230 Obsei nations on the late Expedition of Capt. Parry , 
eoverer, and is utterly foreign to any idea of this being already 
a great commercial thoroughfare. 
In coming to the annals of solid and well authenticated dis- 
covery, we at once find Britain taking the lead. Even during 
the reign of Henry VIII., two expeditions were fitted out, in 
1529 and 1536; but they did not reach beyond the coast of 
Labrador. The age of Elizabeth was that in which the mari- 
time glory of Britain first shone unrivalled. Under her direc- 
tion, Martin Frobisher, one of the earliest of the series of our 
great naval men, was sent three different voyages to search for 
a western passage. Frobisher beat through the sounds and in- 
lets of Hudson’s Bay, but unfortunately fell in with a species 
of black stone, which, by a certain process, afforded some par- 
ticles of what was imagined to be gold. This black stone be- 
came instantly the primary object ; and he did not consider 
himself as having at all failed, when he brought home his ships 
loaded with this ideal treasure. As its futility, however, soon 
became manifest, a general feeling of disappointment attached 
itself to the voyage, of which it had been the sole result ; and 
for some time no further attempt was made. 
In 1583, Sir Humphry Gilbert, a gentleman of good lineage, 
and of high spirit and enterprise, undertook a voyage for the 
discovery of the passage. It was most unfortunate ; the princi- 
pal vessel was wrecked off Sable Island, and most of the crew 
perished. Sir Humphry himself, attempting to return to Eu- 
rope in a little bark, was wrecked near the Azores. 
The nation was not discouraged. In 1583, Davis commen- 
ced his three voyages, which made an important addition to our 
knowledge of these northern tracts. Having discovered and 
passed through the strait which bears his name, he traced the 
coast of Baffin’s Bay as far as Sanderson’s Hope. On the 
west he looked twice into the broad entrance of Cumberland 
Strait ; but his imperfect means, and the desertion of his com- 
rades, prevented him from penetrating through it. Still, on his 
return from his third voyage, he reported the northwest passage 
as a thing in his apprehension quite probable. Notwithstand- 
ing this statement, repeated disappointment again produced a 
period of despondence and suspended enterprise, 
