men" earnestly attempted to persuade
him to return, "he held on his course towards that unknown part of
the world, and sailed so farre that hee came at last to the place
where hee found no night at all, but a continuall light and
brightnesse of the sunne shining clearly upon the huge and mighty
sea."[51] In this way he finally reached the mouth of the river
Dwina in the White Sea, where a small monastery was then standing at
the place where Archangel is now situated. By friendly treatment he
soon won the confidence of the inhabitants, who received him with
great hospitality. They, however, immediately sent off a courier to
inform Czar Ivan Vasilievitsch of the remarkable occurrence. The
result was that Chancelor was invited to the court at Moscow, where
he and his companions passed a part of the winter, well entertained
by the Czar. The following summer he returned with his vessel to
England. Thus a commercial connection was brought about, which soon
became of immense importance to both nations, and within a few years
gave rise to a number of voyages, of which I cannot here give any
account, as they have no connection with the history of the
North-east Passage.[52]

[Illustration: VARDOE IN 1594. After Linschoten. ]

[Illustration: VARDOE IN OUR DAYS. After a photograph. ]

Great geographer or seaman Sir Hugh Willoughby clearly was not, but
his and his followers' voluntary self-sacrifice and undaunted
courage have a strong claim on our admiration. Incalculable also was
the influence which the voyages of Willoughby and Chancelor had upon
English commerce, and on the development of the whole of Russia, and
of the north of Norway. From the monastery at the mouth of the Dwina
a flourishing commercial town has arisen, and a numerous population
has settled on the coast of the Polar Sea, formerly so desolate.
Already there is regular steam and telegraphic communication to the
confines of Russia. The people of Vardoe can thus in a few hours get
accounts of what has happened not only in Paris or London, but also
in New York, the Indies, the Cape, Australia, Brazil, &c., while a
hundred years ago the post came thither only once a year. It was
then that a journal-loving commandant took the step, giving evidence
of strong self-command, of not "devouring" the post at once, but
reading the newspapers day by day a year after they were published.
All this is now different, and yet men are not satisfied. The
interests of commerce an