234 BARENTZ' FIRST VOYAGE. 



1594. 



a.d. 74J° N., so called from the number of birds * 

 of that name, Colymbus Troitti, which he found 

 there. Quitting this bay, he continued to coast 

 along the land, until he came to the north-west 

 extremity of Nova Zembla, which he named 

 Cape Nassau. From hence he thought he could 

 discern land in the E.N.E., and sailed towards 

 it several leagues until he came to a large body 

 of ice, to which he could see no end, and which 

 was too close for his vessel to enter. The 

 weather now becoming misty, and having lost 

 his boat by its being filled with a wave, he return- 

 ed to Nova Zembla, about the situation of the 

 Orange Islands, and found, by the trending of 

 this coast, that he had arrived at the northern 

 extremity of that island ; his latitude being 77^° 

 N. Barentz determined now to seek the other 

 ships, which, on quitting him, had proceeded to 

 Waigatz Strait, and on the 1st August sailed to 

 the southward for that purpose. 



In this passage he was much hindered by 

 ice, which obliged him to stand to the westward. 

 At length, on the 15th August, he arrived at the 

 islands Matfloe and Delgoy, at the entrance of 

 Waigatz Strait, where he met the Zealand and 



* Purchas says, " from a certayne kind of beare, so called, 

 which they found there in great abundance." The word bear is 

 evidently a misprint for bird. 



