The successful trade which the bold fishermen of France carried on, and some of the natives whom they had taken into their own country, turned the attention of Francis I. to the subject of discovery. He fitted out a fleet under the command of John Verrazzani, a Florentine, commissioned to explore for the French monarch these new realms of wonder and hope. Verrazzani sailed by way of Madeira, and after a most stormy voyage, had the satisfaction of discovering land in a latitude which was unknown to any European navigator. Sailing for a long time in search of harbourage, he at length cast anchor on the coast of North Carolina. The natives had as yet seen no white man; they were of a gentle and peaceful character, dressed in skins, and ornamented with garlands of feathers. Coasting northward, he relates, in his letter to Francis I., that nothing could equal the beauty of the country; the climate was soft and balmy, the groves full of beautiful trees and flowers which diffused a delicious odour. The red colour of the earth, and the fragrance of the groves, suggested at once the idea of gold dust and the spices of the East. Still advancing northward, they reached Nova Scotia, where natives of another character met them. From this point he returned homeward; his narrative of this coasting voyage being the earliest record of that part of the new world now extant. Of Verrazzani’s further discoveries nothing is known, although it is said that he visited the coast of America three times. He is believed to have perished at sea. Ten years afterwards, the Admiral Chabot, whose duties brought him into connexion with the Newfoundland fishermen, became interested in the subject of discovery. Jaques Cartier, a mariner of St. Malo, was despatched with two ships on the commission to explore those northern coasts of the new world already so familiar to the fishermen. Cartier made a wonderfully speedy voyage. In twenty days from leaving St. Malo, he was on the coast of Newfoundland, and after partly circumnavigating the island, he planted a cross bearing the arms of France, in token of having taken possession for that country. Sailing within the magnificent bay on its west, he reached the estuary of a vast river, which he ascended, until he could see land on both sides; further he was unable to advance, being unprepared to winter there. He turned his face homeward, therefore, and in thirty days reached St. Malo, carrying two natives with him.