o the east, north of this island. He made
the voyage on account of English merchants. A narrative of it is to
be found in _Purchas_ (iii. p. 574), and an excellent critical
collection of all the original documents relating to Hudson's life
and voyages in G.M. Asher's _Henry Hudson the Navigator_, London,
1860 (Works issued by the Hakluyt Society, No. 26). It was west of
the Atlantic that Hudson earned the laurels which gave him for all
time so prominent a place in the history of navigation, and the sea
there also became his grave. Eastwards he did not penetrate so far
as his predecessors. I cannot therefore here find room for any
account of his voyage to Novaya Zemlya; it may only be mentioned
that two of his crew on the morning of the 25/15th of June, 1608, in
75 deg. N.L., saw a mermaid. The following statement is taken from
his journal: "This morning one of the crew, as he looked over the
side, saw a mermaid. Another of his comrades came up at his call.
She was close to the vessel's side, looking steadily at the men.
Soon after she was thrown down by a wave. From the middle upwards
her back and breast were like a woman's. Her body was as large as a
man's, her skin very white, and long dark hair hung down her back.
When she dived, they saw her tail, which resembled that of a dolphin
and was spotted like a mackerel's. The names of the men who saw her
were Thomas Hiller and Robert Bayner." It was probably a curious
seal that gave occasion to this version of the old yarn.

1611. WILLIAM GOURDON, with the title "appointed chief pilote for
discoverie to Ob," brought this year a cargo of goods to Pustosersk,
and sailed thence to Novaya Zemlya. At the mouth of the Petchora he
saw 24 _lodjas_, manned with ten to 16 men each, bound for
"Mangansei" east of Ob (_Purchas_, iii. pp. 530, 534). While
attempting to get further information regarding these voyages to
Siberia, the Muscovy Company's envoy learned that, at least as a
rule, the question was only of carrying goods by sea to the bottom
of Kara Bay, whence they were transported overland to Ob, advantage
being taken of two small rivers and a lake (_Purchas_, iii. p. 539).
But other accounts lead us to infer that the Russian _lodjas_
actually sailed to Ob, even through Matotschkin Schar, as appears
from statements in _Purchas_ (iii. pp. 804, 805). At the same place
we find the statement, already quoted, of a Russian, who in 1584
offered for fifty roubles to act as guide overl