THE SEA. 



and were seized by the natives, together with the boat, and none of them were heard 

 of more. Returning to the same spot a few days afterwards, one of the natives was enticed 

 alongside the vessel, when Frobisher, a very powerful man, caught him fast, " and plucked 

 him with maine force, boate and all, into his barke out of the sea. Whereupon, when 

 he found himself in captivity, for very choler and disdaine he bit his tongue in twaine 

 within his mouth ; notwithstanding he died not thereof, but lived until he came to England, 

 and then he died of cold which he had taken at sea." With this "strange infidele" 



FUOBI>HEK PASSING GREENWICH. 



Frobisher set sail for home, arriving at Harwich on October 2nd. It is very questionable 

 whether this, the first of Frobisher's arctic voyages, would not have been his last, but 

 for one little circumstance, which had been overlooked until the return of the expedition. 



Every one who visits a strange place likes to bring home some little memento, and 

 several of the men on this voyage had collected trifles flowers, moss, grass, pebbles, or 

 what not. One of them had obtained a piece of stone, " much like to a sea-cole in colour," 

 which being given to one of the adventurer's wives, she threw it in the fire, doubtless 

 to see whether it would burn. Whether from accident or not, she threw some vinegar 

 on it to quench the heat, when " it glistered with a bright marquesset of golde." This 

 incident soon became known abroad, and the stone was assayed, the "gold finers" reporting 

 it to contain a considerable quantity of gold. It seems almost ridiculous to think of a 



