twenty-five English vessels on the coast of Iceland, which gives us an idea of how brisk their commerce must have been. From this point the Cabots proceeded westward, toiling through mountains of ice, but confident of final success.
June 24.
On the 24th of June they saw land which they supposed to be an island, but, finding it ran a long distance towards the north, and getting short of provision and into trouble with their crew, they turned back to England. Cabot says in his journal that it was a great disappointment to them. They were absent from England only about three months, and had discovered a continent, but its bleak, uninviting coasts loomed up only as a hateful barrier in the way of the diamond fields beyond.
1498.
The Portuguese were at this time the most enlightened nation of Europe. They had very materially enlarged the scope of geographical knowledge by daring voyages along the coast of Africa, under the direction of Prince Henry, third son of John the Great. Their vessels were small but well-built, and their seamen dashed safely along tempestuous shores and explored inlets and rivers. Don Emanuel the Fortunate made prodigious efforts to extend the commerce and dominion of Portugal, and his pet problem was a passage to India around Africa. The exploit was actually performed in 1498 by Vasco da Gama. He returned to Portugal with his four ships laden with spices, silks, and other attractive merchandise. All Europe was in the wildest excitement, and the unsuccessful venture of the Cabots was hardly noticed. A papal bull granted to Portugal the sole right to trade in the Indies, which were treated as new discoveries. Alas for Venice! It was her mortal stab, and from that day her prosperity rapidly waned. The Portuguese established themselves at the East, made Cochin their capital, appointed Vasco da Gama governor of the colony, and for nearly a century they supplied the markets of Europe with the Indian produce. Thus the actual results of immediate communication with the Oriental world completely overshadowed the possible advantages to be reaped from lands lying to the west, which were still regarded as merely the unsurmounted obstacle in the path to the Orient. The public could not be satisfied by tales of snow-bound or rocky shores without so much as a city or a castle over which to float a banner.
1503.
But little by little the natural wealth of these western regions began to be recognized. At what period the fisheries of Newfoundland were first known to the hardy seamen of Brittany and Normandy it is impossible to determine with accuracy; it must have been as early as the commencement of the sixteenth century. Cod, mackerel, and herring were found in abundance, and the demand for
