All this, however, is anticipating by some centuries the period under review.  In the first instance, largely owing to the ignorance concerning the New World which prevailed in other parts of Europe—­which ignorance had been greatly fostered by Spain—­the Spaniards succeeded in retaining the undisputed possession of their portion of the Continent for nearly three-quarters of a century.  Then came the first of the maritime swallows, which made many dismal summers for the Court of Spain.  In 1565 Drake voyaged to the Guianas on the Spanish Main.  He was followed by Hawkins, Raleigh, and a host of others, including the Dutch navigators.

These hardy seamen, it must be said, had in the first instance proceeded to the Continent with the idea of engaging in legitimate trade.  In justice to the many desperate acts which the majority subsequently committed, it must be remembered that in the case of the early collisions, they only let loose their guns when they found themselves attacked by the Spanish authorities in the distant ports, or intercepted on the high seas by the guardian fleets of Spain.

An experience or two of the kind sufficed to rouse the hot blood of the seamen.  Knowing now that they were braving the anger of the King of Spain, they determined to continue in this undaunted, even, if necessary, “to synge his bearde,” as, indeed, was accomplished on one notable occasion.  So they continued their voyages to these ostensibly closed coasts of South America and the general run of the territories known at the time as the West Indies.  Frequently they found riches in the venture, sometimes disaster and death.  The former proved an incentive to these breathless voyages, with which no dread of the latter fate could interfere.

It would be as well to refer briefly to the careers in South America of a certain number of the most notable of these early adventurers.  One of the first was Sir John Hawkins, who set out in 1562 with three ships:  the Salomon, the Swallow, and the Jonas.  Having touched at Teneriffe, he then landed at Sierra Leone, “where by the sworde and other means” he obtained some 300 negroes.  He shaped his course to the west, and sailed with his cargo to the Spanish Indies.

Notwithstanding the stern official prohibitions, Hawkins succeeded in trading with the residents at Port Isabella, in Hispaniola, and the tall sides of his vessels, empty now of their dark human freight, soon held an important cargo of hides, ginger, sugar, and pearls.  So successful was he, indeed, that he added two more ships to his flotilla and sent them to Spain.  This daring procedure was intended as something in the light of a challenge and of a proof of his good faith in his right to barter in Spanish South America—­a right, he claimed, which was ratified by an old treaty between Henry VII. and the Archduke Philip of Spain.

The Spanish officials, doubtless open-mouthed at this somewhat subtle and startling confidence of Hawkins, promptly confiscated the vessels by way of definitely proving it ill-founded.  Notwithstanding this, Hawkins was more than satisfied with the cargo brought home by his three original ships, and two years later he set out again, accompanied by the Earl of Pembroke and the Earl of Leicester, with a larger fleet than before.