V.] 
THE THIRD DUTCH EXPEDITION. 
245 
these rivers, a considerable commerce would certainly have 
arisen between Middle Asia and Europe by this route as early 
as the beginning of the seventeenth century. 
Tbe Third Dutch Expedition, 1596-97.^ After the 
unfortunate issue of the expedition of 1595, which had been 
fitted out at so great an expense, and which had "raised so 
UNSUCCESSFUL FIGHT WITH A POLAR BEAR, 
During the Second Dutch Expedition. From De Veer. 
great expectations, the States-General would not grant the 
necessary funds for a third voyage, but they offered instead 
a great prize to the states or merchants that at their own 
expense should send out a vessel that should by the route north 
1 The sketch of this voyage forms the main portion of the above men¬ 
tioned work of De Veer. Undoubtedly the adventures during the wintering, 
the first in so high a latitude, in the first place procured for De Veer’s 
work the enormous popularity it enjoyed, and led to its being translated 
into so many languages. 
