It, therefore, is by no means impossible that Brunel, together with Knight, quitting the Danish for the English service, again visited the north-west. After this we lose sight of Brunel. It is a great pity that the evening of the life of this great man should be lost in total obscurity. Even the year of his death is not exactly known. However, it is supposed to have taken place in the first years of the seventeenth century, because, in 1613, Hessel Gerritsz wrote of Brunel’s voyage, as that of “Oliverii cuiusdam Brunelli”. The above is the history of Brunel, as related by Mr. S. Muller. If his views are correct, then, in all probability, the first Dutch Arctic expedition took place in 1584. Now, in that same year, the King of Spain prohibited to the inhabitants of the Netherlands all trade with Portugal. Thus it is easy to comprehend that attention was drawn towards the finding of a northern passage, which would have enabled the Dutch to open a direct trade with the Indies. Consequently during three successive years we see different expeditions leaving the Netherland ports, and boldly penetrating into the Arctic seas. Dr. Beke has given, in his introduction, the principal outlines of the route taken by these expeditions. However, led away by the example of the German geographer, Petermann, Dr. Beke has made a mistake in laying down the track of Barendsz in his third voyage. This can be proved almost mathematically by an extract taken from a log, probably of Barendsz himself, which is preserved in the very rare work, “Histoire du Pays, nommé Spitsbergen, etc., par Hessel Gerard, à Amsterdam, 1613.” This extract runs thus:— “May 18, New Style. We set out from the Texel, and arrived on the 22nd at Fayril, [4] and in the neighbourhood of the Orkneys. “June 5. We encountered ice, which, according to our estimation, came from Greenland; for we judged from our calculations that we were about 100 nautical miles distant from the said Greenland. The water was green with a brownish colour. Sounded without finding any bottom. The ice extended the whole length of the sea, south-east and north-west, and was either in pieces or in floes. [5] “The next day we made our way N.E. and N.E. ¼ N. for a distance of 36 miles, and came upon a great ice-field, through which it was impossible to pass. Found no bottom at 120 fathoms. In our opinion, we were N.W. 220 miles off Luffoden Island, and 400 to 460 miles from the North Cape. “Turning thence towards the east, we arrived at Bear Island on the 10th of June, in 74° 35′ latitude, and sailing N.E. we came upon an ice-field, against which we were anchored, and were obliged to return under the island.