ied men being preferred, with the idea that
wife and children would detract from the bravery of the members of
the expedition and lead them to return home prematurely.

[Illustration: UNSUCCESSFUL FIGHT WITH A POLAR BEAR. During the
Second Dutch Expedition. From De Veer. ]

On the 20/10th May these vessels left Amsterdam. On the 14/4th June
they saw in lat. 71 deg. North some beautiful parhelia, which are
found delineated in De Veer's work, and Blavii _Atlas Major_.

[Illustration: Map showing Barents' Third Voyage, from _J.L. Pontani
Rerum et urbis Amstelodamensium historia_, Amst., 1611 ]

On the 15/5th June one of the crew cried out from the deck that he
saw white swans, but on a closer examination it appeared that they
consisted of large pieces of ice, which drifted along the edge of
the pack.[138] On the 19/9th they discovered, north of North Cape, a
new island, situated in latitude 74 deg. 30' North. A large bear
was killed here, and on this account the island was called Bear
Island. On the 29/19th they came in the 80th degree of latitude to
another formerly unknown land, which they believed to be connected
with Greenland. It was in fact the large group of islands, which
afterwards obtained the name Spitzbergen. There were found here on a
small island the eggs of a species of goose--_rotgansen_[139] which
comes yearly to Holland in great flocks, but whose breeding place
was before unknown. With reference to this, De Veer says that it is
finally proved that this goose is not, as has been hitherto
supposed, propagated in Scotland by the goose laying her eggs from
the branches of trees overhanging the water, the eggs being broken
in pieces against the surface of the water, and the newly hatched
young immediately swimming about.

After an unsuccessful attempt had been made to sail to the north of
Spitzbergen the vessels proceeded southwards along the west
coast,[140] and on the 11th/1st July came again to Bear Island. Here
the vessels parted company, Barents sailing eastwards towards Novaya
Zemlya, Rijp northwards towards the east coast of Spitzbergen. On
the 27/17th July, Barents reached the west coast of Novaya Zemlya in
latitude 73 deg. 20' North. On the 30/20th July, no further
advance could be made for ice, which still lay close to the shore.
During the stay here there were several adventures with bears, all
of which, came off successfully. In consequence of ice obstacles
their progress was exceedingly slow