The Three Voyages of William Barents to the Arctic Regions (1594, 1595, and 1596)Veer, Gerrit de
History
The Three Voyages of William Barents to the Arctic Regions (1594, 1595, and 1596)
Veer, Gerrit de
Barentsz, Willem, approximately 1550-1597; Northeast Passage
There can, further, be no doubt that Dr. Hamel is right in his
conclusion,—indeed, it is self-evident from Marsh’s statement,—that
towards the close of the sixteenth century, and previously to the time
when the Dutch visited those parts, Novaya Zemlya was looked on as an
island extending from Burrough’s Strait (Karskoi Vorota) as far
northwards only as “Mattuschan Yar” (Matyushin Shar): and that the land
lying to the north of this latter passage was not deemed to be a part
of Novaya Zemlya, but had a distinct designation, namely, Matthew’s
Land, which in Russian would be Matvyéeva Zemlya,—an expression which
corresponds precisely with Marsh’s “Land of Matfeov (Matpheoue)”.
How this Matvyéeva Zemlya, together with Matyushin Shar, should have
been lost from our maps, may be easily explained, though not altogether
in the way attempted by Dr. Hamel. [86] The accompanying fac-simile of
a map drawn by Isaac Massa, and published in 1612 by Hessel Gerard, in
a small volume [87] now very rare, contains (as will be seen) a
delineation of Novaya Zemlya, there shown as an island of not large
extent, and the surrounding regions. The strongly marked entire line
along the western side of Novaya Zemlya, is that of the coast as
furnished to Massa by his Russian authorities: the faint dotted line is
that of the coast as corrected by himself or Gerard from Dutch sources
of information. The proper names, as written in strong and faint
characters respectively, indicate, in like manner, the several sources
from which such names were derived. In this map a broad channel is laid
down between the island of Novaya Zemlya and a terra innominata to the
north of it, to which channel is given the name of “Matsei of tsar”,
which was evidently intended for “Matſeiof tsar”, which again must be
taken to have been written instead of “Matfeiof tsar”, through a mere
clerical error. [88] The faint dotted line along the west coast of
Novaya Zemlya shows that it had been carefully and (considering the
time when it was drawn) very accurately corrected; for we there see
plainly laid down the Mezhdusharsky Ostrov and the two inlets—Kostin
Shar and Podryesov Shar—between which that island lies, and from which
it derives its appellation. [89]
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