kingdoms of Cathay be effected by way of the north. It must be
remembered that there were no maps of the unknown regions lying beyond
the northern headlands of Sweden. Delineations of continents, islands,
straits, rivers, and seas, over which every modern schoolboy pores, were
not attempted even by the hand of fancy. It was perhaps easier at the
end of the sixteenth century than it is now, to admit the possibility of
a practical path to China and India across the pole; for delusions as to
climate and geographical configuration then prevalent have long since
been dispelled. While, therefore, at least as much heroism was required
then as now to launch into those unknown seas, in hope to solve the dread
mystery of the North; there was even a firmer hope than can ever be
cherished again of deriving an immediate and tangible benefit from the
enterprise. Plancius and Maalzoon, the States-General and Prince
Maurice, were convinced that the true road to Cathay would be found by
sailing north-east. Linschoten, the man who knew India and the beaten
paths to India better than any other living Christian, was so firmly
convinced of the truth of this theory, that he volunteered to take the
lead in the first expedition. Many were the fantastic dreams in which
even the wisest thinkers of the age indulged as to the polar regions.
Four straits or channels, pierced by a magic hand, led, it was thought,
from the interior of Muscovy towards the arctic seas. According to some
speculators, however, those seas enclosed a polar continent where
perpetual summer and unbroken daylight reigned, and whose inhabitants,
having obtained a high degree of culture; lived in the practice of every
virtue and in the enjoyment of every blessing. Others peopled these
mysterious regions with horrible savages, having hoofs of horses and
heads of dogs, and with no clothing save their own long ears coiled
closely around their limbs and bodies; while it was deemed almost certain
that a race of headless men, with eyes in their breasts, were the most
enlightened among those distant tribes. Instead of constant sunshine,