV.

17

man who, for more than fifty years, was the foremost in CHAP. maritime adventure. He explored the eastern coast of South America; sailed within twenty degrees of the North 1497. Pole, in search of the North-Western passage; and at dif ferent times explored the eastern coast of this continent, from Hudson's straits to Albemarle sound.

The Cabots had noticed the immense shoals of fish 1524 which frequented the waters around Newfoundland. The English prosecuted these fisheries, but to no great extent, as they continued to visit the Icelandic seas. French fishermen, however, availed themselves of the way opened by their rivals, and prosecuted them with great vigor. Plans for planting colonies in those regions were often proposed in France, yet nothing was done beyond the yearly visits of the fishermen. Francis I. was finally induced to attempt further explorations. For this purpose he employed Verrazzani, a native of Florence, in Italy, a navigator of some celebrity, to take charge of an expedition. This was the first voyage, for the purpose of discovery, undertaken at the expense of the French government.

Verrazzani sailed south to the Madeira Isles, and thence due west, in quest of new countries. On the passage he battled a terrible tempest, but at length saw land in the latitude of Wilmington, North Carolina. No good harbor could be found as he coasted along to the south for one hundred and fifty miles. Then turning north, he cast anchor from time to time and explored the coast. The surprise of the natives and that of the voyagers was mutual; the one wondered at the white strangers, their ships and equipments; the other at the "russet color" of the simple natives; their dress of skins set off with various rude ornaments and gaudy-colored feathers. The imagination of the voyagers had much to do with the report they made of their discoveries. The groves, they said, bloomed with flowers, whose fragrance greeted them far from the shore,

2

CHAP. reminding them of the spices of the East; the reddish color of the earth was, no doubt, caused by gold.

IV.

1524.

1534.

The explorers examined carefully the spacious harbors of New York and Newport; in the latter they remained fifteen days. They noticed the fine personal appearance of the natives, who were hospitable, but could not be induced to trade, and appeared to be ignorant of the use of iron. They continued their voyage along the then nameless shores of New England to Nova Scotia, and still further north. There the natives were hostile; they had learned, by sad experience, the cruelty and treachery of white men. Gaspar Cortereal, a Portuguese, some years before, had visited their coast, stolen some of their friends, and sold them into slavery. They were willing to trade for instruments of iron or steel, but were very cautious, fearful of being again entrapped.

After his return, Verrazzani published a narrative of his voyage, giving much more information of the country than had hitherto been known. On the ground of his discoveries, France laid claim to the territory extending from South Carolina to Newfoundland.

Ten years after, an expedition was sent, under James Cartier, a mariner of St. Malo, to make further discoveries. with the ultimate design of founding a colony. His voyage was very successful; he reached Newfoundland in twenty days; passed through the Straits of Belleisle; sailed to the south-west across a gulf and entered a bay; which, from the extreme heat of the weather, he named Des Chaleurs. Coasting along still further west, he landed at the inlet called Gaspé, where he took formal possession of the country, in the name of his sovereign. This he did by planting a cross, surmounted by the lilies of France, and bearing a suitable inscription. Continuing his course still further west, he entered the mouth of a great estuary, into which he ascertained flowed an immense river, larger by far than any river in Europe. These explorations were

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