But still, through all these difficulties and disasters, adventurers pressed on to the fertile Western desert, allured by liberal grants of land from the chartered companies. The undefined limits of these concessions led to constant and mischievous quarrels among the settlers, often attended with violence and bloodshed; from these causes the early progress of the colony was very slow. One hundred and twenty years after England had discovered North America, she only possessed a few scattered fishing huts along the shore. But events were now at hand which at once stamped a peculiar character upon the colonization of this part of the New World,[312] and which were destined to exercise an influence upon the human race of an importance even yet incalculable. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 288: See Preface to Bancroft's _History of the United States_.] [Footnote 289: "Sir Humphrey had published, in 1576, a treatise concerning a northwest passage to the East Indies, which, although tinctured with the pedantry of the age, is full of practical sense and judicious argument."--P.F. Tytler's _Life of Sir Walter Raleigh_, p. 26.] [Footnote 290: "Sir Walter Raleigh, step-brother to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, was one of his companions in this enterprise, and, although it proved unsuccessful, the instructions of Sir Humphrey could not fail to be of service to Raleigh, who at this time was not much above twenty-five, while the admiral must have been in the maturity of his years and abilities."--Tytler, p. 27.] [Footnote 291: "On its homeward passage, the small squadron of Gilbert was dispersed and disabled by a Spanish fleet, and many of the company were slain; but, perhaps owing to the disastrous issue of the fight, it has been slightly noticed by the English historians."--Oldy's _Life of Raleigh_, p. 28, 29.]