6. In the West India Islands also the English, in spite of the Spaniards, gained a footing, _Barbados_ being their earliest settlement in that quarter. The first recorded visit of Englishmen was in the year 1605, when the crew of the "Olive Blossom" landed, and erected a cross as a memorial of the event, cutting at the same time upon the bark of a tree, "James, King of England and of this island." Barbados was the first English colony in which the sugar-cane was planted, and sugar soon became a great source of wealth to the planters. The civil war in the reign of Charles I. induced many Englishmen to cast in their lot with the settlers of this little island in the summer seas. Many of the West India Islands have changed hands more than once, but Barbados from its first settlement, in 1624, has remained in our possession. 7. _Jamaica_, the largest of our West India colonies, fell as easily as a ripe fruit into English hands in the days of Cromwell's rule. Cromwell took great pride in his new colony, and aided the colonists very materially by sending some thousands of Scottish prisoners of war after his victory at Worcester, to work in the sugar plantations. These men after a few years became free labourers, and many worked their way, as Scotsmen know how, to high place and fortune. 8. _Newfoundland_ claims to be the oldest British colony. True, it was taken possession of by Gilbert in the name of Queen Elizabeth, but no regular settlement was made there until long afterwards. The island was inhabited mainly by a floating population that came and went. Some thousands of fishermen came in spring, and on the approach of winter re-embarked with the cod they had caught and cured. The English government wanted no regular settlers here. They wished to preserve the island simply as a fishing-station, and the fisheries as nurseries for the navy. In spite of all discouragement settlers constantly increased, but more than a hundred years passed, after Gilbert took possession, before the first governor was appointed. 9. The country around _Hudson Bay_ was claimed by the English by right of discovery. Hudson Strait and Bay recall the name of Henry Hudson, who, in the service of King James, first entered and explored these seas. His fate is, perhaps, the saddest that any of the brave men, engaged in discoveries in these icy regions, have suffered. The crew mutinied, and Hudson, with his son and seven others, was turned adrift in a small boat and never afterwards heard of. 10. The Hudson Bay Company was authorised by Charles II. in 1670, to take possession of the lands around Hudson Bay. It was soon found that the country was too cold for colonists to settle in it, but that a valuable fur trade could be carried on. "Forts," or trading-stations, were accordingly set up on the shores of the Bay, and trade was opened with the Indian trappers who came once a year with their annual catch of furs.