登陆注册
5150400000098

第98章

Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Raleigh's half-brother, held a patent for "planting" the lands of Newfoundland and "Meta Incognita"(Labrador).He had attempted a voyage thither with Raleigh in 1578, whereof I never could find any news, save that he came back again, after a heavy brush with some Spanish ships (in which his best captain, Mr.Morgan, was killed), having done nothing, and much impaired his own estate: but now he had collected a large sum;Sir Gilbert Peckham of London, Mr.Hayes of South Devon, and various other gentlemen, of whom more hereafter, had adventured their money; and a considerable colony was to be sent out the next year, with miners, assayers, and, what was more, Parmenius Budaeus, Frank's old friend, who had come to England full of thirst to see the wonders of the New World; and over and above this, as Raleigh told Amyas in strictest secrecy, Adrian Gilbert, Humphrey's brother, was turning every stone at Court for a patent of discovery in the North-West; and this Newfoundland colony, though it was to produce gold, silver, merchandise, and what not, was but a basis of operations, a halfway house from whence to work out the North-West passage to the Indies--that golden dream, as fatal to English valor as the Guiana one to Spanish--and yet hardly, hardly to be regretted, when we remember the seamanship, the science, the chivalry, the heroism, unequalled in the history of the English nation, which it has called forth among those our later Arctic voyagers, who have combined the knight-errantry of the middle age with the practical prudence of the modern, and dared for duty more than Cortez or Pizarro dared for gold.

Amyas, simple fellow, took all in greedily; he knew enough of the dangers of the Magellan passage to appreciate the boundless value of a road to the East Indies which would (as all supposed then)save half the distance, and be as it were a private possession of the English, safe from Spanish interference; and he listened reverently to Sir Humphrey's quaint proofs, half true, half fantastic, of such a passage, which Raleigh detailed to him--of the Primum Mobile, and its diurnal motion from east to west, in obedience to which the sea-current flowed westward ever round the Cape of Good Hope, and being unable to pass through the narrow strait between South America and the Antarctic Continent, rushed up the American shore, as the Gulf Stream, and poured northwestward between Greenland and Labrador towards Cathay and India; of that most crafty argument of Sir Humphrey's--how Aristotle in his book "De Mundo," and Simon Gryneus in his annotations thereon, declare that the world (the Old World) is an island, compassed by that which Homer calls the river Oceanus; ergo, the New World is an island also, and there is a North-West passage; of the three brothers (names unknown) who had actually made the voyage, and named what was afterwards called Davis's Strait after themselves;of the Indians who were cast ashore in Germany in the reign of Frederic Barbarossa who, as Sir Humphrey had learnedly proved per modum tollendi, could have come only by the North-West; and above all, of Salvaterra, the Spaniard, who in 1568 had told Sir Henry Sidney (Philip's father), there in Ireland, how he had spoken with a Mexican friar named Urdaneta, who had himself come from Mar del Zur (the Pacific) into Germany by that very North-West passage; at which last Amyas shook his head, and said that friars were liars, and seeing believing; "but if you must needs have an adventure, you insatiable soul you, why not try for the golden city of Manoa?""Manoa?" asked Raleigh, who had heard, as most had, dim rumors of the place."What do you know of it?"Whereon Amyas told him all that he had gathered from the Spaniard;and Raleigh, in his turn, believed every word.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 天剑

    天剑

    剑有双刃,所以人有两面,是正是魔都是一念之间。家族的没落,亲人的去世,这些都让叶无忧快速的成长,学无止境,则武无无敌,一路风雨他终于可以顶天立地。结果可能很耀眼,过程就是百倍艰难,一剑破天,是为天剑!
  • 太上正一朝天三八谢罪法忏

    太上正一朝天三八谢罪法忏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 唯有陪伴,能抵御岁月漫长

    唯有陪伴,能抵御岁月漫长

    这不是一个轰轰烈烈的爱情故事,亦不是一段风起云涌的青春往事。但它却能让我们从中寻到自己的过往,青春已逝,而少年尚未迟暮。故事讲述了陆敬安、林轩、周思雨、萧然、高仁、刘莉、周思雪、刘琳等一帮生活在北京的年轻人,从校园到社会,从稚嫩到成熟,从单纯到功利的蜕变过程。以陆敬安的爱情经历、转变和抉择为主线,引出一系列人物身上背负的有关青春的秘密,同时展现了在成长蜕变的过程中,亲情、友情与爱情对他们原本的世界观与价值观的冲击。
  • 越策越开心

    越策越开心

    本书致力于创造快乐的良心事业!本书从大量流行元素、坊间话题、生活趣闻、茶余饭后的种种灵感中精挑细选出笑话精品,以灰色为主打色,内容包罗万象而又各具特色,让读者在轻松幽默的扭转中品味人生、领悟真理。懂生活才懂幽默,懂幽默才能更好地品味生活!
  • 综漫之桔梗花又开

    综漫之桔梗花又开

    历经沧桑变换,她终于挣开囚困了她一世的枷锁,却又在重生的瞬间踏入了另一个囚牢——那双紫蓝色的瞳孔折射出的光芒,带着蛊惑人心的力量,让她心甘情愿的奉上自己的灵魂。(已完结,后续内容请转道《综漫之又见桔梗花开》)
  • 不入后宫:皇上请让一让

    不入后宫:皇上请让一让

    穿越一世才知道,人心永远是最可怕的。既然这样,那就让自己百毒不侵。蛇蝎继母,恶毒妹妹,撕了你们的伪装吊起来打。变态父亲,丧心病狂的一国公主,剪了你们的羽翼一顿狂踹。不过后面老跟着的那个碍眼的皇帝,麻烦你让一让。下一个。情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 做人活一点

    做人活一点

    成功的机会到处都有,但成功的路上别人对你的阻力和助力的影响是很大的。如果你做人能灵活一点,就能给你带来很多帮助的。 如果你懂得与人相处之道,就可以减少很多敌人,多很多朋友。
  • 盛世绝宠:帝尊阁下请自重

    盛世绝宠:帝尊阁下请自重

    【女强,1v1,宠文,身心干净】当21世纪修炼世家君家继承人的她,魂入异世成为世人眼中的‘他’时……废物少爷?呵,我不能修炼的时候确实废了点,但少爷二字何以见得?他一袭白衣,长身玉立高深莫测,众人尊敬,她一拢红衣,倾世容颜悠然一笑,众人震惊,原来他就是她!当某只被传授追妻之路一定要死皮赖脸,穷追不舍的他找上狂拽霸气,自认撩妹天下无敌手的她时,会有怎样的结局?某奶妈:自家闺女很自恋怎么办?某基友:帝尊大人追妻路漫漫,其修远兮,不如,我再来支个招儿?(简介无能,请看正文。)
  • 经商就这几道

    经商就这几道

    经商说起来简单,干起来却不容易。没有天生的失败者,也没有天生的经商天才。不要认为那些在商海里纵情游弋的富商巨贾们天生就是经商的奇才,其实他们也是通过在现实生活中的学习才慢慢积累出来经验的。只要你肯学习、肯吃苦,你也能成为一名成功的商人,本书便是领你入门的经商指导手册,它教你经商所需的十八般武艺,能让你迅速成为经商高手。
  • 末世妖神录

    末世妖神录

    一个不能算作的孤儿品学兼优的尖子生饱受欺凌!在失去最后的至亲之后彻底变成了一个人,一切都是那么莫名其妙的进展着,谜底究竟是什么……?