The Spaniards were naturally most alarmed at the prospect of the Portuguese finding a passage by this strait to India.  Cortez, the conqueror of Mexico, undertook himself an expedition for this purpose; but he returned without accomplishing any thing.  After him the viceroy, Mendoza, sent people, both by sea and land, to explore the coast as far as 53 deg. north latitude; but neither party reached farther than 36 degrees.  The Spanish court itself now undertook the enterprize; and in the year 1542, Cabrillo, a Portuguese in the service of that court, sailed from Spain.  He went no farther than to 44 degrees north latitude, where he found it very cold.  He coasted the countries which at present are called New California, as far as Cape Blanco:  he discovered, likewise, Cape Mendocino; and ascertained, that from this place to the harbour De la Nadividad, the land continued without the intervention of any strait.  In 1582, Gualle was directed by the king of Spain to examine if there was a passage to the east and north-east of Japan, that connected the sea of Asia with the South Sea.  He accordingly steered from Japan to the E.N.E. about 300 leagues:  here he found the current setting from the north and north-west, till he had sailed above 700 leagues, when he reckoned he was only 200 leagues from the coast of California.  In this voyage he discovered those parts of the north-west coast of America which are called New Georgia and New Cornwall.  At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Spaniards, alarmed at the achievements of Sir Francis Drake on this part of America, and still anxious to discover, if possible, the Straits of Anian, sent out Sebastian Viscaino from Acapulco:  he examined the coasts as far as Cape Mendocino, and discovered the harbour of Montery.  One of his ships reached the latitude of 43 degrees, where the mouth of a strait, or a large river, was said to have been discovered.

The expedition of Sir Francis Drake, though expressly undertaken for the purpose of distressing the Spaniards in their new settlements, must be noticed here, on account of its having contributed also, in some degree, to the geographical knowledge of the north-west coast of America.  He sailed from Plymouth on the 15th November, 1577, with five vessels, (the largest only 100 tons, and the smallest 15,) and 164 men.  On the 20th of August, 1578, he entered the Strait of Magellan, which he cleared on the 6th of September:  “a most extraordinary short passage,” observes Captain Tuckey, “for no navigator since, though aided by the immense improvements in navigation, has been able to accomplish it in less than 36 days.”  After coasting the whole of South America to the extremity of Mexico, he resolved to seek a northern passage into the Atlantic.  With this intention, he sailed along the coast, to which, from its white cliffs, he gave the name of New Albion.  When he arrived, however, at Cape Blanco, the cold was so intense, that he abandoned his intention of searching for a