194 



Inasmuch 



Frobisher s 

 Bay 



First Natives 



great gut, bay, or passage, dividing as it were two 

 mainlands or continents asunder. The land upon 

 his right hand as he sailed westward he judged 

 to be the Continent of Asia, and there to be di 

 vided from the mainland of America, which lieth 

 upon the left hand over against the same.&quot; 

 Under this delusion, with the conviction that the 

 desired Northwest Passage was before him; 

 Frobisher in imitation of Magellan at the other 

 extremity of the continent called the &quot;great 

 gut, bay, or passage, Frobisher s Straits.&quot; On 

 the return of the second expedition Queen Eliza 

 beth it may be remembered, named the territory 

 Meta Incognita; it is the Baffin Land of our pre 

 sent maps, and &quot; Frobisher s Strait&quot; is Fro 

 bisher s Bay. 



The accounts of the dealings with the natives 

 of the early voyagers in search of the North 

 west passage, afford refreshing reading; the 

 story of the first contact of the white man with 

 the red Indian is reversed. The strangers were, 

 on the whole, kind, unright, and just; while the 

 natives were cunning, double-dealing, and treach 

 erous. 



&quot;In this place,&quot; says the writer &quot;he saw and 

 perceived sundry tokens of the peoples resorting 

 thither. And being ashore upon the top of a hill, 

 he perceived a number of small things floating 

 in the sea afar off, which he supposed to be por 

 poises or seals, or some kind of strange fish; but 

 coming nearer, he discovered them to be men in 

 small boats made of leather. And before he could 



