262 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
The letter was accompanied by a map, drawn by an artist 
named Panelapoetski, who sent it from Moscow as a present 
to the writer. The Kara Sea is said to be a freshwater inland 
lake which freezes strongly in winter, and it is stated that 
according to the unanimous accounts of the Samoyeds and 
Tartars it is quite possible to sail north of Novaya Zemlya to 
J apan. 
2. Another letter was inserted in the TroMsacticns of the Koyal 
Society,^ in which the statement in the former letter on the 
connection of Novaya Zemlya with the mainland is repeated, 
and the difficulties which Bareiits met with ascribed to the 
circumstance that he sailed too near the land, along which the 
sea is often frozen; some miles from the shore, on the other 
hand, it never freezes, even at the Pole, unless occasionally. 
It is also said that some Amsterdam merchants sailed more 
than a hundred leagues eastward of Novaya Zemlya, and on 
that account petitioned the States-General for privileges.^ 
However, in consequence of opposition from the Dutch East 
1 “A summary Relation of what hatli been hitherto discovered in the 
matter of the North-East passage ; communicated by a good Hand ” {Phil. 
Trails.^ vol. x. p. 417. London, 1675). 
2 The time when the voyage was made is not stated in the letter quoted. 
Harris says that he with great difficulty ascertained the year of the 
successful voyage to the eastward to be 1670. He says further that the 
persons Avho gave him this information also stated that, at the time when 
this petition was given in to the States-General, it was also asserted that 
there was no difficulty in sailing northwards from Spitzbergen (Greenland), 
and that many Dutch vessels had actually done it. To confirm this state¬ 
ment the merchants j^roposed that the logs of the Spitzbergen fleet for the 
year 1655 should he examined. This was done. In seven of them it was 
found recorded that the vessels had sailed to 79° N. L. Three other logs 
agreed in the point that on the 1st August, 1655, 88° 56Gms observed. The 
sea here was open and the swell heavy (Harris, Nav. Bihl., ii. p. 453). J. R. 
Forster {Geschichte der Entdeclmngen und Schifsfahrten im Norden, Frank¬ 
furt a. d. Oder, 1874) appears to place the voyage eastward of Novaya 
Zemlya in the period before 1614. It is, however, probable that the voyage 
in question is Vlamiugh’s remarkable one in 1664, or that in 1666, of which 
I have already given an account. 
