the possibility of founding a great empire in the New World, and
especially one named Bartholomew Gosnold.

Instead of following the old route to America by way of the Canary
Islands, the West Indies, and Florida, he sailed due west across the
Atlantic,[2] and brought up on the shore of a cape which he named Cape
Cod.[3] Following the shore southward, he passed through Nantucket Sound
and Vineyard Sound, till he came to Cuttyhunk Island, at the entrance of
Buzzards Bay. On this he landed, and built a house for the use of
colonists he intended to leave there. But when he had filled his ship
with sassafras roots and cedar logs, nobody would remain, and the whole
company went back to England.[4]

[Footnote 2: By thus shortening the journey 3000 miles, he practically
brought America 3000 miles nearer to Europe.]

[Footnote 3: Because the waters thereabout abounded in codfish. For a
comparison of Gosnold's route with those of the other early explorers
see the map on p. 15.]

[Footnote 4: Bancroft's _United States_, Vol. I., pp. 70-83. Hildreth's
_United States,_ Vol. I., p. 90.]

%19. The Two Virginia Companies.%--As a result of this voyage,
Gosnold was more eager than ever to plant a colony in Virginia, and this
enthusiasm he communicated so fully to others that, in 1606, King James
I. created two companies to settle in Virginia, which was then the name
for all the territory from what is now Maine to Florida.

1. Each company was to own a block of land 100 miles square; that is,