SIR HUGH WILLOUGHBY.SIR HUGH WILLOUGHBY.(After a portrait in the Great Picture Hall, Greenwich.)
open letter written, in Latin, Greek, and several other languages, in which it was stated that discoveries and the making of commercial treaties were the sole objects of the expedition; and the people, with whom the expedition might come in contact, were requested to treat Sir Hugh Willoughby as they themselves would wish to be treated in case they should come to England. So sanguine were the promoters of the voyage of its success in reaching the Indian seas by this route, that they caused the ships that were placed at Sir Hugh Willoughby's disposal to be sheathed with lead in order to protect them from the attacks of the teredo and other worms.[43]These vessels were:—
SEBASTIAN CABOT.SEBASTIAN CABOT.After a portrait in E. Vale Blake's Arctic Experiences, London. 1874.[42]
1. TheBona Esperanza, admiral of the fleet, of 120 tons burden, on board of which was Sir Hugh Willoughby, himself, as captain general of the fleet. The number of persons in this ship, including Willoughby, the master of the vessel, William Gefferson, and six merchants, was thirty-five.
2. TheEdward Bonaventure, of 160 tons burden, the command of which was given to Richard Chancelor, captain and pilot major of the fleet. There were on board this vessel fifty men, including two merchants. Among the crew whose names are given in Hakluyt we find the name of Stephen Burrough, afterwards renowned in the history of the north-east passage, and that of Arthur Pet.
3. TheBona Confidentia, of ninety tons, under command of Cornelius Durfoorth, with twenty-eight men, including three merchants.
The expense of fitting out the vessels amounted to a sum of £6,000, divided into shares of £25. Sir Hugh Willoughby was chosen commander "both by reason of his goodly personage (for he was of tall stature) as also for his singular skill in the services of warre."[44]In order to ascertain the nature of the lands of the east, two "Tartars" who were employed at the royal stables were consulted, but without any information being obtained from them. The ships left Ratcliffe the 20/10th May 1553.[45]They were towed down by the boats, "the mariners being apparelled in watchet or skie coloured cloth," with a favourable wind to Greenwich, where the court then was. The King being unwell could not be present, but "the courtiers came running out, and the common people flockt together,standing very thicke upon the shoare; the Privie Consel, they lookt out at the windowes of the court, and the rest ran up to the toppes of the towers; the shippes hereupon discharge their ordinance, and shoot off their pieces after the maner of warre, and of the sea, insomuch that the tops of the hilles sounded therewith, the valleys and the waters gave an echo, and the mariners they shouted in such sort, that the skie rang again with the noise thereof."[46]All was joy and triumph; it seemed as if men foresaw that the greatest maritime power, the history of the world can show, was that day born.
The voyage itself was, however, very disastrous for Sir Hugh and many of his companions. After sailing along the east coast of England and Scotland the three vessels crossed in company to Norway, the coast of which came in sight the 24/14th July in 66° N.L. A landing was effected and thirty small houses were found, whose inhabitants had fled, probably from fear of the foreigners. The region was called, as was afterwards ascertained, "Halgeland," and was just that part of Norway from which Othere began his voyage to the White Sea. Hence they sailed on along the coast. On the 6th Aug/27th July they anchored in a harbour, "Stanfew" (perhaps Steenfjord on the west coast of Lofoten), where they found a numerous and friendly population, with no articles of commerce, however, but dried fish and train oil. In the middle of September theEdward Bonaventure, at Senjen during a storm, parted company with the two other vessels. These now endeavoured to reach Vardoehus, and therefore sailed backwards and forwards in different directions, during which they came among others to an uninhabited, ice-encompassed land, along whose coast the sea was so shallow that it was impossible for a boat to land. It was said to be situated 480' east by northfrom Senjen, in 72° N. L.[47]Hence they sailed first to the north, then to the south-east. Thus they reached the coast of Russian Lapland, where, on the 28/18th September they found a good harbour, in which Sir Hugh determined to pass the winter. The harbour was situated at the mouth of the river Arzina "near Kegor." Of the further fate of Sir Hugh Willoughby and his sixty-two companions, we know only that during the course of the winter they all perished, doubtless of scurvy. The journal of the commander ends with the statement that immediately after the arrival of the vessels three men were sent south-south west, three west, and three south-east to search if they could find people, but that they all returned "without finding of people or any similitude of habitation." The following year Russian fishermen found at the wintering station the ships and dead bodies of those who had thus perished, together with the journal from which the extract given above is taken, and a will witnessed by Willoughby,[48]from which it appeared that he himself and most of the company of the two ships were alive in January, 1554.[49]The two vessels, together with Willoughby'scorpse, were sent to England in 1555 by the merchant George Killingworth.[50]
With regard to the position of Arzina it appears from a statement in Anthony Jenkinson's first voyage (Hakluyt, p. 335) that it took seven days to go from Vardoehus to Swjatoinos, and that on the sixth he passed the mouth of the river where Sir Hugh Willoughby wintered. At a distance from Vardoehus of about six-sevenths of the way between that town and Swjatoinos, there debouches into the Arctic Ocean, in 68°20 N.L. and 38°30' E.L. from Greenwich, a river, which in recent maps is called the Varzina. It was doubtless at the mouth of this river that two vessels of the first North-east Passage Expedition wintered with so unfortunate an issue for the officers and men.
The third vessel, theEdward Bonaventure, commanded by Chancelor, had on the contrary a successful voyage, and one of great importance for the commerce of the world. As has been already stated, Chancelor was separated from his companions during a storm in August. He now sailed alone to Vardoehus. After waiting there seven days for Sir Hugh Willoughby, he set out again, resolutely determined "either to bring that to passe which was intended, or else to die the death;" and though "certaine Scottishmen" earnestly attempted to persuade him to return, "he held on his course towards that unknown part of the world, and sailed so farre that hee came at last to the place where hee found no night at all, but a continuall light and brightnesse of the sunne shining clearly upon the huge and mighty sea."[51]In this way he
VARDOE IN 1594.VARDOE IN 1594.After Linschoten.
VARDOE IN OUR DAYS.VARDOE IN OUR DAYS.After a photograph.
finally reached the mouth of the river Dwina in the White Sea, where a small monastery was then standing at the place where Archangel is now situated. By friendly treatment he soon won the confidence of the inhabitants, who received him with great hospitality. They, however, immediately sent off a courier to inform Czar Ivan Vasilievitsch of the remarkable occurrence. The result was that Chancelor was invited to the court at Moscow, where he and his companions passed a part of the winter, well entertained by the Czar. The following summer he returned with his vessel to England. Thus a commercial connection was brought about, which soon became of immense importance to both nations, and within a few years gave rise to a number of voyages, of which I cannot here give any account, as they have no connection with the history of the North-east Passage.[52]
Great geographer or seaman Sir Hugh Willoughby clearly was not, but his and his followers' voluntary self-sacrifice and undaunted courage have a strong claim on our admiration. Incalculable also was the influence which the voyages of Willoughby and Chancelor had upon English commerce, and on the development of the whole of Russia, and of the north of Norway. From the monastery at the mouth of the Dwina a flourishing commercial town has arisen, and a numerous population has settled on the coast of the Polar Sea, formerly so desolate. Already there is regular steam and telegraphic communication to theconfines of Russia. The people of Vardoe can thus in a few hours get accounts of what has happened not only in Paris or London, but also in New York, the Indies, the Cape, Australia, Brazil, &c., while a hundred years ago the post came thither only once a year. It was then that a journal-loving commandant took the step, giving evidence of strong self-command, of not "devouring" the post at once, but reading the newspapers day by day a year after they were published. All this is now different, and yet men are not satisfied. The interests of commerce and the fisheries require railway communication with the rest of Europe. That will certainly come in a few years, nor will it be long before the telegraph has spun its net, and regular steam communication has commenced along the coast of the Arctic Ocean far beyond the sea which was opened by Chancelor to the commerce of the world.
COAST LANDSCAPE FROM MATOTSCHKIN SCHAR.COAST LANDSCAPE FROM MATOTSCHKIN SCHAR.After Svenske.
FOOTNOTES:
[15]In many Polar expeditions, sealskin has been used as clothing instead of reindeer skin. The reindeer skin, however, is lighter and warmer, and ought therefore to have an unconditional preference as a means of protection against severe cold. In mild weather, clothing made of reindeer skin in the common way has indeed the defect that it is drenched through with water, and thereby becomes useless, but in such weather it is in general unnecessary to use furs. The coast Chukchis, who catch great numbers of seals, but can only obtain reindeer skins by purchase, yet consider clothing made of the latter material indispensable in winter. During this season they wear an overcoat of the same form as the Lapps'pesk, the suitableness of whose cut thus appears to be well proved. On this account I prefer the old-world Polar dress to that of the new, which consists of more closely fitting clothes. The Lapp shoes of reindeer skin (renskallar, komager) are, on the other hand, if one has not opportunity to change them frequently, nor time to take sufficient care of them, quite unserviceable for Arctic journeys.
[16]Haugan had formerly for a long series of years carried his own vessel to Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya, and was known as one of the most fortunate walrus-hunters of the Norwegian Polar Sea fleet.
[17]The original of this drawing, for which I am indebted to Councillor of Justice H. Rink, of Copenhagen, was painted by a German painter at Beigen, in 1654. The painting has the following inscription:—
Mit Ledern Schifflein auff dem Meer
De grönleinder fein bein undt her
Bon Thieren undt Bögelen haben see Ire tracht
Das falte lands bon winter nacht
[18]The birch which grows here is the sweet-scented birch (Betula odorata, Bechst.), not the dwarf birch (Betula nana, L.), which is found as far north as Ice Fjord in Spitzbergen (78° 7' N.L.), though there it only rises a few inches above ground.
[19]According to Latkin,Die Lena und ihr Flussgebiet (Petermann's Mittheilungen, 1879, p. 91). On the map which accompanies Engehardt's reproduction of Wrangel'sJourney(Berlin, 1839), the limit of trees at the Lena is placed at 71° N.L.
[20]On the Kola Peninsula, and in the neighbourhood of the White Sea, as far as to Ural, the limit of trees consists of a species of pine (Piceaobovata, Ledeb.), but farther east in Kamschatka again of birch.—Th. von Middendorff,Reise in dem äussersten Norden und Osten Sibiriens, vol. iv. p. 582.
[21]An idea of the influence exerted by the immediate neighbourhood of a warm ocean-current in making the climate milder may be obtained from the following table of the mean temperatures of the different months at 1. Tromsoe (69° 30' N. L.); 2. Fruholm, near North Cape (71° 6' N. L.); 3. Vardoe (70° 22' N. L.); 4. Enontekis and Karesuando, on the river Muonio, in the interior of Lapland (68° 26' N. L.).
Tromsoe Fruholm Vardoe EnontekisJanuary........... - 4.2° -2.7° -6.0° -13.7°February.......... - 4.0 -4.7 -6.4 -17.1March............. - 3.8 -3.2 -5.1 -11.4April............. - 0.1 -0.9 -1.7 - 6.0May............... + 3.2 +2.7 +1.8 + 0.9June.............. + 8.7 +7.5 +5.9 + 8.0July.............. +11.5 +9.3 +8.8 +11.6August........... +10.4 +9.9 +9.8 +12.0September......... + 7.0 +5.8 +6.4 + 4.5October........... + 2.0 +2.5 +1.3 - 4.0November.......... - 1.7 -1.1 -2.1 - 9.9December.......... - 3.2 -1.9 -4.0 -11.3
The figures are taken from H. Mohn'sNorges Klima(reprinted from O. F. Schubeler'sVoextlivet i Norge, Christiania, 1879), and A. J. Ångström,Om lufttemperaturen i Enontekis(Öfvers. af Vet. Akad. Förhandl, 1860).
[22]Orosius was born in Spain in the fourth century after Christ, and died in the beginning of the fifth. He was a Christian, and wrote his work to show that the world, in opposition to the statements of several heathen writers, had been visited during the heathen period by quite as great calamities as during the Christian. This is probably the reason why his monotonous sketch of all the misfortunes and calamities which befell the heathen world was long so highly valued, was spread in many copies and printed in innumerable editions, the oldest at Vienna in 1471. In the Anglo-Saxon translation now in question, Othere's account of his journey is inserted in the first chapter, which properly forms a geographical introduction to the work written by King Alfred. This old Anglo-Saxon work is preserved in England in two beautiful manuscripts from the ninth and tenth centuries. Orosius' history itself is now forgotten, but King Alfred's introduction, and especially his account of Othere's and Wulfstan's travels, have attracted much attention from inquirers, as appears from the list of translations of this part of King Alfred's Orosius, given by Joseph Bosworth in hisKing Alfred's Anglo-Saxon version of the Compendious History of the World by Orosius. London, 1859.
[23]By Fins are here meant Lapps; by Terfins the inhabitants of the Tersk coast of Russian Lapland.
[24]Walruses are still captured yearly on the ice at the mouth of the White Sea, not very far from the shore (cf. A. E. Nordenskiöld,Redogörelse för en expedition till mynningen af Jenisej och Sibirien år1875, p. 23;Bihang till Vetenskaps-A kad. Handl. B. iv. No. 1). Now they occur there indeed only in small numbers, and, it appears, not in the immediate neighbourhood of land; but there is scarcely any doubt that in former days they were common on the most northerly coasts of Norway. They have evidently been driven away thence in the same way as they are now being driven away from Spitzbergen. With what rapidity their numbers at the latter place are yearly diminished, may be seen from the fact that during my many Arctic journeys, beginning in 1858, I never saw walruses on Bear Island or the west coast of Spitzbergen, but have conversed with hunters who ten years before had seen them in herds of hundreds and thousands. I have myself seen such herds in Hinloopen Strait in July 1861, but when during my journeys in 1868 and 1872-3 I again visited the same regions, I saw there not a single walrus.
[25]As it appears to be impossible for six men to kill sixty great whales in two days, this passage has caused the editors of Othere's narrative much perplexity, which is not wonderful if great whales, as theBalæna mysticetusare here meant. But if the narrative relates to the smaller species of the whale, a similar catch may still, at the present day, be made on the coasts of the Polar countries. For various small species go together in great shoals; and, as they occasionally come into water so shallow that they are left aground at ebb, they can be killed with ease. Sometimes, too, a successful attempt is made to drive them into shallow water. That whales visit the coast of Norway in spring in large shoals dangerous to the navigator is also stated by Jacob Ziegler, in his work,Quæ intus continentur Syria, Palestina, Arabia, Ægyptus, Schondia, &c.Argentorati, 1532, p. 97.
[26]In this case is meant by "whale" evidently the walrus, whose skin is still used for lines by the Norwegian walrus-hunters, by the Eskimo, and the Chukchis. The skin of the true whale might probably be used for the same purpose, although, on account of its thickness, perhaps scarcely with advantage without the use of special tools for cutting it up.
[27]It ought to be remarked here that the distances which Othere in that case traversed every day, give a speed of sailing approximating to that which a common sailing vessel of the present day attainson an average. This circumstance, which on a cursory examination may appear somewhat strange, finds its explanation when we consider that Othere sailed only with a favourable wind, and, when the wind was unfavourable, lay still. It appears that he usually sailed 70' to 80' in twenty-four hours, or perhaps ratherper diem.
[28]The maps are taken fromPtolemæi Cosmographia latine reddita a Jac. Angelo, curam mapparum gerente Nicolao Donis Germano, Ulmoe1482, and from the above-quoted work of Jacobus Ziegler, printed in 1532. That portion of the latter which concerns the geography of Scandinavia is reprinted inGeografiska Sektionens Tidskrift, B.I. Stockholm, 1878.
[29]These were the Dane, Erik Valkendorff, and the Norwegian, Olof Engelbrektsson. The Swedes, Johannes Magnus, Archbishop of Upsala, and Peder Maonsson, Bishop of Vesteraos, also gave Ziegler important information regarding the northern countries.
[30]Of these much-discussed narratives concerningIndians—probably men from North Scandinavia, Russia, or North America, certainly not Japanese, Chinese, or Indians—who were driven by storms to the coasts of Germany, the first comes down to us from the time before the birth of Christ. For B.C. 62 Quintus Metellus Celer, "when as proconsul he governed Gaul, received as a present from the King of the Baeti [Pliny says of the Suevi] some Indians, and when he inquired how they came to those countries, he was informed that they had been driven by storm from the Indian Ocean to the coasts of Germany" (Pomponius Mela, lib. iii. cap. 5, after a lost work of Cornelius Nepos. Plinius,Hist. Nat., lib. ii. cap. 67).
Of a similar occurrence in the middle ages, the learned AEneas Sylvius, afterwards Pope under the name of Pius II., gives the following account of his cosmography:—"I have myself read in Otto [Bishop Otto, of Freising], that in the time of the German Emperor an Indian vessel and Indian merchants were driven by storm to the German coast. Certain it was that, driven about by contrary winds, they came from the east, which had been by no means possible, if, as many suppose, the North Sea were unnavigable and frozen" (Pius II.,Cosmographia in Asiae et Europae eleganti descriptione, etc., Parisiis, 1509, leaf 2). Probably it is the same occurrence which is mentioned by the Spanish historian Gomara (Historia general de las Indias, Saragoça, 1552-53), with the addition, that the Indians stranded at Lübeck in the time of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (1152-1190). Gomara also states that he met with the exiled Swedish Bishop Olaus Magnus, who positively assured him that it was possible to sail from Norway by the north along the coasts to China (French translation of the above-quoted work, Paris, 1587, leaf 12). An exceedingly instructive treatise on this subject is to be found inAarböger for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, Kjöbenhavn, 1880. It is written by F. Schiern, and entitledOm en etnologisk Gaade fra Oldtiden.
[31]Olaus Magnus,Auslegung und Verklerung der neuen Mappen von den alten Goettewreich, Venedig, 1539. Now perhaps (according to a communication from the Librarian-in-chief, G.E. Klemming) there is scarcely any copy of this edition of the map still in existence, but it is given unaltered in the 1567 Basel edition of Olaus Magnus, "De gentium septentrionalium rariis conditionibus," &c. The edition of the same work printed at Rome in 1555, on the other hand, has a map, which differs a little from the original map of 1539.
[32]To interpret Nicolò and Antonio Zeno's travels towards the end of the fourteenth century, which have given rise to so much discussion, as Mr. Fr. Krarup has done, in such a way as if they had visited the shores of the Arctic Ocean and the White Sea, appears to me to be a very unfortunate guess, opposed to innumerable particulars in the narrative of the Zenos, and to the accompanying map, remarkable in more respects than one, which was first published at Venice in 1558, unfortunately in a somewhat "improved" form by one of Zeno's descendants. On the map there is the date MCCCLXXX. (Cf.Zeniernes Reise til Norden, et Tolknings Forsög, af Fr. Krarup, Kjöbenhavn, 1878; R.H. Major,The Voyages of the Venetian Brothers Nicolò and Antonio Zeno, London, 1873, and other works concerning these much-bewritten travels).
[33]The first edition, entitledRerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii, &c., Vienna, 1549, has three plates, and a map of great value for the former geography of Russia. It is, however, to judge by the copy in the Royal Library at Stockholm, partly drawn by hand, and much inferior to the map in the Italian edition of the following year (Comentari della Moscovia et parimente della Russia, &c., per il Signor Sigismondo libero Barone in Herbetstain, Neiperg and Guetnbag, tradotti nuaomente di Latino in lingua nostra volgare Italiana, Venetia, 1550, with two plates and a map, with the inscription "per Giacomo Gastaldo cosmographo in Venetia, MDL"). Von Herbertstein visited Russia as ambassador from the Roman Emperor on two occasions, the first time in 1517, the second in 1525, and on the ground of these two journeys published a sketch of the country, by which it first became known to West-Europeans, and even for Russians themselves it forms an important original source of information regarding the state of civilisation of the empire of the Czar in former times. Von Adelung enumerates inKritisch-literärische Übersicht der Reisenden in Russland bis 1700, St. Petersburg and Leipzig, 1846, eleven Latin, two Italian, nine German, and one Bohemian translation of this work. An English translation has since been published by the Hakluyt Society.
[34]Von Herbertstein, first edition, leaf xxviii., in the second of the three separately-paged portions of the work.
[35]An erroneous transposition of mountains seen in Norway, the northeastern shore of the White Sea being low land.
[36]An unfortunate translation, which often occurs in old works, of Swjatoinos, "the holy headland."
[37]Instead of "north of," the true reading probably is "beyond" the Dwina.
[38]Huberti LanguetiEpistoloe Secretoe, Halæ, 1699, i. 171. Compare also a paper by A. G. Ahlquist, inNy Illustrerad Tidningfor 1875, p. 270.
[39]The first to incite to voyages of discovery in the polar regions was an Englishman, Robert Thorne, who long lived at Seville. Seeing all other countries were already discovered by Spaniards and Portuguese, he urged Henry VIII. in 1527 to undertake discoveries in the north. After reaching the Pole (going sufficiently far north) one could turn to the east, and, first passing the land of the Tartars, get to China and so to Malacca, the East Indies, and the Cape of Good Hope, and thus circumnavigate the "whole world." One could also turn to the west, sail along the back of Newfoundland, and return by the Straits of Magellan (Richard Hakluyt,The Principael Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, &c., London, 1589, p. 250). Two years before, Paulus Jovius, on the ground of communications from an ambassador from the Russian Czar to Pope Clement VII., states that Russia is surrounded on the north by an immense ocean, by which it is possible, if one keeps to the right shore, and if no land comes between, to sail to China. (Pauli JoviiOpera, Omnia, Basel, 1578, third part, p. 88; the description of Russia, inserted there under the title "Libellus de legatione Basilii ad Clementem VII.," was printed for the first time at Rome in 1525.)
[40]In the year 1540, London, exclusive of the Royal Navy, had no more than four vessels, whose draught exceeded 120 tons (Anderson,Origin of Commerce, London, 1787, vol. ii. p. 67). Most of the coast towns of Scandinavia have thus in our days a greater sea-going fleet than London had at that time.
[41]For instance Article 30: "Item, if you shall see them [the foreigners met with during the voyage] weare Lyons or Bears skinnes, hauing long bowes, and arrowes, be not afraid of that sight: for such be worne oftentimes more to feare strangers, then for any other cause." (Hakluyt, 1st edition, p. 262.)
[42]The endeavour to procure for this work a copy of an original portrait of Cabot, stated to be in existence in England, has unfortunately not been crowned with success.
[43]According to Clement Adams' account of the voyage. (Hakluyt, 1st edition, p. 271.)
[44]"Cum ob corporis formam (erat enim proceræ staturæ) tum ob singularem in re bellica industriam." Clement Adams' account—Hakluyt,p. 271.
[45]Ten days earlier or later are of very great importance with respect to the state of the ice in summer in the Polar seas. I have, therefore, in quoting from the travels of my predecessors, reduced the old style to the new.
[46]"Vibrantur bombardarum fulmina, Tartariæ volvuntur nubes, Martem sonant crepitacula, reboant summa montium juga, reboant valles, reboant undæ, claraque Nautarum percellit sydara clamor." Clement Adams' account.—Hakluyt, p. 272.
[47]At the time when the whale-fishing at Spitzbergen commenced, Thomas Edge, a captain of one of the Muscovy Company's vessels, endeavoured to show that the land which Willoughby discovered while sailing about after parting company with Chancelor was Spitzbergen (Purchas, iii. p. 462). The statement, which was evidently called forth by the wish to monopolise the Spitzbergen whale-fishing for England, can be shown to be incorrect. It has also for a long time back been looked upon as groundless. Later inquirers have instead supposed that the land which Willoughby saw was Gooseland, on Novaya Zemlya. For reasons which want of space prevents me from stating here, this also does not appear to me to be possible. On the other hand, I consider it highly probable that "Willoughby's Land" was Kolgujev Island, which is surrounded by shallow sand-banks. Its latitude has indeed in that case been stated 2° too high, but such errors are not impossible in the determinations of the oldest explorers.
[48]The testator was Gabriel Willoughby, who, as merchant, sailed in the commander's vessel.
[49]Hakluyt, p. 500;Purchas, iii. p. 249, and in the margin of p. 463.
[50]It is of him that it is narrated in a letter written from Moscow by Henrie Lane, that the Czar at an entertainment "called them to his table, to receave each one a cuppe from his hand to drinke, and tooke into his hand Master George Killingworths beard, which reached over the table, and pleasantly delivered it the Metropolitane, who seeming to bless it, sad in Russe, 'this is Gods gift.'"—Hakluyt, p. 500.
[51]As the Dwina lies to the south of Vardoehus, these remarks probably relate to an earlier part of the voyage than that which is referred to in the narrative.
[52]Writings on these voyages are exceedingly numerous. An account of them was published for the first time in Hakluyt,The principael Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, &c., London, 1589;Ordinances, King Edward's Past, &c.., p. 259;Copy of Sir Hugh Willoughby's Journal, with a List of all the Members of the Expedition, p. 265;Clement Adams' Account of Chancelor's Voyage, p. 270, &c. The same documents were afterwards printed in Purchas'Pilgrimage, iii. p. 211. For those who wish to study the literature of this subject further, I may refer to Fr. von Adelung,Kritisch-literärische Übersicht der Reisenden in Russland, St. Petersburg and Leipzig, 1846, p. 200; and L. Hamel,Tradesrunt der Aeltere 1618 in Russland, St. Petersburg and Leipzig, 1847.
Departure from Maosoe—Gooseland—State of the Ice—The Vessels of the Expedition assemble at Chabarova—The Samoyed town there—The Church—Russians and Samoyeds—Visit to Ohabarova in 1875—Purchase of Samoyed Idols—Dress and Dwellings of the Samoyeds —Comparison of the Polar Races—Sacrificial Places and Samoyed Grave on Vaygats Island visited—Former accounts of the Samoyeds —Their place in Ethnography.
TheVegawas detained at Maosoe by a steady head wind, rain, fog, and a very heavy sea till the evening of the 25th July. Though the weather was still very unfavourable, we then weighed anchor, impatient to proceed on our voyage, and steamed out to sea through Mageroe Sound. TheLenaalso started at the same time, having received orders to accompany theVegaas far as possible, and, in case separation could not be avoided, to steer her course to the point, Ohabarova in Yugor Schar, which I had fixed on as the rendezvous of the four vessels of the expedition. The first night, during the fog that then prevailed, we lost sight of theLena, and did not see her again until we had reached the meeting place.
The course of theVegawas shaped for South Goose Cape. Although, while at Tromsoe, I had resolved to enter the Kara Sea through Yugor Schar, the most southerly of the sounds which lead to it—so northerly a course was taken, because experience has shown that in the beginning of summer so much ice often drives backwards and forwards in the bay between the west coast of Vaygats Island and the mainland,that navigation in these waters is rendered rather difficult. This is avoided by touching Novaya Zemlya first at Gooseland, and thence following the western shore of this island and Vaygats to Yugor Schar. Now this precaution was unnecessary; for the state of the ice was singularly favourable, and Yugor Schar was readied without seeing a trace of it.
During our passage from Norway to Gooseland we were, favoured at first with a fresh breeze, which, however, fell as we approached Novaya Zemlya; this notwithstanding, we made rapid progress under steam, and without incident, except that the excessive rolling of the vessel caused the overturn of some boxes containing instruments and books, fortunately without any serious damage ensuing.
Land was sighted on the 28th July at 10.30 P.M. It was the headland which juts out from the south of Gooseland in 70° 33' N. L. and 51° 54' E. L. (Greenwich). Gooseland is a low stretch of coast, occupied by grassy flats and innumerable small lakes, which projects from the mainland of Novaya Zemlya between 72° 10' and 71° 30' N. L. The name is a translation of the Russian Gusinnaja Semlja, and arises from the large number of geese and swans (Cygnus Bewickii, Yarr.) which breed in that region. The geese commonly place their exceedingly inconsiderable nests on little hillocks near the small lakes which are scattered over the whole of Gooseland; the powerful swans, which are very difficult of approach by the hunter, on the other hand breed on the open plain. The swans' nests are so large that they may be seen at a great distance. The building material is moss, which is plucked from the ground within a distance of two metres from the nest, which by the excavation which is thus produced, is surrounded by a sort of moat. The nest itself forms a truncated cone, 0.6 metre high and 2.4 metres in diameter at the bottom. In its upper part there is a cavity, 0.2 metre deep and 0.6 metre broad, in which the four large grayish-white eggs of the bird are laid.The female hatches the eggs, but the male also remains in the neighbourhood of the nest. Along with the swans and geese, a large number of waders, a couple of species of Lestris, an owl and other birds breed on the plains of Gooseland, and a few guillemots or gulls upon the summits of the strand cliffs. The avifauna along the coast here is besides rather poor. At least there are none of the rich fowl-fells, which, with their millions of inhabitants and the conflicts and quarrels which rage amongst them, commonly give so peculiar a character to the coast cliffs of the high north. I first met with true loom and kittiwake fells farther north on the southern shore of Besimannaja Bay.
Although Gooseland, seen from a distance, appears quite level and low, it yet rises gradually, with an undulating surface, from the coast towards the interior, to a grassy plain about sixty metres above the sea-level, with innumerable small lakes scattered over it. The plain sinks towards the sea nearly everywhere with a steep escarpment, three to fifteen metres high, below which there is formed during the course of the winter an immense snowdrift or so-called "snow-foot," which does not melt until late in the season.There are no true glaciers here, nor any erratic blocks, to show that circumstances were different in former times. Nor are any snow-covered mountain-tops visible from the sea. It is therefore possible at a certain season of the year (during the whole of the month of August) to sail from Norway to Novaya Zemlya, make sporting exclusions there, and return without having seen a trace of ice or snow. This holds good indeed only of the low-lying part of the south island, but in any case it shows how erroneous the prevailing idea of the natural state of Novaya Zemlya is. By the end of June or beginning of July the greater part of Gooseland is nearly free of snow, and soon after the Arctic flower-world develops during a few weeks all its splendour of colour. Dry, favourably situated spots are now covered by a low, but exceedingly richflower bed, concealed by no high grass or bushes. On moister places true grassy turf is to be met with, which, at least when seen from a distance, resembles smiling meadows.
In consequence of the loss of time which had been caused by the delay in sailing along the coast of Norway, and our stay at Maosoe, we were unable to land on this occasion, but immediately continued our course along the west coast of Novaya Zemlya towards Yugor Schar, the weather being for the most part glorious and calm. The sea was completely free of ice, and the land bare, with the exception of some small snow-fields concealed in the valleys. Here and there too along the steep strand escarpments were to be seen, remains of the winter's snow-foot, which often, when the lower stratum of air was strongly heated by the sun, were magnified by a strong mirage, so that, when seen from a distance, they resembled immense glaciers terminating perpendicularly towards the sea. Coming farther south the clear weather gave us a good view of Vaygats Island. It appears, when seen from the sea off the west coast, to form a level grassy plain, but when we approached Yugor Schar, low ridges were seen to run along the east side of the island, which are probably the last ramifications of the north spur of Ural, known by the name of Paj-koi.
When we were off the entrance to Yugor Schar, a steamer was sighted. After much guessing, theFraserwas recognised. I was at first very uneasy, and feared that an accident had occurred, as the course of the vessel was exactly the opposite of that which had been fixed beforehand, but found, when Captain Nilsson soon after came on board, that he had only come out to look for us. TheExpressand theFraserhad been waiting for us at the appointed rendezvous since the 20th. They had left Vardoe on the 13th, and during the passage had met with as little ice as ourselves. TheVegaandFrasernow made for the harbour at Chabarova, where they anchored on the evening of the 30th July with a depth of fourteen metres anda clay bottom. TheLenawas still wanting. We feared that the little steamer had had some difficulty in keeping afloat in the sea which had been encountered on the other side of North Cape. A breaker had even dashed over the side of the largerVegaand broken in pieces one of the boxes which were fastened to the deck. Our fears were unwarranted. TheLenahad done honour to her builders at Motala works, and behaved well in the heavy sea. The delay had been caused by a compass deviation, which, on account of the slight horizontal intensity of the magnetism of the earth in these northern latitudes, was greater than that obtained during the examination made before the departure of the vessel from Gothenburg. On the 31st theLenaanchored alongside the other vessels, and thus the whole of our little Polar Sea squadron was collected at the appointed rendezvous.
Chabarova is a little village, situated on the mainland, south of Yugor Schar, west of the mouth of a small river in which at certain seasons fish are exceedingly abundant. During summer the place is inhabited by a number of Samoyeds, who pasture their herds of reindeer on Vaygats Island and the surroundingtundra, and by some Russians and Russianised Fins, who come hither from Pustosersk to carry on barter with the Samoyeds, and with their help to fish and hunt in the neighbouring sea. During winter the Samoyeds drive their herds to more southern regions, and the merchants carry their wares to Pustosersk, Mesen, Archangel, and other places. Thus it has probably gone on for centuries back, but it is only in comparatively recent times that fixed dwellings have been erected, for they are not mentioned in the accounts of the voyages of the Dutch in these regions.
The village, or "Samoyed town" as the walrus-hunters grandiosely call it, consists, like other great towns, of two portions, the town of the rich—some cabins built of wood, with flat turf-covered roofs—and the quarter of the commonpeople, a collection of dirty Samoyed tents. There is, besides, a little church, where, as at several places along the shore, votive crosses have been erected. The church is a wooden building, divided by a partition wall into two parts, of which the inner, the church proper, is little more than two and a half metres in height and about five metres square. On the eastern wall during the time the region is inhabited, there is a large number of sacred pictures placed there for the occasion by the hunters. One of them, which represented St. Nicholas, was very valuable, the material being embossed silver gilt. Before the lamps hung large dinted old copper lamps or rather light-holders, resembling inverted Byzantine cupolas, suspended by three chains.