COUNTRY AND HISTORY 149 



point ; and on the south, Cabot Strait divides it from 

 Cape Breton and Nova Scotia. The nearest land to the 

 eastward is Ireland, about 1600 miles away. Strategically, 

 it is placed so that it controls practically the entire East- 

 ward shipping of Canada, and is therefore of the greatest 

 value as a part of the British Empire. It has the distinction 

 of being the oldest British colony, and the beginning of 

 her Western possessions. Its discovery by John Cabot, a 

 Venetian, took place in 1497, about five years after 

 Columbus had startled the world by proclaiming the 

 existence of the Western Hemisphere. Henry VII., seeing 

 the possibility of acquiring glory for his country, granted 

 Cabot a charter to set up " our banners and ensigns in 

 every village, town, castle, isle or mainland of them newly 

 found," though history does not say that he offered any 

 other " help " to the captain and crew of the little ship 

 Mathew^ which sailed from Bristol on its venturesome voyage 

 to unknown regions. Instead of help, we find that he 

 demanded in return for the valuable charter nearly a 

 quarter of all the profits resulting from the voyage. 



Cabot's first voyage led to the discovery of Newfoundland, 

 on which island he does not record having found many towns 

 or castles upon which to plant the banners of the King ; but he 

 brought back wonderful stories of the fish which abounded 

 in the waters of the island. In return for the important 

 discovery, the most generous monarch rewarded him with 

 the sum of ten pounds. The pecuniary gains from explora- 

 tion in those days were not equal to what they are now, when 

 a single lecture on any great geographical achievement will 

 bring twenty or thirty times as much as the bold adventurer 

 of olden times received altogether. 



Newfoundland proved a great attraction to the fishermen 

 of Western Europe, for in no place in the world has such 



