Chap TX.j NORTH-EAST PASSAGE. 203
About the time wlien the Muscovy- ludiau scheme proved abortive, some ad isso. accui'ate knowledge was obtained of the great Asiatic rivei-s, the Obe and Yenisei ; and Gerard Mercator, the celebrated cosmographer, when consulted cerani
Mercator.
on the subject, gave it as his opinion that at no great distance beyond the point which navigators had already reached, a great headland, then supposed to form the north-east extremity of Asia, would be found. This headland once passed, nothing more was necessary than to turn south, and steer directly for Japan and China. This was an enormoas blunder, for it cut off, at one sweep, more than a foLU-th of the whole circumference of the globe ; but it is only fair to Mercator to observe, that it was not so much his blunder as the common blunder of the time, for all his contemporaries shared it with him.
In accordance with Mercator's opinion, the great problem of a north-east pas- Noiti. ea«t sage to India now seemed on the eve of receiving a favourable solution. In 1 580, again at- two English vessels, under the command of Arthur Pet and Charles Jackman, sailed for Wardhuys, which they reached on the 23d of June. A few days after, tliey continued their voyage eastwai-d, and on approaching Nova Zembla nar- rowly escaped being embedded in a field of ice. After disentangling themselves by taking a very circuitous route, they proceeded along an open passage, and had the mortification to discover that it formed a kind of cul de sac, from which they had no possible outlet except by retracing their steps. This accomplished, they had a most favourable wind, but found it impossible to avail themselves of it in consequence of enormous icebergs which blocked up the course, lea'ing no space between, and along which they could not steer without risking almost certain destruction. Thus obstructed, and obliged, as they piously express it, to wait with patience, "abiding tiie Lords leisure," they did not arrive at Vaigatz Straits till the middle of August. It was consequently too late to advance furtlier eastward, and the expedition returned without having added one particle to the inlbrmation previoasly possessed. The English, having found more necessary and hopeful emplojnnent in another quarter, desisted for many years from idl further attempts to discover a north-east passage. The task, however, instead of being abandoned, was only transferred to new hands.
The United Provinces, after a long, arduous, and noble struggle, had achieved Att^-mpts ..f
tilts Dutch
their independence, and rid them.selves for ever of the galling yoke of Spain. Even while groaning under tiiat yoke, the untiring industry of the population, and the narrow scope for exercising it in a country hemmed in on all sides, and constantly threatened by the sea, hail turned their attention chiefly to com- merce. On the broad expanse of tiie ocean they found their true thoroughfare, and gradually ro.se to a foremost place among the maritime nations of Europe. Their own consumption was not great, but their vessels were found in all seas acting as common carriers for other nations. In this way they had obtained a large share in the Indian trade, which had its emporium at Lisbon, to which the
- ^oods were brought from the East b- the Portuguese, and from which they were
