26 SIR HUGH WILLOUGHBY FROBISHER. 



noble-minded. Thus died the brothers Cortereal ; and 

 this is all that is known of their fate to the present hour. 

 Sir Hugh Willoughby was sent out by the Muscovy 

 Company with two ships to find a north-east passags 

 " to Kathay and India ; ' and pushed his way as far as 

 Nova Zembla, from whence, being stopped by ice, he 

 returned to a lower latitude, and in September, 1553, put 

 in at the mouth of the river Arzina, in Lapland. A mel- 

 ancholy interest attended this event, little anticipated 

 by the unfortunate leader when he wrote in his journal 



" Thus remaining in this haven the space of a weeke, 

 seeing the yeare farre spent, and also very evill wether 



as frost, snowe, and haile, as though it had beene the 

 deepe of winter, wee thought it best to winter there.'' 

 The dreary season passed away, and in the following 

 year some Russian fishermen found Sir Hugh and his 

 crew all frozen to death. The other vessel, commanded 

 by Richard Chancelor, reached Archangel, and opened 

 the way for commercial intercourse with Russia. 



Next in importance are the three voyages by Fro- 

 bisher, in 1516-78. He discovered the entrance to Hud- 

 son's Strait, and explored that still known as Fro- 

 bisher's, but failed in penetrating to the westward. 

 Great hopes were excited by some lumps of yellow glis- 

 tening ore which he brought home, and in his later 

 voyages gold-mines were not less to be searched for 

 than the north-west passage. The study of natural 

 phenomena was not, however, altogether lost sight of, 

 as appears by a passage from the instructions issued 

 under the authority of Elizabeth for the gallant seaman's 

 guidance. " Yf yt be possible," so runs the official 

 document, f( you shall leave some persons to winter in 

 the straight, giving them instructions how they may 

 observe the nature of the ayre and state of the coun- 

 trie, and what tyme of the yeare the straight is most free 



