The Beginner's American History

21. John Cabot discovers the continent of North America.—At the time that Columbus set out on his first voyage across the Atlantic in 1492, John Cabot, an Italian merchant, was living in the city of Bristol,[2] England. When the news reached that city that Columbus had discovered the West Indies, Cabot begged Henry the Seventh, king of England, to let him see if he could not find a shorter way to the Indies than that of Columbus. The king gave his consent, and in the spring of 1497 John Cabot, with his son Sebastian,[3] who seems to have been born in Bristol, sailed from that port. They headed their vessels toward the northwest; by going in that direction they hoped to get to those parts of Asia and the Spice Islands which were known to Europe, and which Columbus had failed to reach.

Early one bright morning toward the last of June, 1497, they saw land in the west. It was probably Cape Breton[4] Island, a part of Nova Scotia.[5] John Cabot named it "The Land First Seen." Up to this time Columbus had discovered nothing but the West India Islands, but John Cabot now saw the continent of North America; no civilized man[6] had ever seen it before. There it lay, a great, lonely land, shaggy with forests, with not a house or a human being in sight.

1 Cabot (Cab'ot).

2 See map in paragraph 62.

3 Sebastian (Se-bast'yan).

4 Breton (Bret'on).

5 Nova Scotia (No'vah Sko'she-a).

6 The Northmen: an uncivilized people of Norway and Denmark discovered the continent of North America about five hundred years before Cabot did. Nothing came of this discovery, and when Cabot sailed, no one seems to have known anything about what the Northmen had done so long before.

22. John Cabot takes possession of the country for the king of England.—Cabot went on shore with his son and some of his crew. In the vast, silent wilderness they set up a large cross. Near to it they planted two flag-poles, and hoisted the English flag on one and the flag of Venice,[7] the city where John Cabot had lived in Italy, on the other. Then they took possession of the land for Henry the Seventh. It was in this way that the English came to consider that the eastern coast of North America was their property, although they did not begin to make settlements here until nearly a hundred years later.

7 Venice (Ven'is).

23. John Cabot and his son return to Bristol.—After sailing about the Gulf of St. Lawrence without finding the passage through to Asia for which they were looking, the voyagers returned to England.

The king was so pleased with what John Cabot had discovered that he made him a handsome present; and when the captain, richly dressed in silk, appeared in the street, the people of Bristol would "run after him like mad" and hurrah for the "Great Admiral," as they called him.

24. What the Cabots carried back to England from America.—The Cabots carried back to England some Indian traps for catching game and perhaps some wild turkeys—an American bird the English had then never seen, but whose acquaintance they were not sorry to make. They also carried over the rib of a whale which they had found on the beach in Nova Scotia.

Near where the Cabots probably lived in Bristol there is a famous old church.[8] It was built long before the discovery of America, and Queen Elizabeth said that it was the most beautiful building of its kind in all England. In that church hangs the rib of a whale. It is believed to be the one the Cabots brought home with them. It reminds all who see it of that voyage in 1497 by which England got possession of a very large part of the continent of North America.

8 The church of St. Mary Redcliffe.

25. The second voyage of the Cabots; how they sailed along the eastern shores of North America.—About a year later the Cabots set out on a second voyage to the west. They reached the gloomy cliffs of Labrador[9] on the northeastern coast of America, and they passed many immense icebergs. They saw numbers of Indians dressed in the skins of wild beasts, and polar bears white as snow. These bears were great swimmers, and would dive into the sea and come up with a large fish in their claws. As it did not look to the Cabots as if the polar bears and the icebergs would guide them to the warm countries of Asia and the Spice Islands, they turned about and went south. They sailed along what is now the eastern coast of the United States for a very long distance; but not finding any passage through to the countries they were seeking, they returned to England.

The English now began to see what an immense extent of land they had found beyond the Atlantic. They could not tell, however, whether it was a continent by itself or a part of Asia. Like everybody in Europe, they called it the New World, but all that name really meant then was simply the New Lands across the sea.

9 Labrador (Lab'ra-dor).

26. How the New World came to be called America.—But not many years after this the New World received the name by which we now call it. An Italian navigator whose first name was Amerigo[10] made a voyage to it after it had been discovered by Columbus and the Cabots. He wrote an account of what he saw, and as this was the first printed description of the continent, it was named from him, AMERICA.

10 Amerigo (A-ma-ree'go): his full name was Amerigo Vespucci (A-ma-ree'go Ves-poot'chee), or, as he wrote it in Latin, Americus Vespucius.

27. Summary.—In 1497 John Cabot and his son, from Bristol, England, discovered the mainland or continent of North America, and took possession of it for England. The next year they came over and sailed along the eastern coast of what is now the United States.

An Italian whose first name was Amerigo visited the New World afterward and wrote the first account of the mainland which was printed. For this reason the whole continent was named after him, AMERICA.

Who was John Cabot? What did he try to do? Who sailed with him? What land did they see? Had Columbus ever seen it? What did Cabot do when he went on shore? What is said of his return to Bristol? What did the Cabots carry back to England? What is said about the second voyage of the Cabots? How did the New World come to be called America?

28. The magic fountain; Ponce de Leon discovers Florida; Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean.—The Indians on the West India Islands believed that there was a wonderful fountain in a land to the west of them. They said that if an old man should bathe in its waters, they would make him a boy again. Ponce de Leon, a Spanish soldier who was getting gray and wrinkled, set out to find this magic fountain, for he thought that there was more fun in being a boy than in growing old.

He did not find the fountain, and so his hair grew grayer than ever and his wrinkles grew deeper. But in 1513 he discovered a land bright with flowers, which he named Florida.[4] He took possession of it for Spain.

The same year another Spaniard, named Balboa, set out to explore the Isthmus of Panama.[5] One day he climbed to the top of a very high hill, and discovered that vast ocean—the greatest of all the oceans of the globe—which we call the Pacific.

1 Ponce de Leon (Pon'thay day La-on') or, in English, Pons de Lee'on. Many persons now prefer the English pronunciation of all these Spanish names.

2 Balboa (Bal-bo'ah).

3 De Soto (Da So'to).

4 Florida: this word means flowery; the name was given by the Spaniards because they discovered the country on Easter Sunday, which they call Flowery Easter.

5 Panama (Pan-a-mah').

29. De Soto discovers the Mississippi.—Long after Balboa and Ponce de Leon were dead, a Spaniard named De Soto landed in Florida and marched through the country in search of gold mines.

In the course of his long and weary wanderings, he came to a river more than a mile across. The Indians told him it was the Mississippi, or the Great River. In discovering it, De Soto had found the largest river in North America; he had also found his own grave, for he died shortly after, and was secretly buried at midnight in its muddy waters.

30. The Spaniards build St. Augustine;[6] we buy Florida in 1819.—More than twenty years after the burial of De Soto, a Spanish soldier named Menendez[7] went to Florida and built a fort on the eastern coast. This was in 1565. The fort became the centre of a settlement named St. Augustine. It is the oldest city built by white men, not only in what is now the United States, but in all North America.

In 1819, or more than two hundred and fifty years after St. Augustine was begun, Spain sold Florida to the United States.

6 St. Augustine (Sant Aw'gus-teen').

7 Menendez (Ma-nen'deth).

31. Summary.—Ponce de Leon discovered Florida; another Spaniard, named Balboa, discovered the Pacific; still another, named De Soto, discovered the Mississippi. In 1565 the Spaniards began to build St. Augustine in Florida. It is the oldest city built by white men in the United States or in all North America.

What is said about a magic fountain? What did Ponce De Leon do? What is said about Balboa? What about De Soto? What did Menendez do in Florida? What is said of St. Augustine?

32. Walter Raleigh sends two ships to America; how the Indians received the Englishmen.—Although John Cabot discovered the continent of North America in 1497 and took possession of the land for the English,[2] yet the English themselves did not try to settle here until nearly a hundred years later.

Then (1584) a young man named Walter Raleigh, who was a great favorite of Queen Elizabeth's, sent out two ships to America. The captains of these vessels landed on Roanoke[3] Island, on the coast of what is now the state of North Carolina. They found the island covered with tall red cedars and with vines thick with clusters of wild grapes. The Indians called this place the "Good Land." They were pleased to see the Englishmen, and they invited them to a great feast of roast turkey, venison,[4] melons, and nuts.

1 Raleigh (Raw'li).

2 See paragraph 22.

3 Roanoke (Ro-a-nok').

4 Venison (ven'i-zon or ven'zon): deer meat.

33. Queen Elizabeth names the country Virginia; first settlers; what they sent Walter Raleigh.—When the two captains returned to England, Queen Elizabeth—the "Virgin Queen," as she was called—was delighted with what she heard of the "Good Land." She named it Virginia in honor of herself. She also gave Raleigh a title of honor. From that time he was no longer called plain Walter Raleigh or Mr. Raleigh, but Sir Walter Raleigh.

Sir Walter now (1585) shipped over emigrants[5] to settle in Virginia. They sent back to him as a present two famous American plants—one called Tobacco, the other the Potato. The queen had given Sir Walter a fine estate in Ireland, and he set out both the plants in his garden. The tobacco plant did not grow very well there, but the potato did; and after a time thousands of farmers began to raise that vegetable, not only in Ireland, but in England too. As far back then as that time—or more than three hundred years ago—America was beginning to feed the people of the Old World.

5 Emigrants: persons who leave one country to go and settle in another. Thousands of emigrants from Europe now land in this country every month.

34. The Virginia settlement destroyed.—Sir Walter spent immense sums of money on his settlement in Virginia, but it did not succeed. One of the settlers, named Dare, had a daughter born there. He named her Virginia Dare. She was the first English child born in America. But the little girl, with her father and mother and all the rest of the settlers, disappeared. It is supposed that they were either killed by the Indians or that they wandered away and starved to death; but all that we really know is that not one of them was ever seen again.

35. Last days of Sir Walter Raleigh.—After Queen Elizabeth died, King James the First became ruler of England. He accused Sir Walter of trying to take away his crown so as to make some one else ruler over the country. Sir Walter was sent to prison and kept there for many years. At last King James released him in order to send him to South America to get gold. When Sir Walter returned to London without any gold, the greedy king accused him of having disobeyed him because he had fought with some Spaniards. Raleigh was condemned to death and beheaded.

But Sir Walter's attempt to settle Virginia led other Englishmen to try. Before he died they built a town, called Jamestown, on the coast. We shall presently read the history of that town. The English held Virginia from that time until it became part of the United States.

36. Summary.—Sir Walter Raleigh sent over men from England to explore the coast of America. Queen Elizabeth named the country they visited Virginia. Raleigh then shipped emigrants over to make a settlement. These emigrants sent him two American plants, Tobacco and the Potato; and in that way the people of Great Britain and Ireland came to like both. Sir Walter's settlement failed, but his example led other Englishmen to try to make one. Before he was beheaded they succeeded.

What is said about Walter Raleigh? What is said about the Indians? What name did Queen Elizabeth give to the country? What did she do for Walter Raleigh? What did Sir Walter then do? What American plants did the emigrants send him? What did he do with those plants? What happened to the Virginia settlement? What is said of the last days of Sir Walter Raleigh? Did Sir Walter's attempt to settle Virginia do any good?

37. New and successful attempt to make a settlement in Virginia; Captain John Smith.—One of the leaders in the new expedition sent out to make a settlement in Virginia, while Raleigh was in prison, was Captain John Smith. He began life as a clerk in England. Not liking his work, he ran away and turned soldier. After many strange adventures, he was captured by the Turks and sold as a slave. His master, who was a Turk, riveted a heavy iron collar around his neck and set him to thrashing grain with a big wooden bat like a ball-club. One day the Turk rode up and struck his slave with his riding-whip. This was more than Smith could bear; he rushed at his master, and with one blow of his bat knocked his brains out. He then mounted the dead man's horse and escaped. After a time he got back to England; but as England seemed a little dull to Captain Smith, he resolved to join some emigrants who were going to Virginia.

38. What happened to Captain Smith on the voyage; the landing at Jamestown; what the settlers wanted to do; Smith's plan.—On the way to America, Smith was accused of plotting to murder the chief men among the settlers so that he might make himself "King of Virginia." The accusation was false, but he was put in irons and kept a prisoner for the rest of the voyage.

In the spring of 1607 the emigrants reached Chesapeake[1] Bay, and sailed up a river which they named the James in honor of King James of England; when they landed they named the settlement Jamestown for the same reason. Here they built a log fort, and placed three or four small cannon on its walls. Most of the men who settled Jamestown came hoping to find mines of gold in Virginia, or else a way through to the Pacific Ocean and to the Indies, which they thought could not be very far away. But Captain Smith wanted to help his countrymen to make homes here for themselves and their children.

1 Chesapeake (Ches'a-peek).

39. Smith's trial and what came of it; how the settlers lived; the first English church; sickness; attempted desertion.—As soon as Captain Smith landed, he demanded to be tried by a jury[2] of twelve men. The trial took place. It was the first English court and the first English jury that ever sat in America. The captain proved his innocence and was set free. His chief accuser was condemned to pay him a large sum of money for damages. Smith generously gave this money to help the settlement.

As the weather was warm, the emigrants did not begin building log cabins at once, but slept on the ground, sheltered by boughs of trees. For a church they had an old tent, in which they met on Sunday. They were all members of the Church of England, or the Episcopal Church, and that tent was the first place of worship that we know of which was opened by Englishmen in America.

When the hot weather came, many fell sick. Soon the whole settlement was like a hospital. Sometimes three or four would die in one night. Captain Smith, though not well himself, did everything he could for those who needed his help.

When the sickness was over, some of the settlers were so discontented that they determined to seize the only vessel there was at Jamestown and go back to England. Captain Smith turned the cannon of the fort against them. The deserters saw that if they tried to leave the harbor he would knock their vessel to pieces, so they came back. One of the leaders of these men was tried and shot; the other was sent to England in disgrace.

2 Jury: a number of men, generally twelve, selected according to law to try a case in a court of law; in criminal cases they declare the person accused to be either guilty or not guilty.

40. The Indians of Virginia.—When the Indians of America first met the white men, they were very friendly to them; but this did not last long, because often the whites treated the Indians very badly; in fact, the Spaniards made slaves of them and whipped many of them to death. But these were the Indians of the south; some of the northern tribes were terribly fierce and a match for the Spaniards in cruelty.

The Indians at the east did not build cities, but lived in small villages. These villages were made up of huts, covered with the bark of trees. Such huts were called wigwams. The women did nearly all the work, such as building the wigwams and hoeing corn and tobacco. The men hunted and made war. Instead of guns the Indians had bows and arrows. With these they could bring down a deer or a squirrel quite as well as a white man could now with a rifle. They had no iron, but made hatchets and knives out of sharp, flat stones. They never built roads, for they had no wagons, and at the east they did not use horses; but they could find their way with ease through the thickest forest. When they came to a river they swam across it, so they had no need of bridges. For boats they made canoes of birch bark. These canoes were almost as light as paper, yet they were very strong and handsome, and they

        "floated on the river
Like a yellow leaf in autumn,
Like a yellow water-lily."[3]

In them they could go hundreds of miles quickly and silently. So every river and stream became a roadway to the Indian.

3 Longfellow's Hiawatha (Hiawatha's Sailing).

41. Captain Smith goes in search of the Pacific; he is captured by Indians.—After that first long, hot summer was over, some of the settlers wished to explore the country and see if they could not find a short way through to the Pacific Ocean. Captain Smith led the expedition. The Indians attacked them, killed three of the men, and took the captain prisoner. To amuse the Indians, Smith showed them his pocket compass. When the savages saw that the needle always pointed toward the north they were greatly astonished, and instead of killing their prisoner they decided to take him to their chief. This chief was named Powhatan.[4] He was a tall, grim-looking old man, and he hated the settlers at Jamestown, because he believed that they had come to steal the land from the Indians.

4 Powhatan (Pow-ha-tan').

42. Smith's life is saved by Pocahontas;[5] her marriage to John Rolfe.[6]—Smith was dragged into the chief's wigwam; his head was laid on a large, flat stone, and a tall savage with a big club stood ready to dash out his brains. Just as Powhatan was about to cry "strike!" his daughter Pocahontas, a girl of twelve or thirteen, ran up, and, putting her arms round the prisoner's head, she laid her own head on his—now let the Indian with his uplifted club strike if he dare.[7]

Instead of being angry with his daughter, Powhatan promised her that he would spare Smith's life. When an Indian made such a promise as that he kept it, so the captain knew that his head was safe. Powhatan released his prisoner and soon sent him back to Jamestown, and Pocahontas, followed by a number of Indians, carried to the settlers presents of corn and venison.

Some years after this the Indian maiden married John Rolfe, an Englishman who had come to Virginia. They went to London, and Pocahontas died not far from that city. She left a son; from that son came some noted Virginians. One of them was John Randolph. He was a famous man in his day, and he always spoke with pride of the Indian princess, as he called her.

5 Pocahontas (Po-ka-hon'tas).

6 Rolfe (Rolf).

7 On Pocahontas, see List of Books at the end of this book.

43. Captain Smith is made governor of Jamestown; the gold-diggers; "Corn, or your life."—More emigrants came over from England, and Captain Smith was now made governor of Jamestown. Some of the emigrants found some glittering earth which they thought was gold. Soon nearly every one was hard at work digging it. Smith laughed at them; but they insisted on loading a ship with the worthless stuff and sending it to London. That was the last that was heard of it.

The people had wasted their time digging this shining dirt when they should have been hoeing their gardens. Soon they began to be in great want of food. The captain started off with a party of men to buy corn of the Indians. The Indians contrived a cunning plot to kill the whole party. Smith luckily found it out; seizing the chief by the hair, he pressed the muzzle of a pistol against his heart and gave him his choice,—"Corn, or your life!" He got the corn, and plenty of it.

44. "He who will not work shall not eat."—Captain Smith then set part of the men to planting corn, so that they might raise what they needed. The rest of the settlers he took with him into the woods to chop down trees and saw them into boards to send to England. Many tried to escape from this labor; but Smith said, Men who are able to dig for gold are able to chop; then he made this rule: "He who will not work shall not eat." Rather than lose his dinner, the laziest man now took his axe and set off for the woods.

45. Captain Smith's cold-water cure.—But though the choppers worked, they grumbled. They liked to see the chips fly and to hear the great trees "thunder as they fell," but the axe-handles raised blisters on their fingers. These blisters made the men swear, so that often one would hear an oath for every stroke of the axe. Smith said the swearing must be stopped. He had each man's oaths set down in a book. When the day's work was done, every offender was called up; his oaths were counted; then he was told to hold up his right hand, and a can of cold water was poured down his sleeve for each oath. This new style of water cure did wonders; in a short time not an oath was heard: it was just chop, chop, chop, and the madder the men got, the more the chips would fly.

46. Captain Smith meets with an accident and goes back to England; his return to America; his death.—Captain Smith had not been governor very long when he met with a terrible accident. He was out in a boat, and a bag of gunpowder he had with him exploded. He was so badly hurt that he had to go back to England to get proper treatment for his wounds.

He returned to America a number of years later, explored the coast north of Virginia, and gave it the name of New England, but he never went back to Jamestown again. He died in London, and was buried in a famous old church in that city.[8]

8 The church of St. Sepulchre: it is not very far from St. Paul's Cathedral.

47. What Captain Smith did for Virginia.—Captain John Smith was in Virginia less than three years, yet in that short time he did a great deal. First, he saved the settlers from starving, by making the Indians sell them corn. Next, by his courage, he saved them from the attacks of the savages. Lastly, he taught them how to work. Had it not been for him the people of Jamestown would probably have lost all heart and gone back to England. He insisted on their staying, and so, through him, the English got their first real foothold in America. But this was not all; he wrote two books on Virginia, describing the soil, the trees, the animals, and the Indians. He also made some excellent maps of Virginia and of New England. These books and maps taught the English people many things about this country, and helped those who wished to emigrate. For these reasons Captain Smith has rightfully been called the "Father of Virginia."

48. Negro slaves sent to Virginia; tobacco.—About ten years after Captain Smith left Jamestown, the commander of a Dutch ship brought a number of negro slaves to Virginia (1619), and sold them to the settlers. That was the beginning of slavery in this country. Later, when other English settlements had been made, they bought slaves, and so, after a time, every settlement north as well as south owned more or less negroes. The people of Virginia employed most of their slaves in raising tobacco. They sold this in England, and, as it generally brought a good price, many of the planters[9] became quite rich.

9 Planter: a person who owns a plantation or large farm at the South; it is cultivated by laborers living on it; once these laborers were generally negro slaves.

49. Bacon's war against Governor Berkeley;[10] Jamestown burned.—Long after Captain Smith was in his grave, Sir William Berkeley was made governor of Virginia by the king of England. He treated the people very badly. At last a young planter named Bacon raised a small army and marched against the governor, who was in Jamestown. The governor, finding that he had few friends to fight for him, made haste to get out of the place. Bacon then entered it with his men; but as he knew that, if necessary, the king would send soldiers from England to aid the governor in getting it back, he set fire to the place and burned it. It was never built up again, and so only a crumbling church-tower and a few gravestones can now be seen where Jamestown once stood. Those ruins mark the first English town settled in America.

10 Berkeley (Berk'li).

50. What happened later in Virginia; the Revolution; Washington; four presidents.—But though Jamestown was destroyed, Virginia kept growing in strength and wealth. What was better still, the country grew in the number of its great men. The king of England continued to rule America until, in 1776, the people of Virginia demanded that independence should be declared. The great war of the Revolution overthrew the king's power and made us free. The military leader of that war was a Virginia planter named George Washington.

After we had gained the victory and peace was made, we chose presidents to govern the country. Four out of six of our first presidents, beginning with Washington, came from Virginia. For this reason that state has sometimes been called the "Mother of Presidents."

51. Summary.—In 1607 Captain John Smith, with others, made the first lasting settlement built up by Englishmen in America. Through Captain Smith's energy and courage, Jamestown, Virginia, took firm root. Virginia was the first state to demand the independence of America, and Washington, who was a Virginian, led the war of the Revolution by which that independence was gained.

What can you tell about Captain John Smith before he went to Virginia? What happened to him on his way to Virginia? What is said about the landing of the settlers in Virginia? What did they want to do? What did Captain Smith want to do? What about Captain Smith's trial? What is said about the church in Jamestown? What happened to the settlers? What did some of them try to do? Who stopped them? Tell what you can about the Indians. What kind of houses did they live in? Did they have guns? Did they have iron hatchets and knives? Did they have horses and wagons? What kind of boats did they have? What happened to Captain Smith when he went in search of the Pacific? What did Pocahontas do? What is said about her afterward? What about the gold-diggers? How did Captain Smith get corn? What did he make the settlers do? What is said about Captain Smith's cold-water cure? Why did Captain Smith go back to England? What three things did he do for Virginia? What about his books and maps? What is said of negro slaves? What about tobacco? What about Governor Berkeley and Mr. Bacon? What happened to Jamestown? What did the war of the Revolution do? Who was its great military leader? Why is Virginia sometimes called the "Mother of Presidents"?

52. Captain Hudson tries to find a northwest passage to China and the Indies.—When Captain John Smith sailed for Virginia, he left a friend, named Henry Hudson, in London, who had the name of being one of the best sea-captains in England.

While Smith was in Jamestown, a company of London merchants sent out Captain Hudson to try to discover a passage to China and the Indies. When he left England, he sailed to the northwest, hoping that he could find a way open to the Pacific across the North Pole or not far below it.

If he found such a passage, he knew that it would be much shorter than a voyage round the globe further south; because, as any one can see, it is not nearly so far round the top of an apple, near the stem, as it is round the middle.

Hudson could not find the passage he was looking for; but he saw mountains of ice, and he went nearer to the North Pole than any one had ever done before.

53. The Dutch hire Captain Hudson; he sails for America.—The Dutch people in Holland had heard of Hudson's voyage, and a company of merchants of that country hired the brave sailor to see if he could find a passage to Asia by sailing to the northeast.

He set out from the port of Amsterdam,[1] in 1609, in a vessel named the Half Moon. After he had gone quite a long distance, the sailors got so tired of seeing nothing but fog and ice that they refused to go any further.

Then Captain Hudson turned his ship about and sailed for the coast of North America. He did that because his friend, Captain Smith of Virginia, had sent him a letter, with a map, which made him think that he could find such a passage as he wanted north of Chesapeake Bay.

1 See map in paragraph 62.

54. Captain Hudson reaches America and finds the "Great River."—Hudson got to Chesapeake Bay, but the weather was so stormy that he thought it would not be safe to enter it. He therefore sailed northward along the coast. In September, 1609, he entered a beautiful bay, formed by the spreading out of a noble river. At that point the stream is more than a mile wide, and he called it the "Great River." On the eastern side of it, not far from its mouth, there is a long narrow island: the Indians of that day called it Manhattan Island.

55. The tides in the "Great River"; Captain Hudson begins to sail up the stream.—One of the remarkable things about the river which Hudson had discovered is that it has hardly any current, and the tide from the ocean moves up for more than a hundred and fifty miles. If no fresh water ran in from the hills, still the sea would fill the channel for a long distance, and so make a kind of salt-water river of it. Hudson noticed how salt it was, and that, perhaps, made him think that he had at last actually found a passage which would lead him through from the Atlantic to the Pacific. He was delighted with all he saw, and said, "This is as beautiful a land as one can tread upon." Soon he began to sail up the stream, wondering what he should see and whether he should come out on an ocean which would take him to Asia.