176. Second voyage. King Henry granted to John Cabot and his three sons, Lewis, Sebastian, and Sanctius, a commission dated March 5th, 1496, authorizing them to discover and take possession of unknown lands, and to erect his banners on any land by them already discovered. On the third of February, 1498, he gave them a license to take ships for this purpose in any port of the kingdom. In this year, Sebastian Cabot first discovered the continent, north of the St. Lawrence, since called Labrador, and coasted along the shore from the sixty-seventh degree of north latitude to Florida. He made a chart of the coast, which, for a century, hung under his picture in Whitehall. He was the first discoverer of the continent, for he made the land June 11, old style. Whereas, Columbus did not discover the continent till August 1.

177. Other voyages to North America. Cabot made a voyage to America, and proceeded south as far as Brazil, in 1516. One Verrazano was sent by the French king to make discoveries in 1524, and this man sailed along the North American coast to the fiftieth_degree of N. latitude. He named the country New France. In 1528, Narvaez, a Spaniard, sailed from Cuba, with four hundred men, to make a settlement in Florida. He landed and marched into the country of the Apalaches; and after traveling over two or three hundred leagues of country, with incredible fatigue, finding nc gold or silver of any value, harassed by the savages, and reduced by hunger to the necessity of feeding on humar flesh, most of them perished, and a few survivors onlv found their way to Mexico.

178. First attempt to settle Canada. One Cartier. a Frenchman, sailed to America and entered the bay of St. Lawrence, in 1534, with a view to find a northwest passage to India. He returned to France, but the next year he pursued the same course, entered the river, and penetrated as far as Montreal, where he built a fort and spent the winter. The next summer, he invited some of the natives on board of his ship, and treacherously carried them to France, to obtain from them a more perfect knowledge of the country. But the natives

were so much provoked, that the intercourse of the French traders with them was much retarded. At this time a settlement was not effected.

179. First settlement of Acadia. Cartier obtained from the French king, Francis I., a commission for discovering and planting new countries, dated October 17, 1540. The royal motive assigned in the commission was to introduce among the heathen the knowledge of the gospel and the Catholic faith. With this authority, Cartier, in connection with the Baron de Roberval, brought two hundred men and women to America and began a plantation four leagues above the haven of St. Croix. This territory was called Acadia by the French; but by the English has been called Nova Scotia.

180. Soto's expedition in Florida. Ferdinand de Soto had served under Pizarro in the conquest of Peru, with such reputation as to obtain from the king of Spain the government of Cuba, with the rank of general of Florida, and marquis of the lands he should conquer. This enterprising commander collected a body of nine hundred foot and three hundred and fifty horse, for an expedition into Florida, where he landed in May, 1539. From the gulf of Mexico he penetrated into the country northward, and wandered about in search of gold, exposed to famine, hardships, and the opposition of the natives. He pursued his course north to the country inhabited by the Chickesaws, where he spent a winter. He then crossed the Mississippi, being the first European that had discovered that vast river. After a long march into the country westward, in which Soto died, the remains of his troops returned to the Mississippi. Here they built a number of small vessels, in which they sailed down the stream, and made the best of their way to Panuco, in Mexico, where they arrived in September 1543. In this extraordinary expedition, of more than four years' duration, in the wilderness, and among hostile savages, more than half the men perished. Such was the unconquerable desire of gold in the Spaniards of that age.

181. Settlement of South Carolina by the French. In 1562, John Ribaud, a French Protestant, during the

civil wars in France, formed a design of making a settlement in America, as a retreat from persecution. With two ships of war and a considerable body of forces, he sailed to America, made land in the thirtieth degree of latitude, and not finding a harbor, proceeded northerly, till he discovered a river, which he called May river, now Edisto. Near this he built a fort, in which he left a garrison of twenty-six men, and called it Caroline, returned to France.. During the following winter, the garrison mutined, assassinated Albert, their commander, and fearing they should not receive supplies, they embarked, in the spring, for Europe. Being becalmed for twenty days, and provisions failing, they appeased their hunger with human flesh; at last they were taken up by an English ship, landed in England, and conducted to the queen to relate their adventures.

182. Progress of the French settlement. In 1564, Laudoniere, another Frenchman, carried another colony and planted them on the same spot. But the Spaniards, jealous of this settlement, sent a large force, which destroyed the colony, putting to death old and young, in the most barbarous manner, a few only escaping to France. Melandez, the Spanish commander, left there a garrison of twelve hundred men. One Gourges, a native of Gascony, to revenge this outrage, equipped three ships, landed in 1568, and with the assistance of the Indians, took the fort, razed it to the ground, and slew most of the Spaniards. Not being in a situation to keep possession, the French returned to France, and both nations abandoned the country.

183. The voyages of Frobisher, Drake, and Gilbert. In 1567, captain Frobisher sailed from England for the purpose of discovering a north-west passage to the East Indies; but after penetrating the northern bays, as high as the sixty-third degree of latitude, the ice compelled him to desist, and he returned. Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe from 1577 to 1580; which was the second voyage round the world. In 1578, sir Humfrey Gilbert obtained a patent from queen Elizabeth, for discovering and taking possession of unknown lands, which patent was dated June 11. The conditions of

the grant were, that he and his associates should adhere to their allegiance, and observe the laws of England, and pay to the crown a fifth of the gold and silver ore which they should obtain. His first voyage was made in 1583. He discovered Newfoundland and the adjoining country, landed at St. John's, and took possession for the crown of England; but on his return his ship foundered, and he was lost.

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184. Sir Walter Ralegh's patent. Queen Elizabeth, by patent dated March 25, 1584, granted to sir Walter Ralegh authority to discover; occupy, and govern, mote, heathen, and barbarous countries," not previously possessed by any Christian prince or people. Under this commission, two ships, commanded by Amidas and Barlow, arrived in America, in July, 1584. These men landed at Roanoke, took possession of the country_for the crown of England, and called it Virginia. The spot where they took possession is now within the limits of North Carolina. They returned, and giving a flattering account of the country, sir Richard Grenville was sent the next year to begin a settlement.

185. First attempts to settle Virginia. The adventurers, under sir Richard Grenville, were one hundred and seven, who fixed their residence on the isle of Roanoke, and were left there under the command of Mr. Lane. These persons, rambling into the country without due caution, or provoking the Indians by their lawless conduct, many were cut off by the savages; others perished with want. The survivors were taken to England by sir Francis Drake, the following year, after his expedition against the Spaniards, in which he sacked St. Jago, in the Cape de Verds, pillaged St. Domingo took Carthagena, and forced the inhabitants to ransom it: then took and destroyed the fort at St. Augustine in Florida.

186. Progress of the settlements in Virginia. Within a fortnight after the first colony had departed for England, sir Richard Grenville arrived with provisions and an additional number of adventurers. Not finding the former colony, he left a few people and returned to England. In 1587, a third expedition was prosecuted

under Mr. White, with three ships, and one hundred and fifteen persons were left at Roanoke. It was three years before any supplies were sent to maintain this colony, and when governor White arrived in 1590, no Englishmen were to be found, and it was evident that they had perished with hunger, or been slain by the savages. The last adventurers therefore returned, and all further attempts to establish a colony in Virginia were postponed.

187. Gosnold's voyage to America. In the year 1602, captain Gosnold sailed from England with a small number of adventurers, arrived at cape Cod, and coasting southward, landed on Cattehunk, the most southerly of the Elizabeth isles. On a small isle, in a fresh water pond, within the large isle, he built a hut, and remained in it about six weeks. But his men not being willing to be left there, they all returned and effected nothing. Gosnold gave cape Cod its name, from the abundance of cod fish about it. He also named the Elizabeth islands, and Martha's Vineyard. But the isle which he called Martha's Vineyard is a small isle near it, now called Noman's land; the name has since been transferred to the present isle of that name, which he called Dover Cliff, from the resemblance of the high steep bank, now called Gay Head, to the cliffs of Dover in England.

188. French settlements. The French king, by letters patent, dated Nov. 8th, 1603, granted to De Monts, the sole jurisdiction over the country called Acadia, extending "from the fortieth to the forty-sixth degree of latitude," with the title of lieutenant general, with power to appoint officers civil and military, to build forts, towns and the like. Under this patent, were made the French settlements on the Lawrence and in Nova Scotia, which afterwards proved the cause and the scene of wars between France and England, and the source of innumerable calamities to the English colonies, until the peace of 1763.

189. Voyages of Davis and Weymouth. In 1585, Capt. John Davis made an attempt to find a north west passage to India, in which he proceeded to the sixty