re all made of seals'
skins and birds' skins, their buskins, their hose, their gloves, all
being commonly sewed and well dressed."

[Illustration: AN ESKIMO. From a water-colour drawing by John White,
about 1585, who may have seen Eskimo either in Frobisher's or Davis's
voyages.]

These simple Greenlanders who worshipped the sun gave Davis to
understand that there was a great and open sea to the north-west, and
full of hope he sailed on. But he soon abandoned the search, for the
season was advancing, and, crossing the open sea, he entered the broad
channel named after him Davis Strait, crossed the Arctic Circle, and
anchored under a promontory, "the cliffs whereof were orient as gold,"
naming it Mount Raleigh. Here they found four white bears of "a
monstrous bigness," which they took to be goats or wolves, till on
nearer acquaintance they were discovered to be great Polar bears.
There were no signs of human life, no wood, no grass, no earth, nothing
but rock, so they coasted southwards, and to their joy they found an
open strait to the west free from ice. Eagerly they sailed the little
_Moonshine_ and _Sunshine_ up the opening, which they called
Cumberland Sound, till thick fogs and adverse winds drove them back.
Winter was now advancing, the six months' provisions were ended, and,
satisfied with having found an open passage westward, Davis sailed
home in triumph to fit out another expedition as soon as spring came
round. His news was received with delight. "The North-West Passage
is a matter nothing doubtful," he affirmed, "but at any time almost
to be passed, the sea navigable, void of ice, the air tolerable, and
the waters very deep."

With this certainty of success the merchants readily fitted out
another expedition, and Davis sailed early in May 1586 with four ships.
The little _Moonshine_ and _Sunshine_ were included in the new fleet,
but Davis himself commanded the _Mermaid_ of one hundred and twenty
tons. The middle of June found him on the west coast of Greenland,
battling his way with great blocks of ice to his old quarters at Gilbert
Sound. What a warm welcome they received from their old Eskimo friends;
"they rowed to the boat and took hold on the oars and hung about with
such comfortable joy as would require a long discourse to be uttered."
Followed by a wondering crowd of natives eager to help him up and down
the rocks, Davis made his way inland to find an inviting country, "with
earth and grass such a