SUFFERINGS OF BARENTZ. 
41 
extreme severity of the cold. Fortunately for them the shores 
abounded with drift wood, which furnished them not only with 
a supply of fuel, but also with the materials for the construction 
of a house, in which they could pass the dreary winter which 
was before them. Bereft of the slightest hope of emancipating 
themselves from their dreadful situation, they prepared to meet 
the difficulties and privations which awaited them, with proper 
resignation, although the prospect of many long cheerless 
months of utter darkness, independently of their personal suffer¬ 
ings, was sufficient to strike despair into the most courageous 
breast, and to induce that indifference of a prolongation of 
life, which is the usual attendant on accumulated sufferings. 
It was not however solely with the rigor of the climate that they 
had to contend, but they were obliged to keep a strict and con¬ 
tinual watch against being surprised by the bears and foxes, 
which may be said to be the only inhabitants of the dreary scene; 
in fact, the imagination can scarcely conceive a situation more 
horrible than that to which Barentz and his hardy crew were 
exposed. Darkness and desolation were around them, enveloped 
in the densest fogs, they appeared as if they were shut out from 
the world, and driven, as it were, on the very verge of creation, 
to linger out the remainder of their life under a combination oi 
the most horrible sufferings. 
In the early part of November the last ray of the sun ceased 
to illuminate these desolate regions, and with it, they felt as if 
they had bidden adieu to the last source from which any comfort 
was to be derived. The cold now set in with an intensity too 
severe for endurance, and to increase their sufferings, their wine 
and beer were frozen, by which they were totally deprived of 
their strength. By means of the drift wood, they were fortu^ 
nately enabled to keep up large fires, but the collection of that 
indispensable material was attended with the greatest pain and 
danger. A bear would often rush upon them from a mount of 
ice, which had concealed the animal from their view, for so great 
were the boldness and audacity of these ferocious brutes, that 
they would fearlessly assault the wooden hut, although many of 
them paid the forfeit of their life for their temerity. The skins 
2 G 
