Retreat, where afterwards was founded the seaport of Nombre de Dios. His
vessels being nearly destroyed by the teredo, or worm which abounds in
those seas, he had great difficulty in reaching Xaragua in Hispaniola,
where he lost his two caravels, and proceeded with his crew by land to San
Domingo. Here he was seized and imprisoned by Bobadilla, under pretext
that he had treated for gold with the natives of Xaragua. [97]

Such was the swarm of Spanish expeditions immediately resulting from the
enterprises of Columbus; but others were also undertaken by foreign
nations. In the year 1497, Sebastian Cabot, son of a Venetian merchant
resident in Bristol, sailing in the service of Henry VII of England,
navigated to the northern seas of the New World. Adopting the idea of
Columbus, he sailed in quest of the shores of Cathay, and hoped to find a
northwest passage to India. In this voyage he discovered Newfoundland,
coasted Labrador to the fifty-sixth degree of north latitude, and then
returning, ran down southwest to the Floridas, when, his provisions
beginning to fail, he returned to England. [98] But vague and scanty
accounts of this voyage exist, which was important as including the first
discovery of the northern continent of the New World.

The discoveries of rival nations, however, which most excited the
attention and jealousy of the Spanish crown, were those of the Portuguese.
Vasco de Gama, a man of rank and consummate talent and intrepidity, had,
at length, accomplished the great design of the late Prince Henry of
Portugal, and by doubling the Cape of Good Hope, in the year 1497, had
opened the long-sought-for route to India.

Immediately after Gama's return, a fleet of thirteen sail was fitted out
to visit the magnificent countries of which he brought accounts. This
expedition sailed on the 9th of March, 1500, for Calicut, under the