European who landed on its coasts, which was in the year 1602. He visited the Elizabeth Islands, in Buzzard's Bay, and the Vineyard, and probably, also, the main land, which is within the limits of the present town of Dartmouth. The whole country, from Florida to Newfoundland, was then known by the name of Virginia; and the part still so called was first settled by the English in 1585. At first, Gosnold proposed a permanent settlement on these islands; but his men soon became dissatisfied with the plan, and he returned to England the same year. In this voyage, Gosnold also discovered the southeastern parts of Cape Cod.
In the Spring of 1603, Martin Pring and William Brown, under the direction and by the permission of Sir Walter Raleigh, in two vessels, one of fifty tons, and one of twenty-six, with thirty men in the largest, and thirteen in the smaller, fell in with the coasts of North Virginia, in latitude 43; and thence, sailing south, visited Cape Cod, and passed round it to latitude 41, where they landed and remained several weeks, in the month of June, and then returned to England.
Captain George Weymouth was employed by Lord Arundel to visit North Virginia in 1605, who discovered the coast in latitude 41. 30. And Henry Challons was sent out soon after to make discoveries, but was attacked by the Spaniards, and his vessel and property confiscated. Afterwards, in 1614, Captain John Smith, whose exploits in Virginia have been often celebrated, and who had been a great traveller in the extreme eastern parts of Europe, sailed along the coasts of Massachusetts, and made more discoveries of the islands and harbors than any one had done before. On his return, soon after, and at his suggestion, the name of New England was given to this part of the country, hitherto called North Virginia, by the Prince of Wales, afterwards Charles I. king of Great Britain. There is no proof, however, that Smith entered many of the harbors, in this voyage.
Four years later Thomas Dermer was sent to the coasts of New England, by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, in a ship of two hundred tons; and with him, Squanto, (or Tisquantum,) an Indian native of the country, who had been decoyed and carried to England by one Hunt, formerly in the employment of Captain Smith. It is probable, that in his second voyage, in 1619, Captain Dermer visited Boston and Plymouth harbors. The country was then thinly inhabited; it being only two or three years after the prevalence of a very mortal disease among the natives.
The great design of these voyages was the acquisition of