IN SEARCH OF THE EIRA. 155 



breeze from the S.-W. for Suchoi Noss, where the 

 next depot was to be placed ; but the breeze increas- 

 ing to a gale next day, it was deemed imprudent to 

 approach such an unknown lee shore, and instead the 

 ship's head was turned towards Matotchkin Sharr, 

 the strait which separates Nova Zemla into two 

 islands, and in which we were sure to find a secure 

 harbour. From thence we might perhaps send the 

 Martha on to Suchoi Noss to lay the depot down, as 

 that promontory is but thirty miles or so to the north, 

 and not convenient for a large ship to approach. 



We found a good anchorage in a bight called 

 Altglaubigen Bay, or the Bay of the Old Eeligion, 

 so named long ago by a party of Germans who, like 

 the " Pilgrim Fathers," hoped to find abroad the 

 religious independence which was denied them at 

 home, but who had very soon to give up their 

 attempt to colonise barren Nova Zemla. As soon as 

 possible I went up one of the mountains to look 

 round, and was rewarded by a fine view of the strait 

 and the snow-clad mountainous country about this 

 part of Nova Zemla. I could see the schooner 

 Willem Barents about six miles up the strait, and 

 found out afterwards that she had been stopped by 

 the Ice a little further on, and was waiting for a 

 chance to get through. Two Russian schooners were 

 in the bay waiting for white whale and salmon, and 

 picking up an occasional walrus or reindeer. We 

 found geese and ducks here ; and there are plenty of 



