Swedish shipbuilders were received into Stroganov's service.
Brunei himself travelled by land to Holland to enlist men. A number
of particulars regarding these undertakings of Brunel are contained
in a letter of JOHN BALAK to GERARD MERCATOR, dated "Arusburgi ad
Ossellam fluvium" the 20th February, 1581. The letter is printed in
the second edition of _Hakluyt_, 1598, i. p. 509. Scarcely however
had Brunel returned to his native country, before he altered his
plan and wished to procure for his own fatherland the honour and
advantage of the undertaking. The first attempt of the Dutch to
reach China and Japan by the north-east thus came about. Of this
voyage we know only that Brunel endeavoured without success to sail
through Yugor Schar, and that his vessel, heavily laden with furs,
plates of mica, and rock-crystal, was wrecked on the way home at the
mouth of the Petchora (_Beschryvinghe vander Samoyeden Landt in
Tartarien, &c._ Amsterdam, 1612. S. Muller's Photolithographic
Reproduction, 1878). The mica and rock-crystal were undoubtedly
brought from the Ural, as no useful plates of mica or large
rock-crystals are found in the region of the Petchora. Brunel then
entered the Danish service. For we know that an Oliver Brunel during
the reign of King Fredrik II. in Denmark offered to explore
Greenland, and for that purpose in 1583 obtained the right to settle
in Bergen and there enjoy six years freedom from taxes (Cf.
_Groenlands historiske Mindesmoerker_, Copenhagen, 1838, vol. iii.
p. 666). ]

[Footnote 130: Probably the Sachanich Bay of the Russians. ]

[Footnote 131: _Voyagie, ofte Schip Vaert, van Jan Huyghen van
Linschoten, van by Noorden, om langes Noorwegen de Noortcaep,
Laplant, Vinlant, Ruslandt_ ... _tot voorby de revier Oby_, Franeker,
1601. Another edition at Amsterdam in 1624, and in abstract in
Saeghman's collection of travels in 1665. The voyage is also
described in Blavii _Atlas Major_, 1665. Linschoten was "commis" on
board, a post which included both the employment of supercargo and
that of owners' commissioner. ]

[Footnote 132: That is Yugor Schar. This name also occurs, though in
a somewhat altered form, as "Wegorscoi tzar," on Isaac Massa's map
of 1612, which, according to the statement of the publisher, is a
copy of a Russian chart. ]

[Footnote 133: Accounts of this expedition are given both by De Veer
and Linschoten in the above-named works. ]

[Footnote 134: These remarkable statements are f