at the University of Coimbra who published two books _De Arte
Navigandi_ in 1573.
40. Little is known of this writer. He appears to have been the son of
Jerome Fracastor, a Veronese who obtained a certain celebrity as a poet
at the beginning of the 16th Century.
41. In a former passage it is stated that Cabot did not get beyond the 58th
degree of latitude.
42. It is now well known that the diminished saltness of the sea off the
Siberian coast is due to the immense masses of fresh water poured into
it by the Ob, the Lena, and other Siberian rivers.
43. Either Salvaterra or the Frier must have possessed a vivid imagination.
The former at any rate thoroughly took in Sir Humphrey Gilbert.
44. It seems very strange to us after the Northwest passage has been
discovered by M'Clure in 1852 and the North East passage by
Nordenskiold in 1879 to read the arguments by which each of the
upholders of the two routes sought to prove that his opponent's
contention was impossible. Of the two disputants we must confess that
Jenkinson's views now appear the likeliest to be realised, for M'Clure
only made his way from Behring Straits to Melville island by abandoning
his ship and travelling across the ice, while Nordenskiold carried the
Vega past the North of Europe and Siberia, returning by Behring's
straits and the Pacific.
45. Cape Chudley.
46. Born near Doncaster. He made several attempts to find the Northwest
passage. (See post.) In 1585 he accompanied Drake to the West Indies;
assisted in defeating the Spanish Armada, and was mortally wounded in
1594 at the attack on Fort Croyzan, near Brest. Some relics of his
Arctic expedition were discovered by Captain F. C. Hall in 1860-62, and
described in his delightful book, "Life with the Esquimaux."
47. Midway between Orkney and Shetland.
48. Foula, the most westerly of the Shetlands, round in form, is 12 miles
in circuit.
49. Esquimaux.
50. Far from coming from Newfoundland, this drift-wood is carried into the
Arctic Ocean by the Yenisei and other large rivers of Siberia.
51. Contrary to the opinion of Mr. Weise, who insists that Friseland is
Iceland, I am inclined to believe that the East coast of Greenland is
meant.
52. Lieutenant Nansen's expedition across Greenland negatives this
supposition, but the West coast is more habitable than the East.
53. Frobisher Bay: it is not a strait. Hall's _Island_ is Hall's Peninsula.
54. twisted
55. Long. From Saxon _sid_. (See BEN JONSON, _New Inn_, v. 1.)
56. Raisins.
57. In a very short time. Sometimes written _giffats_
58. It is almost in the exact latitude of Gaboon Bay.
59. Our author is wrong. Morocco lies between the _annual_ Isothermal lines
of 68º Fahr. (or 20 Cent.), whilst the mean temperature at the Equator
was considered by Humboldt to be 81.4° Fahr. and by Atkinson (Memoirs
of the Royal Astronomical Society) 84.5°.
60. Our author means the _fifth_ proposition of the _first_ book of Euclid,
the celebrated _Pons Asinorum_.
61. John Holywood, so named after the place of his birth near York, after
studying at Oxford, settled in Paris where he became famous. He died in
1256, leaving two works of rare power considering the century they were
written in, viz, _de Spheri Mundi_, and _de Computo Ecclesiastico_.
They are to be found in one volume 8vo, Paris, 1560.
62. John Gonzalvo d'Oviedo, born 1478. Was Governor of the New World, and
wrote a _Summario de la Historia general y natural de las Indias
Occidentales_. Best edition, _Salamanca_ 1535, and _Toledo_, 1536,
folio. This is the work here quoted.
63. This is not the case.
64. Blank in original.
65. Kirkwall.
66. Blank in original.
67. Blank in original.
68. Probably a Narwal.
69. Good.
70. Blank in the original.
71. Blank in original.
72. Blank in original.
73. Blank in original.
74. Blank in original.
75. Blank in original.
76. Muddy.
77. Blank in original.
78. Blank in original.
79. Blank in original.
80. Blank in original.
81. South Equatorial Current.
82. Gulf Stream.
83. The elimination of salt from sea-water by cold was evidently unknown to
the writer.
84. The writer was evidently not a convert to the System of Copernicus, but
agreed with Ptolemy that the Heavens were solid and moved round the
earth, which was the centre of the Universe.
85. _Pirrie_, a sudden storm at sea. According to Jamieson, _Pirr_, in
Scotch, means a gentle breeze.
"A pirrie came, and set my ship on sands."
_Mirror for Magistrates_, p. 194.
86. _Yer_ = ere.
87. Sir Christopher Hatton.
88. Flat.
89. Thus the only result of Davis's Voyage was the discovery of the broad
piece of water since known as Davis's Straits, extending between
Greenland on the East and Cumberland Island on the West. It connects
the Atlantic with Baffin's Bay. In the next voyage, Davis seems to have
crossed the mouth of Hudson's Straits, without entering them.
90. The full text of Davis's account is given in Vol. vi., p. 250 of this
Edition.
91. It seems probable that either Zeno was wrecked on one of the Shetlands,
and that by _Sorani_ is meant Orkney, or that Iceland is the true
Frisland.
92. Aveiro, province of Beira, 31 miles N.W. of Coimbra.
93. Viana do Castello, province of Minho, 40 miles N. of Oporto.
94. See Vol ix., p. 143 of this Edition.
95. (?) Chateau-Richer on the St. Lawrence, 15 miles below Quebec.
96. Near Cape Charles.
97. The St. Lawrence.
98. This refers to Gilbert's first voyage in 1578.
99. Causand.
100. The Newfoundland Banks are rather a submarine Plateau than banks in
the ordinary sense. The bottom is rocky, and generally reached at 25
to 95 fathoms: length and breadth about 300 miles: the only shallow
region in the Atlantic.
101. The cold on the coast is partly due to the quantities of ice
descending from Baffin's Bay.
102. Maëlstrom.
103. Silver, and even gold, has been found in Newfoundland.
104. Bends.