ust opened with calm seas and
milder weather. Frobisher and his men were able to land in the ship's
boat. They found before them a desolate and uninviting prospect, a
rock-bound coast fringed with islands and with the huge masses of
grounded icebergs.

For nearly a month Frobisher's ship stood on and off the coast. Fresh
water was taken on board. In a convenient spot the ship was beached
and at low tide repairs were made and leaks were stopped in the
strained timbers of her hull. In the third week, canoes of savages
were seen, and presently the natives were induced to come on board the
_Gabriel_ and barter furs for looking-glasses and trinkets. The
savages were 'like Tartars with long black hair, broad faces, and flat
noses.' They seemed friendly and well-disposed. Five of the English
{14} sailors ventured to join the natives on land, contrary to the
express orders of the captain. They never returned, nor could any of
the savages be afterwards induced to come within reach. One man only,
paddling in the sea in his skin canoe, was enticed to the ship's side
by the tinkling of a little bell, and so seized and carried away. But
his own sailors, though he vainly searched the coast, Frobisher saw no
more. After a week's delay, the _Gabriel_ set sail (on August 26) for
home, and in spite of terrific gales was safely back at her anchorage
at Harwich early in October.

Contrary to what we should suppose, the voyage was viewed as a
brilliant success. The queen herself named the newly found rocks and
islands Meta Incognita. Frobisher was at once 'specially famous for
the great hope he brought of a passage to Cathay.' A strange-looking
piece of black rock that had been carried home in the _Gabriel_ was
pronounced by a metallurgist, one Baptista Agnello, to contain gold;
true, Agnello admitted in confidence that he had 'coaxed nature' to
find the precious metal. But the rumour of the thing was enough. The
cupidity of the London merchants was added to the ambitions of the
court. There was no trouble about finding {15} ships and immediate
funds for a second expedition.

The new enterprise was carried out in the following year (1577). The
_Gabriel_ and the _Michael_ sailed again, and with them one of the
queen's ships, the _Aid_. This time the company included a number of
soldiers and gentlemen adventurers. The main object was not the
discovery of the passage but the search for gold.

The expedition sailed out