Array CHARLES K. PINMEY* 5 HISTORICAL ACCOUNT DISCOVERIES AND TRAVELS NORTH AMERICA. HISTORICAL ACCOUNT DISCOVERIES AND TRAVELS NORTH AMERICA THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, THE SHORES OF THE POLAR SEA, AND THE VOYAGES IN SEARCH OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE ; OBSERVATIONS ON EMIGRATION. BY HUGH MURRAY, ESQ., F.R. S.E., Author of Historical Account of Discoveries and Travels in Africa, Asia, &c. SUugtrateto 6g a JWaji o£ ^ovtïj tUmtvitK. VOL. II. LONDON : PUBLISHED BY LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, & GREEN ; AND OLIVER & BOYD, EDINBURGH. 1829- CONTENTS OF VOLUME II BOOK II. VOYAGES FOB THE DISCOVERY OF A NOKTH-WEST PASSAGE TO INDIA. CHAP. I.—Early English Voyages. Rise of a Spirit of Discovery in England, 4 Sebastian Cabot Grand Pilot, 4.—Expedition of Sir Hugh Willoughby, 5 . Sir Martin Frobisher, 7-—First Voyage, 8.-—Second Voyage, 11.—Third Voyage,. 20.—John Davis, 26—First Voyage, 27. —Second Voyage, 29.—Third Voyage, 34—Maldonàdo, 36 Weymouth, 40.—Knight, 42 His Death, 44.—Hudson's Early Voyages, 45.—Fourth Voyage and tragical End, 52.— Sir Thomas Button, 55. CHAP. II Expeditions along the North-West Coast of Amebic a. Expeditions by the Spaniards from Mexico, 64.—Cortes, ib.— His Letters to Charles V., 65.—Hurtado, 66.—Mendoza, 67.— Cortes's own Expedition, 68.—Ulloa, ib.—Report of the Seven Cities, 69.—Coronado, 73.—Alarchon, 75.—City of Qui- • vira, 78.—Cabrillo, 79—Viscaino, 80 Juan de Fuca, 87.— De Fonte, 89.—Russian Expedition under Behrfng and Tchi- rikofF, 93—Cook and Clerke, 100.—Meares, 102.—Inhabitants, &c. of Nootka Sound, 115.-—Vancouver, 119.—Kotzebue, 122. a ?**T*TÏ*^ VI CONTENTS. CHAP. III.—Discoveries made in and from Hudson's Bay. Voyage of Fox, 126.—Of James, 129.—Settlement of Hudson's Bay, 130.—The Hudson's Bay Company, 132?.-—Voyage by Knight, 133—By Middleton, 135.—By Moor and Smith, 140. —Hearne's Journey to the Northern Ocean, 144.—Macken? zie's Journeys to the North and the West, 155. CHAP. IV.—Recent North-West Voyages. Plans for Expeditions of Discovery, 160.—Captain Ross sent out, 161.—His Voyage round Baffin's Bay, 162.—Lancaster Sound, 165.—Captain Parry's First Voyage, 168.—Discovery, of Barrow's Strait, 172.—Melville Island, 173.—Wintering, 175.—Proceedings next Summer, 179.—Return to England, 180.—Second Voyage, 181.—-Passage through the Welcome, 185— Winter Island, 190.—The Esquimaux, 195—The Northern Ocean, 216 Strait of the Fury and Hecla, 217.—Second Wintering, ib.—Return, 218.—TtSrd Voyage, 220.—Loss of the Fury, &26.—Return, 227. CHAP. V.—Arctic Land-Expeditions. Plan of penetrating by Land to the Arctic Sea, 228.—Captain Franklin and Dr Richardson, 229.—They reach the Arctic Sea, 235.—Voyage along its Coast, 236.—Disastrous Rétiifti,. 239.—Second Expedition, 250.—Arrival at the Mouth of the Mackenzie River, 254.—Voyage of Captain Franklin, 256.— Of Dr Richardson, 262.—Return, 264.—Captain Lyon's unsuccessful Attempt to penetrate across Repulse Bay, 265. CONTENTS. vu BOOK III. RECENT TRAVELS AND PRESENT STATE OF NORTH AMERICA. CHAP. I.—Physical Geography of the United States. Great Extent of Territory, 270.—Continuity of its Features, 271 Five Divisions, «o.—Their Aspect and Structure, ib.— Plain on the Atlantic Coast, 272.—The Alleghany Mountains, 275—The Western Territory, 280—The Rocky Mountains, 294—The Coast of the Pacific, 295.—Climate, 296—Minerals, 301.—Animal Creation, 3©4.^<Quadrupeds, ib.—Birds, 314.— Reptiles, 315.—Fishes, 317 Vegetable Prodactions, 318. CHAP. II Political Sysïeem of the United States. America a Federal Republic, 321.—Principles on which it was formed, 322.—Congress, 323—The President, 326.—Salaries, 327.—Revenue, 328—Military Force, 330.—Navy, 331 — Judicial Department,*333.—Negro Slavery, <336.—Indian Connexions, 340.—General Estimate, 342. CHAP. Ifï.:—Moral and Social State. General Views, 345.—Religion, no National Church, 346.—Advantages and Disadvantages, 347-—Sects, 349.—Methodists, 351—Camp Meetings, 352—Numbers of Clergy, 355.— Learning, Diffusion of Knowledge, 358.—Universities, 358. —Printing, Newspapers, 360-1.—Language, 365.—National Character, 369—Varieties, ib.—Spirit of Independence, 374. —Fighting, 376—Duelling, 377—Curiosity, 380.—Hospitality, 383—Inns, 386.—Enterprise and Indolence, 388—Peculiarities of the New-Englanders, 392.—Virginians, 393 Backwoodsmen, 394.—Cities, 396.—Washington, ib.—New York, 401.—Philadelphia, 405.—Boston, 407.—Charleston, 409 Baltimore, 415.—Pittsburgh, 416.—Cincinnati, 418— New Orleans, &c. 427- CHAP. IV.—View of Industry and Commerce in the United States. Peculiar Situation of America, 430.—Its great Capacities, 432. —National Lands, ib.—Their Extent, 433.—Mode of Sale, ib. —American Agriculture, 435.—Price of Lands, 436.— Products, Maize, Wheat, Tobacco, Rice, and Cotton, 438.— Domestic Animals, 441.—Manufactures, 443.—Commerce, 445 Detailed Exports and Imports in 1810, 447.—Exports and Imports in 1826, 450.—Estimates by the Convention of Harrisburg, 453.—American Tariff ib. CHAP. V.—Present State of Canada and other Countries of British America. General View of British America, 455.—Canada, 456.—Great Chain of Lakes, 457.—Geological Structure, 459.—Climate, 461.—Animals and Vegetables, 464.—Minerals, 465.—F alls of Niagara, ib.—Rapids,.471-—Lower-St Lawrence, 473.—Social State, the Habitans, 475.—Upper Canada, 483.—Emigrants, 484.—Cities, Quebec, Montreal, &c. 495.—Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, 499.—Newfoundland, 500. CHAP. VI.—On Emigration to America. Motives to Emigration, 503.—-Principle of Population,' 504.— Greek Colonies, 506.—Roman Colonies, 507.—Emigrations of •Barbarous Nations, 508.—Early Colonization of the East and West Indies, 509.—Different Character of the present Emigration, 511.—Motives to emigrate from England, 512.— Scotland, 513.—Ireland, 514.—The Voyage" outwards,'518. —Choice between United States and British America, 520 CONTENTS. IX Journey into the Interior, 524.—Selection of Lands, 525.— Emigration considered in respect to the different Classes of Society in a National View, 527.—Aids afforded by Government, 532.—Canada Company, 539.—Recent Intelligence received by Captain Hall, Mr M'Taggart, and Mr Read, 541. Supplementary Information.—American Canals, 543.—Canada, 544.—Inland Navigation, ib. APPENDIX. LIST OF IMPORTANT WORKS RELATING TO AMERICA. HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OP DISCOVERIES AND TRAVELS NORTH AMERICA. F! BOOK IL VOYAGES FOR THE DISCOVERY OF A NORTHWEST PASSAGE TO INDIA. The preceding Book has exhibited the progress of American discovery and settlement as it took place in all the temperate climates, and in those regions which the emigrants from Europe were destined to cover with great and flourishing nations. But there was carried on, at the same time, beyond the boundaries, as it were, of the habitable world, amid the realms of perpetual ice and snow, a succession of -grand enterprises, which, though they.failed of their immediate object, presented an extraordinary series of adventure, and included grand displays of naval skill and prowess. These voyages, therefore, interspersed with a few land-expeditions to the same quarter, will furnish an ample and interesting subject for this Second Book. VOL. II. A EARLY ENGLISH VOSGES. Rise of a Spirit of Discovery in England.—'Sebastian Cabot Grand Pilot.—Expedition of Sir Hugh Wilhughby.—Sir Mar- ■ tin Frobisher—First Voyage—Second Voyage—Third Voyage.—John Davis—First Voyage — Second Voyage — Third Voyage.—Maldonado. — Weymouth. — Knight—His Death.— Hudson's early Voyages—Fourth Voyage and tragical End.-— Sir Thomas Button. After all the splendid scenes which the New World had exhibited, and the fountains of wealth which it had opened, the first object with which Columbus had left the shores of Spain to cross the unknown Atlantic continued ever to glitter foremost in the eyes of Europeans. Another and a shorter passage to the golden regions of the East was, if not the primary, always the ultimate object of those who spread westward the sail of discovery. So long as the idea of an island-group attached to the regions of the newly-discovered world, a passage among these islands might be naturally expected. The illusion was cherished by the delusive ideas, then prevalent, re- EARLY ENGLISH VOYAGES. spécting the magnitude and relative position of the different parts of the earth. In some of the early delineations America and Asia are found actually conjoined through their whole mass ; and while on one side are Mexico and Brazil, on the other are India and the Cattigara of Pliny. The eager activity, however, of the great maritime explorers had long before the lapse of half a century dispelled these early hopes. Vesputius, Ojeda, Grijalva, had searched all round the Gulf of Mexico, and found it every where enclosed by vast lands ; while to the southward an unbroken mass of continent was found indefinitely extending. In the north, again, the long ranges of coast surveyed, vainly as to this object, by Cabot, Cortereal, Verazzani, and Cartier, chilled the hope of finding, within any temperate latitude, this grand commercial route. The European mind, however, continued still fixed on this long-cherished aim with deep and romantic ardour, which seemed to strengthen in proportion to the obstacles which rose against it. At length the spirit of adventure advanced to a daring height. A race of bold mariners were found, who dreaded not to face all the inclemencies of the polar sky, in climes that lie beneath the sway of perpetual winter. Perhaps at best this could never be any thing but a grand and daring chimera. That the merchant should find a safe and commodious passage, during the short arctic summer, along coasts just loosened from ice, of which mighty mountains still floated around him, could only, perhaps, have been, formed in that lofty and excited state of mind which prompts to distant adventure. But man's high exer- EARLY ENGLISH VOYAGES. tions afford a reward to themselves in the energies which they create, and the spirit which they diffuse. No sphere of exertion has made a grander display of the prowess and daring of British seamen, for it is with pride we reflect that this career has been almost exclusively theirs. Britain began, carried on, and has now very nearly completed the delineation of these vast unknown boundaries of the habitable earth. It was under the short but patriotic and popular reign of Edward VI. that the maritime spirit of Britain, which before had emitted only transient sparks, burst into a steady and ample blaze. The northern passage to India was the object which called forth the royal patronage and the national enthusiasm. It was not by America, however, but by the north-east of Asia, that the passage was first sought. A company, said to consist of " grave citizens of London, and men of great wisdom," was formed, under the title of " Merchants Adventurers, for the Discovery of Regions, Dominions, Islands, and places unknown." Five thousand pounds were subscribed, and three vessels constructed, in the most careful manner, and with even new precautions, among which was that of covering the keel with thin sheets of lead. Sebastian Cabot, recalled to England, and created Grand Pilot of the kingdom, drew up instructions for the conduct of the expedition. The command was given to Sir Hugh Willoughby, whose birth, known prowess, and even his noble and commanding figure, threw a new lustre on the undertaking. They sailed down the Thames on the 10th May, 1553, and as they passed Greenwich, EARLY ENGLISH VOYAGES. 5 where the court then resided, attracted the notice not only of the first nobility, but of the whole body of the people, who lined the shore, and even the roofs of the houses. Guns were fired, handkerchiefs waved, and the air rung with shouts of acclamation. The thought of the mighty and unknown seas into which they were to plunge served only, in this moment of exultation, to give an inspiring grandeur to the enterprise. Few probably of those who hailed them as they floated down in this pompous array, suspected that they were victims adorned for the sacrifice, and that so speedy and so dark a fate awaited this brilliant armament. Sir Hugh Willoughby sailed round the coast of Norway, endeavouring to rendezvous his little fleet at the port of Wardhuys, in Finmark. He was attacked, however, with " flawes of wind and terrible whirlwinds," and sought in vain to reach the land, which he found | lay not as the globe made mention." Thus bewildered, on this dark and stormy sea, and encompassed with danger in every form, he continued yet to press towards his destination. In a few days he descried land, but of a dreary and desolate aspect, either Spitzbergen, or, as some think, more probably Nova Zembla. In either case it could present only one aspect ; rocks rising over rocks, with the clouds wrapt around their icy pinnacles ; while no sound could be wafted over the waves, but the crash of its falling ice and the hungry roar of its monsters. Willoughby, reluctant to renounce the brilliant hopes with which he had departed, continued to struggle onward ; but, instead of obtaining any view of the golden 6 EARLY ENGLISH VOYAGES. shores of India and Cathay, he found himself plunging deeper and deeper into the regions of perpetual winter. As his ships began to suffer severely, he deemed it necessary to turn back, and seek for a harbour in which they might winter in safety. After beating about for some time on these unknown and desolate shores, they at length found one at the mouth of the river of Arzina, on the eastern coast of Lapland. It was now only September, but it was here the depth of winter,—intense frost, and tempests of snow driving through the air; while the sun, appearing only for a short period at mid-day, on the edge of the horizon, announced the speedy closing in of the polar night. They were now in the situation described by the poet : Miserable they Who here, entangled in the gathering ice, Take their last look of the descending sun, While full of fate, and fierce with tenfold frost, The long, long night, incumbent o'er their heads, Falls horrible. The journal proceeds no farther, and a veil hangs over the varied forms of famine and death which beset them in their-last extremity. Some Russian fishermen, who were sailing this way in the following year, found the ships, with all their gallant crews lifeless. By a will found on board, it appeared that Sir Hugh still survived in January, but probably then felt his end approaching. Chancellor, who commanded one of the vessels of this expedition, was more fortunate. Being separated from the rest, he kept close along the coast, and ar- nv-rt-aw.'Miy sw«K8»8P^a««aS4 FRoBISHER. rived in the White Sea. An intercourse was opened with Russia, and the merchant-adventurers were henceforth known under the title of Muscovy merchants. But the ardour of the nation for a north-east passage was severely chilled ; and one inefficient- expedition sent many years after by the Muscovy merchants, under Pet and Jackman, formed the termination of their efforts in that direction. The Dutch East India Company sent three expeditions, one of which wintered in Nova Zembla, enduring the most severe hardships, but all without any result. When the" enterprise of the nation, after being paralyzed under the gloomy reign of Mary, had been fully rekindled, all eyes were turned to the west. The first English mariner who adventured in search of a north-western passage was Captain, afterwards Sir Martin Frobisher. Forster and others give Queen Elizabeth the merit of fitting him out ; but, by the narrative of Best, it is very clear that that princess acted here with all her usual economy. It was in Frobisher's own mind that the idea arose of achieving that which appeared to him " the only great thing that was yet left undone in the world." Having no adequate means, however, to " set forward" the undertaking, he spent fifteen years in conference with his friends, and in soliciting aid from the merchants ; but, finding that nothing would make them move but " sure, certaine, and present gaines," he repaired to court, " where all good causes have their chief maintenance," and there laid open to " many great estates and learned men" the projects which he had formed. Here he found a more favourable hearing. Supported 8 NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. by a patriotic nobleman, Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, he collected, by slow degrees, the means of equipping two barks of twenty-five tons, and a pinnace of ten tons, and with this slender armament prepared to brave the tempests of the northern deep. The queen, if she did not contribute her money, gave at least her full countenance and favour to the undertaking. Frobisher set sail on the 8th June from Deptford, and, on passing the court (at Greenwich,) fired a salute, and " made the best show we could. Her majestie beholding the same, commended it, and bade us farewell, with shaking her hand to us out at the window." Mr Secretary Woolly (Walsingham) also came on board, gave strict charges to the crew to obey their commander, and wished them happy success. On the 26th, they passed Foula, the most remote of the Shetland islands, and found themselves launched in the abysses of the northern deep. Steering a course west by north, on the 11th July they had sight of the land of Friesland, bearingwest north-west, " rising like, pinnacles of steeples, and all covered with snow." This name of Friesland, which Frobisher here copies from Zero, is applied by him to the southern extremity of Greenland. After several vain attempts to land, he steered out into the open sea, in order to avoid the dangers with which the coast was beset. On the 21st they had sight of a great drift of ice, seeming a firm land ; and again on the 6th of a land of ice. On the morning of the 28th a thick fog having cleared up, they saw before them an extended coast, which they concluded to be that ofLabrador. They sailed about for se- ■'tassas. FROBISHER. veral days, unable to approach on account of the continuous icy barriers. On the 1st August they saw a large ice-island, and approached within two cables' length of it ; but next day % that great island of ice fell the one part from another, making a noise as if a great clift had fallen into the sea." After sailing for several days, they came to an island, where the captain rowed on shore, with a boat and eight men, to ascertain if there were any inhabitants. They soon saw seven boats, the crews of which at first showed a good deal of shyness ; but the captain, by holding up white cloths, and making presents of toys, at length induced the whole party to come on board, " being nineteen persons, and they spake, but we understood them not. They be like unto Tartars, with long blacke haire, broad faces, and flat noses, and tawnie in colour." Men and women were clothed in seals' skins, and the boats made of the same materials, " with a keele of wood within the skin." Frobisher sailed next day to the east side of the island, which was found also well- peopled, and, by means of a bell and a knife, enticed one of the people on board ; but, not wishing to keep him, ordered five of his men to land him at the extremity of a rock. The wilfulness of the sailors was such, that they carried him to the main body of his countrymen, when they were themselves taken, and never allowed to return. Frobisher does not seem to have ventured on any very mighty exertions for the recovery of these lost members of his crew. He, however, approached the shore, fired guns, and sounded trumpets ; but no result following, he plied out of the bay, calling it the Five Men's Sound. Next 10 NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. day he approached the spot, and saw fourteen boats, but without being able to penetrate in any degree the fearful mystery in which the fate of his countrymen was involved. However, by ringing a bell, the English attracted one of the natives, and, in giving him the bell, they took him and carried him to England. His resistance was vigorous ; but Frobisher seized and " plucked him with maine force, boate and all, out of the sea. Whereupon, when he found himself in captivity, for very choler and disdain, he bit his tongue in twaine within his mouth, notwithstanding he died not thereof." This " strange infidèle, whose like was never seen," lived till they came to England, when he died, it is said, of a cold ! The season being now advanced, without any appearance of reaching the South Sea, or the shores of India, Frobisher judged it expedient to direct his sails homewards. He again passed Friesland ; but could not approach, " on account of the monstrous ice which lay upon it." After sailing along the coast of Iceland, and by the Orkneys, he arrived in London on the 2d of October. It had been a primary object with Frobisher's crews to bring home something which might serve as a specimen of the hitherto unknown region discovered by them. | Some brought floweres, some greene grasse ;" and one of the sailors having found a large mass of stone, black as a coal, with a metallic glitter, Frobisher, in the absence of any thing better, took it on board. When he came home, all his acquaintances urged him for something out of Meta Incognita, as the newly-discovered country had been called ; upon FROBISHER. 11 which he broke the large stone in pieces, and made a distribution of it among his friends. It chanced that a gentlewoman, to whom a portion had been thus gifted, let it fall into the fire ; where, after having burned for some time, being taken out, " it glittered like a bright marqueset of gold" (pyrites aureus). Being carried to certain gold-finers of London, they declared " that it held gold, and promised great matters thereof," if it should be found in any abundance. The discovery of this gold became now the foremost object, and facilitated wonderfully the equipment of a new expedition : the queen herself came forward with one of her " tall ships," the Ayde, of two hundred tons burden, and Frobisher, from other quarters, succeeded in equipping the Michael and the Gabriel, of about thirty tons each. He then waited upon the queen, who was at Lord Warwick's seat in Essex, and, having kissed her hand, took leave, " with her gracious countenance and comfortable words." Frobisher set sail from Blackwall on the 25th May, 1577, and " with a merrie wind," on the 7th June arrived at the Orkneys. This seems to have been almost an unknown land ; and when the English first appeared, the natives fled from their " poor cottages with shreikes and alarms," but were soon, " by gentle persuasions, reclaimed." Their mode of living was very rude, their food being oaten cakes and ewe- milk. " The goodman, wife, children, and other of the family, eate and sleepe on the one side of the house, and their cattle on the other, very beastly and rudely in respect of civilitie." Having now proceeded into the great northern sea, they had, however, the con- 12 NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. solation of enjoying perpetual day, by which they had constantly, if so disposed, " the fruition of their bookes, a thing of no small moment to such as wander in unknown seas, when both the winds and raging surges do pass their common course." They were surprised with the large quantity of drift-wood, sufficient to supply Iceland with fuel, and consisting chiefly of fir- trees, which were judged to be " by the fury of great floods rooted up." As they came within " the making of Friesland," they began to see great islands of ice, of about half a mile in compass, and rising thirty or forty fathoms above the sea. | Here, instead of odoriferous and fragrant smells of sweet gums, and pleasant notes of sweet birds, which other countries, in more temperate zones, do yield, we tasted the most boisterous Boreal blasts, mixed with snow and hail, in the months of June and July. All along this coast ice lieth like a continual bulwark." They coasted along this land four days, without seeing any sign of habitation; yet little birds, which seemed to have bewildered themselves amid the thick fogs, came flying into the ships ; whence they surmised that I the interior was more tolerable than the outward shore made signification." Mr Settle was much surprised to observe, that this ice was altogether of fresh water, and inferred that it must have been formed entirely upon land, " that the open sea freezeth not, and that there is no Mare Glaciale or frozen sea." The expedition now sailed across to the coast of Labrador, and came to the large opening into Hudson's Bay, called Frobisher's Straits, and afterwards Lum- ley's Inlet, which they concluded to be the entrance FROBISHER. 13 into the sea of Sur, and that the shore on one side was America, and on the other Asia. They found these straits, however, " shut up with a long mure of ice, which was a great cause of discomfort ;" but Frobisher, who was provided for the purpose with two small pinnaces, left the barks to lie off and on in the open sea, and threaded his way through the narrow inlets between the ice and the land. His survey of the coast was satisfactory, and he found a considerable store of that black stone, once despised, but now become the primary object of search. Having reached a hill, they erected on the top a column, calling it Mount Warwick. On their return a number of the natives hailed them from the top of the hill " with cries like the lowing of bulls." Frobisher answered with similar sounds, and with that of trumpets ; at which they seemed greatly to rejoice, skipping, dancing, and laughing for joy. They exchanged, but in a very cautious manner, their commodities for pins, points, and other trifles. They invited the English up into the country, and the English them into the ships ; but " neither part admitted or trusted the other's courtesie." Yet the natives followed to the boats, and seemed to part with regret. Frobisher, with his master, then followed, and, having found two of them apart, seized and began to drag them along, hoping, | by toys, appareil, and all arguments of courtesie," to conciliate them and their tribe. The ground, however, being uneven and covered with ice, their feet slipped, and they lost hold of their prizes, who instantly ran, and, having caught hold of their bows and arrows, which were hid behind a rock, com- 14 NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. menced a furious attack, when Frobisher and the master instantly took to their heels, and ran full speed to the boats. This precipitate flight of these great captains, before two miserable Esquimaux, does not savour altogether of that lofty heroism which we should be inclined to ascribe to them. Frobisher reached the boats with an arrow sticking in his leg. The crew, thinking there must have been a numerous body of pursuers to inspire such terror, called to arms, and ran to the rescue ; but as soon as the enemy heard a shot fired, they ran off full speed ; however, Nicholas Conger, a servant of my Lord Warwick, and a good wrestler, overtook one of them, threw him on the ground, and dragged him into the boats. While these things were passing on shore, the ships without had to abide a cruel tempest among the thickest of the islands of ice, which were " so monstrous, that even the least of a thousand had been of force sufficient to have shivered our barks into small portions." Some, in fact, " scraped" them ; and the range of open sea was so limited, while the gale was so violent, that, to avoid striking, they were obliged to tack fourteen times in four hours ; however, i God being their best steersman," and Charles Jack- man and Andrew Dyer, master's mates, being very expert mariners, while Providence furnished "clear nights without darkness," they escaped these dangers, which appeared to them more terrible in the recollection than at the moment, when every hand was called upon to haul ropes, and look out for what Was à-head of the ship. After the vessels had been detained some time at FROBISHER. 15 the mouth of the straits, the west winds at length dispersed the ice, and opened a large entrance. When they were fairly enclosed between the opposite lands, Frobisher, with about seventy of his men, made a formal landing on the southern shore, supposed to be America, with ensigns displayed, and marched to the top of several hills, the ascent of which was rendered difficult by their steepness and the ice. Here special care was taken that " they should all with one voice, kneeling on their knees, thank God for their safe arrival in this country, beseeching his Divine Majesty to preserve the queene, and bring them back in safety to their native country." They discovered no sign of people or habitation, and being fatigued by these " unwieldy ways," were glad to regain the boats. Some spirited adventurers proposed to march thirty miles inland, and see what they could find ; but Frobisher did not think his time allowed of such an enterprise. He, therefore, landed on the northern coast, supposed to be Asia, and directed all his efforts to the discovery of a store of the black stone, esteemed so precious. He discovered accordingly a very rich deposit, and took on board twenty tons of it ; but here so violent a commotion took place among the ice-islands, that they narrowly escaped being squeezed to pieces, and were obliged to throw out the greater part of this precious store. As they sailed along the shore they found the bones of a man, and tauntingly asked their captive, whether his countrymen had not killed and eaten him, and picked the flesh from the bones ; but he indignantly, by signs, repelled the charge, and intimated, that the man had been devoured by wolves or other savage 16 NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. beasts. This personage also taught them the use of various objects, which they found on the shore, as sledges, kettles of fish-skin, and knives of bone. As they inquired the use of a bridle of singular construction, he caught hold of one of their dogs, | and hampered him handsomely therein, as we do our horses, and, with a whip in his hand, he taught the dog to draw in a sled, as we do horses in a coach." The expedition had now reached thirty leagues from the mouth of the straits, to a small island which, with the sound enclosed by it, they named after " that right honourable and virtuous lady, Anne Countess of Warwick." Here they beheld, to their great marvel, some of the | poore caves" which serve the natives for their winter-dwellings, and of which their description nearly resembles that lately given by Captain Parry. " They are made two fadome under ground, like to an oven, being joined fast one to another, having holes like to a foxe or coney herry, to keepe and come together. They are seated commonly in the foote of a hill, to shield them better from the cold winds, having their door and entrance ever open towards the south. They build with whalebones for lack of timber, which, bending one over another, are handsomely composted in the top together, and are covered with seales' skins. They have only one room, having one half of the floor raised with broad, stones a foot higher than the other, whereon strawing moss, they make their nests to sleep in." In some of the tents on this shore, from which the natives fled on their approach, they discovered many strange things, dead carcasses and flesh of they knew not what ani- FROBISHER. 17 mais ; bat the objects which struck them with wonder and horror were an English doublet pierced with many holes, three shoes for contrary feet, a shirt, and a girdle,—apparel which too evidently belonged to their five countrymen lost the preceding year. A chase was instantly commenced, though said to have been rather in the hope of recovering than of revenging them. Charles Jackman, with a large party, was sent inland to take the natives on one side, while the captain, with his boats, was ready on the coast to receive them. Jackman sought for some time in vain; but at length, in a deep valley by the seaside, he discovered some tents, the dwellers of which, to the number of sixteen or eighteen, hurried on board their boats, and pushed out to sea. The English fired their pieces, which served as a signal to their countrymen in the boats, who rowed rapidly to the spot, and began the attack. The unfortunate Esquimaux, enclosed on all sides, ran ashore on a point of land, where, being closely pursued, they defended themselves in the most desperate manner. They took up the arrows shot by the English, and even plucked them out of their bodies, returned them, " and maintained their cause until both weapons and life fayled them." Some, severely wounded, refused the offered and promised mercy, and cast themselves headlong from the rocks into the sea. The English succeeded in taking only two women and a child. One of the ladies was of an ugliness so singular and appalling as to make the sailors not only conclude' with certainty that she was a witch, but even suspect her to be the great enemy of mankind in disguise. It was deter* VOL. II. B 18 NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. mined to ascertain this point by an examination of the structure of the lower extremities : " she had her buskins pulled off to see if she were cloven-footed." That grand distinctive character being found wanting, the sailors were content with dismissing her, in order that their eyes might no longer be wounded with the view of her visage. The other young woman being mistaken for a man, had been shot at, and the child whom she carried wounded. They undertook to heal the wound ; -but the woman with her tongue licked off all the salves applied to it, till, by continual licking, she had effected a cure. The introduction of this new captive to the man formerly taken produced a scene "more worth beholding than can well be expressed. At first they held a deep silence, as through grief and disdain ; the woman even turned away and began to sing ; at length the man broke up the silence first, and with stern and stayed countenance began to tell a long solemn tale, whereunto she being grown into more familiar acquaintance by speech, the one would hardly have lived without the comfort of the other." During the whole voyage she killed and dressed the dogs, and did all household offices for him ; yet they did not live as man and wife, and observed the strictest decorum in all their proceedings. The man was closely examined, whether the five Englishmen had been killed and eaten by his countrymen ; but this fact he positively denied. He was shown a picture of his countryman carried to England the preceding year, "when he was upon the sudden much amazed thereat, and beholding advisedly the same with silence a good while, at length began to question with him as with FROBISHER. 19 his companion; and, finding him dumb, seemed to suspect him as one disdainful, and would have grown into choler, until at last, by feeling and handling, he found the deceit ; and then, with great noise and cries, ceased not wondering, thinking that we could make men live or die at our pleasure." Frobisher at length came into speech with the natives at the point where he had lost his men, whom they promised to bring back in three days. In three days accordingly there appeared, on the top of a hill, three men with a white flag formed of bladders ; but the English in advancing descried great numbers well-armed lying hidden behind the rocks. Signs were made, that they must approach unarmed and under less dubious guise ; but they only set up new enticements, among Which was " a trim bait of raw meate." They even brought a lame man, and laid him down as an easy prey. The English were not so deceived, but discharged a gun at the cripple, who was instantly cured, and ran off full speed. The natives then appeared a hundred strong, and let fly their arrows, but without reaching the English, Who, however, were now fain to retire, giving up all hopes of recovering their lost comrades. The only object was to regain their home, which they reached at different points, the Ayde at Padstow, the Gabriel at Bristol, and the Michael at Yarmouth. Although nothing of importance had been effected in this voyage, the country continued still full of hope, both as to the " matter of the gold," and the passage to Catay. Frobisher was specially commended by the queen, who also gave such gratifying commendations to the other officers, that they " have since 20 NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. Hi spared neither labour, limme, nor life, to bring this matter to a prosperous ende." Special commissioners were appointed, "men of great judgment, art, and skill, to look thoroughly into the matter." They reported that both the ice and the passage to Catay were matters of importance, and that they would be much advanced by a colony of chosen soldiers and discreet men sent to Meta Incognita, (the somewhat fantastic name now given, but which has not adhered to the newly-discovered coast). That they might spend the winter in safety and comfort, a strong fort or house of timber, " cunningly devised by a notable learned man," was framed and put on board the vessel. To this " great adventure and notable exploit many well-minded and forward-going gentlemen" readily presented themselves as volunteers. The whole number of colonists amounted to a hundred, of whom forty were mariners, thirty miners, and thirty soldiers. The entire expedition was on a much grander scale than before, consisting of fifteen sail of good ships, of which twelve were to return laden with the imaginary gold, and the other three to remain with the colony. The queen, besides gifts and promises, bestowed on Frobisher a chain of gold, and the other fourteen captains kissed her hand before their departure. This voyage, set forth with such pomp and on so great_ a scale, was the most unfortunate of all the three. When they reached the Queen's Foreland at the mouth of the straits, they found them " frozen over from one side to the other, as it were with many walls, mountains, and bulwarks of ice, which choked up the passage, and denied us entrance." This ^SS^eSE i FROBISHER. 21 appeared to be owing to the south and south-easterly winds, which had both brought them earlier to this quarter, and driven in the numerous icebergs upon the straits ; the navigation through which was rendered truly dangerous by the continual motion of those huge bodies, two of which would often allow one ship to pass, and then close in upon the one behind. Two vessels, the Judith and the Michael, were separated from the rest, and not heard of for a long time after. The Dennis, a vessel of a hundred tons, on board of which there was a portion of the house, received such a blow that it sunk instantly, though the crew, having given the alarm by firing, were saved by the other ships. All the vessels were forced " to stemme and strike great rocks of ice, and as it were make way through mighty mountains." Their situation soon became much more serious. After they had passed through a great quantity of ice, having much behind and more before, a sudden and dreadful tempest blew in from the ocean, " bringing all the ice a sea-boorde of us upon our backs, and rendering it impossible to recover sea-roome." Thus environed with danger, " sundry men with sundry devises sought the best way to save themselves." Some moored upon a great iceberg, " and rode under the lee thereof ; others, finding themselves shut in and compassed amongst an infinite number of great countries and islands of ice, were fain to submit themselves and their ships to the mercy of the unmerciful ice, and hung over the sides of the vessels pieces of cables, masts, planks, and such like, to defend them from the outrageous sway and strokes of the said ice." 22 NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. Thé narrator, however, considers as conducing to the everlasting renown of our nation, the manner in which " the painful mariners and poor miners" met the brunt of these great and extreme dangers. The gallant fleet and miserable men, during the whole night and part of next day, continued struggling without hope of escape. Four, who were outside of the rest, contrived, amid continual danger of being squeezed to pieces, to work out into the open sea. Here, | devoutly kneeling about their main-mast, they gave unto God humble thanks for themselves, and highly besought him for their friends' deliverance." In fact, " it pleased God with his eyes of mercy to look down from heaven;" and next day they were favoured with a west south-west wind, which soon dispersed the ice, gave them ample sea-room, and the comfort of again joining company. The crews now busied themselves in setting up the masts, mending the sails, and stopping the leaks of their shattered vessels. No sooner was this effected, than the indefatigable Frobisher again " cast about towards the inward," and they had sight of land, but so involved in dark mists and the thick snow which fell in this northern midsummer, that doubts arose whether it Was or was not the north foreland, or entrance into Frobisher's Straits. They pushed on, however, and some even imagined they saw Mount Warwick ; but this would have placed them quite out of their reckoning. At length Christopher Hall, chief pilot, stood up, and declared, in hearing of the whole fleet, that he had never seen this coast before. Frobisher, it is suspected, soon FROBISHER. 23 began himself to perceive that this was not | the old strait ;" however he dissembled and pushed on,' curious apparently to see whither it would lead. He found it a more fruitful coast, more verdant, and stocked with a greater variety of birds and fowls, than that before visited. The people were more numerous, had large boats capable of holding twenty persons, and carried on trade in a very friendly manner. At length it was necessary to come out of this mistaken strait ; but in their return they were so involved in dark fogs and currents, and beset by a labyrinth of rocks and islands, as to place it beyond the expectation of man that they should ever extricate themselves. However, | God lent us ever at the very pinch one prosperous breath of winde or other ;" and even at a time when all hope seemed over, and every man was recommending himself to death, " the mighty Maker of heaven did deliver us ;" and they again reached the open sea. Here, in the end of July, they were overtaken by so violent a storm of snow, that " he who had five or six shifts of apparel had scarce one dry threade to his back ;" while the sun, occasionally breaking forth, " produced such a breath of heate as if we were enclosed in some bath-stone or hothouse ;" and these violent changes had a very injurious effect on their health. However, amid every obstacle, Frobisher pushed on in search of his old station, and where he saw the ice never so httle open | he gat in at one gappe and out at another," till, with incredible pain and peril, he recovered his long-wished- for port. Captain Fenton of the Judith, however, became entangled for twenty days among ice, and 24 NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. never was one day or hour without being beset with continual danger and fear of death. At length they became " cunning and wise to seek strange remedies for strange dangers." They used to fasten the vessel to a firm and broad mass of ice, " and binding her nose fast thereunto, would fill all their sails, when the wind forced forward the ship, the ship the ice, and one ice another, till at length they got sea-room, still amid sundry mountains and Alps of ice." The narrator asks his countrymen what they would think of men leaping and shooting on the surface of the sea, and rivers of fresh water running through the ocean a hundred miles from land ; yet all this was fulfilled on these mighty mountains and fields of ice. The vessels being now assembled in port, it was brought into deliberation, whether they could now attempt to form their winter-settlement. Of the house which they had brought out there remained only two sides, the east and the west, the remainder having either gone down as above stated, or been suspended in fragments by the sides of the ships to defend them against the ice, and thereby broken. There were not provisions also for a hundred men ; but Captain Fenton boldly undertook to remain with sixty. Hereupon the carpenters and masons were called upon to say in what time they could put together a house on this smaller scale ; but they could not undertake it in less than eight or nine weeks, while the expedition had only twenty-six days to remain. Frobisher now consulted whether they should not attempt to distinguish this voyage, from which so FROBISHER. 25 much was expected at home, by some farther discovery. The captains declared their readiness to undertake whatever their chief might devise ; yet this appeared to them a thing very hard and almost impossible. They urged the dark mists and falling snows ; the leakage of the drink, which reduced many of the crews to nothing but water ; and the danger of a contrary wind shutting them in, when they must all perish. To proceed, therefore, was found " a thing very impossible, and that rather consultation was to be had of returning home." This was accordingly resolved upon, and the vessels, though separated by a violent storm, all arrived in safety, some at one port and some at another. The Busse of Bridge- water, in being obliged to proceed northward through a channel in which it was involved, found itself in the great north sea (Baffin's Bay), which appeared to it with reason to afford the most favourable prospect of any of penetrating into the Mal der Sur. The only large lading of the golden stone was found by Captain Best of the Anne Frances, while separated from the rest of the fleet, on a small island, where he found as much as " might reasonably suffice all the gold-gluttons in the world ;" for which reason he named it " Best's Blessing." This third expedition of Frobisher was not followed up by any other,—a failure for which no cause is recorded. It may be presumed, that the dreadful tale of disaster which was brought home damped for a time the zeal of the nation. Of the black stone, which had inspired hopes so brilliant, and given the chief impulse to the fitting out of this large expedition, no 26 NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. 1 further mention is made ; nor has it been noticed by any more recent navigator. A more careful analysis doubtless dispelled the empty visions with which it had filled the minds of the English public. The spirit of discovery did not long slumber. In 1585, 1 certain honourable personages and worshipful merchants," both of London and of the west, determined to put down their adventures for another attempt at a north-west passage. Mr William Sanderson, merchant of London, " besides his feravaile, which was not small, became the chief adventurer with his purse ;" and he recommended Mr John Davis as a fit person to be the conductor of this hard enterprise. Davis was furnished with two vessels, the Sunshine and the Moonshine ; but neither of these two great planets was of very ample dimensions, the Sun holding only 23 and the Moon 19 men. On the 7th of June they set sail from Dartmouth, and for six weeks remarked nothing but the vast number of fishes, among which were " great store of whales." On the 19th July they heard " a great whistling and bruffling of a tyde," after which they came into a very calm sea. " Here we heard a mighty great roaring of the sea, as if it had been the "breach of some shore ";" yet when the Moonshine sounded, it could not find ground in three hundred fathoms. Its boat was immediately sent, with strict injunctions to fire a musket at every glass of sand, so as to insure the ship of its safety. The crew soon found themselves encircled by islands of ice ; on mounting which they discovered that all the roaring which they heard arose from " the rowlihg of this ice." Next day the mists dispersing, showed them the land, DAVIS. 27 which was " the most deformed, rocky, and mountainous land that ever we saw. It appeared in form of a sugar-loaf, standing to our sight above the clouds ; for that it did show over the fogge like a white list in the sky, the tops altogether covered with snow, the shore beset with ice, making such irksome noise, that our captain called it the Land of Desolation." They observed, however, the phenomenon of driftwood floating along the coast ; among which was one tree fifty feet long, having the root stilladhering to it. On the 25th July, Davis left this dreary land, and directed his course north-west, " hoping in God's mercy to find our desired passage." In four days he came in sight of new land, still to the eastward, in 64° 15' (a continuation of West Greenland). He found it to contain many fair sounds and great inlets, insomuch that he judged it to consist of a great number of contiguous islands. The English landed, and, having seen some traces of inhabitants, mounted a rock, where they were descried by the natives, who raised a lamentable noise, with great outcries ; " we hearing them, thought it had been the howling of wolves." Hereupon the English uttered loud sounds, at once inviting the savages and advertising their countrymen on board of their situation. Several of the .company made haste to the spot well-armed, and with a band of musicians ; thus alike prepared, " either by force to rescue us, or with courtesy to allure the people." As this last was the primary object, the minstrels began to play, and the seamen to dance, with signs of friendship. This induced ten canoes to approach, and the people spoke " very hoi- 28 NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. low through the throat," but in words not intelligible. At length one of them lifted his hand to the sun, and forcibly struck his breast, repeating this gesture many times ; and " when John Ellis of the Moonshine, appointed by policy to gain their friendship, had several times done the same after their order," their confidence was gained. Next day thirty-seven canoes appeared, and they were soon on the most intimate footing with the English, to whom they readily parted with their canoes, even the clothes from their backs, composed of seals'-skins and birds'-skins, with the feathers on their buskins of fine wool, their hose-gloves of leather, well-dressed and compacted together. " They appeared very tractable people, void of craft and double- dealing, and easy to be brought to any civility and good order." On seeing the value set by the English on furs, they offered, in less than a month, to procure an ample supply; but Davis, finding a favourable gale, set sail from this friendly shore. He steered directly across the sea or broad strait which bears his name, and came in view of the coast of Cumberland Island. He named different parts of it Mount -Raleigh, Exeter Sound, and Cape Walsingham ; while the most southern point was called the Cape of God's Mercy. They had several encounters with the white bear ; and a large band of dogs approached in peaceful guise; but the English, thinking they came to prey upon them, fired and killed two. Various circumstances encouraged Davis to hope for a passage ; the numerous sounds and inlets, the currents which came through them, the ebb and flow coming apparently from various quarters. The season, DAVIS. 29 however, was now so late, that he was obliged to return to England. The accounts brought by Davis appeared on the whole so favourable, that the adventurers hesitated not to send him out next year with a larger equipment. To the Sunshine and the Moonshine were now added the Mermaid of 120 tons and a small pinnace. Nothing remarkable occurred till they came to thé former coast, where their old friends soon recognised them, and " hung about the boat with such comfortable joy as would require a long discourse to be uttered." Davis, on seeing their friendly disposition, landed and displayed twenty knives ; upon which they leapt out of their canoes, and embraced him and his company with many signs of hearty welcome. He presented to each of them a knife, refusing any return. A familiar intercourse thus commenced, and sometimes a hundred canoes would crowd round the English, bringing various species of skins, fishes, and birds. Several excursions were made into the interior of the country, and some extensive plains discovered, like the moors of England. The natives accompanied them in these excursions, and gave them all the aid they could in mounting and descending the rocks. Davis caused trials to be made at leaping and wrestling. The English decidedly overleaped them ; but when it came to wrestling, they showed themselves strong and skilful, and cast some that were accounted good wrestlers. These people are described as " of good stature, well in body proportioned, with small slender hands and feet, small visages, and small eyes, wide mouthes, the most part unbearded, great lips, and 30 NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. close-toothed." Some bad qualities, however, began gradually to transpire. They made great use of witchcraft and incantation, | though with Httle effect, thanks be to God." Their chief experiment of this nature was by taking a round stick, thrusting it into a hole in a board, then forcibly agitating it, " in the fashion of a turner with a piece of leather," with which the magician produced a fire, into which, with many words and strange gestures, he put divers things ; he then endeavoured to induce Davis to go into the smoke ; but Davis caused one of his sailors to put out the fire, and throw it into the sea, " to show his contempt of their sorcery." By and by, moreover, they were found to be " marvellous thievish, beginning, through our lenitie, to show their vile nature ;" they cut the cables, cut the Moonlight's boat from her stern, the cloth where it lay to dry, and seized every article of iron they could ; whereat the master and crew being sorely grieved, called upon Davis " to dissolve this new friendship." Davis agreed accordingly to fire first a caliver, and then a falcon, "which did sore amaze them, and they fled ;" yet in ten hours they came back, and " we again fell into a great league." All their intimacy was now renewed; "but, seeing iron, they could in nowise forbear stealing ;" yet the good-natured captain only laughed, and bid his men look carefully after their own goods, " supposing it to be very hard, in so short time, to make them know their evils." Davis now attempted to penetrate and take a view of the land ; but " the mountains were so many and so mighty, that his purpose prevailed not." He then DAVIS. 3J attempted to ascend a large river, which proved, however, to be only a creek, and the land, not as supposed, an unbroken continent, but " huge, waste, and desert isles, with mighty sounds and inlets passing between sea and sea." He was also astonished by the view of a water-spout,—an object new to him, and described as " a mighty whirlwind taking up the water in very great quantity, furiously mounting it into the air." On his arrival at the ships, the people opened a fearful budget of the sins of the Esquimaux, all which they ascribed to his "lenitie and friendly using." They had stolen an anchor, cut a cable, cut away boats, and " now, since your departure, with slings they spare us not, with stones of half a pounde weight ; and will you still endure these things ?" Davis bid them be content, and all should be well. Instead of any rigorous measure, he called the natives on board, presented them with bracelets, and used them with much courtesy ; but the sun was no sooner down, than " they began to practise their devilish nature, and with slings threw stones very fiercely into the Moonlight." Human patience, even the most enduring, has its bounds. " I changed my courtesie and grew to hatred." Several shots were discharged upon the Esquimaux ; but they rowed off so quickly that it was to little purpose. However, next day, when five approached in their usual manner, beating their breasts, and crying, Yliaont, one, deemed the chief ringleader of mischief, was allured on board, and, the wind becoming favourable, he was carried off along with the ships. He at first made many doleful signals to his brethren in the boats, but after- NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. wards became a pleasant companion, and was very joyful at receiving a suit of good English frieze. On the 17th July they fell in with a large mass of apparent land, with bays and capes, and like " high cliffe land ;" but, on sending their pinnace, learned, with horror and amazement, that it was entirely ice,— a thing so incredible that he omits to speak any further thereof. He coasted, however, for several days along this formidable mass of ice, which proved a fixed bar to his progress. The men's strength began to sink, and, in a discreet and orderly, but very solemn manner, they represented that success was now hopeless, that he ought to regard his own life and theirs, and not, through any over-boldness, " leave their widows and fatherless children to give him bitter curses." Davis took the matter into serious consideration, and was much inclined " to regard their estates ;" but considered " the excellency of the business, and that it would grow to his great disgrace," if, through him, discredit should be thrown upon it while there remained a hope of success. He, therefore, sought counsel from God, by whom he was inspired with a design, which he hoped should be ■ to the contentation of every Christian minde." He left behind the Mermaid, his largest vessel, as not being sufficiently " convenient and nimble," and, in the Moonlight alone, with the boldest part of his crew, determined to push forward in search of the desired passage. He steered to the south-east, and came to a land which, however, appeared to be nothing but islands ; but these supposed islands were probably only the coasts bordering on the numerous DAVIS. 33 sounds and inlets leading into Hudson's Bay. He did not enter them, but pushed southwards till he came to a continuous mass of continent, which was Labrador. It was found covered with extensive forests of pine and birch, the sea replenished with cod, and the air filled with numberless seafowl. The inhabitants showed a ferocious spirit, which does not agree with their general character. Five Englishmen having gone ashore, were assailed with a cloud of arrows, by which two were killed and two severely wounded. They had offered neither speech nor parley, but presently " executed their cursed fury." Forster, however, suspects, that these people must have been actuated by the recollection of some wrongs received from other Europeans. The sorrows of Davis were increased by tempest, which blew with such fury as threatened to drive the vessels on shore " among these cursed cannibals, for their prey." Being happily delivered, however, and favoured with a west north-wèst wind, he lost no time in making his way back to England. Davis, in à letter to Mr William Sanderson, admits that the enterprise had not yet proved profitable to the adventurers ; but he now urges, that, having had much experience of the north-west part of the world, he had satisfied himself that the passage must either be in one of four places or else not at all. That enterprising and substantial person joined in setting forth Davis a third time, with a smaller equipment of two barks and a pinnace. Soon after their departure, they had an alarm in the dark, that the pinnace had run away ; but it proved only that the tiller of her helm was broken. This pinnace, which had been much VOL. II. c 34 NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. IS1 lit boasted of by the owners, was found to move through the sea like a cart drawn by oxen. However, it was reported that she would brook the sea, and they trusted that a hard beginning would make a good ending. On the 14th June they came in sight of the high mountains of Greenland. The natives came, crying, in the usual manner, Yliaont, and offering skins. They soon, however, manifested their old thievish propensities. Davis had brought out the materials of a pinnace, which he now began putting together. The natives contrived to carry off two of the largest planks, solely with a view to the nails and other particles of iron inserted into them. Davis caused them to be fired at, aiming at then* legs ; but, making the planks a bulwark, they retained their legs entire, with which they carried off their bodies to a neighbouring island, where they left the planks, having first plucked all the iron out of them. This trouble was soon driven out of then* minds by a more serious one. John Churchyard, the pilot, gave notice that the good ship in which they must all venture their lives had received three hundred strokes as she lay in the harbour. This gave rise to much disquietude, and even doubt whether it was possible to proceed ; but Davis, to whom the matter was referred, determined " rather to end his life with credit, than to return with infamy and disgrace ; and they all purposed to live and die together." They sailed then onwards to the north, touching at several points, and treating in a friendly maimer with the natives. At length they reached the latitude of 72°, the highest which had been yet DAVIS. 35 attained by any navigator. Yet the sea was still perfectly open to the north and the west. They then left the coast and sailed due west, in which direction they continued for forty leagues without any sight of land. Davis seemed now on the point of discovering his hoped-for passage, or at least of solving the grand problem, whether it existed ? But his career was suddenly arrested by " a mighty bank of ice." He endeavoured at first to " double it round to the northward :" but the wind in that direction was opposite, and he was obliged to coast it southwards, which he continued to do for successive days, vainly hoping to find a point'at which it could be rounded, and its western side reached. He determined, therefore, " to lye off for some days, hoping that the ice continually beating upon the mass, and the sun with the extreme force of heat always shining upon it, would make quick despatch." When he returned to the coast, through some error of reckoning he found himself on Cumberland Island, near the point which he had formerly named Mount Raleigh. The season being now advanced, he confined all his efforts to the discovery of an open sea to the south. He passed Frobisher's Straits, to which he gave the name of Burnley's Inlet, and afterwards a broad gulf, the same subsequently entered by Hudson, but without attempting to penetrate either of these openings.; and finding himself on the coast of Labrador, and the season for advanced, he sailed for England. Davis on his arrival immediately wrote to his constant friend, Mr Sanderson, boasting, that he had brought the passage to a much more promising point 36 NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. iii I' !'■! than at any preceding period. In 72° he had found an open sea, and forty leagues between land and land. Men's minds, however, had taken a turn unfavourable to all farther search. They said, I Davis hath been three times employed ; why hath he not discovered the passage ?" The death of Secretary Walsingham, the steady promoter of maritime discovery i was a severe check on every such project ; and the grand event of the Spanish armada, which took place in the following year, turned all men's views in another direction. Mr Sanderson, however, continuing his steady friendship, caused a chart of Davis's discoveries to be engraved at considerable expense by Molyneux, which is said to be still preserved in the library of the Middle Temple. This last voyage of Davis was almost immediately followed by a reported one by Laurent Ferrer Maldo- nado, a Spanish navigator. Maldonado was well known in that age as an eminent and enterprising mariner, and deeply skilled in all the sciences connected with the maritime art. Yet all these merits have not deterred modern inquirers from ranking this narrative with undisputed and scandalous forgeries. Its first aspect is, no doubt, somewhat equivocal. Maldonado describes himself as having: first passed through the whole of the strait of Labrador, or Davis's Strait, till he reached the latitude of 75°. He then navigated to the south-west till he came to the Strait of Anian, which separated America from Asia. After passing through this strait, he came to the wide expanse of the South Sea, with the two opposite coasts of America and Asia diverging widely MALDONADO. 37 from each other. He followed the coast of America till he came to lat. 55°, when he pushed across to that of Asia, which appeared rugged and mountainous. He then retraced his steps, following a north-east and northerly course, till he again arrived at the Strait of Anian.. Such is the outline of Maldonado's narrative, which, as implying that he really discovered the north-west passage, and found his way through the Atlantic into the Pacific, is doubtless to be at once rejected. But the question is, whether the incredible portions of the narrative are facts, or whether they are not rather suppositions founded upon facts, which, taken in themselves, are possible and credible ? The first part of his voyage is through the Strait of Labrador as he calls it, under which he evidently comprehends both Davis's Strait and Baffin's Bay, and in which he reached the latitude of 75°, which latitude he certainly might reach, if, as the narrative states, he arrived at its northern extremity. He then sailed south-west till he came to a strait in lat. 60°, which may be supposed to be Hudson's Strait. This was certainly a very circuitous route from Spain, although he reckons the whole as direct distance from that country ; but he was beating about in an unknown sea, and along shores the form and direction of which had never been delineated. He then passes through the Strait of Anian, as he imagines ; but the real fact is neither more nor less than that he passed through a strait ; and he then concludes that the coast on one side must be America, and on the other Asia. This is a mere inference, and nothing more than Fro-. S NORTH-WEST VOYAGES. H'if Ii bisher had formerly made with regard to the strait bearing his name, and discovered by him many years before. Then Maldonado entered the South Sea, Sailed a considerable space, first along the western coast of America, and then along the eastern coast of Asia. He labours as it were to shake his own credit by a pompous enumeration of positions on each of these shores, from which he pronounces himself to have been at no great distance : Cape Mendocino, Quivira, Cathay, Cambalu, and the country of the Great Khan. But all this, if narrowly looked into, amounts to nothing more than pre
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Historical account of discoveries and travels in North America ; including the United States, Canada,… Murray, Hugh, 1779-1846 1829
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Title | Historical account of discoveries and travels in North America ; including the United States, Canada, the shores of the Polar Sea, and the voyages in search of a North-west passage ; with observations on emigration. Illustrated by a map of North America. Vol. II |
Alternate Title | Historical account of discoveries and travels in North America |
Creator |
Murray, Hugh, 1779-1846 |
Publisher | London : Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green ; Edinburgh : Oliver & Boyd |
Date Issued | 1829 |
Description | "'List of important works relating to America': vol.2, PP[547]- 556. Vol.2, chapter 2: Expeditions along the North-west coast of America."-- Strathern, G. M., & Edwards, M. H. (1970). Navigations, traffiques & discoveries, 1774-1848: A guide to publications relating to the area now British Columbia. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria, p. 215. |
Extent | ix, 556 pages ; 23 cm |
Subject |
North America--History America--Discovery and exploration United States--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775 Northwest Passage Arctic regions United States Canada |
Genre |
Books |
Type |
Text |
File Format | application/pdf |
Language | English |
Notes | Pages 384-385 missing in print. Alternative title from cover page. Other Copies: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/869181218 |
Identifier | E179 .M98 II-0393-V02 |
Collection |
British Columbia Historical Books Collection |
Source | University of British Columbia. Library. Rare Books and Special Collections. E179 .M98 |
Date Available | 2016-06-06 |
Provider | Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library |
Rights | Images provided for research and reference use only. For permission to publish, copy, or otherwise distribute these images please contact digital.initiatives@ubc.ca. |
Catalogue Record | http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=1749151 |
DOI | 10.14288/1.0304629 |
Aggregated Source Repository | CONTENTdm |
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