200 ADVENTURES IN THE NORTHERN SEAS. 



the charms of female society were not wanting to 

 "emollify the manners" and lighten the pockets 

 of the successful fishers. But Smeerenberg was 

 only a summer settlement, and was always entirely 

 abandoned at the approach of winter. 



Spitzbergen (literally "sharp-topped mountains") 

 was discovered and named in 1596 by the third 

 expedition under William Barentz, a Dutchman, 

 and one of the most distinguished navigators of 

 the age, who was sent by the States-General of 

 Holland to try to discover a northeast passage to 

 China, a chimerical project, which in those days 

 caused the sacrifice of even more lives and treasure 

 than the search after a northwest passage in later 

 times. Barentz himself, and a number of his crew, 

 lost their lives on this expedition ; and the re- 

 mainder only escaped by taking to their boats, 

 after passing a winter of incredible hardships on 

 the coast of Nova Zembla, where they had got be- 

 set, and were compelled to abandon their vessel. 



In the early part of the seventeenth century 

 Spitzbergen became the seat of the most flourish- 

 ing whale-fishery that ever existed, as many as be- 

 tween 400 and 500 sail of vessels, principally Dutch 

 and Hamburgers, resorting there in a season. It 

 then became obvious that it would be very advan- 

 tageous if something in the shape of a permanent 

 settlement or colony could be founded in Spitz- 

 bergen ; and the merchants engaged in the trade 

 offered rewards to their crews, to induce some of 



