36 
A VOYAGE TO SPITZBERGEN 
manuscript, that they cannot have come from a differ¬ 
ent source, allowance being made for the alterations and 
transpositions to which Purchas habitually subjected his 
materials. In a marginal note, he says, “ I have found 
this description of Greenland [Spitzbergen], with other 
notes, written by Robert Fotherby.” 4 The reader of our 
narrative will be convinced that no part of it is bor¬ 
rowed ; the writer’s personality being manifest in every 
statement or description. Some passages from Purchas 
will be given in the proper place, to show that the 
accounts are substantially the same. 
Little is known of Fotherby’s private history. He 
was the author of the narratives of the two succeeding 
voyages; where the style very much resembles that of 
our manuscript. In the expedition of 1614, he and 
Baffin were engaged together in exploring the northern 
extremities of the island, and went in boats and over 
the ice as far as Sir Thomas Smith’s Inlet; which is 
apparently the same as Henlopen Strait, although they 
supposed they saw the end of it at a depth of ten 
leagues. They took formal possession of the country 
on behalf of the Muscovy Company; and Fotherby 
drew “ a plat ” of a portion of the coast, which Purchas 
omitted, on the usual plea of its being “ too costly ” a 
matter to engrave it. 
After this (his second voyage to Spitzbergen), Baffin 
went no more in that direction, but accompanied Bylot 
to the west side of Greenland Proper, where he ex¬ 
plored the sea since designated as Baffin’s Bay. 
4 Pilgrimes, vol. iii. p. 472. 
