20 
DISCOVERY OF GREENLAND. 
or land of codfish, which was afterwards called Newfoundland. 
The lucrative commerce, which was attached to the inexhaustible 
fisheries of the Newfoundland banks, had attracted the early 
notice of the Portuguese, and there is even reason to suppose 
that they had established settlements there, at the close of the 
fifteenth century. It cannot however be disputed, that a spirit 
of enterprise existed amongst the Portuguese at that time, which 
was not to be found in any other European nation; for in the 
majority of instances we find, that the English navigators were 
deterred from the prosecution of their discoveries, by circum¬ 
stances of so trivial and common a nature, that the veriest lubber 
of the present day, would not deem them worthy of his notice. 
If we compare the voyages of the Portuguese at the close of 
the fifteenth century, with those of the English, even at the close 
of the sixteenth, how striking the difference appears, as will be 
evinced by the following enterprise.—In the year 1600, Gaspar, 
the son of the before mentioned John Cortereal, sailed from 
Lisbon, and taking a northerly course from the Azores, dis¬ 
covered land in 60° north, to which he gave the name of Terra 
F'erde, that is Greenland. 
According to his own account, he employed nearly a year in 
this voyage, during which time, he had discovered between west 
and north-west, a continent, which had never been visited by any 
former navigator. He calculates that he sailed coast-wise above 
800 miles; but his further progress was impeded by mountains of 
ice, which so encumbered the sea, that his ship was in danger 
of being embedded. The continent alluded to by Cortereal, is 
evidently that which is now known by the name of Labrador, 
and to which the name of Carterealis, was given by the early 
geographical writers. 
In order to substantiate the truth of our former remarks, relative 
to the comparative courage and perseverance, evinced by the 
Portuguese and English navigators in their early voyages; we 
have only to confront the voyages of Gaspar Cortereal, with that 
of John Davis, which was undertaken to the same latitude, 
above a century afterwards. The former navigator spent nearly 
a year in the prosecution of his discoveries, and his progress was 
