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it actually swam away with an axe fast in its back. The boat followed; and one of the men at length cleft its head asunder by the blow of a hatchet. The skin of this enormous animal was twelve feet long; but the people did not relish the flesh. The incident induced them to name the land Bear's Island. Prosecuting their voyage, they got so far north as 80° 11', where, after a combat almost equally severe, another bear, whose skin was thirteen feet long, was killed. They found vast numbers of wild geese hatching their eggs on land in that high latitude. Ranging along the coast, they found a good haven; but could get no farther north on account of fields of ice. The navigation was therefore pursued in somewhat lower latitudes, wherever the ice gave access, until the first of July, when Barentz and John Cornelisz Ryp, disagreeing about the course to be followed, parted while in sight of Bear's Island. On the 17th of July, Barentz saw the coast of Nova Zembla, near Loms Bay; and three days afterwards, being obstructed by the ice, anchored at Cross Isle. Here eight men, having gone ashore unarmed, had a narrow escape from the pursuit of two bears; and if it had not been for the resolution of Hemskirk, who restrained their flight, some of their number might have fallen a prey to these ferocious animals. The vessel was now amidst extensive

fields of ice; and huge masses, to which she was occasionally secured in her progress, appeared floating, or had run aground. One of these was calculated to be sixteen fathoms above the water, and thirty-six under it; that is, more than three hundred feet from the summit to the base. The great fields of ice began to break up, with a noise like thunder, on the 10th of August; and the ship being fast to an iceberg aground, not less than four hundred, of smaller size, were driven past her by a current. Lest she should be carried away by the ice, she was brought nearer the coast, into a more sheltered station; but it was soon necessary to shift her anchorage, according as circumstances required.

Climbing to the top of a lofty mountain in Nova Zembla, the mariners were encouraged with the prospect of an open sea towards the south-east, and concluded that they should thence be able to accomplish the voyage. But after repeated difficulties, losing a boat, and also the ship's rudder, they were completely surrounded by ice on the 27th of August. Temporary intervals, wherein the ice separated, succeeded; but at last the ship was enclosed and frozen in on all sides, so that the people were obliged to have recourse to the shore. There they found a fresh water river about two miles inland, and saw the traces of animals,

which they conceived to be deer; great store of wood likewise lay near the river, consisting of entire trees with the roots, drifted from other countries. Thus, having no alternative, the Dutch resolved to winter in this desolate region. Meantime, the ice accumulated greatly round the vessel; her prow was raised far above its surface, while the stern, sunk behind, was crushed together in such a manner, that the cracking of the timbers rendered the mariners apprehensive she would be utterly destroyed. They had dragged their boat over the ice to the land, and in the next place got out a quantity of arms, ammunition, and provisions, wherewith to fortify themselves against wild beasts and hunger during their dreary abode.

were now sixteen persons in all, but some of the number frequently indisposed. The rafters of the hut were laid, though, on account of excessive cold, the people were scarce able to work; and if any of them chanced to put a nail in their mouths, as workmen are wont to do, it stuck to the skin, and blood followed its removal. Nothing but urgent necessity could have induced them to continue their operations. A great fire was kindled all around the hut, to thaw the earth, that they might bring it up, and make the under part a little closer. The ground, however, was frozen so very hard and deep, that it would not yield on that occasion, and there would have been too great a waste of wood in trying it again.

The people having shot a bear, took out its entrails, and set it upright on its four legs to freeze, in which state they meant, if possible, to carry it to Holland. Some time after

On the 14th of September they began to collect the driftwood for building a hut, and prepared sledges, with which it was with great labour drawn over the ice and snow, near towards, a seaman, becoming sudthe place where the vessel lay. denly surprised and pursued by Thirteen men were employed another bear, ran hastily towards in dragging the sledges, and the ship with the bear following three in preparing each lad- him, until it reached the first, ing of wood; but they could now frozen over, and totally make no more than two trips covered, except one of the paws. a day, from fatigue and the ap- Here the animal made a stop, proaching darkness. While thus and allowed the man time to industriously occupied, the carsave his life. penter unfortunately died on the 23d of September, and was next day interred by his surviving comrades in the cleft of a hill, as the ground was too hard for them to dig a grave. There

At length the hut was finished on the 12th of October 1596, when half the crew left the ship to sleep that night ashore; but they suffered severely from the cold, owing to scarcity of bed

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On distributing the bread, each man's allowance was restricted to four pounds five ounces in eight days; and as the strength of the beer brought ashore had been destroyed by successive freezing and thawing, each had two small cups of wine daily. A large Dutch cheese was eaten by the whole in company, and sixteen remaining delivered to the people, each being left to his own economy.

clothes; and as the chimney
was not completed, the smoke
in the hut was intolerable. In
the next place, the launch was
dragged ashore with incredible
difficulty; and as the absence
of the sun was about to leave
the seamen in perpetual night,
they made all possible haste to
land the remainder of the pro-
visions required. They had no
hopes of the vessel floating, on
which account the rudder was
also carried away for preserva-peated
tion, until the ice might thaw
in the succeeding year.

The preparations for wintering in Nova Zembla were completed while the sun was still visible from the surface of the . earth. On the 30th of October, a lamp was fitted to burn all night, and supplied with melted fat of bears, which had been killed for oil. On the 2d of November, only part of the sun was seen in the horizon; and on the fourth, he had sunk entirely under it. At this time the surgeon contrived a bath for the people in a cask, which was found extremely salutary and beneficial from their confinement. Setting traps in the neighbourhood, they caught white foxes, which were beginning to be quite common, the bears having entirely left as the sun disappeared; and their flesh, resembling that of a rabbit, was much relished by the people. A device was soon adopted of placing the traps, so that the captured animal could immediately be drawn into the hut.

Re

storms of snow at this period began to block up the hut without; and within the cold was almost insupportable. While the people washed their linen, it froze immediately when taken out of warm water; nay, one side began to freeze while the other was next the fire. They were almost suffocated from the closeness of the hut not allowing proper vent to the smoke; but the fire falling rather lower than usual for some days, ice formed two inches thick on the floor, and the beds were even covered with it. Except when cooking their provisions, the people lay constantly in bed, and then they heard such explosions among the ice at sea, as could only be occasioned by huge mountains bursting asunder, and tumbling down into a confused heap of fragments. Intense cold having stopped their clock, though additional weights were hung to it, they prepared a twelve hour sand-glass, to enable them to ascertain how the time passed.

The cold was so intense on the 6th of December, that they

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