of Harwich on May 31, 1577, following the
route by the north of Scotland. A week's sail brought the ships 'with
a merrie wind' to the Orkneys. Here a day or so was spent in obtaining
water. The inhabitants of these remote islands were found living in
stone huts in a condition almost as primitive as that of American
savages. 'The good man, wife, children, and other members of the
family,' wrote Master Settle, one of Frobisher's company, 'eat and
sleep on one side of the house and the cattle on the other, very
beastly and rude.' From the Orkneys the ships pursued a very northerly
course, entering within the Arctic Circle and sailing in the perpetual
sunlight of the polar day. Near Iceland they saw huge pine trees
drifting, roots and all, across the ocean. Wild storms {16} beset them
as they passed the desolate capes of Greenland. At length, on July 16,
the navigators found themselves off the headlands of Meta Incognita.

Here Frobisher and his men spent the summer. The coast and waters were
searched as far as the inclement climate allowed. The savages were
fierce and unfriendly. A few poor rags of clothing found among the
rocks bespoke the fate of the sailors of the year before. Fierce
conflicts with the natives followed. Several were captured. One woman
so hideous and wrinkled with age that the mariners thought her a witch
was released in pious awe. A younger woman, with a baby at her back,
was carried captive to the English ships. The natives in return
watched their opportunity and fell fiercely on the English as occasion
offered, leaping headlong from the rocks into the sea rather than
submit to capture.

To the perils of conflict was added the perpetual danger of moving ice.
Even in the summer seas, great gales blew and giant masses of ice drove
furiously through the strait. No passage was possible. In vain
Frobisher landed on both the northern and the southern sides and tried
to penetrate the rugged country. All about the land was barren and
forbidding. {17} Mountains of rough stone crowned with snow blocked
the way. No trees were seen and no vegetation except a scant grass
here and there upon the flatter spaces of the rocks.

But neither the terrors of the ice nor the fear of the savages could
damp the ardour of the explorers. The landing of Frobisher and his men
on Meta Incognita was carried out with something of the pomp, dear to
an age of chivalrous display, that marked the landing of Col