Part 35

[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.