26 
EXPEDITION OF FROBISHER. 
he had the courage to attempt to explore the navigation of an 
ocean, where he would have to contend with some of the most 
appalling dangers, which can befall the mariner. As our adven¬ 
turers passed Greenwich in their tiny cockle-boats, Queen Eliza¬ 
beth, who then held her court there, gave them an encouraging 
farewell, by waving her hand to them from the window. On 
rf ihe 11th July, Frobisher discovered land, which he supposed to 
be the Friezeland of Zeno ; but the land, which he believed to be 
an Island, was evidently the southern part of Greenland. He 
was compelled by the floating ice to direct his course to the south¬ 
west, till he reached Labrador. Sailing to the northward along 
this coast, he entered a strait in latitude 63° 8', which was after¬ 
wards named Lumley’s Inlet. The Esquimaux in their boats or 
kajaks, were mistaken by onr voyagers, for porpoises, or some 
kind of strange fish. With one of these “strange infiddeles, whose 
like was never seen, read, or heard of before,” Frobisher set sail 
for England, where he arrived on the 2nd October, “highly com¬ 
mended of all men for his great and notable attempt, but specially 
famous for the great hope he brought of the passage to Cathaia.” 
One of his seamen chanced to bring home with him a stone, as a 
memorial of his voyage to those distant countries, but his wife, 
throwing it into the fire, “ glistened with a bright marquesset of 
gold/' This accident was soon noised abroad, and the gold re¬ 
finers of London, being called upon to assay the stone, reported 
that it contained a considerable quantity of gold. Thus the 
hope of finding gold, again became the incentive to distant voy¬ 
ages and geographical researches. 
The queen now openly favored the enterprise, and Frobisher 
again departed in May 1577, with three ships, one of which was 
equipped by her majesty. These ships were the Edith, the Gabriel, 
and the Michael. The expedition consisted of 120 persons, thirty 
of whom were miners, finers, and merchants; they were victualled 
for seven months. 
Elizabeth adopted a curious method of exploring new lands, 
and by a very ingenious method, made criminals useful to the 
state, as will appear by the following order, contained in “the 
instructions to our loving friend Martin Furbusher, gent., for 
