7. The year 1498 is the most marked in the whole history of discovery. In the month of May, VASCO DA GAMA, of Portugal, doubled the Cape of Good Hope and succeeded in reaching Hindostan. During the summer, the younger Cabot traced the eastern coast of North America through more than twenty degrees of latitude. In August, Columbus himself reached the mouth of the Orinoco. Of the three great discoveries, that of Cabot has proved to be by far the most important. 8. In 1493 Pope Alexander drew an imaginary line three hundred miles west of the Azores, and gave all countries west of that line to Spain. Henry VII. was a Catholic and did not care to have a conflict with his Church by claiming the New World. Henry VIII. adopted the same policy, and it was not until after the Reformation in England that the decision of the pope was disregarded. 9. During the reign of Edward VI. the spirit of adventure was again aroused. In 1548 the old admiral Sebastian Cabot quitted Seville and once more sailed under the English flag. In the reign of Queen Mary the power of England on the sea was not materially extended, but with the accession of Elizabeth a new impulse was given to voyage and adventure. [Sidenote: The Northwest Passage.] 10. MARTIN FROBISHER began anew the work of discovery. Three small vessels were fitted out to sail in search of a northwest passage to Asia. One ship was lost on the voyage, another returned to England, but the third sailed on as far north as Hudson Strait. A large island lying northward was named Meta Incognita. Frobisher entered the strait which has ever since borne his name, and then sailed for England, carrying with him an Esquimo and a stone said to contain gold. 11. London was greatly excited. In May, 1577, a new fleet departed for Meta Incognita to gather the precious metal. But the vessels did not sail as far as Frobisher had done on a previous voyage. The mariners sought the first opportunity to get out of these dangerous seas and return to England. 12. The English gold-hunters were not yet satisfied. Fifteen new vessels were fitted out, and in 1578 a third voyage was begun. Three of the ships, loaded with emigrants, were to remain in the promised land. The vessels, struggling through the icebergs, finally reached Meta Incognita and took on cargoes of _dirt_. With several tons of the supposed ore under the hatches, the ships set sail for home. The El Dorado of the Esquimos had proved a failure. 13. In 1577 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE, following Magellan, became a terror to the Spanish vessels in the Pacific. He hoped to find a northwest passage, and thence sail eastward around the continent. He proceeded northward as far as Oregon, when his sailors began to shiver with the cold, and the enterprise was given up. Drake passed the winter of 1579-80 in a harbor on the coast of Mexico. [Illustration: Sir Walter Raleigh.] [Sidenote: Plans for Colonization.]