224 ATTEMPTS MADE TO DISCOVER 



the same purpose. Davis set sail on the 7th of June, and, 

 on the 20th July following, discovered the Island of Deso- 

 lation on the west coast of Greenland, where he found the 

 natives a civil, tractable, and honest people. Having 

 proceeded further to the^ northward, he discovered the 

 strait which has been since called after his name. Steer- 

 ing west, he came in sight of the land on the American 

 side of the strait, and called the lofty mountains which 

 he there observed Mount Raleigh. 



In his second voyage, in 1586, Capt. Davis advanced to 

 latitude 60° 47' N. where he again saw land, but met much 

 obstruction from the ice, which he avoided by running to 

 the westward, and afterwards succeeded in reaching the 

 54° 15' of latitude, where he also found an inoffensive 

 people. The land here appeared broken, with great sounds 

 and inlets. 



Captain Davis was again sent out in the following year, 

 when he penetrated to lat. 72° 12' N. where he discovered 

 a great many islands ; and from the number of women who 

 were there, he named them the Women's, or Frow Islands. 

 A remarkable promontory here he called Hope Sanderson. 

 This was the greatest distance to the northward that Davis 

 ever reached. Steering westward from Hope Sanderson, 

 he ran a distance of forty leagues, and again fell in with 

 Mount Raleigh. Davis, to the last, remained confident 

 of the practicability of a north-west passage, 



