sailors
hereupon blew a horn, the savages were so frightened, that they
begun to take to flight, but, quieted by the assurance that the
blast of the horn was only a sign of friendship, they returned and
on the beach saluted the departing strangers, bowing themselves to
the earth with uncovered heads and crossed hands.

On the 11th/1st August the Dutch, full of hope, sailed into the Kara
Sea, or, as they called it, the "North Tartaric Ocean." They soon
fell in with ice, on which account on the 13th/3rd they sought
protection under Mestni Island (Staten Eiland). Here they found a
sort of rock crystal resembling diamonds in all respects except
hardness, a disappointing circumstance which was ascribed to the
action of cold. Here also were seen images and sacrificial places,
but no houses and no trees.

When Nay and Tetgales sailed on, they came to an extensive open sea,
and on the 20/10th August they believed that they were off the mouth
of the Obi. Two of its principal mouth-arms they named, after the
vessels, "Swan" and "Mercurius," names which have since been
forgotten. It is quite evident that the river which the Dutch took
for the Obi was the Kara, and that the mouth-arms, Swan and
Mercurius, were two small coast rivers which debouch from Yalmal
into the Kara Sea.

On the 21st/11th August they determined to return home, taking it
for proved that, from the point which had been reached, it would be
easy to double "Promontorium Tabin," and thus get to China by the
north-east passage. A large number of whales were seen raising half
their bodies out of the sea and spouting jets of water from their
nostrils in the common way, which was considered a further sign that
they had an extensive ocean before them.

On the 24/14th August, Nay and Tetgales sailed again through Yugor
Schar (Fretum Nassovicum), and the day after at three small islands,
which were called Mauritius, Orange, and New Walcheren, they fell in
with Barents, and all sailed home to Holland, fully convinced that
the question of the possibility of a north-east passage to China was
now solved. It was shown indeed, in the following year, that this
supposition rested on quite too slight a foundation, but the voyages
of Nay and Tetgales deserve in any case an honoured place in the
history of navigation, for they extended considerably the knowledge
of the northern regions through the discovery, or at least through
the first passage of, Yogor Schar, and, like Bar