I.] CHANCELOR'S VISIT TO MOSCOW. 55 



clearly upon the huge and mighty sea." ^ In this way he 

 finally reached the mouth of the river Dwina in the White Sea, 

 where a small monastery was then standing at the place where 

 Archangel is now situated. By friendly treatment he soon won 

 the confidence of the inhabitants, who received him with great 

 hospitality. They, however, immediately sent otF a courier to 

 .inform Czar Ivan Vasilievitsch of the remarkable occurrence. 

 The result was that Chancelor was invited to the court at 

 Moscow, where he and his companions passed a part of the 

 winter, well entertained by the Czar. The following summer he 

 returned with his vessel to England. Thus a commercial con- 

 nection was brought about, which soon became of immense 

 importance to both nations, and within a few years gave 

 rise to a number of voyages, of which I cannot here give any 

 account, as they have no connection with the history of the 

 North-east Passage.'' 



Great geographer or seaman Sir Hugh Willoughby clearly 

 was not, but his and his followers' voluntary self-sacrifice and 

 undaunted courasfe have a stronar claim on our admiration. Incal- 

 culable also was the influence which the voyages of Willoughby 

 and Chancelor had upon English commerce, and on the develop- 

 ment of the whole of Russia, and of the north of Norway. From 

 the monastery at the mouth of the Dwina a flourishing com- 

 mercial town has arisen, and a numerous population has settled 

 on the coast of the Polar Sea, formerly so desolate. Already 

 there is regular steam and telegraphic communication to the 

 confines of Russia. The people of Vardoe can thus in a few 

 hours get accounts of what has happened not only in Paris or 

 London, but also in New York, the Indies, the Cape, Australia, 

 Brazil, &c., while a hundred years ago the post came thither only 

 once a year. It was then that a journal-loving commandant took 

 the step, giving evidence of strong self-command, of not "devour- 

 ing " the post at once, but reading the newspapers day by day 

 a year after they were published. All this is now different, and 



* As tlie Dwina lies to the south of Vardoehus, these remarks probably 

 relate to an earlier part of the voyage than that which is referred to in 

 the narrative. 



- Writings on these voyages are exceedingly numerous. An account of 

 them was published for the first time in Hakluyt, The prineiixtel Nmnga- 

 tions, Voiacjes, and Discoveries of the English Nation, &c., London, 1589 ; 

 Ordinances, King Edward's Pass, c&c, p. 259 ; Copy of Sir Hugh Wil- 

 loughbt/s Journal, with a List of all the Memhers of the Expedition, p. 265 ; 

 Clement Adams' Account of Chancelor'' s Voyage, p. 270, &c. The same 

 documents were afterwards printed in Purchas' Pilgrimage, iii. p. 211. 

 For those who wish to study the literature of this subject further, I may 

 refer to Fr. von Adelung, Kritisch-literdrische Ubersicht der Re'isenden in 

 Russland, St. Petersburg and Leipzig, 1846, p. 200 ; and I. Hamel, Trades- 

 cant der Acltere 161S in Russland, St. Petersburg and Leipzig, 1847. 



