JOHN CAB'-OT, a navigator of Bristol, England, by studying his charts and globes, decided that since the degrees of longitude diminish in length as they approach the pole, the shortest route to India must be by sailing northwest instead of west, as Columbus had done. He easily obtained royal authority to make the attempt. After a prosperous voyage, he came in sight of the sterile region of Labrador, and sailed along the coast for many leagues. This was _fourteen months before Columbus discovered the continent_. Cabot supposed that he had reached the territory of the "Great Cham," king of Tartary. Nevertheless, he landed, planted a banner, and took possession in the name of the king of England. On his return home he was received with much honor, was dressed in silk, and styled the "Great Admiral." The booty which he brought back consisted of only two turkeys and three savages. [Footnote: There is a map of Cabot's preserved at Paris, on which the land he first saw, and named _Prima Vista_, corresponds with Cape Breton. On it is the date 1494. If this be authentic, it will give the priority of the discovery of the American continent to Cabot by four years, and decide that Cape Breton, and not Labrador nor the Orinoco River, was first seen by European eyes. Very little is definitely known of John Cabot, and even the time and place of his birth and death are matters of conjecture.] SEBASTIAN CABOT continued his father's discoveries. During the same summer in which Columbus reached the shore of South America, Sebastian, then a youth of only twenty-one, discovered Newfoundland, and coasted as far south as Chesapeake Bay. As he found neither the way to India, nor gold, precious stones, and spices, his expedition was considered a failure. Yet, by his discoveries, England acquired a title to a vast territory in the new world. Though he gave to England a continent, no one knows his burial-place. We shall now follow the principal explorations made within the limits of the future United States, by the SPAINIARDS, FRENCH, ENGLISH, and DUTCH. The Spaniards explored mainly the southern portion of North America, the French the northern, and the English the middle portion along the coast. SPANISH EXPLORATIONS.