[1] See Dr. Beke’s Introduction.
[2] Brownel is the recognised English equivalent for Brunel.
[3] See Dr. Beke’s Introduction.
[4] Fair Island, an island half-way between the Orkneys and the
Shetland Islands.
[5] Where, in the extract, miles are spoken of, they are nautical
miles, or sixty in a degree of the equator.
[6] Spits- (pointed) Bergen (mountains).
[7] Gerrit de Veer, son of Albert de Veer and Cornelia van Adrichem,
belonged to an old and illustrious Dutch family. He was a younger
brother of Ellert de Veer, who occupied the position of Councillor of
Amsterdam, when Gerrit de Veer undertook his voyage to Novaya Zemlya.
In April 1610, Ellert de Veer was sent to England as plenipotentiary,
on which occasion he was knighted by James I. Gerrit de Veer died,
unmarried, abroad.—Heraldic Library, 1874.
[8] This chart is also to be found, with a few additions, in Asher’s
Hudson the Navigator, and in Pontanus’ History of Amsterdam, 1614.
[9] The south point of Prince Charles’s Foreland?
[10] The Red Bay and the Zeemosche Bay, with the Archipelago and the
Mauritius Bay?
[11] Cloven Cliff, and the other islands of the archipelago?
[12] The north-western archipelago, with Amsterdam and Danish Islands?
[13] Magdalena Bay.
[14] Sir Thomas Smith Bay.
[15] What is called in the chart, from Purchas’ His Pilgrimes, vol.
iii, “The Barr”?
[16] Faire Forelaud, still known in the Dutch charts as Vogelhoek (Cape
Bird)?
[17] Ice Sound?
[18] Bell Sound?
[19] The south point of Spitsbergen?
[20] Mr. De Jonge, Novaya Zemlya, p. 24.
[21] See “Notes on the Ice between Greenland and Novaya Zemlya”, by
Captain M. H. Jansen, of the Dutch Navy (Proceedings of the R.G.S.,
vol. ix, No. IV, p. 170).
[22] Mr. de Jonge, Novaya Zemlya, p. 25.
[23] The second volume of the work “Die Cronycke van Hollant, Zeeland
ende Vrieslant”, etc., was written by Ellert de Veer, the brother of
Gerrit de Veer, and published by Lawrens Jacobsz at Amsterdam in 1591.
[24] Mr. Biddle, in his Memoir of Sebastian Cabot (8vo, London, 1831),
has almost exhausted the subject of the exploits of this English
worthy.
[25] Hakluyt, vol. i, p. 243.
[26] Ibid., p. 245.
[27] Lütke, Viermalige Reise durch das nördliche Eismeer, German
translation by Erman (forming vol. ii of Berghaus’s Kabinets-Bibliothek
der neuesten Reisen), 8vo, Berlin, 1835; pp. 12, 196.
[28] The island of Senyen, on the coast of Norway, in 69° N. lat.
[29] Hakluyt, vol. i, p. 236.
[30] Narratives of Voyages towards the North-West, Introduction, p. i,
et seq.
[31] See Beechy, Voyage of Discovery towards the North Pole, p. 227.
[32] Page 312.
[33] Introduction, p. ix.
[34] Viermalige Reise, etc., p. 1.
[35] Hakluyt, vol. i, p. 274.
[36] Ibid., p. 277.
[37] Hakluyt, vol. i, p. 280.
[38] Page 14.
[39] Bolschoi Kamen (Lütke, p. 14), signifying “the great rock”, lit.
“stone”.
[40] Hakluyt, vol. i, p. 280.
[41] Hakluyt, vol. i, p. 280.
[42] Page 14.
[43] Page 29.
[44] Hakluyt, vol. i, p. 283. See also pp. 284, 417, 464, 465.
[45] See page lxxv of the present Introduction.
[46] Principal Navigations, vol. i, pp. 382–3.
[47] He arrived at the monastery of St. Nicholas, at the western mouth
of the Dwina, on July 23rd, 1568.—Hakluyt, vol. i, p. 376.
[48] He embarked at St. Nicholas about the end of July, 1569, and
arrived safely at London in the month of September following.—Hakluyt,
vol. i, p. 378.
[49] Hakluyt, vol. i, p. 473.
[50] This supposed interval between Novaya Zemlya and “Willoughby’s
Land”, arose from Willoughby’s erroneous estimate of the distance of
the coast reached by him from Senyen, which distance, “instead of 160
leagues, would be 230 leagues; an error, however, not much to be
wondered at, considering the bad weather the fleet encountered between
those places”.—Beechey, p. 228.
[51] Ere; before.
[52] Vol. i, pp. 433–5.
[53] Hakluyt, vol. i, pp. 433–4.
[54] Ibid., p. 435.
[55] Ibid., p. 446.
[56] See the note in page 28 of the present volume.
[57] Ibid.
[58] Hakluyt. vol. i, p. 446.
[59] Ibid., p. 447.
[60] Hakluyt, vol. i, p. 448.
[61] Hakluyt, vol. i, p. 448.
[62] Ibid., p. 449.
[63] Ibid., p. 450.
[64] Ibid., p. 451.
[65] Ibid.
[66] Barrow, Chronological History of Voyages into the Arctic Regions,
p. 99.
[67] Hakluyt, vol. i, p. 453.
[68] See page 64 of the present volume.
[69] Voyage towards the North Pole, p. 202.
[70] Hakluyt, vol. i, p. 233.
[71] Ibid., p. 308.
[72] Ibid., p. 435.
[73] Ibid., p. 437.
[74] Ibid., p. 437. These “notes” were also published by Hakluyt in his
Divers Voyages touching the Discovery of America, under the title of
“Notes in writing, besides more priuie by mouth, that were giuen by a
gentleman,” etc. See Mr. J. Winter Jones’s edition of that work, p.
116.
[75] Hakluyt, vol. i, p. 443.
[76] Rundall, Narratives of Voyages to the North-West, pp. 15, 17.
[77] Pilgrimes, vol. iii, pp. 804–806.
[78] This may perhaps be an erroneous translation of the Russian word
kotschmare, which, according to Lütke (p. 71), “is understood at
Archangel to mean a three-masted vessel, of the burthen of about 500
poods,” or eight tons.
[79] We have here a proof that this document was translated out of
Russian into English through either the Dutch or the German language,
in which Trost does certainly mean “comfort”, but never “trust”. The
translator of De Veer’s work commits the like mistake. See page 20 of
the present volume.
[80] These several descriptions of fish are thus identified by Dr.
Hamel, in his Tradescant der aeltere (St. Petersburg and Leipzig, 1847,
4to.), p. 323. Acipenser sturio, Salmo nasutus (Tschir), Salmo pelet
(Pelet?), Salmo nelma (Nelma), Salmo muksun (Muksun), Salmo lavaretus
(Sigi), Acipenser ruthenus, Salmo solar.
[81] Byeloi ostrov, or White Island. See Lütke, p. 68.
[82] Namely, Byeloi ostrov.
[83] See Lütke, pp. 71–79.
[84] Tradescant der aeltere, p. 323.
[85] Page 230.
[86] Page 231.
[87] Descriptio ac Delineatio geographica Detectionis Freti, sive
Transitus ad Occasum supra Terras Americanas ... recens investigati ab
Henrico Hudsono Anglo ... unà cum descriptione Terræ Samoiedarum et
Tingoesiorum in Tartaria ad Ortum Freti Waygats sitæ, etc. Amsterodami,
ex officina Hesselij Gerardi, anno 1612. Small 4to.
The full title of this work is given by Camus, in his Mémoire sur la
Collection des grands et petits Voyages, p. 254, in which, however, he
has “transitus ad Oceanum”, instead of “transitus ad Occasum”.
[88] In the tenth part of De Bry’s India Orientalis, which was
published at Frankfort in 1613, an absurd blunder occurs with respect
to this name. Massa’s map of 1612 is there reproduced, somewhat reduced
in size, and with the Dutch names of places, etc., Latinized. And the
of in “Matsei of tsar” being imagined to be the Dutch disjunctive
conjunction (Engl. or), that name is accordingly done into Latin, and
appears as “Matsei vel tsar”. In this map “Costintsarch” is not
inserted.
It may not be uninteresting to add, that Gerard’s work, together with
its maps, is inserted bodily in De Bry’s Collection, and on the
title-page, which alone is altered, are the words, “Auctore M. Gotardo
Arthusio, Dantiscano, tabulas in æs artificiosè incisas addente
Johanne-Theodoro de Bry.” The artist has, indeed, the conscience to
give Isaac Massa the credit of his map; but the name of the author of
the work, “Hesselius Gerardus, Assumensis, philogeographicus,” signed
at the foot of his Prolegomena, is left out, and there is nothing
whatever to show that the entire work is not the original composition
of G. Arthus.
[89] See the note in page 31 of the present volume.
[90] See page 30, note 4, and page 202, notes 6 and 7. Yet one more
form has to be added to the list. It is Casting Sarch, which is
employed by Captain Beechey in page 277 of his work already cited.
[91] See page 222 of the present work.
[92] “Tabula Russiæ ex autographo quod delineandum curavit Feodor
filius Tsaris Boris desumpta, et ad fluvios Dwinam, Zuchanum, aliaque
loca, quantum ex tabulis et notitiis ad nos delatis fieri potuit,
amplificata ... ab Hesselo Gerardo, M.DC.XIII” (the last I was
subsequently added). In Blaeu’s Grand Atlas, vol. ii, 1667.
[93] Page 952.
[94] Page 93.
[95] Vol. i, pp. 509–512.
[96] See page 261.
[97] Or Oliuer—Note by Hakluyt.
[98] Or Naramsay and Cara Reca.—Note by Hakluyt. And see page lxxiii,
ante.
[99] These are seemingly the river Yenisei and lake Baikal.
[100] On the subject of Cathay, see Hakluyt’s Divers Voyages, etc., by
J. Winter Jones, pp. 24, 117; and Major’s Notes upon Russia, vol. ii,
pp. 42, 187. Carrah Colmak would appear to be intended for Black
Kalmucks.
[101] Is not this a sign of the existence there of the Tibetan
religion?
[102] Purchas, vol. iii, p. 579.
[103] See page 265.
[104] Vol. iii, p. 545.
[105] See page lxxxviii, ante.
[106] Page lxxxvii.
[107] The members of the Hakluyt Society are referred to their last
published volume, namely, the second of Mr. Major’s translation of
Herberstein’s celebrated work (Notes upon Russia, vol. ii, pp. 40, 41),
for this description of the “golden old woman” and the other wonderful
inhabitants of the regions beyond the Ob.
[108] F. Adelung, in his memoir “über die aeltern ausländischen Karten
von Russland, bis 1700”, in Baer and Helmersen’s Beiträge zur Kenntniss
des Russischen Reiches, vol. iv (1841), p. 18, when describing this
map, says that it must have been very rare, since few appear to have
been acquainted with it except Ortelius and Witsen; referring to the
latter writer’s preface to his Noord en Oost Tartarye, where mention is
made of it. But from a comparison of Gerard’s description of this map
with that of Witsen, it is manifest that the latter merely repeated the
former’s statement respecting it; so that there is no reason for
supposing it to have been seen even by Witsen.
[109] Pilgrimes, vol. iii, p. 473.
[110] Prolegomena ad Hudsoni Detect., edit. Amstelodami per Hes.
Gerard, 1611.—Marginal note by Purchas.
The date here attributed to Gerard’s work must be a misprint, as Camus
makes no mention of any editions except that of 1612 and one of the
following year. In this second edition of 1613, the far greater part of
the Prolegomena is omitted, and what little remains is much altered.
Camus remarks (p. 255), “l’avertissement est absolument changé; il est
beaucoup plus court”. The title of the work is also slightly varied.
[111] Page 946.
[112] Engl. edit., p. 415.
[113] Chronological History, etc., p. 159.
[114] Ibid., p. 141, note.
[115] Tradescant, etc., pp. 232–235.
[116] Purchas, vol. iii, p. 464.
[117] Hakluyt, vol. i, p. 468.
[118] Linschoten, Voyagie, ofte Schip-vaert, van by Norden om, etc.,
fol. 3.
[119] Bennet and Van Wijk, in Nieuwe Verhandelingen van het Provinciaal
Utrechtsche Genootschap, etc., vol. v, part 6 (1830), p. 26, call this
vessel the Swallow (Zwaluw).
[120] Linschoten, fol. 3.
[121] J. R. Forster (Engl. edit., p. 411) says that the Amsterdam
vessel was called “the Boot, or Messenger”. The original German work
(Frankfort, 1784, 8vo) is not in the British Museum, nor is it known
whether a copy of it is to be found in this country; so that there are
no means of reference. But it may be suspected that there is some
confusion here between Boot, “a boat”, and Bote, “a messenger”. Most
modern writers have followed Forster in calling Barents’s vessel the
Messenger. This name, translated into Russian by Lütke, and then
rendered back into German by Erman (p. 17), has become der Gesandte,
the Envoy or Ambassador!
[122] Bennett and Van Wijk, p. 26.
[123] Linschoten, fol. 3.
[124] See the Appendix, page 273.
[125] “Ghelijck als t’selfde, uyt de beschrijvinghe ofte t’verbael des
voorseyden Willem Barentsz. ghenoechsaem (met lief overcomende)
verthoont sal worden, tot welckes ick my refereere.”—Voyagie, etc.,
fol. 18 verso.
[126] Te samen Admiraelschap ende een vast verbondt
ghemaeckt.—Linschoten, fol. 3.
[127] De Veer, p. 6.
[128] Page 27.
[129] De Veer, pp. 11–16.
[130] Ibid., p. 20.
[131] De Veer, p. 27.
[132] De Veer, p. 36.
[133] Page 40.
[134] Al hoe wel dat die van Plancius opinie zijn, in haer Tractaet te
verstaen gheven, dat ick da sake breeder aenghedient hadde, als sy in
effect was, t’welck ick den discreten leser t’oordeelen gheve.—
Voyagie, fol. 24.
[135] De Veer, p. 64.
[136] De Veer, p. 42.
[137] The expressions vlyboot and yacht seem to have been used, like
“cutter” and “clipper” in modern times, to designate quick-sailing
vessels.
[138] Linschoten, fol. 24 verso.
[139] See De Veer, p. 50, and the note there.
[140] Linschoten, fol. 27 verso.
[141] De Veer, p. 53.
[142] Linschoten, fol. 27 verso.
[143] De Veer, p. 53.
[144] Ibid., p. 54.
[145] See pages lxxi-ii, ante.
[146] De Veer, p. 57.
[147] Linschoten, fol. 29 verso.
[148] De Veer, p. 60.
[149] De Veer, p. 60.
[150] Ibid., p. 61.
[151] Ibid., p. 62; Linschoten, fol. 32.
[152] Om immers aen ons devoir niet te ontbreken.—Linschoten, fol. 32.
[153] Linschoten, fol. 32.
[154] Linschoten, fol. 32.
[155] De Veer, p. 62; Linschoten, fol. 32.
[156] Waer over een groot debat ghevallen is.—Linschoten, fol. 32
verso.
[157] Linschoten, fol. 32 verso.
[158] See Appendix, p. 274.
[159] Linschoten, fol. 33; De Veer, p. 56.
[160] Ibid., fol. 33 verso. And see De Veer, p. 65.
[161] De Veer, p. 66.
[162] Linschoten, fol. 32 verso.
[163] Lütke says (p. 34) that it was signed by all except Barents. But
it will be seen that his signature stands in its proper rank, the
third, among the others. Lütke’s mistake appears to have arisen from
his having followed Adelung, who copied from the Recueil de Voyages au
Nord, where, in the list of names, that of Barents is certainly
omitted, though from what cause except inadvertency cannot be imagined.
[164] De Veer, p. 70.
[165] See particularly pp. 175–178 and 188–193 of the present volume.
[166] De Veer, p. 125.
[167] Ibid., p. 193.
[168] De Veer, p. 73.
[169] Ibid., p. 76.
[170] Voyage towards the North Pole, p. 35.
[171] Purchas, vol. iii, p. 464.
[172] De Veer, p. 77, and the note there.
[173] De Veer, p. 85.
[174] Ibid., p. 78.
[175] Ibid., p. 83.
[176] Ibid., p. 84.
[177] Ibid., p. 84.
[178] De Veer, p. 85.
[179] Ibid.
[180] De Bry, India Orientalis, part ix, p. 51. In Scoresby’s Account
of the Arctic Regions, vol. i, p. 80, the spot reached by Rijp is
called “the Bay of Birds”, De Bry being referred to as the authority.
But that writer’s words are—“Sub gr. 80 circa Volucrium Promontorium, a
quo postmodum animo ad Guilhelmum redeundi discessit.”
Just as this sheet was going to press, we have found that the article
in De Bry, from which the above extract is taken, is a translation of
the following work:—“Histoire du Pays nommé Spitsberghe. Comme il a
esté descouvert, sa situation et de ses Animauls. Avec le Discours des
empeschemens que les Navires esquippes pour la peche des Baleines tant
Basques, Hollandois, que Flamens, ont soufferts de la part des Anglois,
en l’Année presente 1613. Escript par H. G. A. Et une Protestation
contre les Anglois, & annullation de tous leurs frivolz argumens, par
lesquelz ils pensent avoir droit de se faire seuls Maistres du dit
Pays. A Amsterdam, chez Hessel Gerard A. a l’ensiegne de la Carte
Nautiq. MD.C.XIII.”
This appears to be the work to which Purchas (vol. iii, p. 464) makes
the following allusion:—“I have by me a French Storie of Spitsbergh,
published 1613 by a Dutchman, which writeth against this English
allegation, &c., but hotter arguments then I am willing to answer.” It
gives an account of the voyage of Rijp and Barents, which, though
agreeing generally with that of De Veer, differs from it in some
important particulars. What is most remarkable is, that it is said to
have been written by Barents himself:—“Mais pour sçavoir deuvement ce
qu’ils ont trouvé en ceste descouvrāce, i’ay trouvé bon de mettre icy
un petit extraict du Journal, escrit de la main propre de Guillaume
Bernard”.
Want of time and space prevents us from giving the subject any
lengthened consideration. But from what we have been able to make out,
our impression decidedly is, that it was never written by Barents, but
was attributed to him solely for the purpose of giving to it an
authority which it might otherwise not have possessed. For, in the
first place, Barents never returned to Holland subsequently to the
discovery of Spitzbergen, but died off the coast of Novaya Zemlya, on
the 20th of June, 1597; so that, even assuming him to have written a
journal with his own hand, that journal must have passed into the
possession of Gerrit de Veer, the historian of the voyage, and would
assuredly have formed the basis of his narrative; and hence the
discrepancies which exist between the two could never have arisen. And,
in the second place, this journal states, under date of the 24th of
June, 1596, “la terre (au lōg du quel prenions nostre route) estoit la
plus part rompue, bien hault, et non autre que monts et montaignes
agues, parquoy l’appellions Spitzbergen”. Yet, so far was Barents from
having given this name to the newly-discovered country, that we find it
expressly stated by De Veer (p. 82), under date of the 22nd of June,
that they “esteemed this land to be Greene-land”. And not merely so,
but after the latter’s return to Holland, where he had the opportunity
of consulting with Plantius and other geographers, he still retained
that opinion; for in the dedication to his work, which is dated
“Amsterdam, April 29th, 1598”, he says that “the eastern part of
Greenland (as we call it) in 80°, is now ascertained, where it was
formerly thought there was only water and no land”; clearly proving
that even at that time there was no idea of calling the
newly-discovered country by the name of Spitzbergen, or of considering
it anything but “the eastern part of Greenland”.
But, not long afterwards, the western coast of Spitzbergen having been
visited by the vessels of other nations, and its importance as a
station for the whale fishery having been ascertained, the Dutch were
naturally anxious to establish their claim to its first discovery. This
was the object of Hessel Gerard’s tract: a most legitimate one in
itself, though, unfortunately, carried out in a very unscrupulous
manner. For, not only did he attribute the authorship of this journal
to Barents, and in it make him first use the name of Spitzbergen; but
as, from the then prevailing ignorance respecting the geography of that
country, it was not possible to trace that navigator’s true course
along its eastern coast, round about its northern end, and so down the
western coast, he did not scruple to falsify Barents’s track, and make
him sail from Bear Island on the 13th of June sixteen Dutch miles
west-north-west and fifteen miles north-west, where De Veer (p. 76) has
sixteen miles north and somewhat easterly; and then again on the 14th,
twenty-two miles north by west, where De Veer (p. 77) has twenty miles
north and north and by east, and on the 16th thirty miles north and by
east. By thus altering the direction of Barents’ course, Gerard
certainly brought him to the western coast of Spitzbergen; but he
thereby rendered the remaining portion of the voyage, which was
westward along the northern side of the land, an impossible course in
the sea between Spitzbergen and Greenland! The fact of Gerard’s tract
having been republished in De Bry’s Collection, which work is well
known to literary men, while De Veer’s original journal has rarely, if
ever, been consulted by them, is doubtless the reason why the
circumnavigation of Spitzbergen by Barents and Rijp has hitherto
remained unknown.
[181] Pages 248, 251.
[182] De Veer, p. 89, and the note there.
[183] De Veer, p. 99.
[184] Third Series, vol. v (1837–8), pp. 289–330.
[185] Pages 200–203.
[186] Page 147.
[187] Pages 147, 160, 298, etc.
[188] Page 266.
[189] De Veer, p. 11.
[190] Page 305.
[191] Page 12.
[192] Page 21.
[193] Page 306.
[194] Page 12.
[195] See page xc, ante.
[196] De Veer, page 13, note 1.
[197] Page 236.
[198] De Veer, p. 13.
[199] Ibid., p. 14.
[200] Ibid., p. 14.
[201] Ibid., p. 16.
[202] Page 306.
[203] Page 302.
[204] Pages 302–306.
[205] See pages 145–149 of the present work, and the notes there.
[206] It was not thought necessary to reproduce these charts for the
present edition.
[207] De Veer, p. 20.
[208] Page 360.
[209] De Veer, p. 70.
[210] Ibid., p. 111.
[211] Ibid., p. 112.
[212] De Veer, p. 175.
[213] Ibid., p. 176.
[214] Ibid., p. 176.
[215] Page 37.
[216] Page 150.
[217] Page 152.
[218] Page 224.
[219] See Lütke, p. 39.
[220] This observation of Robert le Canu is anything but ingenuous. De
Veer’s work, the body of which is in German characters, contains
several other portions printed with Roman letters, for the sake of
distinction on account of their importance; such as the Dedication, the
story of the barnacles, etc.
[221] This sacristan was not quite so flexible as the “Clerke of the
Bow bell”, immortalized in Stow’s Survey of London (edit. 1633, p.
269). His duty it was to ring the curfew-bell nightly at nine o’clock;
and “this Bel being usually rung somewhat late, as seemed to the young
men Prentises, and other in Cheape, they made and set up a rime against
the Clerke, as followeth:
“Clarke of the Bow-Bell,
with the yellow locks,
For thy late ringing,
thy head shall have knockes.
“Whereunto the Clerke replying, wrote:
“Children of Cheape,
hold you all still,
For you shall have the
Bow-bell rung at your will.”
[222] Blaeu, Grand Atlas, part i, fol. 34, b.
[223] On this day De Veer says that they measured the sun’s azimuth (de
son peijlden), which they found to be “in the eleventh degree and 48
minutes of Scorpio”, that is to say, in 221° 48′. It would seem,
however, that there are here two mistakes. The first is a clerical or
typographical error. Instead of 221° 48′, it should be 221° 18′, which
was the sun’s longitude at Venice on the 3rd of November. And the
second error is, that no account is taken of the difference of
longitude between Venice and Novaya Zemlya, which is about four hours
in time. The sun’s true longitude was 221° 7′,6.
[224] Namely, that of Captain Parry.
[225] “The 25th of January it was darke clowdy weather”; the 26th there
was “a fog-bank or a dark cloud”; the 29th, “it was foule weather, with
great store of snow”; the 30th, “it was darke weather with an east
wind,” and “as soone as they saw what weather it was, they had no
desire to goe abroad”; the 1st of February, “the house was closed up
againe with snow”; the 2nd, “it was still the same foule weather”; the
3rd, it was “very misty, whereby they could not see the sun”; and from
the 4th till the 7th inclusive, “it was still foule weather”.
[226] Some valuable remarks on this phenomenon are contained in Lütke’s
Viermalige Reise, pp. 39–41.
[227] De Veer’s work has seen three editions—1598, 1599, and 1605, at
the same press. The text, as well as the plates of the edition of 1599,
are reprinted, whilst the pages are better numbered. (Mémoire
Bibliographique sur les Journaux des Navigateurs Neerlandais 1867, par
P. A. Fiele.)
[228] One further curious instance has only recently come to our
knowledge. Captain Beechey, when speaking (p. 257) of the bears which
were killed by the Dutch while in their winter quarters, says that on
opening one of them “there was found in its stomach ‘part of a buck,
with the hair and skinne and all, which not long before she had torne
and devoured,’ a fact (he adds) which I mention only to rectify an
error in supposing deer did not frequent Nova Zembla.”
Did the fact of the existence of deer in Novaya Zemlya rest upon this
statement alone, it would have but a weak foundation; for, as is shown
in page 182, note 3, the original Dutch is “stucken van robben, met
huijt ende hayr”—“pieces of seals, with the skin and hair.” But, in
truth, the existence of deer in that country is established by the
incontrovertible evidence adduced in the notes to pages 5, 83, and 104;
to which has to be added the fact recorded in the Appendix, p. 269,
that when Hudson and his crew were on the coast of Novaya Zemlya in
1608, they saw there numerous signs of deer, and on one occasion “a
herd of white deere of ten in a companie;” so that they actually gave
to the place the name of Deere Point.
[229] 1.—“The Description of a Voyage made by certain Ships of Holland
into the East Indies ... who set forth on the 2nd Aprill 1595, and
returned on the 14th of August 1597. Printed by John Woolfe, 1598,
4to.”
In his dedication to this work, of which the original was written by
Bernard Langhenes, Phillip announces a translation of Linschoten’s
voyages; and in the same year there appeared—
2.—“John Huighen van Linschoten, his discours of voyages into ye Easte
and West Indies. Devided into foure books. Printed at London by John
Woolfe;” on the title-pages of the second, third, and fourth books of
which work the initials W. P. are given as those of the translator.
In the advertisement to the reader in this latter work (copies of which
have sold as high as £10 15s.), it is stated that the “Booke being
commended by Maister Richard Hackluyt, a man that laboureth greatly to
advance our English name and nation, the printer thought good to cause
the same to be translated into the English tongue.”
3.—“The Relation of a wonderfull Voiage made by William Cornelison
Schouten of Horne. Shewing how South from the Straights of Magellan in
Terra del Fuego, he found and discovered a newe passage through the
great South Sea, and that way sayled round about the World. Describing
what Islands, Countries, People, and strange Adventures he found in his
saide Passage. London, imprinted by T. D. for Nathaneell Newberry,
1619. 4to.”
This English edition is exceedingly rare.
[230] Namely, the United Provinces of the Netherlands.
[231] The Amsterdam Latin version of 1598 has “Columbus, Cortesius, et
Magellanus”. But the emendation is unnecessary, since the author
evidently intends Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, the discoverer of the Pacific.
[232] “Cicilia”, in the English original, can only be an error of the
press.
[233] Deur ende weer deur de Linie—passing and repassing the Line.
[234] De witte Zee—the White Sea.
[235] The adverb of affirmation, now written ay. A striking instance of
its use occurs in Romeo and Juliet:—
“Hath Romeo slaine himself? say thou but I,
And that bare vowell I shall poyson more
Than the death-darting eye of Cockatrice;
I am not I, if there be such an I.”
[236] Thus it appears that Gerrit de Veer was not on the first voyage,
as has been supposed by some writers.
[237] By the Russians called Nóvaya Zémlya, i.e., “the New Land”.
[238] Namely, between Nóvaya Zémlya and Spitzbergen, which latter was,
by Barentsz and his companions, thought to be a part of Greenland.
[239] The Sea of Kara, east of Nóvaya Zémlya.
[240] This country, which was discovered by the Hollanders on their
third voyage, has since proved to be Spitzbergen.
[241] The same is repeated by Sir John Barrow (Chronological History of
Voyages, etc., pp. 148, 185), who questions the fact asserted by
Hudson, of his having seen reindeer in the island. But Lütke expressly
declares (Viermalige Reise, etc., Erman’s Translation, pp. 43, 75, 314,
359), that these animals do exist in Nóvaya Zémlya, even beyond the
74th parallel of north latitude. See also Baer, in Berghaus’s Annalen,
vol. xvii, p. 300; vol. xviii, p. 25.
[242] Intended.
[243] As is shown in the Introduction, the proper name of this able
navigator is Willem Barentszoon, that is, William, the son of Barent or
Bernard; which name, as usually contracted, was written Barentsz.
[244] May 29th, 1594.
[245] The island of Kildin, on the coast of Russian Lapland, in 69° 18′
north latitude, and 34° 20′ longitude east of Greenwich.
[246] Dutch or German miles of fifteen to the degree; so that one such
mile is equal to four English sea miles, or geographical miles of sixty
to the degree. To assist the reader, who might not always have this in
mind, the English miles will throughout be inserted between brackets.
[247] A rude way of determining the time by the bearing of the sun,
customary among seamen of all nations in those days, for want of
portable time-pieces. Were the precise azimuth of the sun observed, no
method could be more exact; but as no interval between the several
points of the compass (which are 11° 15′ apart) is taken into account,
and as the sun’s bearing is also subject to the variation of the
compass, the result must be only approximative. From the
compass-bearing alone, as recorded, it would be difficult for the
reader to form anything like a correct idea of the actual time—for
example, when, on the 30th of June, the sun was observed to be full
south, it wanted more than an hour-and-a-quarter of mid-day. It is,
therefore, deemed advisable to insert, after each observation of time
by the sun, the time by the clock to the nearest quarter of an hour.
[248] Schoverseylen—the courses, or sails on the lower masts.
[249] O. ten n.—east by north.
[250] Tots avonds—till the evening.
[251] Oozy, muddy.
[252] Een quartier—one watch; the duration of which was, as usual, four
hours.
[253] I.e., they found themselves to be in 70° 45′ north latitude, by
means of an observation of the sun.
[254] Small black specks.
[255] Wendense weder noordwaert over—they again tacked to the north.
Phillip uses throughout the expression “to wind” in the sense of “to
tack”.
[256] Van deeldagh af—from noon.
[257] Groote holle schulpen—large hollow shells.
[258] The first watch, beginning at 8 o’clock P.M.
[259] “Table.”—Ph. Evidently a misprint.
[260] Een schover zeyl—one course, namely, the main-sail.
[261] Wierpent aen de wint—they hauled close to the wind.
[262] Graedt-boogh—rendered Radius astronomicus in the Amsterdam Latin
version of 1598, and Ray nautique in the French version of the same
year and place—Cross-staff, Jacob’s-staff, or fore-staff; a well known
instrument, no longer in use among European navigators. But the Arab
seamen on the east coast of Africa still employ a primitive instrument,
which is essentially the same. It consists of a small quadrangular
board, through which a string, knotted at various distances, is passed;
each knot being at such a distance from the board, that when the latter
is held by the observer before him, with the knot between his teeth and
the string extended, the board (between its upper and lower edges)
shall subtend the angle at which the pole-star is known to be elevated
above the horizon at some one of the ports frequented by the observer.
Inartificial as such an instrument may be, yet if, instead of a knotted
string, a notched stick were used, on which the board might slide
backwards and forwards, it would be the cross-staff of our early
navigators.
[263] Noch (now spelt nog)—again.
[264] Den 4 Julij des nachts—on the 4th of July, at night.
[265] Graed-boogh. See the preceding page, note 1.
[266] So in the original. But the sense requires “north-east and by
north”, that being the next point to N.N.E.
[267] Een laghe uytstekenden hoeck—a low projecting point. Through some
misconception, Phillip repeatedly has “long” for “low”.
[268] Laghe—low.
[269] Capo Baxo—Low Point. From the long connection of the Netherlands
with Spain, the Dutch navigators appear to have employed the Spanish
language for trivial names like “Low Point”, “Black Point”, as being
more distinctive than the vernacular.
[270] Eenderley aert van voghelen—a certain kind of birds. This strange
mistake of the translator has given occasion to frequent comment. It is
the more unaccountable, as the original work contains a pictorial
representation of these birds,—noordtsche papegagen, or northern
parrots, as they are there called,—in connection with the plan of
Lomsbay; and it is also expressly stated, that the bay “has its name
from the birds which dwell there in great numbers. They are large in
the body and small in the wing, so that it is surprising how their
little wings can carry their heavy bodies. They have their nests on
steep rocks, in order to be secure from animals, and they sit on only
one egg at a time. They were not afraid of us; and when we climbed up
to any of their nests, the others round about did not fly away.”
The bird in question is the Brunnich’s Guillemot. (Alca Arra.) It is
described and figured in the fifth volume of Gould’s Birds of Europe,
and in Yarrell’s British Birds.
An assemblage of these birds, such as is here described by the author,
“is called by the Russians a ‘bazar’. Thus this Persian word has been
carried by Russian walrus-hunters to the rocks of the icy sea, and
there for want of human inhabitants applied to birds.”—Baer, in
Berghaus’s Annalen, vol. xviii, p. 23.
[271] Een laeghen slechten hoeck, ende daer leyt een cleijn Eylandeken
by, van den hoeck af zeewaerts in, so was noch by oosten dien laeghen
hoeck een groote wyde voert ofte inwijck—A low flat point, and by it
there lyeth a small island seawards from the point, and also to the
east of this low point there is a great wide creek or inlet.
[272] Het Admiraliteyts Eyland—Admiralty Island.
[273] “One.”—Ph.
[274] Capo Negro.
[275] Usually written Pampus. A bar of mud and sand near Amsterdam, at
the junction of the Y with the Zuyder Zee. This simile calls to mind
that of Mungo Park, who, on his discovery of the Niger, described it as
being “as broad as the Thames at Westminster”. Such homely comparisons,
though by some they may be condemned as unscientific, often speak more
distinctly to the feelings of such as can appreciate them than the most
elaborate descriptions.
[276] Willems Eyland.
[277] Met zijn groote quadrant—With his large quadrant.
[278] This is not correctly stated, since it is the sun’s zenith
distance, and not its elevation above the horizon, that was 53° 5′. The
observation is, however, correctly worked out, subject only to the
trifling error of 1′.
[279] The original has 53° 5′ both here and two lines lower down. There
is consequently an error of 1′ in the calculation. The correction
should be made on the result, instead of on the observation itself.
[280] So in the original; but it should be 75° 56′.
[281] Een ghedierte—an animal.
[282] A proof, among many others, that the west coast of Nóvaya Zémlya
had previously been visited by the Russians.
[283] Berenfort—Bear Creek. It might be better written Beren-voert; as
the word voert—which is apparently either the Danish fiord, or else the
old form of the modern Dutch vaart—is used by the author (see page 13,
note 1) as equivalent to inwijck, a creek or inlet.
[284] Palde hem altemet wat aen—poked him now and then (with the
boat-hook.
[285] Van de voorschuyt—from the fore-part of the boat.
[286] “20 of July.”—Ph.
[287] Het Eylandt mette Cruycen—the Island with the Crosses.
[288] The mainland of Nóvaya Zémlya.
[289] Steeck gront—stiff ground.
[290] Tot den Hoeck van Nassowen—to Cape Nassau.
[291] Laghe—low.
[292] Noordt-oost—north-east.
[293] “The existence of the land said to have been seen by the
Hollanders to the eastward of Cape Nassau is exceedingly doubtful. They
themselves make but slight mention of it, and not at all on the second
(third) voyage. Perhaps they saw some projecting point of the land of
Novaya Zemlya; or yet more probably they mistook a fog-bank for
land.”—Lütke, p. 21.
[294] Marseylen—topsails.
[295] Eenighe ys schollen—some pieces of drift ice.
[296] Wenden zijt weder aen de wint—they again hauled close to the
wind.
[297] So veel als men uyten mars oversien mocht, altemael een effen
velt ys. This passage is deserving of special notice, on account of the
following statement in Captain Scoresby’s Account of the Arctic
Regions:—“The term field was given to the largest sheets of ice by a
Dutch whale fisher. It was not until a period of many years after the
Spitzbergen fishery was established, that any navigator attempted to
penetrate the ice, or that any of the most extensive sheets of ice were
seen. One of the ships resorting to Smeerenberg for the fishery, put to
sea on one occasion, when no whales were seen, persevered westward to a
considerable length, and accidentally fell in with some immense flakes
of ice, which, on his return to his companions, he described as truly
wonderful, and as resembling fields in the extent of their surface.
Hence the application of the term ‘field’ to this kind of ice. The
discoverer of it was distinguished by the title of ‘field
finder’.”—Vol. i, p. 243.
[298] See page 7, note 4.
[299] 77° 20′ N. lat.
[300] In groote menichte van ys schollen—among a great quantity of
drift ice.
[301] Een velt ys—a field of ice.
[302] In 77° 15′ N. lat.
[303] The main land of Nóvaya Zémlya.
[304] 76° 55′ N. lat.
[305] Capo de Nassauw’.
[306] N.W. ten N.—N.W. by north.
[307] N. ten W.—N. by W.
[308] Ys schollen—drift ice.
[309] N.N.O.—N.N.E.
[310] 76° 55′ N. lat.
[311] N. ten W.—N. by W.
[312] Ende quamen weder by ’t landt aen de Cape des Troosts—and came
again close to the land at Cape Comfort.
[313] This word is not in the original; and it is inconsistent, as in
the next line their course is stated to have been N.N.E.
[314] Graedt-boogh. See page 10, note 1.
[315] So in the original. It should be 76° 15′.
[316] In like manner as on the 7th July (see page 14), it is the sun’s
zenith distance that is here recorded instead of its altitude.
[317] Noordt oost ten oosten—N.E. by east.
[318] Des selfden nachts—the same night. The sun was then constantly
above the horizon.
[319] Metten graedtboogh, astrolabium ende quadrant.
[320] De aldernoordelijckste hoeck van Nova Sembla genaemt Ys hoeck—the
northernmost point, etc.
[321] Most probably marcasite or iron pyrites. Frobisher’s third voyage
to “Meta Incognita”, with fifteen vessels, was principally for the
purpose of bringing home an immense quantity of this mineral, which he
had discovered on his former voyages, and fancied to be rich in
gold.—See Hakluyt’s Voyages, vol. i, pp. 74, 91; and Admiral Sir
Richard Collinson’s edition of Sir Martin Frobisher’s Three Voyages.
(Hakluyt Society, 1867.)
[322] Z. ten O.—S. by E.
[323] Oost wel so zuydelijck—east a little south.
[324] Laveerden—“laveered”, i.e., advanced by repeated short tacks.
[325] “Baste”—Ph. A misprint.
[326] Een schots ys—a piece of drift ice.
[327] A critical history of this animal is given in “Anatomische und
Zoologische Untersuchungen über das Wallross (Trichechus Rosmarus) &c.
von Dr. K. E. v. Baer”—Mémoires de l’Acad. Imp. des Sc. de St.
Pétersb., 6me Sér., Sciences Math., Phys. et Nat., tom. iv, 2de part.,
Sc. Nat. (1838), pp. 97–235.
In Scoresby’s Account of the Arctic Regions, vol. i, p. 504, it is
said: “When seen at a distance, the front part of the head of the young
walrus, without tusks, is not unlike the human face. As this animal is
in the habit of rearing its head above water, to look at ships and
other passing objects, it is not at all improbable that it may have
afforded foundation for some of the stories of mermaids. I have myself
seen a sea-horse in such a position, and under such circumstances, that
it required little stretch of imagination to mistake it for a human
being; so like indeed was it, that the surgeon of the ship actually
reported to me his having seen a man with his head just appearing above
the surface of the water.”
[328] “Bathing”—Ph. A misprint.
[329] Cortelassen—cutlasses. Plate CIII, of Dr. Meyrick’s Ancient Arms
and Armour (vol. ii) contains a representation of an “Andrew Ferrara”,
which is described as “a coutel-hache, coutelaxe or coutelas”. But the
true original of the name is the Italian cultellaccio or coltellaccio,
meaning literally a large (heavy) knife. Cultellazius, the Latinized
form of this word, occurs in a list of forbidden weapons, in a statute
of the city of Ferrara, A.D. 1268. See Muratori, Antiq. Italic., vol.
ii, col. 515.
[330] Tottet Eglandt van Oraengien.
[331] Intended.
[332] Namely, those of Zeelandt and Enkhuysen, from which they had
separated at Kildin on the 29th of June.
[333] De Weygats ofte Strafe de Nassou. This name has given occasion to
much curious criticism. The Dutch, not unnaturally, have sought its
explanation in their own language, in which waaien means “to blow”, “to
be windy”, and gat is “a strait” or “passage”; so that waaigat would be
“a passage wherein the wind blows strongly”. And it is indisputable
that this name has, on various occasions, been so applied by the seamen
of that nation. Thus, we find a Waaigat in Baffin’s Bay, one in
Spitzbergen, and another by the Straits of Magellan; and even the roads
between the Helder and Texel have, from an early period, borne the same
name. See “Prize Essay on the Netherlandish Discoveries,” by R. G.
Bennet and J. G. van Wijk, in Nieuwe Verhandelingen von het Provincial
Utrechtsche Genootschap, etc., vol. vi (1827), p. 41.
Others, instead of the Dutch waaien, have taken the German weihen as
the root, and thus made weihgat to mean the “sacred straits”.
J. R. Forster, in his Voyages and Discoveries in the North (Engl.
edit.), p. 273, contends, however, that the name is of Russian origin,
and explains it as follows:—“Barentz found afterwards in Nova Zembla
some carved images on a head-land near the straits, in consequence of
which he called it Afgoeden-hoek, the ‘Cape of Idols’. Now, in the
Sclavonian tongue, wajat means ‘to carve’, ‘to make an image’.
Wajati-Noss would, therefore, be the ‘Carved’ or ‘Image Cape’; and this
seems to me to be the true origin of the word Waigats, which properly
should be called Wajatelstwoi Proliw, ‘the Image Straits’.” So
convinced was Forster of the correctness of his conjecture, that in
another part of his work (p. 413) he did not hesitate to assert that
the Russians themselves give to the Afgoeden-hoek the name of Waijati
Nos; and this strange derivation of the word Waigats has found
supporters not only among foreign, but even among Russian writers. See
Barrow, p. 137; Berch, p. 30.
But Lütke, who has fully investigated the subject, adduces as proof
against these fanciful etymologies, first (p. 30), that the name
recorded by the Dutch themselves is Waigatz [Weygats], and not Waigat,
the Russian termination tsch being changed by them into tz, in the same
way as in Pitzora for Petschora, etc.; secondly, that the name
Waigatsch properly belongs to the island alone, and not to the straits;
thirdly, that this name was known to the Englishman Burrough in 1556,
nearly forty years before the first voyage of the Hollanders; and
lastly (p. 31), that the Russians have never called the Cape of Idols
Waiyati Nos, but always Bolwánskyi Muis, from bolwàn, a rough image.
Lütke adds that the true derivation of the name in question is as
difficult to be determined as that of Kolguew, Nokuew, Kildin,
Warandei, etc., which are probably the remains of the languages of
tribes now extinct. But, at the same time, he directs attention to
Witsen’s assertion (which appears to have been altogether overlooked by
previous writers), that the island of Waigatsch received its name from
one Iwan Waigatsch—“het Eiland Waigats, dat zijn naem heeft van Ivan,
of Ian Waigats;”—a derivation which is very probable, and certainly far
more reasonable than any of the etymologies above recited.
[334] De Cape des Troosts—Cape Comfort; the same which Phillip had
previously translated “Cape Trust”. See page 22, note 4.
[335] Swarte heuvels ghelijck boeren huysen—black hillocks, like
peasants’ huts.
[336] Ende quamen by een laghen slechten hoeck te landt aen de Cape de
Nassauwen—and came to a low, flat point, at Cape Nassau.
[337] “5 miles”—Ph.
[338] Het swarte Eylandt.
[339] Zijt aen de wint leyden—they lay to the wind.
[340] Oliphier Brunel. A native of Brussels, properly named Oliver
Bunel, who traded to the north coasts of Russia in a vessel from
Enckhuysen, and was lost in the river Petchora. The process by which
Bunel has been made to become an Englishman, under the name of
“Bennel”, “Brunell”, or “Brownell”, is explained in the Introduction.
[341] Costincsarch, in the original Dutch text; Costinclarch, in the
Amsterdam French version of 1598; Constint-sarch, or Constantin zaar,
as it is called by Witsen in his Noord en Oost Tartarije, p. 918;
Constant Search, according to Forster’s ingenious hypothesis, p. 415;
Coasting Search, as suggested by Barrow, p. 159. This name, which has
scarcely ever been written twice alike, and which has given occasion to
so much speculation as to its origin, is properly Kostin-schar, i.e.,
“Kostin Straits, or Passage”; it being the channel by which the
Meyduscharski Island (i.e., “the island lying between the straits”), is
separated from the main land of Novaya Zemlya. Lütke, from whom (p. 22)
the above definition is taken, explains further (p. 245), that “among
Novaya Zemlya navigators, schar is properly the name of a strait or
passage, which goes directly through or across an island or country,
forming a communication between two distinct seas. For one that merely
separates an island from the mainland, or otherwise forms part of one
sea alone, the appropriate designation is salma. Thus, Matotschkin
Schar, Yugorskyi Schar, etc., are properly so called; but Kostin Schar,
as a walrus hunter told me, ‘is styled a schar only through stupidity,
as its correct designation would be Kostin Salma’.”
Nevertheless, in justice to those who first gave the name of Kostin
Schar to this strait, it must be remarked, that it was regarded by them
as actually passing through the mainland of Novaya Zemlya, and as
forming a communication with the Kara Sea. It is thus shown in the
early maps; and Witzen (p. 918) expressly states—“Het ys dryft door
Nova Zemla heen, en comt by Constint Sarch, of Constantin Zaar, uit.”
It is the passage to the south of the island which is more especially
named Kostin Schar, or Kostin Salma. That to the north is the Podryésof
Passage (Podrjesow Schar). See Lütke, p. 315.
As regards the etymology of the word Schar, Lütke says (p. 245) that he
was unable to satisfy himself. “The Samoyedes themselves regard it as a
foreign term; and by some it is thought to come from the Finnish word
Schar or Skar.” Can the shard of Spencer have any connection with it?
“Upon that shore he spyéd Atin stand
There by his maister left, when late he far’d
In Phædria’s flitt barck over that perlous shard.”
Faerie Queene, II, vi, 38.
[342] Schlecten—flat.
[343] Cruijs-hoeck.
[344] Slecht water—shallow water.
[345] Steeck grondt—stiff ground.
[346] Slechten—flat.
[347] Den vijfden hoeck ofte S. Laurens hoeck.
[348] Schans hoeck. “Barrow (p. 141) calls this headland Sion’s
Point.”—Lütke, p. 20. This is clearly a clerical or typographical error
for “Sconce Point”, of a character similar to that in the first (Paris)
edition of the Histoire Générale des Voyages, cited by Barrow, p. 139,
whereby “Baie de Loms”—Lomsbay—is converted into “Baie de St. Louis!”
[349] Leydent zeewaerts in—tacked to seaward.
[350] Des middaeghs—at noon.
[351] Om den derden hoeck—near the third point.
[352] Laghe—low.
[353] Aent last vast: a typographical error in the original Dutch. It
should be aent landt vast.
[354] Om onsent wil gevlucht waren—were fled on our account.
[355] Ende een gotelincks schoot van daer stont noch een cruijs—and a
falconet-shot from thence stood another cross. Lütke (p. 20) criticises
Barrow for saying (p. 141) that the Hollanders found here, among other
things, “a large cannon shot”; but it is clear that the latter has
merely modernized Phillip’s words “a bullet for a great piece”.
[356] Veel tonnen duyghen—a quantity of pipe-staves. Here is a curious
double error. In the first place, as duyghen are “staves” (for casks),
tonnen-duyghen are simply “cask-staves” or “pipe-staves”, and not casks
(barrels) of pipe-staves. And secondly, the word pipe has been
misprinted pike; so that altogether, without referring to the original
Dutch, it was quite impossible to imagine what was meant.
[357] Daer deur wy vermoeden datter eenighen Salm-vang moeste
zijn—whence we conjectured that there must be some salmon fishery here.
[358] By de graven—by the graves.
[359] Lodding (intended for the Russian word lodya)—a boat.
[360] Meel-haven—apparently the Strogonov Bay of Lütke, who, in his
account of his third voyage (p. 316), speaks of a tradition, according
to which this was formerly the residence of some natives of Novogorod
of that name. These settlers are not mentioned in the chronicles, nor
is anything known respecting them, or the date or cause of their
emigration. But assuming the remains found by Barentsz and his
companions to be those of the Strogonovs, he deems it not unreasonable
to place their arrival some twenty or thirty years earlier than the
visit of the Hollanders; which date would correspond with the reign of
John the Terrible (Yoan Grosnui), a period when the Novogoroders had
the greatest reason to emigrate into the regions far distant from their
native country. Indeed, it is not improbable that some of them may, at
that time, have been banished to Novaya Zemlya. Lütke adds: “It is
worthy of remark that our walrus-hunters give the name of Meal Cape to
the western headland of Strogonov Bay; which name would seem to have
originated in the six sacks of rye-meal which Barentz saw there. The
remains of the dwellings of the Strogonovs lie close to Meal Cape.”—P.
317.
The same writer adverts also, but with disfavour, to the further
tradition, that “the Strogonovs were visited by certain monsters with
iron noses and teeth”. But when it is considered that the walrus must
have been previously unknown to these natives of Novogorod, it is not
unreasonable to imagine that animal to have given rise to what might
otherwise well be regarded as a fable.
[361] Den 12 Aug.—on the 12th of August (omitted).
[362] Ende wendent tzeewaert in aen de wint—and tacked to seaward,
hugging the wind.
[363] Van den eylanden—from the islands.
[364] Guessed.
[365] The large island of Kólguev, situate between Kanin Nos (Cape
Kanin) and the entrance of the River Petchora. Its north-western
extremity, according to Lütke’s observations (p. 324), is in 69° 29′
30″ N. lat., and 48° 55′ E. long.
[366] Vlack water—shallow water.
[367] Marseylen—topsails.
[368] Leyde aen de wind—lay to the wind.
[369] This note of the bearing of the sun is only approximative, since
the observation of the variation of the needle made on July 3rd (p.
10), shows that the sun came to the meridian between S.S.W. and S.W. by
S.
[370] Matvyéyeva Ostrov and Dolgoi Ostrov, that is, Matvyéyev’s Island
and Long Island.—Lütke, p. 20.
[371] These vessels were the Swan of Der Veere in Zeelandt, commanded
by Cornelis Corneliszoon Nai, and the Mercury of Enckhuysen, commanded
by Brandt Ysbrandtszoon, otherwise called Brandt Tetgales.
[372] Een ruyme zee—an open sea.
[373] Omtrent de lenghte van de revier Obi—about the longitude of the
river Obi. In this, however, they were in error, as they were still
only on the eastern side of the Kara Sea.—See Lütke, p. 32.
[374] De Caep Tabijn—the northernmost extremity of Siberia, now known
by the name of Cape Taimur or Taimyr. It is the Tabis of Pliny.
[375] Uythoeck—the furthest point.
[376] Nae’t z. o. en voort nae’t zuyden—towards south-east, and then
south-wards.
[377] Staten Eylandt—the Myasnoi Ostrov (Flesh Island) of the
Russians.—Lütke, p. 31.
[378] Van cristal montaigne—of rock-crystal.
[379] Dreven—drifted.
[380] Steijlhoeckigh—precipitous.
[381] Kanin Nos, or Cape Kanin, at the north-eastern extremity of the
White Sea, in 68° 33′ 18″ N. lat., and 43° 16′ 30″ E long.—Lütke, p.
341.
[382] W.n.w.—W.N.W.
[383] Waerhuysen—Wardhous, at the north-eastern extremity of Finmark,
is in 70° 22′ N. lat., and 31° 5′ 35″ E. long.
[384] Op kermis dagh—on the day of the (Amsterdam) fair. During the
time that Louis Bonaparte was King of Holland, the fair-day was changed
from the 16th of September to the first Monday in the month, in honour
of his birthday, which was the 2nd of September.
[385] Dae Jan Huyghen van Linschoten comis op was—whereof John Hugh van
Linschoten was commissary or supercargo. This well-known traveller was
born at Haarlem in 1563, and went at an early age to Portugal, whence
he embarked for India. There he remained several years. Shortly after
his return to Holland, he was appointed to take part in the first
expedition to the North Seas, and sailed on board the Mercury of
Enckhuysen (see page 36, note 3). He likewise accompanied the second
expedition, and wrote an account of both voyages, as is mentioned more
at length in the Introduction. He also published an account of his
voyage to the East Indies, etc. Linschoten was afterwards treasurer of
the town of Enckhuysen, and died there in 1633.—Biogr. Univ.
[386] Die de saeck vry wat breedt voort stelde—who represented the
matter very favourably.
[387] Petrus Plancius, a celebrated theologian and mathematician, born
in 1552, at Drenoutre in Flanders. He was one of the principal
promoters and advisers of the various expeditions fitted out by the
Dutch in the first years of their independence, so much to the
advancement of science and to their own honour and advantage. At the
synod of Dort, in 1619, Plancius was commissioned to revise the Dutch
translation of the Old Testament in the “States Bible”. He died at
Amsterdam on the 25th May, 1622.—Biogr. Univ.
[388] The original has 305 miles, which are equal to 1220 geographical
miles. The distance meant is from the pole to the Arctic circle.
[389] Page 5.
[390] Gheberchte van Pireneen—the Pyrenees.
[391] Als dese aen de Noordt Zee ligghende Nederlanden—than these (our)
Netherlands, which lie on the North Sea.
[392] In de ruyme Zee—in the open sea.
[393] By den Noorden om—round by the north.
[394] De Waygats oft Strate de Nassou. See page 27, note 4. By the
Russians these straits are called Yugórskyi Schar.—Lütke, p. 29.
[395] Cape Taimur. See page 37, note 1.
[396] Die opperste Piloot was.
[397] Opper Comis—chief commissary or supercargo. Jacob Heemskerck was
a native of Amsterdam, of a family of distinction still resident there.
He took part in both the second and third voyages. He was afterwards
employed in the navy of Holland, and served his country with great
honour. In 1607, having the rank of vice-admiral, he commanded a fleet
of twenty-six vessels sent against the Spaniards, and on the 25th of
April fell in with the Spanish fleet, consisting of twenty ships and
ten galleons, commanded by Don Juan Alvarez Davila. The engagement took
place before Gibraltar; and on the second broadside Heemskerck had a
leg carried away by a cannon-shot. He, however, continued to encourage
his men, and retained his sword till he died. The Dutch gained a
complete victory; seven vessels of the Spaniards were burned, and most
of the remainder sunk; their admiral being killed, and his son taken
prisoner. A superb monument was erected to Heemskerck in the old church
at Amsterdam.—Moreri; Biogr. Univ.
[398] Ons den behoorlijcken eedt afghenomen is—we had been duly sworn.
There is no reason for supposing that any special oath was
administered, but merely the usual oath of service.
[399] Noorden ten oosten—N. by E.
[400] Ontrent zuyder son—when the sun was about south. (Omitted.)
[401] N. ten o.—N. by E.
[402] Tottet seste glas int eerste quartier.—Six half-hour glasses of
the first watch would make the reckoned time to be 11 P.M. But from the
context it would rather seem that the morning watch is meant, so that
the time would be 7 A.M.
[403] Watch.
[404] Op de ly legghen—lying to.
[405] Des naenoens—in the afternoon.
[406] The bow of the ship.
[407] “Thirteenth.”—Ph.
[408] Totten 24 n. w. son—till N.W. sun [½ p. 7 P.M.] on the 24th.
[409] “Fifteenth.”—Ph.
[410] 71° 15′ N. lat.
[411] 72° 20′ N. lat.
[412] N. ten o.—N. by E.
[413] “19.”—Ph.
[414] Meest—mostly. (Omitted.)
[415] “North-west.”—Ph.
[416] Trompsont—Troms-oe, a small island on the coast of Norway, in
about 69° 40′ N. lat.
[417] Met weynich coelts—with little wind.
[418] Ysbrandt de vice admirael. The admiral was Cornelius Nai. They
had both taken part in the former expedition. See page 36, note 3. The
title of admiral did not denote any fixed rank, but was given to the
commander of the principal ship, under whose orders the others were. We
should now call him the commodore.
[419] De windt was n. o. ten o. ende z. o. meest z. o. ende z.—the wind
was N.E. by E. and S.E., but mostly S.E. and S.
[420] Middernacht—midnight.
[421] De Noordt-caep. The northernmost point of Europe; unless, indeed,
we regard Spitzbergen as forming a portion of this quarter of the
globe. The North Cape is not a part of the continent, but it is the
extremity of a small island named Mager-oe.
[422] De Moer mette Dochters. Three remarkable islands, so called,
lying off the coast of Norway.
[423] Doen quam tschip van Ysbrandt de vice admirael ende wy tsamen,
ende maeckten malcanderen seer reddeloos—then the ship of Ysbrand, the
vice-admiral, and ours ran foul, and damaged each other very much.
[424] Doen streecken wy de seylen—then we took in our sails. The
translator appears to have carried this expression into the preceding
sentence, of which he evidently did not understand the meaning.
[425] Hauled them up again.
[426] S. w.—South-west.
[427] Guessed, i.e., estimated.
[428] Noordtkien. The extreme northern point of the main land of
Norway, and consequently of the continent of Europe.
[429] Soo dreven wy in stilte—so we drifted in a calm.
[430] Two hours.
[431] These were some merchant vessels, bound for the White Sea, with
which the expedition had fallen in, and which now parted from it.
[432] Here again, as on the 15th of August (see page 36, note 1), the
note of the sun’s bearing can only be regarded as approximative. It
must, in fact, be understood to mean when the sun came to the meridian.
[433] Steeck—stiff; that is, good for anchorage.
[434] Steeck—stiff.
[435] Met veel cleyne stipkens—with many small specks.
[436] An hour and a half.
[437] Swarte stipkens—black specks.
[438] Zijn Excell. van Oraengien ende zijn broeder—his Excellency of
Orange and his brother. These islands were so named by Cornelius Nai on
the first voyage. But, according to Linschoten, Voyagie, ofte
Schipvaert van by Noorden om, etc., fol. 19, retr., Orange Island was
so called in honour of Prince Maurice’s father and the Princess of
Orange.
Lütke (p. 32) identifies Maurice Island with Ostrov Dolgoi or Long
Island, and Orange Island with Bolschoi Selénets or Great Greenland;
and he is of opinion that the Hollanders, or at all events Linschoten,
had no knowledge of Matvyéyev Island. But this is hardly consistent
with that able navigator’s previous identification of the latter island
with Matfloe, where (as is mentioned in page 36 of the present work)
the vessels of Nai and Barentsz met on the first voyage. And, indeed,
it may be demonstrated that Maurice Island is not Dolgoi, but Matfloe
or Matvyéyev Island; that Orange Island is the small island, named
Ostrov Golets, close to the northern extremity of Long Island or
Dolgoi; and that Dolgoi itself is the Land of New Walcheren, which the
Dutch hesitated to describe as an island or as a portion of the
mainland, but which Lütke (p. 32) erroneously deems to be the latter.
Premising that Linschoten’s vessel, like that of Barentsz, passed
between Matfloe and Dolgoi, the following description of the three
islands above mentioned, given by Linschoten, will be found to be as
conclusive as it is clear and intelligible. In fol. 18, that writer
says:—“The island that lay to the north of us appeared to be of a
roundish form, and on the side past which we sailed it was to the sight
a short mile [3 or 4 miles] in extent. To the south of this island, and
about a long mile [4 or 5 miles] distant, lay another island, which was
the smallest and likewise the middlemost of the three. And from this
middlemost island, about a short mile [3 or 4 miles] distant to the
S.E., lay the third or southernmost island, which in appearance was
much the largest, and which, as we sailed past it, lay on our left
hand, and seemed on that side to be about a long mile [4 or 5 miles] in
extent; but when on the other side, as we looked southwards at it, its
west coast extended as far as we could see from the topmast, so that we
doubted whether it was part of the continent or an island.” And in the
chart which accompanies these remarks, Linschoten has the following
note:—“Maurice Island lies with the Land of New Walcheren N.N.W. and
S.S.E., about 2 [8] miles apart; and with the Island of Orange it lies
N. and S., a long mile [4 or 5 miles] distant.”
On referring to Lütke’s chart, it will at once be manifest how closely
Maurice Island, New Walcheren, and Orange Island, as thus described,
correspond with Matvyéyev Island or Matfloe, Long Island or Dolgoi, and
Golets Island, respectively; and if to this be added, that in that
chart the passage between the islands is in about 69° 30′ N. lat., and
that Linschoten, when distant from Maurice Island, by estimation, 10
[40] miles W. by N. or nearly W., found himself to be in 69° 34′ N.
lat., while William Barentsz, when 2 [8] miles W. from the islands,
made his latitude to be 69° 15′ N., there will remain no room for doubt
on the subject.
[439] Meest steeck grondt met swarte stipkens ghemenght—mostly stiff
ground mixed with black specks.
[440] Van de 70 graden—from the 70th parallel of north latitude.
[441] Steeck—stiff.
[442] Stipkens—spots.
[443] Ende was ghestadich hout loef ende draghende—and we kept
continually luffing and falling off before the wind.
[444] Two hours.
[445] Beelthoeck. See page 27, note 4.
[446] De Samiuten landt—a part of the country of the Samoyedes, lying
in the extreme north-east of the present government of Archangel.
[447] Wel moghelijck—well possible.
[448] Traenbay—Train-oil Bay.
[449] Den ysganck—the drifting of the ice.
[450] Diepste—the deepest.
[451] See page 10, note 2.
[452] A very unscientific, and indeed incorrect, mode of expressing the
fact, that they were in 69° 21′ N. lat., as resulting from an
observation of the sun.
[453] Opt lande van de Weygats—on land from the Weygats. De Veer adopts
the vulgar error adverted to in page 27 (note 4) of the present work,
and calls the Straits of Nassau, instead of the island to the north of
these straits, by the name of “Weygats”.
[454] Diversche sleden met velwerck, traen, ende dierghelijcke
waer—several sledges with skins, train-oil, and such like wares.
[455] Op den Beeldthoeck—at Image Point.
[456] Samiuten—Samoyedes.
[457] Van de Weygats—from Weygats. (Omitted.)
[458] De gheleghentheyt der zeevaert—the particulars of the navigation.
[459] Opt Waygats. Here, however, De Veer speaks of the Island of
Waigatsch.
[460] Wy ... verder z. o. aen trocken nae den oever van der zee—we went
further S.E. towards the sea-side. It is manifest, that while going
towards the sea-side, they could not have gone further into the land.
[461] Schipper—captain or master of the vessel. Most probably William
Barentsz is meant; though in page 63 Cornelis Jacobszoon is spoken of
as the “schipper” of William Barentsz.
[462] The sea of Kara.
[463] Cruijs-hoeck; by the Russians called Sukhoi Nos.
[464] De Twist hoeck—Cape Dispute; so named, because, on the first
voyage of Nai and Brandt Ysbrandtsz, a dispute arose between them as to
whether or not the passage extended further eastward. Through a
typographical error, the Dutch text has de tWist hoeck, whence has
arisen the West Point of the translator. This is the Kóninoi Nos of the
Russians.
[465] See page 33, note 6.
[466] The Petchora, a considerable river, which rises in the Ural
mountains, and flows into the Arctic Ocean to the S. of Novaya Zemlya.
[467] Met bast tsamen ghenaeyet—sewed together with bast:—the inner
bark of the linden or lime-tree (Tilia), of which is formed the Russian
matting, so well known in commerce. The word bast, which in German and
Dutch means “bark”, is in English frequently pronounced, and even
written bass.
[468] Trayn—train-oil.
[469] Voorby de reviere Oby—beyond the river Oby.
[470] Linschoten has “to another river, which they said was called
Gillissy”, meaning the large river Yenisei, which carries a great
portion of the waters of Siberia into the Arctic Ocean.
[471] Dattet gat soude toe vriesen, ende alst begon te vriesen soudet
dan stracks toe vriesen, ende datmen dan over ys mocht loopen tot in
Tartarien over de zee, die zy noemden Mermare—ere the passage would be
frozen over; and that when it once began to freeze, it would speedily
be frozen over, so that they could walk over the ice to Tartary
(Siberia) across the sea which they called Mermare.
[472] Die zy seer veel ... hadden—whereof they had many. (Omitted.)
[473] Van voren tot achteren—from stem to stern.
[474] Vleysch—meat.
[475] So hebbense daer alle t’samen van ghegheten, met hooft, met
staert, met al, van boven af bytende—they one and all partook of them;
and, biting from the head downwards, ate head, tail, and everything.
[476] Cruijs hoeck—Cross Point. See page 54, note 8.
[477] Twisthoeck—Cape Dispute. See note 1 in the preceding page.
[478] N. o. wel soo oostelijk—north-east a little easterly.
[479] De fock—the foresail.
[480] Aent vaste landt—to the main land; namely, the coast of Russia.
[481] Samiuten—Samoyedes.
[482] In twee hoopen—in two bodies.
[483] Two lines of Phillip’s translation, being from *, are printed
twice by mistake.
[484] Dese gheleghentheyt ghevonden—availing himself of this
opportunity.
[485] Wysende—pointing.
[486] Wysende nae’t z. o. op—pointing towards the south-east.
[487] Met een partye volcks—with a number of persons.
[488] Effenwel niet—not altogether.
[489] Rheeden—reindeer.
[490] Sledges.
[491] Pinnace.
[492] Sulcken beelden voor haer Goden—such images for their gods.
[493] Image Point. See page 53.
[494] Ontrent zuyder son—the sun being about south.
[495] From this it is manifest that a previous dispute had taken place,
which is not recorded.
[496] Hem uyt ghehoort hadden—had heard him out.
[497] Willem Barentsz. Nai did not call him captain, but addressed him
by his name.
[498] Willem Barentsz, siet wat ghy seght—mind what you say.
[499] Ons werp ancker—our kedge-anchor.
[500] Op een laghen wal—on a lee shore.
[501] Fore-sail.
[502] Met diversche reyse zijn werp-ancker uyt te brenghen—by
repeatedly carrying out their kedger (and so warping out).
[503] Cape Dispute.
[504] Mosten stedts wenden—were forced continually to tack.
[505] De Wachters. The stars β and γ of the Little Bear were called by
the earlier navigators of modern times le Guardie, les Gardes, the
Guards, de Wachters, die Wächter, on account of their constantly going
round the Pole, and, as it were, guarding it. See Ideler,
Untersuchungen über die Sternnamen, p. 291. These names do not,
however, appear to be used by seamen at the present day.
The Amsterdam Latin version of 1598 renders the expression of the Dutch
text by “Ursa minor, quam nautæ vigiles vocant;” but, according to
Ideler (loc. cit.), the corresponding term used by writers of the
middle ages, is Circitores, signifying, according to Du Cange,
“militares, qui castra circuibant, qui faisoient la ronde, et la
sentinelle avancée, ut vulgo loquimur”.
In Il Penseroso, Milton speaks of “outwatching the Bear”, evidently
alluding to the never-setting of the circumpolar stars:
“Arctos oceani metuentes æquore tingi.”
The time on the 3rd of September, when “the watchers were north-west”,
was about ½ past 10 P.M.
[506] Staten Eylandt. See page 37, note 4.
[507] Den ysgangk—the drifting of the ice.
[508] Schieten—to shoot.
[509] Namely, pieces of rock-crystal. See page 37.
[510] Die by hem in de cuijl lach—that lay near him in the hollow.
[511] De beyr beet den eenen terstond thooft in stucken—the bear
instantly bit the one man’s head in pieces.
[512] Haer roers ende spietsen gevelt—lowering their muskets and pikes.
[513] See page 26, note 2.
[514] Cornelis Jacobsz. de schipper van Willem Barentsz. William
Barentsz was not in the capacity merely of commander of his own vessel,
but in that of pilot-major of the fleet.
[515] Hans van Nuffelen, schryver van Willem Barentsz—i.e., his clerk
or writer.
[516] Een Schotsman. From the intercourse which then existed, as now,
between the opposite coasts of the German Ocean, there is nothing
surprising in the fact of their having had such a person with them. The
name of this individual is not recorded.
[517] In stucken spronghen—shivered in pieces.
[518] By de wal henen—along the coast. (Omitted.)
[519] Cape Dispute. See page 55, note 1.
[520] The Sea of Kara.
[521] Boat.
[522] Image Point. See page 60.
[523] W. z. w.—W.S.W.
[524] Moddich—dirty.
[525] Met sneejacht—with drifting snow.
[526] Also dat wy deur dreven—so that we drifted before it.
[527] Die stroom quam stijf—the current ran strong.
[528] Ende was tot den avondt—and till the evening it was.
[529] Aent vaste landt—to the main land.
[530] Voeren heel in de bocht achter het eylandt mette steert—went
quite into the bay behind the island with the tail. This is a small
island lying in the channel, with a long sand or shallow running out
behind it like a tail. To the bay behind this island the Dutch gave the
name of Brandts Bay.
[531] Een groot afwater—a great fall of water.
[532] Ende de stengh om hoogh—and set the top-mast. (Omitted.)
[533] Quam het ys weder om het oosteijnt vande Weygats in dryven—the
ice came again drifting in round the east end of Weygats.
[534] See page 36, note 2.
[535] Watch.
[536] Courses.
[537] Stippelen—specks.
[538] Kanin Nos. See page 38, note 3.
[539] De fock—the fore-sail.
[540] Dreven—drifted.
[541] N. ten o.—N. by E.
[542] Met beyde mars-seylen—with both top-sails.
[543] Van den avont—from evening.
[544] One watch or four hours.
[545] Till half our second watch was out; that is, till 2 A.M.
[546] Two courses. See page 7, note 4.
[547] This and the preceding sentence should properly form but one,
which should read thus:—After that, in the second watch, we tacked
north-ward, and sailed till Friday morning, the 22nd Sept., N. by E.,
etc.
[548] Watch.
[549] Courses.
[550] Kilduin. See page 7, note 4.
[551] Maer quamen te laech—but fell short of it.
[552] Two watches, or eight hours.
[553] Teghen—towards.
[554] Guessed.
[555] Waerhuys. See page 39, note 1.
[556] Of men noch ten derdemael van slandts wegen wederom eenige
toerustinge soude doen—whether any expedition should again for the
third time be fitted out at the expense of the country.
[557] In the original no mention is made of any proclamation.
[558] Een mercklijcke somme—a considerable sum.
[559] Als schipper ende comis van de comanschappe, Jacob Heemskerck
Heijndricksz.—as captain and supercargo of the merchandize.
[560] Jan Cornelisz. Rijp.
[561] The Vlie passage is frequented by ships bound northward which do
not draw much water.
[562] De stroom verliep—the tide ran out.
[563] Raeckte aen de grondt—ran a-ground.
[564] Aen de oost zyde vant Vlie-landt—on the east side of Vlielandt:
the island at the entrance of the Vlie, between it and Texel.
[565] De eylanden van Hitlandt ende Feyeril. Hitlandt is the Dutch name
for the Islands of Shetland, anciently called Hialtland. Feyeril is
Fair Isle, between Shetland and Orkney.
[566] Waeyde een topseijl—it blew a top-sail breeze.
[567] Graedtboogh. See page 10, note 2.
[568] This was the sun’s zenith distance, and not its elevation.
[569] Een wonderlijck hemel-teijcken—a wonderful phenomenon in the
heavens.
[570] Wijdt rondtomme de sonnen—at a distance round about the suns.
[571] Dweers deur de groote ronde—right through the great circle (of
the former rainbow).
[572] De onderste cant—its lower edge.
[573] The error noticed in the preceding page (note 10) is here
repeated.
[574] Hielt de loef van ons, ende quam niet af tot ons, maer wy
ghinghen hem een streeck int ghemoet—kept to windward of us, and would
not fall off towards us; but we altered our course one point to go to
him.
[575] By malcanderen quamen—approached each other.
[576] T’zeewaert vant landt—out at sea away from the land.
[577] Ende behoorden n. o. aen te gaen—and ought to have sailed N.E.
[578] As henceforward the omissions in the translation become more
numerous, it is thought better to insert the omitted passage or words
in the text between brackets [ ], instead of placing them in the
foot-notes.
[579] Jae noch—yea, even.
[580] Opt verdeck—on deck.
[581] Die onder waren—who were below.
[582] Dat van den grooten hoop quam dryven—which came drifting from the
great mass.
[583] During four hours.
[584] One hour.
[585] One hour and a half.
[586] The accuracy of William Barentszoon’s observations is worthy of
remark. According to the observations of Fabure in the “Recherche”, the
west point of Bear Island is in 74° 30′ 52″ N. lat., being virtually
the same as Barentsz., with his rude instruments, had made it two
centuries and a half previously. The longitude of the same point is 16°
19′ 10″ east of Paris, or 18° 39′ 32″ E. of Greenwich.
[587] 5 mylen groot—twenty English miles in circumference.
[588] Een steylen sneebergh—A steep mountain of snow. This was not a
glacier, but merely an accumulation of snow. The land of Bear Island
appears to be not sufficiently elevated for the formation of glaciers.
See Von Buch’s Memoir “über Spirifer Keilhavii”, in Abhandl. d. K.
Acad. d. Wissensch. zu Berlin, 1846, p. 69; and its transl., in Journ.
Geol. Soc. Lond., vol. iii, part ii, p. 51.
[589] Steijl—steep.
[590] Wy ghinghen op ons naers sitten.
[591] Geweldich—powerful.
[592] Bock—yawl.
[593] Two hours.
[594] Maer ten bequam ons niet wel—but it did not agree with us.
[595] Het Beyren Eylandt. The Russian walrus-hunters call this island
simply Medvyed, “the Bear”. By the English it has been usually called
Cherry Island. This name was given to it in 1604 by Stephen Bennet, who
went thither in a ship belonging to Sir Francis Cherry, a rich merchant
of London, to kill walruses for their oil, and who named the island
after his patron.
[596] Hyselachtich—hazy.
[597] Floating.
[598] Daer wy niet boven conden comen—which we could not weather.
[599] See page 25, note 2.
[600] There is an error in the calculation here, which may be best
explained by repeating the calculation itself, as it was doubtless
made:—
33° 37′ Elevation of the sun.
23° 26′ Declination of the sun.
——————— { Elevation of the equator, which being the
10° 11′ { complement of the elevation of the Pole,
90° 0′ { had to be deducted from 90°.
———————
80° 11′
———————
But in making the deduction, the 11′ were carried down instead of being
subtracted from 60′; and then, of course, 90° - 10° = 80°. The true
difference is 79° 49′, which is, consequently, the latitude observed.
[601] The country thus visited for the first time was supposed by its
discoverers to be a part of Greenland; but it is now known to be
Spitzbergen.
[602] Bock. It is impossible to say what is the correct English name
for this smaller boat: probably “yawl”. Bock (or pont) is properly a
“punt”, which is clearly not intended.
[603] Schuijt. This being the generic term for small craft, might well
be translated “boat”.
[604] Claws.
[605] Voor aen den steven—forward in the stem (of the boat).
[606] Te landtwaert in—towards the land.
[607] Rotgansen—brent geese or “barnacle” geese, as they were called,
owing to the absurd idea which formerly prevailed as to their origin.
[608] Rot, rot, rot. It is certainly singular that the translator
should have attempted to render into English what is intended to
represent the natural cry of these birds. But even in this strange
attempt he made a mistake; for “red” is in Dutch rood, while rot means
a rout, crowd, flock, rabble; so that, in the opinion of some, these
geese are called rotgansen in Dutch, on account of their flocking
together.
[609] Dit waren oprechte rotgansen—these were true brent geese. Apart
from Phillip’s very curious “translation”, it is difficult to imagine
how he could have supposed these geese to be of “a perfit red coulor”.
And it is scarcely less incomprehensible how Barrow, in his
Chronological History, etc., p. 147, should have reproduced this and
other errors of Phillip without the slightest comment. By a
contemporary writer, in the passage cited in the next page, the brent
goose is well described as “a fowle bigger than a mallard, and lesser
than a goose, having blacke legs and bill or beake, and feathers blacke
and white, spotted in such manner as is our mag-pie”. It is figured and
also described in the fifth volume of Gould’s Birds of Europe.
[610] Wieringen, an island of North Holland, near the Texel.
[611] Aen boomen wassen—grow upon trees.
[612] Ende de tacken die overt water hangen ende haer vruchten int
water vallen—and those branches which hang over the water, and the
fruit of which falls into the water.
[613] Swemmen daer hennen—swim away.
[614] Comen te niet—come to nothing. This extraordinary fable
concerning the origin of these geese, which was prevalent in the
sixteenth century, and was credited by the best informed naturalists
and most learned scholars, is, at the present day, retained in our
memory principally by Izaak Walton’s quotation from Divine Weekes and
Workes of Du Bartas:—
“So, slowe Boötes vnderneath him sees,
In th’ ycy iles, those goslings hatcht of trees;
Whose fruitfull leaues, falling into the water,
Are turn’d (they say) to liuing fowls soon after.
So, rotten sides of broken ships do change
To barnacles; O transformation strange!
’Twas first a greene tree, then a gallant hull,
Lately a mushrom, now a flying gull.”
For the reason which will appear in the sequel, it is deemed advisable
to reproduce here the elaborate description of “the goose tree,
barnacle tree, or the tree bearing geese”, given by the learned John
Gerard, in his Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes, of which the
first edition was published in 1597:—
“There are found in the north parts of Scotland and the islands
adiacent, called Orchades, certain trees, whereon do grow certaine
shells of a white colour tending to russet, wherein are contained
little liuing creatures: which shells in time of maturitie do open, and
out of them grow those little liuing things, which falling into the
water do become fowles, which we call barnakles; in the north of
England, brant geese; and in Lancashire, tree geese: but the other that
do fall vpon the land perish and come to nothing. Thus much by the
writings of others, and also from the mouths of people of those parts,
which may very well accord with truth.
“But what our eyes haue seene, and hands haue touched, we shall
declare. There is a small island in Lancashire called the Pile of
Foulders, wherein are found the broken pieces of old and bruised ships,
some whereof haue been cast thither by shipwracke, and also the trunks
and bodies with the branches of old and rotten trees, cast vp there
likewise; whereon is found a certaine spume or froth that in time
breedeth vnto certaine shels, in shape like those of the muskle, but
sharper pointed, and of a whitish colour; wherein is contained a thing
in forme like a lace of silke finely wouen as it were together, of a
whitish colour, one end whereof is fastned vnto the inside of the
shell, euen as the fish of oisters and muskles are; the other end is
made fast vnto the belly of a rude masse or lumpe, which in time
commeth to the shape and forme of a bird: when it is perfectly formed
the shell gapeth open, and the first thing that appeareth is the
foresaid lace or string; next come the legs of the bird hanging out,
and as it groweth greater it openeth the shell by degrees, til at
length it is all come forth, and hangeth onely by the bill; in short
space after it commeth to full maturitie, and falleth into the sea,
where it gathereth feathers, and groweth to a fowle bigger than a
mallard, and lesser than a goose, hauing blacke legs and bill or beake,
and feathers blacke and white, spotted in such manner as is our
mag-pie, called in some places a pie-annet, which the people of
Lancashire call by no other name than a tree-goose: which place
aforesaid, and all those parts adioyning, do so much abound therewith,
that one of the best is bought for three pence. For the truth hereof,
if any doubt, may it please them to repaire vnto me, and I shall
satisfie them by the testimonie of good witnesses.
“Moreouer, it should seeme that there is another sort hereof; the
historie of which is true, and of mine owne knowledge: for trauelling
vpon the shore of our English coast betweene Douer and Rumney, I found
the trunke of an old rotten tree, which (with some helpe that I
procured by fishermens wiues that were there attending their husbands
returne from the sea) we drew out of the water vpon dry land: vpon this
rotten tree I found growing many thousands of long crimson bladders, in
shape like vnto puddings newly filled, before they be sodden, which
were very cleere and shining; at the nether end whereof did grow a
shell fish, fashioned somewhat like a small muskle, but much whiter,
resembling a shell fish that groweth vpon the rocks about Garnsey and
Garsey, called a lympit: many of these shells I brought with me to
London, which after I had opened I found in them liuing things without
forme or shape; in others which were neerer come to ripenes I found
liuing things that were very naked, in shape like a bird: in others,
the birds couered with soft downe, the shell halfe open, and the bird
ready to fall out, which no doubt were the fowles called barnakles. I
dare not absolutely auouch euery circumstance of the first part of this
history, concerning the tree that beareth those buds aforesaid, but
will leaue it to a further consideration; howbeit that which I haue
seene with mine eyes, and handled with mine hands, I dare confidently
auouch, and boldly put downe for veritie. Now if any will obiect, that
this tree which I saw might be one of those before mentioned, which
either by the waues of the sea or some violent wind had been
ouerturned, as many other trees are; or that any trees falling into
those seas about the Orchades, will of themselves beare the like
fowles, by reason of those seas and waters, these being so probable
coniectures, and likely to be true, I may not without preiudice
gainesay, or indeauor to confute.”—(2nd edit.) p. 1588.
Difficult as it is to understand how a man of Gerard’s genius and
information could have been thus deceived, the perfect sincerity of his
belief is not to be doubted. Seeing, then, how deep rooted this popular
error must have been, it was no small merit of William Barentz and his
companions that they should have been mainly instrumental in disabusing
the public mind on the subject. That they were so, and that at the time
they enjoyed the credit of being so, is manifest from the following
note on the foregoing passage, made by Thomas Johnson, the editor of
the second edition of the Herball, published in 1633:—
“The barnakles, whose fabulous breed my author here sets downe, and
diuers others haue also deliuered, were found by some Hollanders to
haue another originall, and that by egges, as other birds haue: for
they in their third voyage to find out the north-east passage to China
and the Molucco’s, about the eightieth degree and eleuen minutes of
northerly latitude, found two little islands, in the one of which they
found aboundance of these geese sitting vpon their egges, of which they
got one goose, and tooke away sixty egges, etc. Vide Pontani, Rerum et
vrb. Amstelodam. Hist., lib. 2, cap. 22.”
Parkinson, too, in his Theatrum Botanicum, published in 1640 (p. 1306),
gives our Dutch navigators full credit for having confuted “this
admirable tale of untruth”.
[615] Liggen—lay.
[616] Chart. The original has, however, nothing about any “card”, but
says noch noyt dat land op die plaets bekent is geweest—nor was that
land ever known on the spot (that is to say, from personal
observation).
[617] This remark, which has previously been made by the author in page
5, is not founded on fact, inasmuch as reindeer do exist in Novaya
Zemlya, as is there shown in note 2. In addition to the authorities
cited in that place, may be given that of Rosmuislov, who passed the
winter of 1768–9 to the northward of 73° N. lat., and saw there large
herds of wild reindeer.—Lütke, p. 77.
[618] Des nachts—at night.
[619] De selfde getogen van de genomen hooghde. This is erroneous. It
should be “from which subtracted the height aforesaid”.
[620] By de westwal heenen—along the west wall, i.e., the western
shore.
[621] Boven dat eylandt niet comen—could not weather that island.
[622] Een gheweldigen inham—an extremely large bay or inlet.
[623] Laveren. See page 25, note 2.
[624] Ende moesten n. aen—and we had to go north.
[625] That is to say, the sun’s declination 23° 20′, being taken from
his elevation 38° 20′, leaves 15°, the complement of the elevation of
the Pole, which latter is consequently 75°.
[626] See page 76.
[627] Namely, Spitzbergen, which they had just left.
[628] Wendent over den anderen boech—went upon the other tack.
[629] In Phillips’ translation, “sun” is omitted, and the words “and
then” substituted, whereby the sense is completely altered.
[630] Wat te ruymen—to be somewhat more favourable.
[631] That is, to so high a latitude.
[632] 73 graden ende 20 minuten. This is an error of the press. It
should be 73° 26′.
[633] Een tamelijcken coelte—a tolerable breeze.
[634] Dandinaes: evidently a misprint for Candinaes, or Kanin Nos;
respecting which, see page 38, note 3.
[635] Dreven wy in stilte—we drifted in a calm.
[636] Seven hours.
[637] Des nachts—at night.
[638] Watch.
[639] 54 graden ende 38 minuten. This is a misprint. It should be “38
degrees and 54 minutes”, from which deducting 21° 54′, the sun’s
declination, there remains 27°, the complement of the height of the
Pole; so that the latitude is 73°.
[640] Willebuijs landt. On the 14th of August, 1553, the unfortunate
Sir Hugh Willoughby discovered land in 72° N. lat., 160 leagues E. by
N. from Seynam on the coast of Norway. In consequence of this
discovery, some of the old charts showed in this direction a separate
coast line, to which they gave the name of Willoughby’s Land. It is to
this that De Veer alludes. It is, however, now fully established that
no such land exists; and there is every reason for the opinion that the
coast seen by Willoughby was that of Novaya Zemlya itself. This opinion
is entertained by Lütke, as well as by most geographers at the present
day. See Mr. Rundall’s Narratives of Voyages towards the North-West,
Introd., p. v.
[641] Een eetmael langh—during four and twenty hours. The English
translator must be excused for not understanding this expression, when
even the Amsterdam Latin version of 1598 has durante prandio. Whatever
may be the derivation of the expression, there can be no doubt as to
its real meaning.
[642] Dreven wy in stilte midden int ys—we drifted in a calm,
surrounded by the ice.
[643] Here, again, the same error is committed as on the 19th of June
(see page 77, note 4). The calculation is as follows:—
37° 55′ Elevation of the sun.
21° 15′ Declination of the sun.
———————
16° 40′ Complem. of elev. of Pole.
90° 0′
———————
74° 40′ Elevation of the Pole.
———————
But which should be 73° 20′
———————
[644] In this they were mistaken, owing to their error in the
calculation of their observed latitude, as is shown in the preceding
note. On their former visit to Lomsbay (see page 13) they made its
latitude to be 74° 20′; so that now, instead of being near that spot,
they must have been about a degree to the south of it. This
corresponds, too, better with their observation on the following day;
for it is not to be imagined that they should have been 24 hours under
full-sail, and yet have made only 20 miles of northing on a N.E. by N.
course.
[645] Het voormarsseijl ende besaen—the fore-topsail and spanker.
[646] Het Admiraeliteijts Eylandt—Admiralty Island. See page 13.
[647] The “Island with the Crosses” of page 16.
[648] Desire.
[649] De schipper.
[650] Bootshaeck—boat-hook.
[651] Huijt—body (literally “hide”).
[652] Here are two errors. In the first place, the difference between
the sun’s elevation and declination is not 14°, but 14° 15′. This is,
manifestly, an error of the press. Then, in the same way as on the 19th
of June and 17th of July (see pages 77 and 89), 90°—14° 15′ is made to
be 76° 15′, whereas it should be 75° 45′, which is the true latitude.
[653] Bleeckten—bleached.
[654] This would seem to be a misprint for 27°, as all the other
observations made in Novaya Zemlya tend to show that at that time the
variation was from 2 to 2½ points. The subject is discussed in the
Introduction.
[655] The northernmost point of Novaya Zemlya. See page 24.
[656] Daer we langhs heenen laveerden—along which we tacked.
[657] Quamen wy boven de hoeck van Nassouwen—we weathered Cape Nassau.
See page 16.
[658] De hoeck van Troost—Cape Comfort. See page 22, note 4.
[659] Boven opt verdeck—above on deck.
[660] Quamen wy alle boven—we all came on deck.
[661] Nae ons toe, om voor by ’t schip op te climmen—towards us, in
order to climb up the bow of the ship.
[662] Wy hadden boven opt schip ons schuyten seijl gheschoren—we had
placed the sail of our boat on deck as a screen.
[663] Voor opt braedspit—forward on the capstan.
[664] Een hooghen heuvel—a high hummock of ice.
[665] Te dryven—to drift, or move.
[666] Int ys beknelt soude werden—we should be crushed by the ice.
[667] Ghevaer—danger.
[668] Dattet al craeckte watter ontrent was—so that all round about us
cracked.
[669] Werp ancker—kedge.
[670] Watch.
[671] Met de steven daer aen—with our stem (bow) on it.
[672] Ghevaer—danger.
[673] Noch naerder—still nearer.
[674] De grootste schotsen dryvende ys—the largest pieces of drift ice.
[675] Den cleynen Ys-hoeck.
[676] Om—round.
[677] Huppelde—limped.
[678] Met weynich coelte—with little wind.
[679] Began’t beter te coelen—the wind freshened.
[680] De Eylandt van Oraengien. On the first voyage the Islands of
Orange are spoken of. See page 25.
[681] Het schip verlegghen—to change the position of the ship.
[682] Brachten—brought.
[683] Be reijs ghewonnen waer—i.e., the object of the voyage was
attained, and they had become entitled to the reward offered by the
States General, as mentioned on page 70.
[684] Werp-ancker—kedge.
[685] Een tamelijcke coelte—an easy breeze.
[686] De hoeck van Begheerte. Cape Desire.
[687] Boven den hoeck waren—had weathered the Cape.
[688] De Hooft-hoeck.
[689] Het Vlissingher hooft—Flushing Head.
[690] De hoeck vant Eylandt. Subsequently called Den Eylandts hoeck, or
Island Point.
[691] De hoeck van den Yshaven—Ice Haven Point.
[692] Het afwater ofte Stroom Bay.
[693] Stroom—current.
[694] Clommen—climbed.
[695] Keerden omme—turned back.
[696] De pen vant roer—the tiller.
[697] Stucken gheschoven werden—were broken in pieces.
[698] Gheschoven—stove in.
[699] Stroom—current.
[700] Weygats.
[701] That is, now that we had passed.
[702] Weygats.
[703] De schoot—the sheet.
[704] De groote bras—the main brace.
[705] The bow of the ship.
[706] Bock—yawl.
[707] Weeck het ys wat wech—the ice gave way a little.
[708] Bow.
[709] Koe-voeten—crow-bars: literally cows’-feet, from the resemblance
which the bifurcated end bears to the cloven foot of that animal. In
one of the printed accounts of the riots of 1780 (the reference to
which cannot just now be found), it is mentioned that a pig’s-foot—the
“jemmy” little tool used by housebreakers—was employed in the
destruction of Newgate, and surprise was expressed at the power of so
small an instrument to move the large stones of which that building was
constructed. The small iron hammer common in our printing-offices is
likewise called a sheep’s-foot; the reason for the name being in each
case the same.
[710] Gheknelt—squeezed.
[711] Vysel—a screw or jack.
[712] Voorsteven—stem.
[713] Crevice.
[714] Het schuyven des ys—from the action (pushing) of the ice.
[715] Pen—tiller.
[716] Het gantsche voorschip—the entire fore-part of the ship.
[717] In den grondt ghecomen—gone to the bottom.
[718] Ons schuijt ende boot—our boat and yawl.
[719] Pen—tiller.
[720] Borne, carried.
[721] Het bleef noch al dicht—it (the ship) remained quite tight.
[722] Naenoens—afternoon.
[723] Te schuyven vant ys—to be moved by the ice.
[724] Vaetkens—small casks.
[725] Soo dat de scheck achter van den steven geschoven werde—so that
the ice-knees (chocks) started from the stern-post.
[726] Hielde de scheck noch dat zy daeraen bleef hangen—kept the
ice-knees still hanging on.
[727] Ende de bouteloef brack mede stucken met een nieu cabeltou dat wy
op het ys hadden vast ghemaeckt—and the bumpkin likewise broke away,
with a new cable, which we had made fast to the ice. The bouteloef or
botteloef (in English, bumpkin) is a piece of iron, projecting from the
stem of the ship, and used for the purpose of giving more breadth to
the fore-sail. It is no longer met with in square-rigged vessels, but
only in small craft. It would seem to be one of the last things to
which a seaman would attach a cable; but it may have been merely
temporarily, or for some reason that cannot now be discovered.
[728] Jae, datter ys berghen dreven, soo groot als de soutberghen in
Spaengien—yea, there drifted icebergs by us, as big as the salt
mountains in Spain. Allusion is evidently here made to the celebrated
salt mines of Cardona, about sixteen leagues from Barcelona, where “the
great body of the salt forms a rugged precipice, which is reckoned
between 400 and 500 feet in height”. See Dr. Traill’s “Observations” on
the subject, in Trans. Geol. Soc. (1st ser.), vol. iii, p. 404. Our
author’s familiar comparison of the icebergs to these salt rocks, may
be taken as a proof that he had been in Spain, and was personally
acquainted with the locality.
[729] Ende leet veel—and suffered much.
[730] Bleeft noch dicht—still remained tight.
[731] Dan—for.
[732] Fock—foresail.
[733] Timmerghereetschap—carpenter’s tools.
[734] Oock tamelijck weder ende stilletgens—also tolerable weather and
calm.
[735] Wy—we.
[736] Rheden ende Elanden—deer and elks. It is unaccountable that, with
this fact within his own personal knowledge, Gerrit de Veer should have
expressly asserted, on two several occasions (pages 5 and 83), that
there are no graminivorous animals in Novaya Zemlya, and pointedly
distinguished between this country and Spitsbergen on that account. It
is most probable that these animals had crossed over from Siberia on
the ice.
[737] Ons scheck aen de achter-steven brack altemet noch meer
stucken—and the ice-knees on the stern-post broke more and more in
pieces.
[738] Maer vonden daer gantsch weynich—but found very little there.
[739] Meant, intended.
[740] Vleysch—meat.
[741] Opt ys om te ververschen—upon the ice, to freshen.
[742] Maer het bequam hem als de hondt de worst—but it agreed with her
as the pudding (sausage) did with the dog. This is a Dutch proverb,
made use of when any undertaking turns out badly; because the dog is
said to have stolen a sausage, and to have been soundly beaten for his
pains.
[743] Loerden op hem of hy oock wederom comen soude—and watched for her
coming back.
[744] Meant. “Went.”—Ph.
[745] By nae—nearly.
[746] Ende drie bleven byt hout om dat te behouwen, soo werdet so veel
te lichter int slepen—and three remained behind with the wood, to hew
it, so that it might be the lighter to draw.
[747] Verde—far. The distance which, on the 16th September, they had
estimated at nearly one Dutch mile.
[748] Conbuys. The cooking-place on board ship.
[749] Purmerend. A town in North Holland, about eight miles north of
Amsterdam.
[750] Cinghel—shingle.
[751] Een afwateringhe—a fall or current of water.
[752] Een gotelinghs schoot—a falconet shot. See page 33, note 2.
[753] Balcken—the beams or principal timbers.
[754] Ons scheck ofte achtersteven vant schip wederom
ghemaeckt—repaired the ice-knees or stern-post of the ship.
[755] Must.
[756] Bear.
[757] Thuys altemet dicht te maecken—by degrees to close up (the sides
of) the house.
[758] Wy ghinghen vast voort—we kept on hard at work.
[759] “Northly.”—Ph.