944 Gantsch in een inham beset—quite inclosed in a bay or creek. They would seem to have here been at the north-western corner of Tcheskaya Bay. ↑
945 Vraeghen wy haer nae Sembla de Cool—we asked them after Sembla de Cool. By this jargon, which is here a compound of Russian and Spanish, the Dutch seamen desired to obtain information respecting “the country of Kola”, in Lapland. ↑
947 Om deur dat gat te comen daer zy voor lagen—to get through the passage, before which they lay. ↑
953 Nu wy 22 mylen al over de zee waren geseylt—now that we had sailed 22 miles right across the sea. ↑
957 Onviel hem n. w.—turned to the N.W. This must have been Cape Mikalkin, the S.E. cape of Kanineskaya Zemlya. ↑
960 Datter kersmis was—that it was Christmas. It is kermis, which means a festival or fair-day. See page 39, note 2. ↑
969 Ende als wy meenden voort te varen, so moesten wy daer blyven liggen, want den stroom verloopen was—and when we intended to proceed on our voyage, we were forced to remain lying there, because the tide had run out. ↑
972 Desen hoeck is een kenlijcken hoeck met 5 cruycen daer op, ende datmen perfect can sien hoese aen beyden syden omvalt, aen de eene zyde int z. o. ende d’ander zyde int z. w.—this point is a conspicuous one, having on it five crosses, and the direction of it on either side is perfectly discernible; it being on the one side towards the S.E., and on the other side towards the S.W. ↑
974 Ende maeckten een afsteecker ontrent de son n. w.—we took our departure when the sun was about N.W. ↑
983 Zy leyden ons in haer stoven—they led us into their rooms. In Dutch, as in German, a room heated by a stove or oven is called by the name of the latter, stove or stube. ↑
984 Coocten ons een sode visch, ende nooden ons seer hertelijck—cooked us a dish of fish, and made us right welcome. ↑
994 Ende gedroncken van den claren, als in den Rhijn voorby Colen loopt—and drank of the pure article, such as flows past Cologne in the Rhine. There is here a play on the word clar, which signifies “clear”, “pure”, but is applied to spirits as well as to water. In common life, een glaasje klare means “glass of neat Hollands gin”. ↑
1001 Met goeden voortgangh seylende, quamen wy ontrent de z. w. son verby de selvige eylanden langs de wal henen, onder eenighe visschers die na ons toe royden—making good speed, we passed the said islands about south-west sun, and sailed along the coast among some fishermen, who rowed towards us. ↑
1003 Tot Cool Brabanse crable. A mixture of Dutch and Russian, meaning “at Kola there are Brabant ships”. The correct Russian is v’Kolye Brabantskyie korabli. Before the independence of the northern provinces, the entire Netherlands were under the rule of the Dukes of Brabant; and as the Dutch vessels trading to the northern coasts of Europe had first come there under the Brabant flag, the Russians not unnaturally continued to attach the name of Brabant to them in common with other Netherlandish vessels. ↑
1005 Dat de Russen oft Grootvorst ep haer grensen ons eenich verlet soude doen—that the Russians or (their) Grand Prince might do us some injury on their frontiers. ↑
1009 Wy meenden dat se telckemael de schuyten in den gront gesmeten souden hebben—we thought that each wave would have swamped the boats. ↑
1011 Twee realen van achten. This, though incorrect, was an usual expression in Dutch. It means, properly, two Spanish dollars of eight reals. ↑
1013 Ende trocken noch teghen den nae nacht op ter loop—and set off before break of day—lit. towards the after-night. ↑
1016 Quas. The well-known Russian drink. Dr. Giles Fletcher, ambassador from Queen Elizabeth to the Emperor Fedor in 1588, describes it as “a thin drinke called Quasse, which is nothing else (as we say) but water turned out of his wits, with a little bran meashed with it.”—Purchas, vol. iii, p. 459. ↑
1017 Blauwe-besyen met Braem-besyen—bilberries and blackberries. The latter are probably the Moroschka—cloudberries, or fruit of the mountain-bramble (Rubus chamœmorus),—the gathering and preparation of which by the females of Kola are described by Lütke, in page 223 of his oft-cited work. ↑
1022 De schuyten qualijck van den wal conden houden, dat se met in stucken ghesmeten werden—could scarcely keep the boats from going on shore, and thereby being dashed to pieces. ↑
1024 Datse in sulcken weer ende reghen aende legher wal verblyven moesten—that in such wind and rain they should have had to lie under a lee shore. ↑