HUDSON'S VOYAGES. 481 



which posterity desirous of perpetuating his fame haa called 

 Tasmania, saw the northern extremity of New Zealand emerge 

 from the ocean, and finally unveiled to the world the hidden 

 beauties of Tonga. 



, While the Dutch navigators were thus dissipating the darkness 

 of Australia, Hudson and Baffin were immortalising their names 

 in the Arctic Ocean. 



In the year 1627 Henry Hudson made the first attempt to 

 steer right on to the pole, and to cross to India over the axis of 

 the globe. He reached the northern extremity of Spitzbergen, 

 but all his attempts to penetrate deeper into the polar ocean 

 were baffled by the mighty ice-fields that opposed his progress. 

 But though he failed in his undertaking to sail through the 

 region of eternal winter to the spicy groves of India, yet the 

 numerous morses and seals he had seen basking on the coast of 

 Spitzbergen opened such cheering prospects of future profit, 

 that the "Muscovy Company," which Lad fitted out the ex- 

 pedition, was by no means discontented with the issue of his 

 voyage. 



Three years after we find the gallant Hudson once more 

 attempting to discover the north-west passage in a vessel of 

 fifty-five tons, provisioned for six months. The crew which he 

 commanded was unfortunately utterly unworthy of such a leader, 

 and quailed as soon as they had to encounter the fog and 

 ice-fields of the Frozen Ocean. 



" And now there came both mist and snow, 

 And it grew wondrous cold ; 

 And ice mast-high came floating by, 

 As green as emerald. 



And through the drifts the snowy clifts 



Did send a dismal sheen, 

 Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken, 



The ice was all between." 



But, in spite of the murmurs and repinings of his faint-hearted 

 followers, the dauntless commander pressed on through the strait 

 which bears his name, until at last his little bark emerged into 

 a boundless deep blue sea. Hudson's Bay lay before him, but 

 the delighted discoverer was happy in the belief that the grand 

 object of his voyage was attained, and the shortest road to India 



