Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/332

Rh 31G POLAR REGIONS polar regions with which the ancients can be credited. But in the 9th century some Irish monks really appear to have visited Iceland. The monk Dicuil, writing about 825, says that he had information from brethren who had been at Thule during several months, and they reported that there was no darkness at the summer solstice. Other. King Alfred told the story of the first polar voyages undertaken for discovery and the acquisition of knowledge, in his very free translation of Orosius. In the first book he inserted the narrative of the voyages of Other and Wulfstan, related to him by the former explorer himself. The localities mentioned in the story cannot now be identified, but it seems probable that Other rounded the North Cape, and visited the coast of Lapland. Norse- The Norsemen of the Scandinavian peninsula, after men. colonizing Iceland, were the first to make permanent settle ments on the shores of Greenland, and to extend their voyages beyond the Arctic circle along the western coast of that vast glacier-covered land. See GREENLAND. The Norse colonies in Greenland at Brattelid and Einarsfjord did not extend farther north than 65, but in the summer time the settlers carried on their seal hunting far beyond the Arctic circle. One of their runic stones was found in a cairn in latitude 73 N., the inscription showing that the date of its being left there was 1235. Another expe dition is believed, on good grounds, to have reached a latitude of 75 46 N. in Barrow Strait, about the year 1266. Their ordinary hunting grounds were in 73 N., to the north of the modern Danish settlement of Upernivik. For the visits of the Greenlanders to the American coasts see AMERICA, voL i. p. 706. The last trace of communication between Greenland and Norway was in 1347. The black death broke out in Norway and the far off colony was forgotten ; while the settlers were attacked by Skrellings or Eskimo, who over ran the West Bygd in 1349. Ivar Bardsen, the steward to the bishopric of Gardar in the East Bygd, and a native of Greenland, was sent to convey help to the sister colony. A document, of which Ivar Bardsen was the author, has been preserved. It consists of sailing directions for reach ing the colony from Iceland, and a chorography of the colony itself. It is the oldest work on arctic geography, and is still valuable in the study of all questions relating to the early settlements in Greenland. From 1400 to 1448 there was some communication, at long intervals, with the Greenland settlers, but during the latter half of that century it entirely ceased. Here then the ancient portion of polar history comes to an end. The next period, comprised in the 16th and 17th centuries, was that in which expeditions were despatched across the Arctic Circle to discover a shorter route to India. Sebastian Cabot, whose own northern voyages have been spoken of in the article CABOT, was the chief pro- Wil- moter of the expedition which sailed under Sir Hugh loughby. Willoughby and Richard Chancellor on the 20th May 1553, &quot; for the search and discovery of the northern parts of the world, to open a way and passage to our men, for travel to new and unknown kingdoms.&quot; Willoughby, after dis covering Nova Zembla (Novaya Zemlya) by sighting the coast of Goose Land, resolved to winter in a harbour of Lapland, where he and all his men perished of starvation Chan- and cold. Chancellor reached the Bay of St Nicholas, and landed near Archangel, which was then only a castle. He undertook a journey to Moscow, made arrangements for commercial intercourse with Russia, and returned safely. His success proved the practical utility of polar voyages. It led to a charter being granted to the Associa tion of Merchant Adventurers, of which Cabot was named governor for life, and gave fresh impulse to arctic discovery. 8 h - In the spring of 1556 Stephen Burrough, who had served with Chancellor, sailed in a small pinnace called the &quot; Searchthrift,&quot; and kept a careful journal of his voyage. He went to Archangel, and discovered the strait leading into the Kara Sea, between Nova Zembla and the island of Waigat. In May 1580 the company fitted out two vessels under Arthur Pet and Charles Jackman, with Pet orders to pass through the strait discovered by Burrough, and thence to sail eastward beyond the mouth of the river Obi. Pet discovered the strait into the Kara Sea, between Waigat and the mainland, and made a persevering effort to push eastward, returning to England in safety. Jack man, after wintering in a Norwegian port, sailed home ward but was never heard of again. In 1558 a narrative and map were published at Venice The Zei which profoundly affected the system of polar cartography for many years afterwards. The publication was the handiwork of a Venetian nobleman named Niccolo Zeno. Towards the close of the 14th century his ancestor, also named Niccolo, made a voyage into the northern seas, and entered the service of a chief named Ziclmmi as pilot. He was eventually joined by his brother Antonio, and four years afterwards died in the country he called Frislanda. Antonio remained ten years longer in the service of Zichnmi, and then returned to Venice. The younger Niccolo found the mutilated letters of these brothers in the Zeni palace, with a map ; and out of these materials he prepared the narrative and map which he published, adding what he considered improvements to the map. It was accepted at the time as a work of high authority, and the names on it continued to appear on subsequent maps for at least a century, puzzling both geographers at home and explorers in the field. After a very exhaustive study of the subject, Mr Major has identified the names on the Zeni map, as follows : Engronelant, Greenland; Islanda, Iceland; Estland, Shetlands ; Frisland, Faroe Isles; 1 Mark- land, Nova Scotia ; Estotiland, Newfoundland ; Drogeo, coast of North America ; Icaria, coast of Kerry in Ireland. We now come to the voyages of Frobisher, undertaken FroUshi to obtain the means for equipping an expedition for the discovery of a shorter route to India by the north-west. Aided by Michael Lok, an influential merchant and diligent student of geography, Frobisher sailed, in the spring of 1576, with two small vessels of 20 to 25 tons, called the &quot;Gabriel&quot; and &quot;Michael.&quot; But the &quot;Michael&quot; parted company in the Atlantic, the voyage being continued in the &quot; Gabriel &quot; alone. On 20th July Frobisher sighted high land, which he called Queen Elizabeth s Foreland ; and the next day he entered the strait to which he gave his own name, calling the land &quot; Meta Incognita.&quot; On his return in the autumn, with various specimens of plants and stones, the &quot; goldfinders &quot; in London took it into their heads that a glittering piece of mica-schist contained gold ore. This caused great excitement, and much larger ex peditions were fitted out, in the two following years, to collect these precious ores. As many as fifteen vessels formed the third expedition of 1578, and one of them, a busse (small ship) of Bridgwater, called the &quot;Emma,&quot; reported that on her voyage home she had sighted land in the Atlantic and sailed along it for three days. It was never seen again, and may have been only a large ice-field ; but it soon found its place on maps and charts under the name of Busse Island, and afterwards as &quot;sunken land of Busse.&quot; For a long time Frobisher Strait was supposed to pass through Greenland, and, the map of the Zeni adding to _the confusion, the land to the south was called Frislanda. It is now clear that Frobisher never saw Greenland, and that his strait and &quot; Meta Incognita &quot; are on the American side of Davis Strait. What Frobisher 1 Admiral Inninger of Copenhagen holds the opinion that Frisland is not the Faroe I.sles, but Iceland.