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HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



three coming together and one being killed, the surviving two 

 devoured their fallen companion. Through dangers and dif- 

 ficulties then unparalleled in navigation, they struggled hope- 

 fully on, descending the western coast of Nova Zembla towards 

 the northern shores of Russia and Lapland. On the 16th of 

 August, they met a Russian bark, which furnished them with such 

 provisions as the captain could spare. On the 20th, they touched 

 the coast of Lapland upon the White Sea, where they found 

 thirteen Russians living in miserable huts upon the fish which 

 they caught. On the 2d of September, they arrived at Kola, in 

 Lapland, where they found three Dutch ships, one of which was 

 their consort, which had been separated from them ten months 

 before. Having no further use for their boats, they carried 

 them with ceremony to the "Merchants' House," or Town-Hall, 

 where they dedicated them to the memory of their long voyage 

 of four hundred leagues over a tract never traversed before, and 

 which they had accomplished in open boats. They started at 

 once for home, and arrived on the 1st of November at Amster- 

 dam, twelve in number. The city was greatly excited by the 

 news of their return, for they had long since been given up for 

 dead. The chancellor and the "ambassador of the very illus- 

 trious King of Denmark, Norway, the Goths and the Vandals" 

 were at that moment at dinner. The voyagers were summoned 

 to narrate their adventures before them, — which they did, "clad 

 in white fox-skin caps." 



No voyage had hitherto been so fruitful in incident, peril, 

 and displays of persevering courage and fortitude. Though it 

 resulted in no discovery except that of the western coast of 

 Nova Zembla, it served the useful purpose of demonstrating 

 the difficulty, if not the impossibility, of effecting a northeast 

 passage. 



