64 Arctic and Antarctic Exploration [part i 
gori (Archangel), with 20 oars and a crew of 24 men 
each. They were engaged in walrus and salmon fishing. 
The • Russian captains were extremely friendly, pre- 
senting Burrough with loaves of bread, oatmeal, and 
fish, and piloting him along the coast. Crossing the 
entrance to the White Sea, Burrough sighted Kolguev 
Island, the mouth of the Petchora, and Kaninnoss, 
learning the names from his Russian friends. By the 
middle of July the Searchthrift sighted land right ahead, 
with distant mountains to the north. This, he learnt, 
was called Waigatz, and the northern land Novaya Zemlya. 
Part of its western coast, further to the north, had, 
as we have seen, already been discovered by Sir Hugh 
Willoughby. 
Stephen Burrough discovered the strait, 25 miles wide, 
between Waigatz and Novaya Zemlya, which rightfully 
bears his name. The limit of knowledge was then the 
mouth of the Obi, but Burrough, pestered by ice, fogs, 
and gales of wind, was unable to penetrate into the 
Kara Sea. He landed on Waigatz, an island 70 miles 
long by 20 to 25 broad, consisting of a limestone ridge 
on the east side, and a lower shaley ridge to the west, 
with a swampy plain covered with small lakes between. 
The climate is extremely severe in the winter, but in 
the short summer the ground is covered with wild flowers. 
There are acres of flowering plants a foot high, including 
a delicate pink-blossomed crucifer, a yellow poppy, and 
a sort of lousewort (Melampyrum sylvaticum) of many 
colours, from glorious yellows to rich pinks. Buttercups 
carpet wide areas, and one water-loving species floats 
on the meres and tarns like a miniature water-lily, 
filling the air with its fragrance. There are stunted 
willows a foot high but no other wood-forming plant. 
Birds are numerous, and the peregrine falcon and the 
rough-legged buzzard nest on the cliffs of the island. 
The approach of winter obliged our explorers to give 
up their attempt for that year, and on the nth September 
Burrough brought the Searchthrift to Kholmogori, intending 
to renew his efforts in the following year. But the orders 
of the Company were that he should shape a homeward 
course, and in the autumn of 1557 he returned to the 
Thames. 
