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down.in the Sea; whjjreby scveral have been forc’d to Quit their Design,and stand back for their own Country.

There was, some Years since, a knot ofMerchants of Amsterdam, whoattempted those Seas wich much Better Success than the former : For beingadvanc’d to the 79 tb or 80 th Degree of Northern Latitude, theyPass’d abovean Hundred Leagues Above Nova Zembla toward the Eaft. And, thoughthey gave strict Charge to Conceal what they had seen and observ’d, yetit became publickly known, that they had disoover’d a Sea, beyond NovaZembla, Free from all Ice, and very Convenient for Navigation.

These being return’d to their own Country, with great Hopes of sind*ing encouragement to make furthcr Discoveries, Petition’d the Lords theStates General of the United Provinces, That, since they had granted the Tradeof almost all the World tp the Govemours of the Eaft and West-IndtanConupanies, and that there remäin’d searjce any thing to the rest of the Merchants,besides the Trade of the Mediterranean and Balticl^ Seas, they would bepleased to Grant the Navigation of the Northern Seas , and of the Eastern(not yet discover’d) to them, Exclusive to the Eaft and West Indian Com-fanies. But the Govemours of the Eaft Indian Company being sensible hownearly this concern’d them, presented likewisc their Crols Petition, de-siring that the Petition of the seid Merchants might for the future be Re-ferred to Them and Their Consideration.

The Merchants finding their Petition thus Crofled, Addressed themselvesto the King of Denmark, who immediately Granted their Demands. Un-der hisProtection therefore they Equipp’d 2 or 3 Ships, such as they judg’dmost proper for this Voyage. Which when the Govemours of the DutcbEast-Indian Company had Information of, they Raised a Considcrable Sum ofMoney, and easily perswadcd the Mariners to Des, st from so Dangerousfforso they represented itj a Voyage; and yet that the Merchants might have nojust Causc to Complain against the seid Company, the Mariners went toSea; but neglecting the Directions and Orders of thosc Merchants, theySteerM their Course directly for Spitz>berg, took in their Lading of Fijh,and return’d Home.

Upon which the East-Jndian Company of the United Netherlands Omittedneither Study nor Care, to sind out a Passage through the Nortb EasternSea for those that were to Return into Europe from the East-Indtes. Therewas then much Discourseof the Gulf of Ansän, by which a Passage was seidto be open into the Tartarian Sea : and scmething they understood from thePeople of Japan and the Portugucses , of the Country of Jezzfi, which layabove Japan. But not resting setisfy’d with the bare Relation, in the Years52 and 53 they scnt out some Dextrous Persons to Diseover those Coasts;who pailing beyond Japan , in the y atb Degree of Northern Latitude ar-riv’d upon the Coast of Jezzo, where they Fell into a Narrow Sea, yetBroad and Convenient eriough to lead into the Northern Ocean. The op-posite Shorts they call’d Het Compagnie Land, and an Ifland seated in themiddle of the Gulf they call’d Het S taten Eyland.

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