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6 might a date be given them anterior to that of Columbus. However insufficient this evidence may be deemed to support the claim of original discovery, it seems well authenticated, that as early as 1504 the Biscayans, the Bretons, and the Normans, frequented the great bank of Newfoundland, the coasts of the adjacent continent, and the whole gulf of St. Lawrence, for the purpose of taking fish; that in 1506, a map of those coasts was published by Jean Denis de Honfleur, and that in the year 1508, a Canadian was brought into France by a pilot from Dieppe.

The ardour for discovery which had been excited in the bosom of Henry, seems to have expired with this first effort. Although the success of Cabot in this respect, must have equalled any expectation which could have been formed from the expedition, yet, on his return to England, he found Henry entirely disinclined to prosecute further a scheme, in which he had engaged with some degree of zeal, and of which the commencement had been attended with appearances by no means discouraging.

Several causes are supposed to have contributed to suspend the pursuits of the English in the new world. Previous to its discovery by Columbus, the Portuguese had explored the Azores, or Western islands; in consequence