In Fact, As We Have Seen, The East Coast, Both Of
South And North America, In All Probability Would Not Have Been Visited So
Frequently, Or So Soon And Carefully Examined, Had It Not Been With The
Hope Of Finding Some Passage To India In That Direction.
But it was also
supposed, that a passage to India might be made by sailing round the north
of Europe to the east.
Hence arose the frequent attempts to find out what
are called the north-west and north-east passages; the most important of
which, that were made during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, we
shall now proceed to notice.
We have already mentioned the earliest attempts to find out the Straits of
Anian; the idea that they existed on the northwest coast of America seems
to have been abandoned for some time, unless we suppose, that a voyage
undertaken by the French in 1535 had for its object the discovery of these
straits: it is undoubted, that one of the objects of this voyage was to
find a passage to India. In this voyage, the river St. Lawrence was
examined as far as Montreal. In 1536, the English in vain endeavoured to
find a north-west passage to India. The result of this voyage was, however,
important in one respect; as it gave vise to the very beneficial fishery of
the English on the banks of Newfoundland. The French had already engaged in
this fishery.
In 1576, the idea of a north-west passage having been revived in England,
Frobisher was sent in search of it, with two barks of twenty-five tons
each, and one pinnace of ten tons.
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