66 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



large islands which, form what is now known as 

 Nova Zemla was very differently represented upon 

 the various manuscript charts in existence, these hav- 

 ing been compiled from the observations of Dutch, 

 Norwegian, and Eussian navigators. Barents led off 

 in 1598 with a chart representing the west coast 

 and that part of the north-east coast which he had 

 visited ; this, though terribly out in longitude, 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 

 representing the north coast as taking an abrupt 

 turn to the east, and thus continuing ad infinitum, 

 the authors of these interesting documents veiling 

 their perplexity by drawing a meridian line down 

 the chart and thereby cutting it short, leaving the 

 rest to the imagination of the beholder. 



For our present knowledge of the shape and dimen- 

 sions of the islands we are chiefly indebted to the 

 Eussian Government 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 of the north island. There is one re- 

 markable exception, however : an error of nine miles 

 has somehow crept into the latitude assigned to the 

 centre of Moller Bay. To the northward of Admi- 

 ralty Peninsula this survey also becomes rather wild, 



