(Cross Island)[128] and Cape Nassau, a
name which has been retained in recent maps, to the latitude of 77 deg.
55', which was reached on the 23rd/13th July. Here from the
mast-top an ice-field was seen, which it was impossible to see
beyond, which compelled Barents to turn. However, he still remained
in these northern regions, waiting for a better state of the ice,
till the 8th August/29th July, when the vessel was due west of a
promontory situated in latitude 77 deg. north, which was named Ice
Cape. Some gold-glittering stones were found here on the ground.
Such _finds_ have played a not inconsiderable _role_ in the history
of Arctic voyages, and shiploads of worthless ore have on several
occasions been brought home. On the 16th August/31st July, while
sailing among the Orange Islands, they saw 200 walruses on land. The
sailors attacked them with axes and lances, without killing a single
walrus, but they succeeded during the attempt to kill them in
striking out several tusks, which they carried home with them.

Convinced that he could not reach the intended goal by this northern
route, Barents determined, after consulting with his men, to turn
south and sail to Vaygats. While sailing down, Barents, in latitude
71 deg. north, makes the remark that he was now probably at a
place where OLIVER BRUNEL[129] had been before, and which had been
named by him Costinsark, evidently the present Kostin Schar, a
Russian name still in use for the sound which separates Meschduschar
Island from the main island. It ought to be observed, however, that
on old maps Matotschkin Schar is often marked with some perversion
of the word Kostin Schar.

South of "St. Laurens Bay,"[130] in 70-3/4 deg., Barents, on the
21st/11th August, found upon a headland across erected, and in the
neighbourhood of it three wooden buildings, the hull of a Russian
vessel and several sacks of meal, and at the same place some graves,
all clearly remains of some Russian salmon-fishers. On the 25/15th
August he arrived at Dolgoi Island, where he fell in with the two
other vessels from Zeeland and Enkhuizen that had come thither
shortly before. All the four vessels sailed back thence to Holland,
arriving there in the middle of September. The narrative of this
voyage closes with the statement that Barents brought home with him
a walrus, which had been fallen in with and killed on the drift-ice.
Barents during this journey discovered and explored the northern
part of