Thence the explorers sailed along the Murman coast, as the Russians call the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula. It consists of high and precipitous granite cliffs with some harbours towards the western end. At the river Kola the English voyagers met with a number of Russian boats called _lodias_, chiefly belonging to Kholmogori (Archangel), with 20 oars and a crew of 24 men each. They were engaged in walrus and salmon fishing. The Russian captains were extremely friendly, presenting Burrough with loaves of bread, oatmeal, and fish, and piloting him along the coast. Crossing the entrance to the White Sea, Burrough sighted Kolguev Island, the mouth of the Petchora, and Kaninnoss, learning the names from his Russian friends. By the middle of July the _Searchthrift_ sighted land right ahead, with distant mountains to the north. This, he learnt, was called Waigatz, and the northern land Novaya Zemlya. Part of its western coast, further to the north, had, as we have seen, already been discovered by Sir Hugh Willoughby. Stephen Burrough discovered the strait, 25 miles wide, between Waigatz and Novaya Zemlya, which rightfully bears his name. The limit of knowledge was then the mouth of the Obi, but Burrough, pestered by ice, fogs, and gales of wind, was unable to penetrate into the Kara Sea. He landed on Waigatz, an island 70 miles long by 20 to 25 broad, consisting of a limestone ridge on the east side, and a lower shaley ridge to the west, with a swampy plain covered with small lakes between. The climate is extremely severe in the winter, but in the short summer the ground is covered with wild flowers. There are acres of flowering plants a foot high, including a delicate pink-blossomed crucifer, a yellow poppy, and a sort of lousewort (_Melampyrum sylvaticum_) of many colours, from glorious yellows to rich pinks. Buttercups carpet wide areas, and one water-loving species floats on the meres and tarns like a miniature water-lily, filling the air with its fragrance. There are stunted willows a foot high but no other wood-forming plant. Birds are numerous, and the peregrine falcon and the rough-legged buzzard nest on the cliffs of the island. The approach of winter obliged our explorers to give up their attempt for that year, and on the 11th September Burrough brought the _Searchthrift_ to Kholmogori, intending to renew his efforts in the following year. But the orders of the Company were that he should shape a homeward course, and in the autumn of 1557 he returned to the Thames.