IMPERFECT COLONIZATION 21 



one hundred men. Davys's voyages were undertaken under 

 the auspices of Sir Humphrey Gilbert's brother Adrian 

 Gilbert, of Sir Walter Ralegh, and of other founders of our 

 Colonial Empire. Weymouth's, Knight's, Hudson's, Button's, 

 Baffin's, and Fox's patrons were the founders of our East Indian 

 Empire ; Davys was assisted by the merchants of Exeter ; 

 James was assisted by those merchants of Bristol, to whom the 

 first permanent settlements in Newfoundland were due ; and 

 great colonial statesmen like Sir Francis Walsingham, Robert 

 Cecil Earl of Salisbury, and Henry Earl of Southampton, 

 promoted the expeditions of Davys, Hudson, and Button. 

 The search for the north-west passage was the outcome of 

 a great national effort in which colonizing companies and 

 enthusiasts took part ; but the north-westers devoted their 

 attention to the land north of Newfoundland, ' the land that 

 God allotted to Cain,' as Cartier described it ; and although 

 Best's motto that ' no land is uninhabitable ' may be true, this 

 particular land was found unfit for serious colonization, so 

 that the colonizing aspirations of the north-westers have been 

 forgotten in the same way as the East Indian aspirations of 

 the colonizers, whose quest led them to the south of New- 

 foundland, have been forgotten. Although the north-westers 

 founded no colonies, they discovered Hudson Strait and 

 Hudson Bay, and a new trade and industry. Thus Davys 

 and Hudson foresaw the possibilities of the fur-trade, which 

 in later days helped to keep Newfoundlanders in Newfoundland 

 or Labrador after the fishing season was over ; and Baffin 

 advocated whaling in the northern seas, thus opening up 

 a new industry on the east coast of Labrador, and, after Sir 

 John Ross re-explored Baffin Bay (1818), on the coasts of 

 the islands on the north of Labrador. But the fur-trade and 

 the whaling industry were not what these men originally in- 

 tended. Nor was the north-west passage effected until the 

 search for it was resumed in 1819, and crowned with success 

 in 1906. However, these latter-day searchers, who almost 



