Michael Cortereal, grand door-keeper of the king Don Manuel, seeing himself thus deprived of a brother for whom he entertained the warmest affection, would not entrust the task of sending in search of him to any other, and therefore he himself set sail with three vessels from Lisbon, on the 10th of May, 1502.

Antonio Galvam informs us that, upon their reaching the coast, they discovered many rivers and openings, and each vessel entered a separate one, with the understanding that they should all meet at a certain point on the 20th of August. Two of the vessels did so meet, but Miguel de Cortereal did not appear, nor was any thing more ever heard of him; and the only memorial of his and his brother's fate is the name of Cortereal given to the country.

When these two vessels returned to Lisbon with the melancholy news of the loss of this second Cortereal, there remained yet a third brother, Vasco Eanes, master of the household, and one of the privy council of king Don Manuel, who immediately prepared to set out in search of his lost brothers; but no entreaty, no influence, could obtain the king's consent, who constantly replied that in this undertaking he had already lost two of his most faithful servants and valuable friends, and was resolved at least to preserve the third; he very readily, however, granted leave for other vessels being prepared and dispatched on this

search; but they also returned without ligence of these unfortunate navigators.

any intel

Notwithstanding these disasters, those voyages were nevertheless productive of great advantages to Portugal: they led to the establishment of a settlement on Newfoundland and to the prosecution of very extensive fisheries, in which were employed, at one period, between two and three hundred vessels from the ports of Vianna and Aveiro alone. But when Portugal had passed under the dominion of Spain, her commerce languished and her marine was destroyed, from the combined effect of domestic oppression and foreign war; and the ports both of Aveiro and Vianna are at present, and have been for many years, by sheer neglect, nearly choaked with sand and mud, and can no longer receive vessels of burthen.

The family of Cortereal has long been extinct, but it was for many years one of the most distinguished in Portugal. The family name was originally Costa or Coste, and of French extraction, having come to Portugal along with the Count Alfonso Henriquez, under whom one of the Costas served in the taking of Lisbon and conquering of Portugal from the Moors.

The family settled in Algarve; and when John Vaz da Costa (some say his father) came to the Portugueze court, he used to live in such a style of splendour and hospitality, that the king observed to him, "Your presence, Costa, in my court,

makes it a real court." Others say, that it was not on account of his magnificent style of living, but of his personal prowess on a particular occasion. Two strangers having appeared at court, and, according to the manners of the times, challenged any of the courtiers to wrestle or combat, Cortereal immediately accepted the challenge, and civilly shook hands with his antagonist before the contest; but so prodigious was the strength of Cortereal (until then called Costa) that he squeezed the stranger's hand until he cried out, in the greatest pain, that he could not attempt to contend with a man possessed of such extraordinary strength; on which occasion the king is represented as being so delighted, that he exclaimed, "Truly, Costa, your presence makes my court a real court."

* Mém. de Littérat. Portug. vol. viii. Lisbon, 1812. An Essay, by Sebastaō Francisco Mendez Trigozo.

CHAPTER II.

DISCOVERIES MADE IN THE NORTH DURING THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

Aubert and Jacques Cartier-Estevan Gomez-The Dominus Vobiscum- The Trinitie and the Minion-Sir Hugh Willoughby-Richard Chancellor and Stephen Burrough -Sir Martin Frobisher Edward Fenton-Arthur Pit and Charles Jackman - Sir Humphrey Gilbert-John Davis Maldonado-Juan de Fuca-Barentz-William Adams.

AUBERT AND JACQUES CARTIER. 1508 and 1534.

THE French may almost be said to be the only maritime people of Europe who have seen, with apparent indifference, the exertions made by other nations for the discovery of a passage to India, either by the north-east or the north-west. Yet they very early availed themselves of the discoveries of others: for we find the Normans and Bretons, at the commencement of the sixteenth century, frequenting the banks of Newfoundland for the purpose of fishing; and one of their navigators, named AUBERT or HUBERT, sailed from Dieppe in 1508, in a ship called the Pensée, with the view, as it would seem, to examine the shores

of Newfoundland, from whence he brought back to Paris one of the natives; but it does not appear that any further discovery was the object of this voyage. Perhaps, however, the expedition of JACQUES CARTIER in 1534, under the auspices of Francis I., might be called a voyage of discovery, undertaken with the view of finding a short route to those countries, from which Spain derived so much wealth. The discovery he actually made, or at least claimed, was that of the gulf and river of Saint Lawrence; though there can be little doubt that Cortereal preceded him, and indeed it is generally supposed that even Velasco had been before him. The etymology of the word Canada (already noticed*) has even been ascribed to the visit of Velasco, with as little accuracy perhaps as that which had before been assigned by Cortereal. It is stated that the former, disappointed in not finding any of the precious metals, in hastening to return, called out to his people Aca nada, "there is nothing here," which words being repeated by the natives to the next Europeans they saw, it was concluded that Canada was the name of the country; but both may probably be thought too forced and fanciful to be real. Cartier, in the narrative of his second yoyage up the St. Lawrence in 1535, gives a more probable derivation of the name, when he says that an assemblage of houses or a town is called

* Under Art. "Cortereal."