country many most desirable products were brought to Western Europe overland at great expense; and this commerce greatly enriched Damascus, Constantinople, Venice, Nuremberg and other cities through which it passed. To find a liquid pathway for this large and profitable trade, the merchants of England and Holland spent large sums in voyages of discovery. One of the persons who commanded an expedition of this character was Heemskirk, a famous Dutch mariner and naval hero. A similar expedition was undertaken by Barentsen, who sought to find a passage to the south of Nova Zembla. A braver man never encountered the perils of the Arctic Seas. He discovered the jagged cliffs of Spitzbergen and went within ten degrees of the North Pole. His ship having become hopelessly enveloped in ice, he abandoned her, and with his crew lived for several months on the desolate shore of Nova Zembla, fighting against cold, and ravenous bears. When the name of Hudson emerges from the ordinary list of mankind, he is the commander of the ship Hopewell, bound on the same cold errand. He sought to discover a route to China by the way of Spitzbergen and the North Pole. Twice failing, the London company, under whose auspices he had sailed, declined to incur the expense of another voyage. With a spirit of adventure not yet tamed, he applied to the Dutch East India Company. To this company large powers had been granted, concerning conquests, colonization and government. Bancroft says that it was the first of the series of great European trading corporations, and became the model for all subsequently formed in France and England.

Hudson left the Texel, a port of Holland, on the 9th of April, 1609, five days before the signing of the truce

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between Holland and Spain, the victorious close of an eighty years struggle for political and religious freedom. His little craft called the Half Moon, though only eighty tons burden, was larger than either of the ships of Columbus. At first he sailed in a northerly direction, but, encountering ice, he changed his course and passing the banks of Newfoundland, discovered land near the mouth of the Penobscot River. Not charmed with the dark and lonely pines that heavily fringed the coast, Hudson sailed southward, passing by the nakedness of Cape Cod, to the waters of the Chesapeake. Again changing his course to the north, on the 28th of August, four months and a half after leaving Holland, he entered Delaware Bay. Soon convinced, by the shallowness of the water, that he had not found the much sought for pathway, he returned, passed the capes, turned the prow of his vessel northward, and six days afterward was within Sandy Hook. With renewed hope he began to explore "the river of the mountains," to which he loyally gave the name of his sovereign. As he ascended, the water became shallow, and at Albany his search was abandoned. He desired to winter in American waters, but his crew were sickly and mutinous, and he started homeward, having failed for the third time to find a water-route to India.

Every failure intensified the fascination of the quest. Once more he sailed under an English flag and went northward to the sixtieth parallel along the western shore of the great bay, ever since called Hudson's. Ten months passed, though his ship was provisioned for only eight, and then his crew mutinied. They put him and his son into a frail boat and sailed for home. When the ship reached port the crew were thrown into prison; and

three ships were sent on a hopeless exploration to find the lost waifs.

After Hudson's discovery of the bay, nothing more was attempted for five years. Then many merchants in Holland petitioned to the High and Mighty States-General for the grant of an exclusive privilege to visit and trade with any new countries or places they should discover. An edict was passed granting exclusive trade privileges for four voyages to such fortunate discoverers. If more than one company discovered the same country at the same time, the two were unitedly to enjoy the privileges. Thus stimulated, five vessels were fitted out by merchants of Amsterdam, one of which was commanded by Cornelius Mey, another by Adrien Block, and sailed for Sandy Hook. Block's vessel having been destroyed by fire, he built another, a yacht of sixteen tons burden, called the Unrest or Restless, and resumed his voyage. Mey sailed south to Delaware Bay and, discovering the capes, gave his Christian name to one of them and his surname to the other. For some reason the name of the southern cape was changed to Henlopen, a town in Friesland. Shortly afterward all the vessels returned to Holland except the one now commanded by Captain Hendrickson, the Restless, which remained to make further explorations. The bay and river as far as the Schuylkill were explored. Mey did not land, nor did Hudson, but Hendrickson landed and purchased three native inhabitants, held in slavery, for whom he gave in exchange kettles, beads and other merchandise.

Block and Mey on their return to Holland formed another company, and to their petition for privileges the States-General granted the exclusive right of going

to the lands discovered by them for five voyages within the period of three years, and of trading with their inhabitants. A similar decree had been granted by King James I eight years before to the North Virginia Company; but no English vessels had ever cut the waters. of the Delaware.

After the expiration of the privileges granted to Mey and his associates, another company was chartered, called the West India Company, which has a more famous place in history. It was the creation of William Usselinx, whose name deserves a higher place than has been given to it among the world's men of action. He was born at Antwerp in 1567, then a great centre of wealth and civilization. At the time of the arrival of the Duke of Alva, a name of eternal infamy, the population of the city was probably not less than 100,000; and two or three thousand vessels were often seen in the Scheldt. From that day, however, it began to decline. Hardly had Alva been in the Antwerp province a month, before he issued a proclamation forbidding any individual to leave the country until a month after he had given the city consul a notice of his intention. and had received permission to depart. Usselinx's early days were, therefore, spent amid stirring times, for Holland was heroically resisting Spanish tyranny. Afterward he went to Seville, a port in Spain, where he watched the unloading of the great silver fleets; and from there to Portugal and the Azores. These had been discovered by Flemish mariners, and were often called the Flemish Islands. They lay directly in the path of trade, both to the East and West Indies. Month after month "argosies with portly sail" appeared in the port of Angra laden with gold, silver and pearls,

with spices and drugs, and, after discharging or shifting their cargoes, took in water and supplies, and sailed away. Here Usselinx doubtless heard of the famous plate-ships, captured by Sir Francis Drake, the knight of the sea, containing immense quantities of silver plate. The scene of his traditionary exploit was not far from the Azores. The quantity taken was so large that whole vessels full were given to each man in his company. "The Spaniards," says an ancient writer, "affirm unto this day he took at that time twelve score tons of plate and sixteen bowls of coined money a man, his number being more than forty-five men in all, insomuch that they were forced to heave much of it overboard, because his ship could not carry it all."

The knowledge of the great profits in this trade inspired Usselinx on his return to Holland to form a company for trade with the new world. Prince Maurice, the greatest soldier of the day, was an ardent friend of the enterprise. At first difficulties were in the way. The pope, owner and ruler of the new world, had generously bestowed on Spain the land with which Usselinx desired to trade. At that time Barneveld, the advocate of Holland, did not wish to authorize the enterprise, for it might be regarded as an infraction of the truce, the outcome of Philip's unwillingness to grant independence to the Netherlands with the right to trade in the East Indies, and of their unwillingness to accept independence clogged with this condition. When the truce expired, there was no obstacle to granting Usselinx's request, and accordingly in June, 1621, a patent was granted to the West India Company.

The stock was chiefly subscribed by boards or chambers of trade of various Dutch cities, the states subscrib