74 THE FOREST LANDS OF NORTHERN RUSSIA. 



ice-choked fiords and frozen seas will still be haunted by 

 the white whale, the seal, the walrus, and the polar bear. 



1 Frequented until of late only by some dozen schooners, 

 who visit its shores every year chiefly for white w-ale and 

 salmon, and by a few roaming Samoides from the mainland, 

 these Arctic shores have hitherto afforded an undisturbed 

 asylum during the winter to game of all kinds, marine or 

 terrestrial, which abounds there. Recently, however, the 

 Russian Government have seen fit to plant a colony of 

 Samoides, and these skilful hunters harry the game 

 throughout the year with great vigour. Beyond visits 

 from European sportsmen or explorers, so rare that they 

 might almost be counted on the fingers, no other human 

 intruders ever invade these wild regions 



1 Till the present century the contour of the two large 

 islands which form what is now known as Nova Zembla 

 was very differently represented upon the various manu- 

 script chaits in existence, these having been compiled 

 from the observations of Dutch, Norwegian, and Russian 

 navigators. Barents led off in 1598 with a chart repre- 

 senting the west coast and that part of the north-east coast 

 which he had visited ; this, though terribly out in longi- 

 titude, was very good as to latitude, and since the days of 

 this old explorer, his maps, with many additions and a few 

 corrections, have been generally adhered to : some repre- 

 senting the north coast as taking an abrupt turn to the 

 east, and thus continuing ad infinitum, the authors veiling 

 their perplexity by drawing a meridian line down the chart 

 and thereby cutting it short, leaving the rest to the imagi- 

 nation of the beholder. 



' For our present knowledge of the shape and dimensions 

 of the islands we are chiefly indebted to the Russian 

 coast survey made during the early part of the present 

 century, and continued by subsequent explorers, which is 

 generally considered to be pretty accurate as far north as 

 Admiralty Peninsula, the most prominent headland on the 



west coast on the north island Cape Nassau, 



the point between Admiralty Peninsula and Cape Mauritius, 



