seems that the Master of the Mint had reported on it adversely; but the favourable opinion of others and the lust for wealth overcame all reason and judgment, until queen, courtiers, and subjects were sobered by the complete disappointment, which ended all further search for the time. Frobisher did good service for his country afterwards, and fought with such bravery against the Spanish Armada that he was knighted. He died from the effect of a shot-wound received at the assault of Croyson, during the war with Henry IV. of France. [Illustration: MARTIN FROBISHER.] The disastrous voyage of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, with its melancholy termination, has been already described; but the merchants of London and elsewhere, being still persuaded “of the likelyhood of the discoverie of the north-west passage,” only two years later subscribed for fresh attempts. John Davis—a name inseparably associated with arctic enterprise—received the appointment of captain and chief pilot of the new expedition. Two small vessels, the _Sunshine_ and _Moonshine_, were employed, and on one of them four musicians were taken. They left Dartmouth on the 7th of June, 1585, and on the 19th of July were off the west coast of Greenland, where they noted “a mighty great roaring of the sea,” which was found to proceed from the “rowling together of islands of ice.” As they proceeded northward, the fog, which had hampered their movements, clearing away, they observed “a rocky and mountainous land, in form of a sugar-loaf,” its summit, covered with snow, appearing, as it were, above the clouds. The aspect of all around was so uninviting that Davis named it “The Land of Desolation.” He could not land there, owing to the coast ice, and after sundry explorations to the southward, and again to the north-westward, discovered an archipelago of islands, “among which were many free sounds, and good roads for shipping,” to which he gave the title of Gilbert’s Sound. Here a multitude of natives approached in their canoes, on which the musicians began to perform, and the sailors to dance and make signs of friendship. This delighted the “salvages,” and the sailors obtained from them almost whatever they wished—canoes, clothing, bows, and native implements. After other explorations they reached a fine open passage (Cumberland Strait) between Frobisher’s Archipelago and the land now called Cumberland’s Island, entirely free from ice, “and the water of the colour, nature, and quality of the main ocean.” They proceeded up it a distance of sixty leagues, when they found a cluster of islands in the middle of the passage, and the weather being bad and the season late, they, after a week’s further stay, determined to sail for England, where they arrived safely on September 30th.