Page:The Life of George Washington, Volume 1.djvu/35

Rh views, and to discover some inlet which might open a passage to the west. It does not appear that he landed any where, during this extensive run; and he returned to England without attempting either settlement or conquest.

Thus, according to the English historians, was first discovered that immense continent which stretches from the gulf of Mexico to the north pole; and as far back as to this discovery, the English traced their title to the country they afterwards acquired, partly by settlement, and partly by arms.

The French, who have since contested with Great Britain the possession of a considerable portion of this important territory, have also their claims to its discovery, although they seem not to be well founded.

L'Escarbot, who visited America in 1606, avers that the language then spoken on the eastern parts of the coast of Newfoundland, and the great bank, was half Biscayan; from which fact it was correctly inferred, that the fishermen from the western coasts of France, had, for a long time, navigated those seas.

As no certain account had been preserved of the first enterprise made by those people, it was argued that they must have been in the habit of undertaking such voyages, before that of Sebastian Cabot in 1498. With equal