BARENTZ' THIRD VOYAGE. 241 



determined the States General not to send out 

 any more vessels on account of the States ; 

 but, as an encouragement to individuals who 

 might feel disposed to follow up the attempt, 

 they offered a reward to any person or per- 

 sons who should effect the northern passage to 

 China, provided that passage " could be sayled." 

 This encouragement had its desired effect, and 

 two vessels were equipped by the merchants, 

 who appointed Jacob Hemskirke Hendrickson 

 master and factor for the wares and merchandise, 

 and Barentz chief pilot of one of the vessels, 

 and John Cornelison Ryp master and factor in 

 the other. Here we find the first encourage- 

 ment which was held out to the seamen to per- 

 severe in the voyage by the promise of additional 

 wages in the event of success ; a judicious act, 

 which, had it been more frequently adopted in 

 those days, would probably have rendered several 

 of the early voyages more successful than they 

 were. 



On the 10th of May the ships quitted Amster- 

 dam, and on the 4th June reached the latitude 

 of 71° N., when they observed one of those 

 remarkable phenomena of the heavens so rarely 

 seen in low latitudes. It consisted of two par- 

 helia and four circles, two of which passed 

 through the sun and its parhelia ; the third en- 



R 



A.D. 



1596. 



