181 Rheden ende Elanden—deer and elks. It is unaccountable that, with this fact within his own personal knowledge, Gerrit de Veer should have expressly asserted, on two several occasions (pages 5 and 83), that there are no graminivorous animals in Novaya Zemlya, and pointedly distinguished between this country and Spitsbergen on that account. It is most probable that these animals had crossed over from Siberia on the ice. ↑
182 Ons scheck aen de achter-steven brack altemet noch meer stucken—and the ice-knees on the stern-post broke more and more in pieces. ↑
187 Maer het bequam hem als de hondt de worst—but it agreed with her as the pudding (sausage) did with the dog. This is a Dutch proverb, made use of when any undertaking turns out badly; because the dog is said to have stolen a sausage, and to have been soundly beaten for his pains. ↑
191 Ende drie bleven byt hout om dat te behouwen, soo werdet so veel te lichter int slepen—and three remained behind with the wood, to hew it, so that it might be the lighter to draw. ↑
192 Verde—far. The distance which, on the 16th September, they had estimated at nearly one Dutch mile. ↑
199 Ons scheck ofte achtersteven vant schip wederom ghemaeckt—repaired the ice-knees or stern-post of the ship. ↑
207 Een Meyboom—a May-tree. According to Adelung, in his Hochdeutsches Wörterbuch, “Maybaum” is in many parts of Germany the vernacular name of the birch-tree, especially the common species (Betula alba), also called the May-birch, or simply “May”,—as the hawthorn is called in England,—branches of which are used for ornamenting the houses and churches in the month of May.
The same name is given to the green branch of a tree, or at times the whole tree itself—frequently the birch, but not exclusively so—which is set up on occasions of festivity. This is the meyboom of the Dutch; and it would seem on the one hand to be the original of our English May-pole, and on the other to have degenerated into the flag which our builders are in the habit of hoisting on the chimneys of houses, when raised. ↑
215 Ende braken het achteronder mede uyt, omt huijs voort dicht te maeckten—and pulled down likewise the poop, in order (therewith) to go on closing up the house. ↑
223 Zijnde een iopen vat, aen den bodem stucken ghevroren—which, being a cask of spruce beer, had burst at the bottom through the frost.
From a very early period a decoction, in beer or water, of the leaf-buds (gemmæ seu turiones) of the Norway spruce fir (Abies excelsa), as well as of the silver fir (Abies picea), has been used, formerly more than at present, in the countries bordering on the Baltic Sea, in scorbutic, rheumatic, and gouty complaints. See Magneti Bibliotheca Pharmaceutico-Medica, vol. i, p. 2; Pharmacopœia Borussica (German translation by Dulk), 3rd edit., vol. i, p. 796; Pereira, Elements of Materia Medica, 3rd edit., vol. ii, p. 1182.
These leaf-buds are commonly called in German, sprossen, and in Dutch, jopen; whence the beer brewed therefrom at Dantzig—cerevisia [115]dantiscana, as it is styled in the Amsterdam Latin version of 1598—acquired the appellations of sprossenbier and jopenbier, of the former of which the English name, spruce-beer, is merely a corruption.
The “Dantzig spruce” of commerce, which is known at the place of its manufacture by the names of doppelbier, jopenbier, and even “sprucebier”, is the representative at the present day of the medicated sprossenbier of former times; though, curiously enough, the ingredient from which it derived its distinctive appellation (i.e., the sprossen or jopen) appears to be now left out in its preparation. ↑
227 In de selvighe vochticheyt was de cracht vant gantsche bier—in that liquid part lay the whole strength of the beer. ↑
245 Onder—below. The caboose had been removed below on account of the extreme cold on deck, as is mentioned in page 108. ↑
249 Stelden wy onse orlogie wederom dat de clock sloech—we set up our clock, so that it (went and) struck (the hour). ↑
254 Doen ghingh de son heel dicht boven der aerden, weynich boven den horisont—then the sun went quite close over the earth, but little above the horizon. ↑
262 The question of refraction, arising out of this and other observations, is discussed in the Introduction. ↑
267 Te stoven—lit. to stew. This is the primary sense of the word stew, which afterwards, like its synonym bagnio, acquired a very different meaning. The bath used appears to have been a vapour bath. ↑
270 Under the parallel of 76°, the moon continues incessantly above the horizon about seven or eight days in each month. ↑
271 Vermoeden wy geen dagh, doent al dagh was—we thought that it was not day, when it already was day. ↑
274 Loot—a loot or half-ounce; of which 32 go to the pound. The quantity mentioned above is equal to 4 pounds 11 ounces avoirdupois. ↑