The Voyage Of The Vega Round Asia And Europe Part 16

CHAPTER V.

The history of the North-east Pa.s.sage from 1556 to 1878-- Burrough, 1556--Pet and Jackman, 1580--The first voyage of the Dutch, 1594--Oliver Brunel--The second voyage, 1595-- The third voyage, 1596--Hudson, 1608--Gourdon, 1611--Bosman, 1625--De la Martiniere, 1653--Vlamingh, 1664--Sn.o.bberger, 1675--Roule reaches a land north of Novaya Zemlya--Wood and Flawes, 1676--Discussion in England concerning the state of the ice in the Polar Sea--Views of the condition of the Polar Sea still divided--Payer and Weyprecht, 1872-74.

The sea which washes the north coast of European Russia is named by King Alfred (_Orosius_, Book I. Chaps, i. ii.) the Quaen Sea (in Anglo-Saxon _Cwen Sae_),[102] a distinctive name, which unquestionably has the priority, and well deserves to be retained.

To the inhabitants of Western Europe the islands, Novaya Zemlya and Vaygats, first became known through Stephen Burrough's voyage of discovery in 1556. Burrough therefore is often called the discoverer of Novaya Zemlya, but incorrectly. For when he came thither he found Russian vessels, manned by hunters well acquainted with the navigable waters and the land. It is clear from this that Novaya Zemlya had then already been known to the inhabitants of Northern Russia for such a length of time that a very actively prosecuted hunting could arise there. It is even probable that in the same way as the northernmost part of Norway was already known for a thousand years back, not only to wandering Lapps, but also to Norwegians and Quaens, the lands round Yugor Schar and Vaygats were known several centuries before Burrough's time, not only to the nomad Samoyeds on the mainland, but also to various Beorma or Finnish tribes. Probably the Samoyeds then, as now, drove their reindeer herds up thither to pasture on the gra.s.sy plains along the coast of the Polar Sea, where they were less troubled by the mosquito and the reindeer fly than further to the south, and probably the wild nomads were accompanied then, as now, by merchants from the more civilised races settled in Northern Russia. The name Novaya Zemlya (New Land), indicates that it was discovered at a later period, probably by Russians, but we know neither when nor how.[103] The narrative of Stephen Burrough's voyage, which, like so many others, has been preserved from oblivion by Hakluyt's famous collection, thus not only forms a sketch of the first expedition of West-Europeans to Novaya Zemlya, but is also the princ.i.p.al source of our knowledge of the earliest Russian voyages to these regions. I shall on this account go into greater detail in the case of this voyage than in those of the other voyages that will be referred to here.

It is self-evident that the new important commercial treaties, to which Chancelor's discovery of the route from England to the White Sea led, would be hailed with great delight both in England and in Russia, and would give occasion to a number of new undertakings. At first, as early as 1555, there was formed in England a company of "merchant adventurers of England for the discoverie of landes, territories, isles, dominions, and seigniories unknowen," commonly called "the Muscovy Company," Sebastian Cabot, then almost an octogenarian, was appointed governor for the term of his natural life, and a number of privileges were conferred upon it by the rulers both of England and Russia. At the same time negotiators, merchants, and inquirers were sent by different ways from England to Russia in order to confirm the amity with that country, and more thoroughly examine the, at least to England, new world, which had now been discovered in the East. But a detailed account of these journeys does not enter into the plan of this work.

With this, however, men were not content. They considered Chancelor's voyage as but the first step to something far more important, namely, the opening of the North-East Pa.s.sage to China and India. While Chancelor himself the year after his return was sent along with several merchants to the White Sea, a further attempt was planned to reach the east coast of Asia by the same route. A small vessel, the _Searchthrift_, was fitted out for this purpose and placed under the command of Stephen Burrough.[104] The most important occurrences during the voyage were the following:--

On the 3rd May/23rd April, 1556, the start was made from Ratcliffe to Blackwall and Grays. Here Sebastian Cabot came on board, together with some distinguished gentlemen and ladies. They were first entertained on board the vessel and gave liberal presents to the sailors, alms being given at the same time to a number of poor people, in order that they might pray for good luck and a good voyage; "then at the signe of the Christopher, Master Cabot and his friends banketted, and made them that were in the company great cheere; and for very joy that he had to see the towardness of our intended discovery, he entered into the dance himselfe, amongst the rest of the young and l.u.s.ty company." At Orwell Burrough left his own vessel, in order, at the wish of the merchants, to make the pa.s.sage to Vardoehus in the _Edward Bonaventure_.

In the end of May he was off the North Cape, which name Burrough says he gave to this northernmost headland of Europe during his first voyage.[105] When Burrough left the _Edward Bonaventure_ and went on board his own vessel is not stated, but on the 17th/7th June he replied on the _Searchthrift_ to the parting salute of the _Edward Bonaventure_. On the 20th/10th June Kola was reached, and its lat.i.tude fixed at 63 48'.[106]

"On Thursday the 21st/11th June at 6 of the clocke in the morning, there came aboord of vs one of the Russe Lodiaes, rowing with twentie oares, and there were foure and twentie men in her. The master of the boate presented me with a great loafe of bread, and six rings of bread, which they call Colaches, and foure dryed pikes, and a peck of fine otemeale, and I gave vnto the Master of the boate a combe, and a small gla.s.se. He declared vnto me that he was bound to Pechora, and after that I made to drinke, the tide being somewhat broken, they gently departed. The Master's name was Pheother (Feodor).... Thursday (the 28th/18th June) we weyed our ankers in the Riuer Cola, and went into the Sea seuen or eight leagues, where we met with the winde farre Northerly, that of force it constrained vs to goe againe backe into the sayd riuer, where came aboord of vs sundry of their Boates, which declared unto me that they were also bound to the northwards, a fis.h.i.+ng for Morse and Salmon, and gave me liberally of their white and wheaten bread.

"As we roade in this riuer, wee saw dayly comming downe the riuer many of their Lodias, and they that had least, had foure and twentie men in them, and at the last they grew to thirtie saile of them; and amongst the rest, there was one of them whose name was Gabriel, who shewed me very much friends.h.i.+ppe, and he declared vnto mee that all they were bound to Pechora, a fis.h.i.+ng for salmons, and morses: insomuch that hee shewed mee by demonstrations, that with a faire winde we had seuen or eight dayes sailing to the riuer Pechora, so that I was glad of their company. This Gabriel promised to giue mee warning of shoales, as he did indeede.... Sunday being the one and twentieth day [of June, 1st July new style], Gabriel gaue mee a barrell of Meade, and one of his speciall friends gaue me a barrell of beere, which was caryed upon mens backs at least 2 miles.

"Munday we departed from the riuer Cola, with all the rest of the said Lodias, but sailing before the wind they were all too good for vs:[107] but according to promise, this Gabriel and his friend did often strike their sayles, and taryed for us forsaking their owne company. Tuesday at an Eastnortheast sunne we were thwart of Cape St. John.[108]

It is to be vnderstood, that from the Cape S. John vnto the riuer or bay that goeth to Mezen, it is all sunke land, and full of shoales and dangers, you shall haue scant two fadome water and see no land. And this present day wee came to an anker thwart of a creeke, which is 4 or 5 leagues to the northwards of the sayd Cape, into which creeke Gabriel and his fellow rowed, but we could not get in: and before night there were aboue 20 saile that went into the sayd creeke, the wind being at the Northeast. We had indifferent good landfang. This afternoone Gabriel came aboord with his skiffe, and then I rewarded him for the good company that he kept with vs ouer the Shoales, with two small iuory combes, and a steele gla.s.se with two or three trifles more, for which he was not ungratefull.

But notwithstanding, his first company had gotten further to the Northwards. Wednesday being Midsummer day we sent our skiffe aland to sound the creeke, where they found it almost drie at a low water. And all the Lodias within were on ground. (In consequence of the threatening appearance of the weather Burrough determined to go into the bay at high water. In doing so he ran aground, but got help from his Russian friends.) Gabriel came out with his skiffe, and so did sundry others also, shewing their good will to help us, but all to no purpose, for they were likely to have bene drowned for their labour, in so much that I desired Gabriel to lend me his anker, because our owne ankers were too big for our skiffe to lay out, who sent me his owne, and borrowed another also and sent it vs."

[Ill.u.s.tration: RUSSIAN "LODJA." After G. de Veer. ]

After much trouble Burrough succeeded in getting his vessel off the shoal, and then sought for a better anchorage on the other side of Cape St. John.

"Friday (6th July/26th June) at afternoone we weyed, and departed from thence, the wether being mostly faire, and the winde at East-southeast, and plied for the place where we left our cable and anker, and our hawser, and as soone as we were at an anker the foresaid Gabriel came aboord of vs, with 3 or foure more of their small boats, and brought with them of their Aquauitae and Meade, professing unto me very much friends.h.i.+p, and reioiced to see vs againe, declaring that they earnestly thought that we had bene lost. This Gabriel declared vnto me that they had saued both the ankers and our hauser, and after we had thus communed, I caused 4 or 5 of them to goe into my cabbin, where I gaue them figs and made them such cheere as I could. While I was banketing of them, there came another of their Skiffes aboord with one who was a Kerill (Karelian), whose name afterwards I learned, and that he dwelt in Colmogro, and Gabriel dwelled in the towne of Cola, which is not far from the river's mouth. This foresaid Keril said vnto me that one of the ankers which I borrowed was his. I gave him thanks for the lone of it, thinking it had bene sufficient. And as I continued in our accustomed maner, that if the present which they brought were worth enterteinment, they had it accordingly, he brought nothing with him, and therfore I regarded him but litle. And thus we ended, and they took their leaue and went ash.o.r.e. At their comming ash.o.r.e, Gabriel and Keril were at vnconvenient words, and by the eares, as I vnderstand; the cause was because the one had better enterteinment than the other; but you shal vnderstand that Gabriel was not able to make his party good, because there were 17 lodias of the Kerils company who tooke his part, and but 2 of Gabriel's company. The next high water Gabriel and his company departed from thence, and rowed to their former company and neighbours, which were in number 28 at the least, and all of them belonging to the river Cola. And as I vnderstood Keril made reckoning that the hauser which was fast in his anker should have bene his owne, and at first would not deliver it to our boat, insomuch that I sent him worde that I would complain vpon him, whereupon he deliuered the hauser to my company. The next day being Sat.u.r.day, I sent our boat on sh.o.r.e to fetch fresh water and wood, and at their comming on sh.o.r.e this Keril welcomed our men most gently, and also banketed them, and in the meanetime caused some of his men to fill our baricoes with water, and to help our men to beare wood into their boat; and then he put on his best silke coate, and his collar of pearles and came aboorde againe, and brought his present with him: and thus having more respect vnto his present than to his person, because I perceiued him to be vain-glorious, I bade him welcome and gaue him a dish of figs; and then he declared vnto me that his father was a gentleman, and that he was able to shew me pleasure, and not Gabriel, who was but a priest's sonne."

After Burrough has given account of a storm, during which he lost a jolly boat, which he had purchased at Vardoehus, and by which they were detained some time in the neighbourhood of Cape St. John (whose lat.i.tude was fixed at 66 50') he continues:--

"Sat.u.r.day (the 14/24th July) at a Northnorthwest sunne the wind came at Eastnortheast, and then we weied, and plied to the Northwards, and as we were two leagues shot past the Cape, we saw a house standing in a valley, which is dainty to be seene in those parts and by and by I saw three men on the top of the hil. Then I iudged them, as it afterwards proued, that they were men which came from some other place to set traps to take vermin[109] for their furres, which trappes we did perceiue very thicke alongst the sh.o.r.e as we went."

The 14th to the 19th July, new style, were pa.s.sed on the coast of Kanin Nos.[110] On the 19th at noon Burrough was in lat. 68 40' north. On Friday, the 10/20th July another storm appeared to threaten.

"And as I was musing what was best to be done, I saw a sail come out of a creeke under the foresayd Caninoz, which was my friend Gabriel, who forsook his harborough and company, and came as neere us as he might, and pointed vs to the Eastwards, and then we weyed and followed him.

Sat.u.r.day we went eastsoutheast and followed Gabriel, and he brought vs into an harborough called Morgiouets, which is 30 leagues from Caninoz. This morning Gabriel saw a smoke on ye way, who rowed vnto it with his skiffe, which smoke was two leagues from the place where we road; and at a Northwest sunne he came aboord again, and brought with him a Samoed,[111] which was but a young man; his apparell was then strange vnto vs, and he presented me with three young wild geese, and one young barnacle."

On the 24th/14th July Burrough sailed past Dolgoi Island, and the following day entered the mouth of the Petchora, the lat.i.tude of which was fixed at 69 10'.[112] On the 30th/20th they sailed out again over sandbanks in only five feet of water, and thanked G.o.d that their vessel was of so light draught. The day after ice was met with for the first time. On the 4th Aug./6th July in lat. 70 20' north, they had the meeting already described with an enormous whale.[113] Somewhat later on the same day the _Searchthrift_ anch.o.r.ed in a good haven between two islands, situated in 70 42' N.L.[114] They were named by Burrough St. James's Islands.

"Tuesday, the 7th Aug./29th July we plyed to the Westwards alongst the sh.o.a.re, the wind being at Northwest, and as I was about to come to anker, we saw a sail comming about the point whereunder we thought to have ankered. Then I sent a skiffe aboorde of him, and at their comming aboord, they tooke acquaintance of them, and the chiefe man said hee had bene in our company in the riuer Cola, and also declared vnto them that we were past the way which should bring vs to the Ob. This land, sayd he, is called Nova Zembla, that is to say, the New Land; and then he came aboord himselfe with his skiffe he told me the like ... he made me also certaine demonstrations of the way to the Ob.

I gave him a steele gla.s.se, two pewter spoons, and a paire of veluet sheathed knives; and then he seemed somewhat the more willing to tary and shewed me as much as he knew for our purpose; he also gave me 17 wild geese.... This man's name was Loshak. Wednesday, as we plied to Eastwards, we espied another saile, which was one of this Loshak's company, and we bare roome and spake with him, who in like sort tolde us of the Ob, as the other had done.... Friday (the 10th Aug./31st July) the gale of winde began to increase, and came Westerly withall, so that by a Northwest sunne we were at an anker among the Islands of Waigats, where we saw two small lodias; the one of them came aboord of us and presented me with a great loafe of bread; and they told me they were all of Colmogro, except one man that dwelt at Pechora, who seemed to be the chiefest among them in killing of the Morse.[115] There were some of their company on sh.o.a.re which did chase a white beare ouer the high clifs into the water, which beare the lodia that was aboord of us killed in our sight.

This day there was a great gale of wind at North, and we saw so much ice driving a seaboord that it was then no going to sea."

During the first days of August the vessel lay for the most part in company with or in the neighbourhood of Loshak, who gave them information about the Samoyeds, after which Burrough visited their sacrificial places.[116]

"Tuesday (the 14/4th) August we turned for the harborough where Loshak's barke lay,[117] where, as before, we road vnder an Island. And there he came aboord of vs and said unto me: if G.o.d send wind and weather to serve, I will go to the Ob with you, because the Morses were scant at these Islands of Vaigats; but if he could not get to the riuer of Ob, then he sayd hee would goe to the riuer of Narainzay,[118] where the people were not altogether so savage as the Samoyds of the Ob are: hee shewed me that they will shoot at all men to the vttermost of their power, that cannot speake their speech."

On the 15/5th of August much ice was seen to drift towards the haven where the vessel lay, wherefore Burrough removed back to the place where he had lain a few days before, and whose lat.i.tude he now found to be 70 25'. Loshak left him unexpectedly the following day, while Burrough was taking solar alt.i.tudes, and on the 19/9th Burrough too weighed anchor to sail south along the coast of Vaygats. After sailing about in these waters for a time, and being exposed to a severe storm with an exceedingly heavy sea, Burrough, on the 3rd Sept./23rd Aug., determined to turn. On the 21st/11th September he arrived at Colmogro, where he wintered with a view to continue his voyage next year to the Obi. This voyage, however, was abandoned, because he instead went westwards in order to search for two of the s.h.i.+ps which accompanied Chancelor, and which had been lost during the return voyage from Archangel.[119]

From this narrative we see that a highly developed Russian or Russian-Finnish navigation was carried on as early as the middle of the fifteenth century between the White Sea, the Petchora, Vaygats, and Novaya Zemlya, and that at that time the Russians or Finns even sailed to the Obi. The sketch, which Burrough gives of the Russian or Russian-Finnish hunters, shows, besides, that they were brave and skilful seamen, with vessels which for the time were very good, and even superior to the English in sailing before the wind. With very few alterations this sketch might also be applied to the present state of things in these regions, which shows that they continue to stand at a point which was then high, but is now low. Taking a general view of matters, it appears as if these lands had rather fallen behind than advanced in well-being during the last three hundred years.

To judge by a letter from the Russian Merchant Company, which was formed in London, it was at his own instance that Stephen Burrough in 1557 sailed from Colmogro, not to Obi, but to the coast of Russian Lapland to search for the lost vessels.[120] The following year the English were so occupied with their new commercial treaties with Russia and with the fitting out of Frobisher's three expeditions to the north-west, that it was long before a new attempt was made in the direction of the north-east, namely till ARTHUR PETS' voyage in 1580.[121] He was the first who penetrated from Western Europe into the Kara Sea, and thus brought the solution of the problem of the North-East Pa.s.sage to the Pacific a good way forward. The princ.i.p.al incidents of this voyage too must therefore be briefly stated here.

PET and JACKMAN, the former in the _George_, the latter in the _William_, sailed from Harwich on the 9th June/30th May, 1580. On the 2nd July/22nd June they doubled the North Cape, and on the 12th/2nd July, Pet was separated from Jackman after appointing to meet with him at "Verove Ostrove or Waygats." On the 15/5th land was in sight, the lat.i.tude having the preceding day been ascertained to be 71 38'. Pet was thus at Gooseland, on the west coast of Novaya Zemlya. He now sailed E.S.E., and fell in with ice on the 16/6th July. On the 20/10th July, land was seen, and the vessel anch.o.r.ed at an island, probably one of the many small islands in the Kara Port, where wood and water were taken on board.

On the 24/14th July, Pet was in the neighbourhood of land in 70 26'. At first he thought that the land was an island, and endeavoured to sail round it, but as he did not succeed in doing so, he supposed it to be Novaya Zemlya. Hence he sailed in different directions between S.W. and S.E., and was on the 26/16th in 69 40' N.L. Next day there was lightning with showers of rain. Pet believed himself now to be in Petchora Bay, and after sighting, on the 28/18th July, the headland which bounds the mouth of the river on the north-east, he sailed, it would seem, between this headland and the Selenetz Islands into the great bay east of Medinski Savorot. Here he made soundings on the supposition that the sound between Vaygats Island and the mainland would open out at this place, but the water was found to be too shallow, even for a boat. Pet now sailed past Yugor Schar along the coast of Vaygats towards Novaya Zemlya, to a bay on the west coast of Vaygats Island, where he anch.o.r.ed between two small islands, which were supposed to be Woronski Ostrov. _The entrance to an excellent haven was indicated on both sides by two crosses._[122] On the islands there was abundance of driftwood, and on one of them was found a cross, at the foot of which a man was buried. Pet inscribed his name on the cross, and likewise on a stone at the foot of the cross, "in order that Jackman, if he came thither, might know that Pet had been there." In the afternoon Pet again weighed anchor, doubled the western extremity of Vaygats Island, and continued his voyage, following all along the coast of Vaygats, first to the north and north-east, then to the south, between an ice-field and the land, until the ice came so close to the sh.o.r.e that the vessel could make no headway, when he anch.o.r.ed in a good haven by an island which lay on the east side of Vaygats in the neighbourhood of the mainland. It was perhaps the island which in recent maps is called Mestni Island. Pet was thus now in the Kara Sea.[123] The lat.i.tude given--69 14'--shows even, if it is correct, that he went far into the bay at the mouth of the Kara river. Here Pet fell in with his comrade Jackman, from whom he had parted on the coast of Kola, and of whose voyage during the interval we know nothing. When the vessels met they were both damaged by ice. As, in addition, the sea to the north and east was barred by compact ma.s.ses of ice, the captains, after deliberating with the inferior officers, determined to return. They had, also, during the return voyage, to contend with formidable ice obstacles, until, on the 25/15th August, in Lat. 69 49' north, near the southeastern extremity of Vaygats they met with open water. They sailed along the east coast of Vaygats through the Kara Port, which was pa.s.sed on the 27/17th August. Hence the course was shaped for Kolgujev Island, on whose sandbanks both vessels ran aground, but were soon got off again without loss. The lat.i.tude of the sandbanks was correctly fixed at 68 48'.

On the 1st Sept./22nd Aug. _William_ was again lost sight of.[124]

On the 8th Sept./29th Aug. the _George_ anch.o.r.ed in Tana Fiord, on which there was a town named Hungon.[125] Two days afterwards the _George_ doubled the North Cape, and on the 5th Nov./26th Oct. again anch.o.r.ed at Ratcliffe.

Pet and Jackman were the first north-east explorers who ventured themselves in earnest amongst the drift-ice. In navigating among ice they showed good judgment and readiness of resource, and in the history of navigation the honour falls to them of having commanded the first vessels from Western Europe that forced their way into the Kara Sea. It is therefore without justification that BARROW says of them that they were but indifferent navigators.[126]

With Pet and Jackman's voyage the English North-east Pa.s.sage expeditions were broken off for a long time. But the problem was, instead, taken up with great zeal in Holland. Through the fortunate issue of the war of freedom with Spain, and the incitement to enterprise which civil freedom always brings along with it, Holland, already a great industrial and commercial state, had begun, towards the close of the sixteenth century, to develop into a maritime power of the first rank. But navigation to India and China was then rendered impossible for the Dutch, as for the English, by the supremacy of Spain and Portugal at sea, and through the endeavours of these countries to retain the sole right to the commercial routes they had discovered. In order to become sharers in the great profits which commerce with the land of silks and perfumes brought with it, it therefore appeared to be indispensable to discover a new sea route north of Asia or America to the Eastern seas.

If such a route had been actually found, it was clear that the position of Holland would have been specially favourable for undertaking this lucrative trade. In this state of things we have to seek for the reason of the delight with which the Dutch hailed the first proposal to force a pa.s.sage by sea north of Asia to China or j.a.pan. Three successive expeditions were at great expense fitted out for this purpose. These expeditions did not, indeed, attain the intended goal--the discovery of a north-eastern sea route to Eastern Asia, but they not only gained for themselves a prominent place in the history of geographical discovery, but also repaid a hundred fold the money that had been spent on them, in part directly through the whale-fis.h.i.+ng to which they gave rise, and which was so profitable to Holland, and in part indirectly through the elevation they gave to the self-respect and national feeling of the people. They compared the achievements of their countrymen among the ice and snow of the Polar lands to the voyage of the Argonauts, to Hannibal's pa.s.sage of the Alps, and to the campaign of the Macedonians in Asia and the deserts of Libya (see, for instance, BLAVIUS. _Atlas major_, Latin edition, t. i., pp. 24 and 31.) As these voyages together present the grandest attempts to solve the problem that lay before the _Vega_ expedition, I shall here give a somewhat detailed account of them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DUTCH SKIPPER. After G. de Veer. ]

THE FIRST DUTCH EXPEDITION, 1594.--This was fitted out at the expense of private persons, mainly by the merchants BALTHASAR MUCHERON, JACOB VALCKE, and FRANCISCUS MAELSON. The first intention was to send out only two vessels with the view of forcing a pa.s.sage through the sound at Vaygats towards the east, but on the famous geographer PLANCIUS representing that the route north of Novaya Zemlya was that which would lead most certainly to the desired goal, other two were fitted out, so that no fewer than four vessels went out in the year 1594 on an exploratory expedition towards the north. Of these, two, viz. a large vessel, specially equipped, it would appear, for the northern waters, called the _Mercurius_, and commanded by WILLEM BARENTS,[127] and a common fis.h.i.+ng-sloop, attempted the way past the northern extremity of Novaya Zemlya. The two others, viz. the _Swan_ of Zeeland, commanded by CORNELIS CORNELISZ. NAY, and the _Mercurius_ of Enkhuizen, commanded by BRANDT YSBRADTSZ. TETGALES, were to pa.s.s through the sound at Vaygats Island.

All the four vessels left the Texel on the 15/5th June, and eighteen days later arrived at Kilduin in Russian Lapland, a place where at that time vessels, bound for the White Sea, often called. Here the two divisions of the expedition parted company.

Barents sailed to Novaya Zemlya, which was reached on the 14/4th July in 73 25'; the lat.i.tude was determined by measuring the alt.i.tude of the midnight sun at an island which was called Willem's Island. Barents sailed on along the coast in a northerly direction, and two days afterwards reached the lat.i.tude of 75 54' north.

On the 19/9th July there was a remarkable chase of a Polar bear. The bear was fallen in with on land and was pierced by a bullet, but notwithstanding this he threw himself into the water, and swam with a vigour "that surpa.s.sed all that had been heard of the lion or other wild animal." Some of the crew pursued him in a boat, and succeeded in casting a noose round his neck in order to catch him living, with a view to carry him to Holland. But when the bear knew that he was caught "he roared and threw himself about so violently that it can scarcely be described in words." In order to tire him they gave him a little longer line, rowing forward slowly the while, and Barents at intervals struck him with a rope. Enraged at this treatment, the bear swam to the boat, and caught it with one of his forepaws, on which Barents said: "he wishes to rest himself a little." But the bear had another object in view, for he cast himself into the boat with such violence that half his body was soon within it. The sailors were so frightened that they rushed to the fore and thought that their last hour was come. Fortunately the bear could make no further advance, because the noose that was thrown round his neck had fastened in the rudder. A sailor taking courage, now went aft and killed the bear with the stroke of an axe. The skin was sent to Amsterdam. On account of this occurrence the place was called "Bear Cape."

[Ill.u.s.tration: CAPTURE OF A POLAR BEAR. After G. de Veer. ]

Barents sailed on towards the north and north-east, past the place which he called Cruys Eylandt (Cross Island)[128] and Cape Na.s.sau, a name which has been retained in recent maps, to the lat.i.tude of 77 55', which was reached on the 23rd/13th July. Here from the mast-top an ice-field was seen, which it was impossible to see beyond, which compelled Barents to turn. However, he still remained in these northern regions, waiting for a better state of the ice, till the 8th August/29th July, when the vessel was due west of a promontory situated in lat.i.tude 77 north, which was named Ice Cape. Some gold-glittering stones were found here on the ground.

Such _finds_ have played a not inconsiderable _role_ in the history of Arctic voyages, and s.h.i.+ploads of worthless ore have on several occasions been brought home. On the 16th August/31st July, while sailing among the Orange Islands, they saw 200 walruses on land. The sailors attacked them with axes and lances, without killing a single walrus, but they succeeded during the attempt to kill them in striking out several tusks, which they carried home with them.

Convinced that he could not reach the intended goal by this northern route, Barents determined, after consulting with his men, to turn south and sail to Vaygats. While sailing down, Barents, in lat.i.tude 71 north, makes the remark that he was now probably at a place where OLIVER BRUNEL[129] had been before, and which had been named by him Costinsark, evidently the present Kostin Schar, a Russian name still in use for the sound which separates Meschduschar Island from the main island. It ought to be observed, however, that on old maps Matotschkin Schar is often marked with some perversion of the word Kostin Schar.

South of "St. Laurens Bay,"[130] in 70-3/4, Barents, on the 21st/11th August, found upon a headland across erected, and in the neighbourhood of it three wooden buildings, the hull of a Russian vessel and several sacks of meal, and at the same place some graves, all clearly remains of some Russian salmon-fishers. On the 25/15th August he arrived at Dolgoi Island, where he fell in with the two other vessels from Zeeland and Enkhuizen that had come thither shortly before. All the four vessels sailed back thence to Holland, arriving there in the middle of September. The narrative of this voyage closes with the statement that Barents brought home with him a walrus, which had been fallen in with and killed on the drift-ice.

Barents during this journey discovered and explored the northern part of Novaya Zemlya, never before visited by West-European seafarers.

The two other vessels, that left the Texel at the same time as Barents, also made a remarkable voyage, specially sketched by the distinguished voyager JAN HUYGHEN VAN LINSCHOTEN.[131]

The vessels were manned by fifty men, among them two interpreters--a Slav, CHRISTOFFEL SPLINDLER, and a Dutch merchant, who had lived long in Russia, FR. DE LA DALE. Provisions for eight months only were taken on board. At first Nay and Tetgales accompanied Barents to Kilduin, which island is delineated and described in considerable detail in Linschoten's work.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JAN HUYGHEN VAN LINSCHOTEN. Born in 1563 at Haarlem, died in 1611 at Enkhuizen. After a portrait in his work, _Navigatio in Orientalem sive Lusitanorum Indiam_, Hagae Comitis, 1590. ]

[Ill.u.s.tration: KILDUIN, IN RUSSIAN LAPLAND, IN 1504. After Linschoten. ]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Russian Map of the North Polar Sea from the beginning of the 17th century, published in Holland in 1612 by Isaac Ma.s.sa ]

On the 12th/2nd July Nay and Tetgales sailed from Kilduin for Vaygats Island. Three days afterwards they fell in with much drift-ice. On the 20/10th they arrived at Toxar, according to Linschoten's map an island on the Timan coast, a little west of the entrance to Petchora. They there met with a Russian _lodja_, whose captain stated that he believed, after hearsay, that the Vaygats Sound[132] was continually covered with ice, and that, when it was pa.s.sed, men came to a sea which lay to the south of, and was warmer than, the Polar Sea. Some other Russians added, the following day, that it was quite possible to sail through Vaygats Sound, if the whales and walruses, that destroy all vessels that seek to pa.s.s through, did not form an obstacle; that the great number of rocks and reefs scarcely permitted the pa.s.sage of a vessel; and finally, that the Grand Duke had ordered three vessels to attempt the pa.s.sage, but that they had all been crushed by ice.

On the 22nd/12th July there came to Toxar hunters from the White Sea, who spoke another language than the Russians, and belonged to another race of men--they were evidently Finns or Karelians. A large number of whales were seen in the haven, which gave occasion to a remark by Linschoten that whale-fis.h.i.+ng ought to be profitable there. After the ice had broken up, and crosses with inscriptions giving information of their movements had been erected on the sh.o.r.e, they sailed on. On the 31/21st July they sighted Vaygats. They landed at a headland marked with two crosses, and there fell in with a native, clad in much the same way as a Kilduin Lapp, who soon took to flight. Other headlands marked with crosses were afterwards visited, and places where idols were found set up by hundreds.

Linschoten also landed on that Idol Cape which was visited during the voyage of the _Vega_. There were then from three to four hundred wooden idols, which, according to Lindschoten's description, were very similar in appearance to those we saw. They were so ill made, says he, that one could scarcely guess that they were intended to represent men. The visage was very broad, the nose projecting, there were two holes in place of the eyes, and another hole represented the mouth. Five, six, or seven faces were often found carved on one and the same stock "perhaps intended to represent a whole family."