Part 36

[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.

[760] Teghens—against.

[761] We rechten het huys op—we erected (i.e., completed the erection of) our house.

[762] Een Meyboom—a May-tree. According to Adelung, in his Hochdeutsches Wörterbuch, “Maybaum” is in many parts of Germany the vernacular name of the birch-tree, especially the common species (Betula alba), also called the May-birch, or simply “May”,—as the hawthorn is called in England,—branches of which are used for ornamenting the houses and churches in the month of May.

The same name is given to the green branch of a tree, or at times the whole tree itself—frequently the birch, but not exclusively so—which is set up on occasions of festivity. This is the meyboom of the Dutch; and it would seem on the one hand to be the original of our English May-pole, and on the other to have degenerated into the flag which our builders are in the habit of hoisting on the chimneys of houses, when raised.

[763] Alsoo wy nu...laghen—because we now lay.

[764] Heel open—quite open.

[765] Wy laghen tot den grondt toe bevroren—we lay frozen right down to the ground.

[766] “Then.”—Ph.

[767] Het vooronder—the forecastle.

[768] Deelen—planks.

[769] In den mitten wat hoogher—somewhat higher in the middle.

[770] Ende braken het achteronder mede uyt, omt huijs voort dicht te maeckten—and pulled down likewise the poop, in order (therewith) to go on closing up the house.

[771] “W. and S.W.”—Ph.

[772] “First.”—Ph.

[773] Sneeu—snow.

[774] Climbed.

[775] Boven—on deck.

[776] Boven opt schip—on the deck of the ship.

[777] “Kept.”—Ph.

[778] Zijnde een iopen vat, aen den bodem stucken ghevroren—which, being a cask of spruce beer, had burst at the bottom through the frost.

From a very early period a decoction, in beer or water, of the leaf-buds (gemmæ seu turiones) of the Norway spruce fir (Abies excelsa), as well as of the silver fir (Abies picea), has been used, formerly more than at present, in the countries bordering on the Baltic Sea, in scorbutic, rheumatic, and gouty complaints. See Magneti Bibliotheca Pharmaceutico-Medica, vol. i, p. 2; Pharmacopœia Borussica (German translation by Dulk), 3rd edit., vol. i, p. 796; Pereira, Elements of Materia Medica, 3rd edit., vol. ii, p. 1182.

These leaf-buds are commonly called in German, sprossen, and in Dutch, jopen; whence the beer brewed therefrom at Dantzig—cerevisia dantiscana, as it is styled in the Amsterdam Latin version of 1598—acquired the appellations of sprossenbier and jopenbier, of the former of which the English name, spruce-beer, is merely a corruption.

The “Dantzig spruce” of commerce, which is known at the place of its manufacture by the names of doppelbier, jopenbier, and even “sprucebier”, is the representative at the present day of the medicated sprossenbier of former times; though, curiously enough, the ingredient from which it derived its distinctive appellation (i.e., the sprossen or jopen) appears to be now left out in its preparation.

[779] Uyt liep—ran out.

[780] Den bodem—the bottom.

[781] Scarcely.

[782] In de selvighe vochticheyt was de cracht vant gantsche bier—in that liquid part lay the whole strength of the beer.

[783] Shovelled.

[784] “S.E. and by S.E.”—Ph.

[785] Braecken wy de kuiuyt wech—we pulled down the cabin.

[786] Het portael—the entrance hall, or porch.

[787] Met brandthouten smeten—threw billets of firewood at her.

[788] Quam hy effenwel seer vreeselijck tot haer aen—came towards them in a most terrific manner.

[789] Int ruijm—in the hold.

[790] Clam int fockewant—climbed up the fore-rigging.

[791] Eenige openinghe van water in de zee—some open places of water in the sea.

[792] Banden—hoops.

[793] De joopen vaten—the spruce-beer casks. See page 114, note 2.

[794] Bock—yawl.

[795] Teghens den somer—towards the summer.

[796] Te begheven—to leave us.

[797] See page 78, notes 2 and 3.

[798] Frighten.

[799] In een scheur tusschent ys in—into a crevice in the ice.

[800] Onder—below. The caboose had been removed below on account of the extreme cold on deck, as is mentioned in page 108.

[801] Their firearms had matchlocks.

[802] Overt schip heenen—out beyond the ship.

[803] Rabbits.

[804] Stelden wy onse orlogie wederom dat de clock sloech—we set up our clock, so that it (went and) struck (the hour).

[805] Melted.

[806] Tweer was ghebetert—the weather improved.

[807] Zy conden uyt haer ooghen niet sien—they could not see out of their eyes.

[808] Cinghel—shingle.

[809] Doen ghingh de son heel dicht boven der aerden, weynich boven den horisont—then the sun went quite close over the earth, but little above the horizon.

[810] Niet een hooft dorsten uyt steecken—not one of us durst put his head out of doors.

[811] Doncker—dark, overcast.

[812] “December.”—Ph.

[813] Hy quam met zijn volle rondicheyt niet boven—it did not show (rise with) its whole disk.

[814] Ende de beyren ghinghen doen mede wegh—and then the bears also went away.

[815] Den boven cant—the upper edge.

[816] De mars—the round top.

[817] The question of refraction, arising out of this and other observations, is discussed in the Introduction.

[818] De son peijlden—observed (lit. measured) the sun.

[819] “Off.”—Ph.

[820] That is to say, the sun’s longitude was 221° 48′, or 41° 48′ from the autumnal equinox.

[821] Onse surgijn—our surgeon.

[822] Te stoven—lit. to stew. This is the primary sense of the word stew, which afterwards, like its synonym bagnio, acquired a very different meaning. The bath used appears to have been a vapour bath.

[823] Mette son—with the sun.

[824] Weder quam—it returned.

[825] Under the parallel of 76°, the moon continues incessantly above the horizon about seven or eight days in each month.

[826] Vermoeden wy geen dagh, doent al dagh was—we thought that it was not day, when it already was day.

[827] Hadde op dien dagh niet uyt de koy gheweest—had not that day been out of bed.

[828] So wast wel opt hooghste van den dagh—it was truly the height of day.

[829] Loot—a loot or half-ounce; of which 32 go to the pound. The quantity mentioned above is equal to 4 pounds 11 ounces avoirdupois.

[830] Was meest al de cracht uytgevroren—had almost all its strength frozen out of it.

[831] Een ronden hoep—a round hoop.

[832] Dat men se in huys mochten toe halen ghelijck een val, als de vossen daer onder quamen—so that when the foxes came under it, as in a trap, we might drag them into the house.

[833] Met een betoghen lucht—with a cloudy sky.

[834] Locxkens. In Sewel’s Dutch and Eng. Dict. by Buys, Lokje, the modern form of this word, is thus defined:—“a little hollow log, such as seamen sometimes use to put sauce in, for want of another dish: hence it is that some will call any saucer with that name.”

[835] Melted.

[836] Een betoghen lucht—a cloudy sky.

[837] Een ghetemperden lucht—a moderate sky.

[838] Een betoghen lucht—a cloudy sky.

[839] A piece of coarse woollen cloth.

[840] Tot hemden—for shirts.

[841] Hemden—shirts.

[842] Wrung.

[843] Se ghebroken—broken them.

[844] Boiling.

[845] Bequaem—suitable, good.

[846] De schipper ende stuerman; namely, Jacob Heemskerck and William Barentsz.

[847] Noch—yet.

[848] Koyen kasen—lit. cow-cheeses, because they were made from the milk of cows, and not of sheep, as is not uncommon in the Netherlands.

[849] Ejinde van sparren—ends of spars.

[850] “North-east.”—Ph.

[851] De barbier—the barber. This is the person who on a former occasion (page 121) was called de surgijn—the surgeon. In the general decline of science during the middle ages, surgery, as a branch of medicine, became neglected, and its practice, in the rudest form, fell into the hands of the barber; from whose ordinary avocations of cutting the hair, shaving the beard, paring the nails, etc., the step was not very great to the operations of tooth-drawing, bleeding, cupping, dressing wounds, setting broken limbs, etc. And, with these functions of the surgeon, the barber not unreasonably assumed his title also.

The rivalry between these barber-surgeons and the pure surgeons, who again sprang up on the revival of learning, is matter of history.

In England, a compromise between the two rival bodies was early effected by means of the union of the barber-surgeons and surgeons of London, by the statute of 32 Hen. VIII, c. 41 (A.D. 1540), which, while nominally amalgamating them, virtually effected the separation of the two professions; inasmuch as those members of the united corporation “using barbery”—as it was somewhat barbarously expressed—were prohibited from “occupying any surgery, letting of blood, or any other thing belonging to surgery, drawing of teeth only except”; while, on the other hand, surgeons were forbidden to “use barbery”. And the natural consequence was their formal separation into two entirely distinct bodies by the Act of 18 Geo. II, c. 15 (A.D. 1745).

On the continent, the barber-surgeon retained his rank to a much later date; and in France, in particular, till the revolution of 1793. But, instead of abandoning the razor to the hair-dresser, he still claimed the right of wielding it, “as being a surgical instrument”; so that, in order to distinguish between the two, it was ordained by Louis XIV, that the barber-surgeon should have for his sign a brass basin, and should paint his shop-front red or black only, whereas the barber-hairdresser should display a pewter basin, and paint his shop-front in any other colour. Blue was the colour usually adopted by the barber-hairdressers, and to this colour their name has in consequence become attached. That the connexion between the two is still not lost sight of in France, is proved by the following extract from the Comédies et Proverbes of Alfred de Musset, p. 510:—

“Madame de Léry.—Autant j’adore le lilas, autant je déteste Mathilde.—C’est la couleur de la constance. [le bleu. Madame de Léry.—Bah! c’est la couleur des perruquiers.”

Un Caprice.

Those professors of shaving and hairdressing, whose poles, painted red or black alternating with white, still decorate our streets, commit therefore a great mistake in using either of these two colours. “True like the needle to the pole,” as Lieutenant Taffril wrote to Jenny Caxon (“To cast up to her that her father’s a barber and has a pole at his door, and that she’s but a manty-maker hersel! Fy for shame!”), they should confine themselves to the colour of constancy—and of the hairdressers; unless, indeed, they should happen to unite tooth-drawing to their other avocations, in which case they might perhaps, in strict right, be entitled to set up the red or black stripe of the barber-surgeons.

[852] Die gheleghentheyt diente van ons waer ghenomen te zijn—it was important for us to avail ourselves of the opportunity.

[853] Alle de deuren waren toe ghewaeyt—all the doors were blown to.

[854] Een helderen lucht—a clear sky.

[855] Quite.

[856] Wear.

[857] See page 61, note 8.

[858] Ondert verdeck—under the deck, i.e., below.

[859] Icebergs.

[860] Op malcanderen stuwen ende gheschoven werden—were drifting and heaping one upon the other.

[861] Jae selfs in de koyen—yea, even in the cots.

[862] Mochte—could.

[863] “North-east.”—Ph.

[864] Vallen—traps.

[865] Sareetsche secke—Xeres seco, or sherry-sack.

[866] Heet—hot, strong.

[867] Over—over.

[868] Independently of the quiet humour of this observation, it is worthy of remark, as showing that at that early period the cooling of wine by means of ice or snow was practised by the Dutch.

[869] Een vlieghenden storm uyten n. o.—a hurricane out of the N.E.

[870] Steen-colen—stone or mineral coal; so called to distinguish it from charcoal, the usual fuel on the continent.

[871] Maer wy wachtede ons voor de weerstuijt niet—but we did not guard ourselves against the consequences.

[872] Cots.

[873] Een sodanighen duyselinghe—a sudden dizziness.

[874] Started.

[875] Swoon.

[876] Cot.

[877] Liep daer heenen—ran thither.

[878] Haelde flucks edick ende vreef hem dat in zijn aensicht—quickly fetched some vinegar and rubbed his face with it.

[879] In eenen swijm—in a swoon.

[880] “North-east.”—Ph.

[881] Een helderen lucht—a bright sky.

[882] Shoes.

[883] Wyde clompen—loose clogs or slippers.

[884] Sheep.

[885] Were.

[886] Blaren ende buylen—“blains and boils.”

[887] De Reus—the Giant, as the constellation Orion is called, after the Arabic El-djebbâr. The star Bellatrix γ Orionis, which was here observed, is usually said to be in the left shoulder. It depends, however, upon which way “the Giant” is considered as looking. The exact declination of this star for the end of the year 1596 is + 5° 58′,4 N.; so that, after allowing 2′,6 for refraction, the complement of the height of the Pole is 14° 17′, and the height of the Pole is 75° 43′.

It is not possible for Betelgeuze, (α) in the right shoulder of Orion, to have been the star observed; for the latitude resulting from it would be upwards of 79°.

[888] “Twenty-eight.”—Ph.

[889] De onuytspreklijcke ondraechelijcke coude—the inexpressible, intolerable cold.

[890] Wore.

[891] Een joopen vat met water—a spruce-beer cask full of water.

[892] Stopten eerst alle de gaten dicht toe—first closely stopped all the holes.

[893] Ruijm—hold.

[894] Grondt—bottom.

[895] Calculated.

[896] T’uyterste perck—the utmost limit.

[897] “Eighteen.”—Ph.

[898] Hoe well datter gheen dagh was—though there was no daylight.

[899] Heard.

[900] In de pot ofte aent spit—in the pot or on the spit.

[901] Keughels—balls.

[902] Cots.

[903] Dattet int afgaen vanden bergh was: te weten, dat de son zijn wegh wederom nae ons toe nam—that we were now going down hill; that is to say, the sun was now on his way back to us.

[904] De daghen die langhen zijn de daghen die stranghen, dan hoope dede pijn versoeten—“the days that lengthen are the days that become more severe [?];” but “hope sweetened pain”. These are two Dutch proverbs, strung together somewhat after the fashion of Sancho Panza. The former is equivalent to “as the day lengthens, so the cold strengthens”, and “cresce ’l dì, cresce ’l freddo”, cited in Ray’s English Proverbs, p. 37.

[905] Bynaest...verbranden—almost burned.

[906] Boers—boors, peasants.

[907] Ter poorten van de steden incomen—come in at the gates of the towns. It would almost seem that in the text the word is sleden and not steden; so that the meaning would be, “come in at the gates from their sledges”. But, as the fact is that the boors enter the gates in their carts, and that those who come in sledges must necessarily reach the town by the water side, where there are no gates, it can scarcely be doubted that the proper reading is steden. The translator appears to have wished to provide for both cases.

[908] Onder weghen gheweest zijn—have been travelling.

[909] Croop—crept.

[910] Hoet daer ghestelt was—how matters stood there.

[911] Een betoghen lucht—a cloudy sky.

[912] Cellar.

[913] Several.

[914] De trappen te maecken—to set the traps.

[915] Stockings.

[916] Onghemack—hardship.

[917] “This.”—Ph.

[918] Begonnen—began.

[919] Het block—the block.

[920] Bergher visch: so called because it comes principally from Bergen in Norway.

[921] Wasset weder wat besadicht—the weather was somewhat milder.

[922] Als een verwulfsel van een boogh ofte kelder—like the arch of a vault or cellar.

[923] Gheslooft—toiled.

[924] Drie Coninghen Avondt—Three Kings’ Even. The fifth of January, as being the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany, is properly “Twelfth Night”. But, in England, the vigils or eves of all feast days between Christmas and the Purification having been abolished at the Reformation (see Wheatley, Rational Illustration of the Book of Common Prayer, Oxford, 1846, p. 165), this season of festivity, thus deprived of its religious character, was transferred to the evening after the feast; so that Twelfth Night was thenceforward kept on the evening of the 6th of January.

[925] Begheerden aen den schipper—requested the skipper.

[926] Conincxken speelden—drew for king (lit. played at kings).

[927] Een wittbroods beschuijt—a (captain’s) biscuit made of wheaten flour.

[928] Fancying ourselves to be.

[929] Banquet.

[930] Uytgedeelt—distributed.

[931] This estimated length includes the island of Waigatsch.

[932] Namely, the Northern Ocean and the Sea of Kara.

[933] Could.

[934] Want de coude leerde ons noch wel niet langhe uyt blyven, om dattet buyten niet snick heet was—for the cold itself was quite enough to teach us not to stay long out, inasmuch as out of doors it was not smoking hot.

[935] “N.E.”—Ph.

[936] “N.W.”—Ph.

[937] Oculus Tauri. The exact declination for this year of α Tauri or Aldeberan is + 15° 40′,2; so that the complement of the height of the Pole, after allowing 1′,7 for refraction, is 14° 12′,1, and the height of the Pole is 75° 47′,9. The mean of this observation, and that of γ Orionis, on December 14th, 1596 (page 131), is 75° 45′,5, which may be regarded as being a very close approximation to the true latitude of the expedition’s wintering-place. From the author’s statement, it appears that William Barentsz was of opinion that they were to the north of the 76th parallel, instead of to the south, as this corrected calculation makes their position to be. This only shows the importance of recording and publishing all observations in their original form, regardless of their apparent results, however anomalous. When a traveller’s observations are for years kept back, in order that they may be “revised”, the world may not uncharitably surmise that eventually they will not be presented to it in their integrity.

[938] Also dat dese metinghe vande voornoemde sterre ende eenighe andere sterren, soo mede de metinghe van de sonne, alle over een quamen dat wy—so that the measurement of the above-named star and of some other stars, as well as the measurement of the sun, all agreed (in showing) that we....

It will be seen in the sequel that the observations of the sun agree rather in showing the contrary of what is above contended for.

[939] Liepen uyt ende schoten de cloot met de cloot van de vlayh-spil, die wy voor heen niet conden sien loopen—ran out and played at ball (lit. threw the ball) with the truck of the flag-staff, which before that time we had not been able to see run.

[940] Stil weder met een betoghen lucht—calm weather with a cloudy sky.

[941] Twee vossen—two foxes.

[942] Bolckvanger—a seaman’s rough coat.

[943] Verdeck—deck.

[944] Om ons leden wat te verstercken, met gaen, werpen ende loopen—to strengthen our limbs a little with walking, throwing (the ball), and running.

[945] Maer des nachts vroort wederom effen cout—but at night it froze again just as cold (as before).

[946] Begonde vast te minderen—began to diminish fast.

[947] Swymen—swooning.

[948] De open schuyten—the open boats.

[949] Wast een betoghen lucht ende stil—the sky was cloudy and calm.

[950] De cloot schieten—to throw the ball.

[951] That is to say, they all three saw it, but Gerrit de Veer saw it first.

[952] Which had not been visible since the 3rd of November, as is mentioned in page 121.

[953] Dat de sonne aldaer ende op die hooghde openbaren souden—that the sun should appear there and in that latitude.

[954] Disich—hazy.

[955] Daer van wy wel anders versekert zijn—with respect to which we well know the contrary.

[956] This makes the date to have been the twenty-fifth of January. On the 24th, the sun was only in the fourth degree of Aquarius. And all the details furnished by the author concur in proving, that, in spite of his assertion of extreme precision as to the date, the conjunction of the moon and Jupiter,—and, inferentially, the first appearance of the sun also,—took place on the 25th of January, instead of the 24th, as stated.

On January 25th, at midday, when the sun’s longitude was 305° 25′,1, or 5° 25′,1 of Aquarius, its declination was—18° 57′,4: consequently, its centre was 4° 42′,4, and its upper edge 4° 26′,4, below the horizon. The mean refraction at the horizon cannot, however, be estimated at more than 34′9, or, with an assumed temperature of -8° Fahren., 39′,3; so that the extraordinary and anomalous refraction amounts to no less than 3° 49′.

[957] Ons eerste gissinghe—our first calculation.

[958] That is to say, till February 6th. But on that day, the sun’s declination being—15° 56′,4, it was 1° 41′ below the horizon in 75° 45′ N. lat., and therefore still invisible there. In lat. 76° it would have been as much as 1° 56′.

In 75° 45′ N. lat. the sun’s upper edge would have been properly first visible on February 9th, when the sun was in 10° 29′,2 of Aquarius, or longitude 319° 29′,2; its declination then being—15° 0′,5, with an assumed refraction of half a degree.

[959] Appeared.

[960] “Leave.”—Ph.

[961] Josephus Schala. The title of the work here referred to, as given in De Lalande’s Bibliographie Astronomique, p. 120, is “Josephi Scala, Siculi, Ephemerides ex Tabulis Magini, ab anno 1589 ad annum 1600 continuatæ, una cum introductionibus Ephemeridum Josephi Moletii. Venetiis, 1589, 4to.” It is not in the library of the British Museum, nor in that of the Royal Astronomical Society. This is, however, of no moment; as Mr. Vogel, to whose kindness I am indebted for so much valuable assistance, has calculated the time of the conjunction at Venice, and makes it differ only 57 seconds from Scala’s computed time.

[962] In the astronomical reckoning of time, the date was certainly January 24th; but, then, “one in the night time” of that day—which would correctly be called January 24 days 13 hours—corresponds with 1 o’clock in the morning of January 25th, in the civil reckoning of time.

[963] January 23d 12h, mean time, Paris, corresponding with midnight between January 23rd and 24th in the civil reckoning of time,—which at Venice would be 20 minutes to 1 o’clock in the morning of January 24th,—the moon’s longitude was 19° 57′,3 and her latitude + 2° 0,7, while Jupiter’s longitude was 32° 12′,0 and his latitude—1° 4′,6; so that there was no conjunction on that day. On the other hand, January 24d 12h 59m 3s mean time, Venice, corresponding with 57 seconds to one o’clock in the morning of January 25th, the position of the two planets was as follows:—

Moon. Longitude 32° 17′,3 Latitude + 2° 58′,3 Jupiter. ,, 32° 17′,3 ,, — 1° 4′,3

that is to say, they were then in conjunction; their position in the heavens being near the star α Arietis.

[964] This can only be understood in a general sense, as meaning that it was somewhere about six o’clock in the morning. For at the time of the conjunction, the sun was more than 20° below the horizon; and as the dawn is not perceptible till the sun is about 18° from the horizon, they could not have possessed even this imperfect means of observing its general bearing, without the aid of the anomalous refraction.