PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY IN THE NORTH. 79 



as soou as relieved from the yoke of Spain, em- 

 barked in the enterprize of discovering it. Four 

 ships were equipped for this purpose in the year 

 1594, part of which, under the command of Cor- 

 NELis CoRNELisoN, passed the strait of AVeigatz, 

 and proceeded about 40 leagues to the eastward, 

 when, finding the sea clear, and e^ery prospect of 

 a passage, instead of pursuing the discovery, they 

 turned back to communicate the news of the happy 

 probability ! Another part of the expedition un- 

 der the direction of A\^ii.liam Barentz, exa- 

 mined at the same time the western side of Nova 

 Zembla, giving names to several remarkable parts 

 of the coast from latitude 77° 25' down to 71°- 



After another expedition of seven ships, expen- 

 sively prepared, had been sent out in the same di- 

 rection, and altogether failed, two ships under the 

 command of Jacob Van Heemskerke and Cor- 

 nelis Kyp, with William Barentz as chief pilot, 

 were sent out from Amsterdam on the lOtli JNIay 

 1596, for discovering a north-east passage. On 

 an island that they discovered in latitude 74° 35', 

 they killed an immense bear, from which circum- 

 stance the place was called ^ea?' Island. From 

 hence, at the suggestion of Cornelis Hyp, they pro- 

 ceeded to the northward, with the hope of getting 

 round the ice with which the coast of Nova Zem- 

 bla is encumbered, and thus discovered land when 

 in latitude 80° 10', on the 17th of June, which they 



