INTRODUCTION 



The first work, in the following volume of Arctic 

 Miscellanies, is that of Frederick Martens, of Ham- 

 burg, describing a voyage which he made to Spitz- 

 bergen in 1671, with a description of that great 

 Arctic island, or rather archipelago, and the produc- 

 tions he observed on its shores or in the seas around. 

 The book of Martens was translated from the Ger- 

 man into English, and published in 1694 in a col- 

 lection of voyages, entitled, " An account of several 

 late Voyages and Discoveries to the South and North, 

 towards the Streights of Magellan, the South Seas, 

 the vast tracts of land beyond Hollandia Nova, etc., 

 also towards Nova Zembla, Greenland or Spitzberg, 

 Groynland or Engrondland, etc., by Sir John Nar- 

 borough" and others. This translation and the other 

 narratives were dedicated by the publishers (who 

 were " Printers to the Royal Society") to the cele- 

 brated " Samuel Pepys, Esq., Secretary of the Admi- 

 ralty of England." It seems, on the whole, to be a 

 very exact translation of Martens' book. The plates, 

 which in most cases are very rude, it has not been 



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