trimming sails, already referred to, came
first, when Fletcher succeeded in doing what no one had ever done
before. There can be no doubt that the lateen sail, which goes back at
least to the early Egyptians, had the germ of a fore-and-after in it.
But the germ was never evolved into a strong type fit for tacking; and
no one before Fletcher ever seems to have thought it possible to lay a
course at all unless the wind was somewhere abaft the beam. So England
can fairly claim this one epoch-making nautical invention, which might
be taken as the most convenient dividing-line between the sailing craft
of ancient and of modern times.

The French had little to do with Canada for the rest of the sixteenth
century. Jacques Carrier's best successor as a hydrographer was {51}
Roberval's pilot, Saint-Onge, whose log of the voyage up the St
Lawrence in 1542 is full of information. He more than half believes in
what the Indians tell him about unicorns and other strange beasts in
the far interior. And he thinks it likely that there is unbroken land
as far as Tartary. But, making due allowance for his means of
observation, the claim with which he ends his log holds good regarding
pilotage: 'All things said above are true.'

The English then, as afterwards, were always encroaching on the French
wherever a seaway gave them an opening. In 1578 they were reported to
be lording it off Newfoundland, though they had only fifty vessels
there, as against thirty Basque, fifty Portuguese, a hundred Spanish,
and a hundred and fifty French. Their numbers and influence increased
year by year, till, in 1600, they had two hundred sail manned by eight
thousand men. They were still more preponderant farther north and
farther south. Frobisher, Davis, Hudson, and other Englishmen left
their mark on what are now Arctic and sub-Arctic Canada. Hudson also
sailed up the river that bears his name, and thus did his share towards
founding the English colonies that soon began their ceaseless {52}
struggle with New France. But even before his time, which was just
after Champlain had founded Quebec, two great maritime events had
encouraged the English to aim at that command of the sea which they
finally maintained against all rivals. In 1579 Sir Francis Drake
sailed completely round the world. He was the first sea captain who
had ever done so, for Magellan had died in mid-career fifty-seven years
before. This notable feat was accompanied by his su