South America, John Cabot, a Venetian in the service
of King Henry VII., from the deck of the good ship Matthew, of Bristol,
descried land somewhere on the coast either of Labrador or of Nova
Scotia. Cabot, of course, supposed this prima vista of his to belong to
Asia, and expected to reach Cipango next voyage. So late as 1543 Jean
Allefonsce, on reaching New England, took it for the border of Tartary.
Andre Thevet, in 1515, in a pretended voyage to Maine, places Cape
Breton on the west coast of Asia. This confusion probably explains the
tradition of Norumbega as a great city, and of other populous and
wealthy cities in the newly found land. Men transferred ideas of Eastern
Asia to this American shore.

[1516]

The subsequent year Cabot made a second voyage, inspecting the American
coast northward till icebergs were met, southward to the vicinity of
Albemarle Sound. Possibly in his first expedition, probably in the
second, John Cabot was accompanied by his more famous son, Sebastian.
For many years after the Cabots, England made little effort to explore
the New World. Henry VII. was a Catholic. He therefore submitted to the
Pope's bull which gave America to Spain. Henry VIII. had married
Catherine of Aragon. He allowed Ferdinand, her father, to employ the
skill and daring of Sebastian Cabot in behalf of Spain. It was reserved
for the splendid reign of Elizabeth to show what English courage and
endurance could accomplish in extending England's power.

[Illustration: Sebastian Cabot. From an old print.]

[1576]

Like those before him, Martin Frobisher was in earnest to find the
northwest passage, in whose existence all navigators then fully
believed. Like Columbus, he vainly sought friends to aid him. At last,
after he had waited fifteen years in vain, Dudley, the Earl of Warwick,
helped him to an outfit. His little fleet embraced the Gabriel, of
thirty-five tons, the Michael of thirty, and a pinnace of ten. As it
swept to sea past Greenwich, the Queen waved her hand in token of
good-will. Sailing northward near the Shetland Isles, Frobisher passed
the southern shore of Greenland and came in sight of Labrador, 1576.

He effected a landing at Hall's Island, at the mouth of the bay now
called by his name, but which he thought to be a strait, his discovery
thus strengthening his belief in the possibility of reaching Asia by
this westward course. He sailed up the bay as far as Butcher's Island,
where five of his men w