IN THE YEAR 1613. 
39 
specimen of chirography; and the illustrations in water- 
colors are sketched with a good deal of spirit. The 
page is of folio size, with wide margins; and the leaves 
are carefully stitched into a thick parchment cover. 
The map of Spitzbergen — probably the earliest of that 
island —■ is unfortunately mutilated. An effort has been 
made to restore the parts that are lost, with the aid of 
Edge’s later chart in the third volume of Purchas. 8 At 
what time and in what manner the manuscript came to 
this country, is not known. It was formerly in posses¬ 
sion of Deacon James Green, a prominent merchant of 
Boston, who died about the beginning of the present 
century. His daughter, Mrs. Nabby Richmond, gave 
it to Benjamin R. Howland in 1808. From him it 
passed to Hon. John Howland, the late venerable Pre¬ 
sident of the Rhode-Island Historical Society, who 
transferred it to the American Antiquarian Society in 
1814. It has always been regarded with great interest 
by its various possessors. It is the story of a pleasant 
summer excursion to a region of perils, without being 
marked itself by any very moving incidents, or record¬ 
ing any exciting experiences of sufferings or hair¬ 
breadth escapes. 
The Muscovy Company did not succeed in maintain¬ 
ing an exclusive right to the Spitzbergen fisheries. In 
1614, the Dutch sent eighteen great ships, — four of 
them men-of-war, — which 44 stayed and fished per¬ 
force.” In 1615, three armed vessels, belonging to 
8 Edge’s map contains portions -of the country, on the east side, which were not 
discovered till 1617. The map in the manuscript apparently embraced what was 
known of the coast after Fotherby’s explorations in 1614. 
