[
86]
Pacific Ocean might yet be threaded among the icebergs
and northern islands of
America.
1 While
Frobisher was thus attempting to obtain wealth and fame on the north-east coast of
America, the western limits of the territory of the
United States became known.
Embarking on a voyage in quest of fortune,
Francis Drake acquired immense treasures as
a freebooter in the
Spanish harbors on the
Pacific, and, having laden his ship with spoils, gained for himself enduring glory by circumnavigating the globe.
But before following in the path which the ship of
Magellan had thus far alone dared to pursue,
Drake determined to explore the north-western coast of
America, in the hope of discovering the strait which connects the oceans.
With this view, he crossed the equator, sailed beyond the peninsula of
California, and followed the continent to the latitude of forty-three degrees, corresponding to the latitude of the southern borders of
New Hampshire.
2 Here the cold seemed
intolerable to men who had just left the tropics.
Despairing of success, he retired to a harbor in a milder latitude, within the limits of
Mexico; and, having refitted his ship, and named the country New Albion, he sailed for
England, through the seas of
Asia.
Thus was the southern part of the
Oregon territory first visited by Englishmen, yet not till after a voyage of the
Spanish from
Acapulco, commanded by
Cabrillo, a Portuguese, had traced the
American continent to within two and a half degrees of the mouth of
Columbia River;
3 while, thirteen years after the
