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608 LE ROY’S NARRATIVE OF FOUR RUSSIAN SAILORS.
latter period of time be taken which from the fituation of the ifland mutt be the neareft
to truth ; the time of its beginning to fet, will thus be fixed according to them upon the
feventh of July. From thefe the fun began to fet every day, until the feaft of St.
Demetrius : On that day it ceafed to fhine entirely.
This account of our Iflanders is not correét. Upon.confulting a’perfon well informed
on thefe matters, I was given to underftand that provided the ifland, upon which they
were, had been fituated in 774° of latitude, as it is defcribed on the chart, the fun
would have been feen for the firft time upon the fourth of February, would revolve
above the horizon from the eleventh of April until the eighth of Auguft, and would
entirely difappear upon the fixteenth of O@ober.
It is poffible thefe poor fellows may have erred as well with refpett to the duration of
the fun’s appearance and difappearing, as to the time of its revolution above our hori-
von, from their being defirous of afcertaining them by the feaft days of the church ;
and as will be gathered from what follows, they were as well greatly in error, in regard
to the date of their return from this ifland.
It was the fifteenth of Auguft, old ftile, the feaft of the Holy Virgin Mary, when the
vefiel, which brough them back to their native country, arrived at this ifland, But our
worthy failors who had made preparations inas good a manner as they were able to keep
this high holiday, reckoned the feaft two days later, and confequently efteemed that day
to be the thirteenth of Auguft. A miftake of {mall confequence, which might arife from
accountable caufes, feeing that they for four months together had the fun revolving above
the horizon during the fummer, and in winter fpent nearly an equal time in utter night
and darknefs : befides the weather being fo gloomy and cloudy at times; and the rainy
and {nowy feafons depriving them of the fight of the ftars. It is natural for the reader
to enquire, how thefe men, who had neither clock, nor watch, neither fun, nor moon
dial, could reckon the natural days whilethe fun continually fhone, and more particularly
at that time when it was no longer vifible? I did not negleé& to interrogate them on this
fubject. ‘The boatfwain hurt at my queftion anfwered me with fome emotion, ‘ What
fort of a pilot fhould I be if 1 were ignorant of the method of taking an altitude of the
fun, when that planet were vifible ? Or if 1 knew not how to tell by the courfe of the
flars, in the abfence of the fun, what were the fit hours for bed time, out of the twenty-
four? I had made myfelf for this ufe a proper fort of ftaff, fimilar to that which I
had left on board our fhip, and which ferved me to take my obfervations by.” I con-
ceive the inftrument which he mentioned to me on this occalion, was what is called
a Jacob’s ftaff, or one fomewhat refembling it.
The moon is vifible as they informed me in this country during the winter for nearly
two months together, and rifes higher in proportion to the days becoming fhorter.
{ leave to Aftronomers the tafk of criticifing this appearance, contenting myfelf with
relating fimply their depofition*.
In
f
* A fimilar example of the revolutions of the moon above the horizon in the abfence of the fun, re-
marked by the Dutch in 1576, who wintered at Nova Zemla, in 76° of latitude may be feen in the third
voyage of the Dutch to the North. p. 66, 67.
** On the firft of November, during the twilight, we faw the moon rife in the Eaft, the fun being yet
perceived tolerably high above the horizon. On the fecond, the fun was feen to rife in the S.S. E, and
fet nearly in the S. S. W.; but the whole of its globe did not thew itfelf, being obferved only in the hori-
zon with a part beneath. Onthe third, it rofe in the S.E. by S., but rather nearer to the S.; and de-
clined fomewhat to the S. of S. W. by S.; the upper part of its globe appearing from the {pot where its
height was taken, about as high as the topsof the veffel, which laid in that direétion. On the fourth, it
was feen no more, the weather yet remajning very fine.” or
¢s When
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