Lütke adds that the true derivation of the name in question is as difficult to be determined as that of Kolguew, Nokuew, Kildin, Warandei, etc., which are probably the remains of the languages of tribes now extinct. But, at the same time, he directs attention to Witsen’s assertion (which appears to have been altogether overlooked by previous writers), that the island of Waigatsch received its name from one Iwan Waigatsch—“het Eiland Waigats, dat zijn naem heeft van Ivan, of Ian Waigats;”—a derivation which is very probable, and certainly far more reasonable than any of the etymologies above recited. [↑]
[105] De Cape des Troosts—Cape Comfort; the same which Phillip had previously translated “Cape Trust”. See page 22, note 4. [↑]
[106] Swarte heuvels ghelijck boeren huysen—black hillocks, like peasants’ huts. [↑]
[107] Ende quamen by een laghen slechten hoeck te landt aen de Cape de Nassauwen—and came to a low, flat point, at Cape Nassau. [↑]
[110] Zijt aen de wint leyden—they lay to the wind. [↑]
[111] Oliphier Brunel. A native of Brussels, properly named Oliver Bunel, who traded to the north coasts of Russia in a vessel from Enckhuysen, and was lost in the river Petchora. The process by which Bunel has been made to become an Englishman, under the name of “Bennel”, “Brunell”, or “Brownell”, is explained in the Introduction. [↑]
[112] Costincsarch, in the original Dutch text; Costinclarch, in the Amsterdam French version of 1598; Constint-sarch, or Constantin zaar, as it is called by Witsen in his Noord en Oost Tartarije, p. 918; Constant Search, according to Forster’s ingenious hypothesis, p. 415; Coasting Search, as suggested by Barrow, p. 159. This name, which has scarcely ever been written twice alike, and which has given occasion to so much speculation as to its origin, is properly Kostin-schar, i.e., “Kostin Straits, or Passage”; it being the channel by which the Meyduscharski Island (i.e., “the island lying between the straits”), is separated from [[31]]the main land of Novaya Zemlya. Lütke, from whom (p. 22) the above definition is taken, explains further (p. 245), that “among Novaya Zemlya navigators, schar is properly the name of a strait or passage, which goes directly through or across an island or country, forming a communication between two distinct seas. For one that merely separates an island from the mainland, or otherwise forms part of one sea alone, the appropriate designation is salma. Thus, Matotschkin Schar, Yugorskyi Schar, etc., are properly so called; but Kostin Schar, as a walrus hunter told me, ‘is styled a schar only through stupidity, as its correct designation would be Kostin Salma’.”
Nevertheless, in justice to those who first gave the name of Kostin Schar to this strait, it must be remarked, that it was regarded by them as actually passing through the mainland of Novaya Zemlya, and as forming a communication with the Kara Sea. It is thus shown in the early maps; and Witzen (p. 918) expressly states—“Het ys dryft door Nova Zemla heen, en comt by Constint Sarch, of Constantin Zaar, uit.”