It is the passage to the south of the island which is more especially named Kostin Schar, or Kostin Salma. That to the north is the Podryésof Passage (Podrjesow Schar). See Lütke, p. 315.
As regards the etymology of the word Schar, Lütke says (p. 245) that he was unable to satisfy himself. “The Samoyedes themselves regard it as a foreign term; and by some it is thought to come from the Finnish word Schar or Skar.” Can the shard of Spencer have any connection with it?
“Upon that shore he spyéd Atin stand
There by his maister left, when late he far’d
In Phædria’s flitt barck over that perlous shard.”
Faerie Queene, II, vi, 38. [↑]