BARENTZ. DISAPPOINTMENTS. 477 
ing a promontory, he saw a blue and open sea extending before 
him, and the Russian coast trending away towards the south- 
east. He now no longer doubted that he had sailed round the 
famous cape “ Tabis” of Pliny, an imaginary promontory which 
according to that erroneous guide formed the northern extremity 
of Asia, and whence the voyage was supposed to be short and 
easy to its eastern and southern shores. He had only reachec 
the Gulf of Obi, and within the Arctic Circle the continent of 
Asia still stretched 120 degrees to the east; but this was then 
unknown, and the Dutchman, satisfied with the prospect of suc- 
cess, did not press onward to test its reality, but started in full 
sail for Holland, to rouse the sluggish fancy of his phlegmatic 
countrymen with chimerical hopes and golden visions. 
On the receipt of this glad intelligence six large vessels were 
immediately fitted out, and richly laden with goods suited to 
the taste of the Indians. A small swift-sailing yacht was added 
to the squadron to bear it company as far as the imaginary pro- 
montory of Tabis, and thence to return with the good news that 
it had safely performed what was supposed to be the most 
perilous part of the voyage, and had been left steering with a 
favourable wind right off to India. 
But, as may well be imagined, these sanguine hopes were 
destined to meet with a woeful disappointment, for the Wind- 
hole Strait, doing full justice to its name, did not allow them to 
pass; and, after many fruitless endeavours to force their way 
through the mighty ice-blocks that obstructed that inhospitable 
channel, they returned dejected and crest-fallen to the port 
whence they had sailed a few months before, elated with such 
brilliant expectations. 
Although great disappointment was felt at this failure, the 
scheme however was not abandoned, and on the 16th of May, 
1523, Heemskerk, Barentz, and Cornelis Ryp once more started 
for the north-east. Bear Island and Spitzbergen were discovered, 
whereupon the ships separated ; Cornelisand Heemskerk return- 
ing to Holland, while Barentz, enclosed by the ice, was obliged 
to spend a long and dreary winter in the dreadful solitudes of 
Nova Zembla. Fortunately a quantity of driftwood was found 
on the strand, which served the Dutchmen both for the con- 
struction of a small hut and for fuel. At the same time it raised 
their courage, as they now no longer doubted that Providence, 
