S3- 
Chap. I, North-eas 
‘‘ Feet higher, and laid a Deck upon her, to keep the 
“ Sea out as much as poffibie ; and with this Boat and 
“ thirty Men (for Ihe would carry no more) I intended 
“ to row and fail to RuJ^a but the Crew, being notfatif- 
“ fied who Ihould be the Men, began to be very 
unruly in their Minds and Behaviour, every one 
“ having as much Reafon to fave himfelf as another, 
“ fome holding Confultation to ftave the Boat, and all 
“ to run the like Fortune •, but here Brandy was our 
“ beft Friend, for it kept them always foxed •, fo that in 
“ all their Defigns I could prevent them. Some were of 
“ the Mind to go by Land ; but that I knew was impof- 
“ fible for any 'Man*, neither had we Provifions or 
“ Ammunition to defend ourfelves from the wild Beaks ; 
“ and if it had been palTable, that is, any going on 
“ the Ground for Bogs, they would have met with 
“ Rivers, that they knew not whither to go *, fo there 
“ being no Probability of going by Land, nor tor any 
‘‘to attempt going by Boat with forty Men, leaving the 
“ reft to be deftroyed, I will fubmit to the Confideration 
“ of any, whether we were not in a very miferable Condi- 
“ tion, without the Intervention of divine Providence. To 
“ write my Thoughts I had at that time, to fave as ma- 
“ ny Men as I could, it is not pertinent at all to the Dif- 
“ coiirfe, fince it cannot but be tragical. 
“ The Weather continued ftill very bad, with Fogs 
“ Snow, Rain, and Froft, till the ninth Day of our be- 
“ ing on Shore, which was the 8th Day of yu/j, when, 
“ in the Morning it cleared up ; and to our great Joy 
“ one of the Sailors cried out, yf Sail\ which proved 
“ Capt. Flawes^ as reafonably may be imagined ■, fo we 
“ fet Fire to our Town, that he might fee where we 
were, which he prefently faw, fo came, and fent his 
“ Boat to us *, but before I went off! wrote a brief Re- 
“ lation of the Intention of the Voyage, with the Ac- 
cidents that had belallen us, and put it into a Glafs 
“ Bottle, and left it in the Fortification I had there built. 
“ So by tv>^elve o’Clock we all got fafe on board, but left 
“ all on Shore that we had faved from the Ship, for we 
“ much feared it fiiould prove foggy Weather again. 
“ Now I intend to give a brief Defcription of the Land, 
“ and the Obfervations I made there. 
“ 'Nova Zemhla is fo called by the Rujfians^ v/hich 
“ Ne-iv Land^ in their Language. To prove either 
“ that it isanlfland, or whether it joineth to the Continent 
“ of Tartaria, would be a very hard Taflt, nor is it cer- 
“ tainly known to any *, for by Circumftances I think it 
“ impoftible to prove *, and by Experience, the Search 
“ thereof is fo impolftble that it will hardly be tried ; 
“ but let it be either, I think the Matter is not much, 
“ fmce it is the moft miferable Country that lieth on the 
“ Foundation of the Earth ; a Country, moft part of it 
“ covered perpetually with Snow *, and that which is bare, 
“ is not to be walked on, being like Bogs *, upon 
“ whofe Superficies grows a Kind of Mofs which 
“ beareth a fmall blue-and-yellow Flower ; and this is 
“ all the Produdt of the Earth of this Country. Under 
“ the Superficies of the Earth, abouttwo Feet deep, after 
“ we had dug fo low, we came to a firm Body of Ice ; 
“ which, as I think, was never heard of before j fo 
“ thofe Men that did imagine, if they were forced to 
“ winter to the Northward, to dig Caves in the Earth 
“ to preferve themfelves from Cold, would find here 
“ but very bad Lodging. The Snow lieth here contrary 
“ to what it doth in any other Country ^ for in all other 
“ Climates the Snow melteth fooneft away near the Sea- 
“ fide, but here in fome Places it rifes as high as either 
“ of the Forelands in Kent. 
“ The Sea has wafiied underneath the Snow a prodigi- 
“ ous way, and the Snow from the Weftern Sea, upon 
“ the high Ridge, over-hanging, is moft fearful to be- 
“ hold, and up from the Water-fide, upon the firft 
“ Ridge of Hills, tire Snow was melted, till you came 
“ to the next Ridge, which are mountainous, and they 
“ all the way up are covered with Snow, which I believe 
“ hath lain there ever fince the Creation ; but after w'e 
“ had afcended this, which in fome Places was almoft 
“ perpendicular, we came to the Top of all the Moun- 
“ tains, as we fuppofed, for we could not fee far, for we 
“ could . hardly fee one or the other,, the Fog was fo thick. 
T Passage. 
“ and remained fo all the Time we were in the Country % 
“ but on the Top of the Hills we found it bare from 
“ Snow, and indifferent good walking. The Beafts that I 
‘ ‘ found in the Country were only Bears. I continued on the 
“ Top of thofe Hills fome two Hours, and went as far as 
“ was convenient, that we might find the Way back again. 
“ Here I found the Track of many large Deer ; alfo we 
“ found an Horn or Branches of Deer. BefidesDeer, there 
“ are abundance of large white Bears, and fome Foxes, 
“ and a little Creature m.uch like a Coney, but not fo big 
“ as a Rat; and fome few little Birds like Larks ; and 
“ thefe are all the Beafts or Fowls we found in the C@un- 
“ try. Every quarter of a Mile there runneth down froiii 
“ the Hills, into the Sea, a fmall Rivulet of very good 
“ Water, which is melted from Snow. Upon the Hills 
we found abundance of Slate-Stone, which made it 
“ good walking ; but at the Sea-fide, where the Rivulet 
“ came down, we found very good black Marble, with 
“ white Veins in it. ' ’ 
“ The Point where we loft our Ship I called Sfeedill ; 
“ the high Flills I called King Charles's Snow Hills *, and 
“ the next Point to the Southward, which is the Wefter- 
“ moft Point of Nova Zemhla., I named James'' s Fore-> 
“ land, and the Point to the Northward, Tork Point. 
“ Speedill lieth in the Latitude of 74 Degrees 30 Mi- 
“ nutes North, and in the Longitude, Eaft from the Ci- 
“ ty ot London, 63 Degrees; the Variation of the Com- 
“ pafs is 13 Degrees Weft, and it is full Sea at the South- 
“ weft Moon. The Tide rifeth eight Feet, and fetteth 
“ direftly upon the Shore, which is a certain Sign that 
“ there is no Paffage to the Northward. The Sea 
“ \Vater, about the Ice and Land, is very fait, and 
“ much falter than any I ever tafted, and a great deal 
“ heavier, and I may certainly fay, the cleareft in the 
“ World; for I could fee the Ground very plain in 
“ eighty Fathom, which is four hundred and eighty Feet, 
“ there being few Steeples fo high as that was deep, 
“ ar\d I could fee the Shells at the Bottom very plain.” 
Upon this Account, and thefe Refiedlions, I have only 
a few of thefe Obfervations to make. In the firft Place, 
it is owned by Captain JVood, that he did not fail fo high 
as the 'Dutch did by 4 Degrees ; in this he fays he was 
hindered by Ice, and no doubt he might be fo ; but his 
Conclufions from thence, that it is impoftible to proceed 
higher that Way, and that the Accounts we have of thofe 
who have proceeded farther, are to be regarded as fidti- 
tious, is very wild and extravagant ; for that it is pof- 
fibie to fail to the South of Greenland is notorious, and 
that there may be a Channel between this broken Land 
and Nova Zeynhla, is more than probable ; but that this 
Channel may be very difficult to find, may be free from 
Ice but for a fmall Part of the Year, and that in foms 
hard Winters it may not be free at all, is very poflible. 
In the next Place, I muft take notice, that notwith- 
ftanding we fee it laid down, that fearching higher than 
fixty-four Degrees on the North-weft-fide is to no pur- 
pofe ; becaufe if a Paffage could be found in a higher 
Latitude, it would be impradlicable on the Score of Ice 
and Cold, yet we fee that a Paffage has been fought 
on the North-eaft-fide ; and as a Company of Dutch Mer- 
chants affirm, without any Reafon for affirming it if it 
was not true, that fuch a Paffage has been found into a 
Sea free from Ice ; his fhews that Opinions ought not 
to be too haftily taken up, which limit the Intelligence 
and Pov/er of Mankind ; and that we fliould not be over- 
ready to liftcn to fuch Dodlrines in Geography or Navi- 
gation, as are evidently didtated by Difappointment. 
My laft Obfervation is, that on the North-eaft, as well 
as on the North-weft, there appear to be broken Lands, 
which, if we con fider the Nature of things, feem to indi- 
cate a Paffage ; and that fuch a Paffage on either Side is 
worth feeking, by the Inhabitants in the Northern Part ol 
the World, will appear plainly to any Man who confiders 
the Nearnefs of that Paffage, in Comparifon of the 
Streight of Magellan ; and therefore we need not at all 
wonder, that from Time to Time new Attempts are 
made, notwithftanding repeated Difappointments. I muft; 
confefs, that with refpedl to us, a North-weft Paffage de- 
ferves the Preference, becaufe of our Poffeftions in Hud- 
Jon's Bay, which would enable us the better to fecure it ; 
and, 
