158 DISCOVERIES Of ISQG. 



they had before coasted to the 80° of latitude, it 

 is probable he circumnavigated Spitzbergen, in 

 which case he must have reached the Sist degree 

 of northern latitude. 



The three voyages of Barentz are written by 

 Gerrit de Veer, who was on all of them; the first 

 two have also been published by Linschoten, who 

 enters into more nautical details, and gives views 

 of the land and charts of the bays, harbours, head- 

 lands, &c. ; but the deepest interest attaches to the 

 last voyage, of which it is to be regretted there is 

 no good translation in the English language. 



WILLIAM ADAMS. 1596. 



Purchas, in his " Pilgrimes," stoutly asserts the 

 honour of the first discovery of Spitzbergen and 

 Nova Zembla to be due to our countrymen. Sir 

 Hugh Willoughby and Steven Burough ; and 

 though he avows his partiality for the Dutch, 

 who " in the glory of navigation are so ncere us, 

 and worthie to be honoured," yet it is most true, 

 he adds, that ** the English hath beene the elder 

 brother, a doctor and ductor to the Hollanders, in 

 their martiall feats at home, and ncptunian exploits 

 abroad."* To a certain extent this is unquestion- 

 ably true. In all their early foreign voyages they 



* Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iii. p. 4>6l. 



