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A taste of this increase wee have had in our owne selves, even by our trade of fisshinge in Newfoundelande; which, as yt is well knowen, hath bene occasion, that in sondry places of this realme divers tall shippes have bene builte and sett furthe even of late daies; and more would be if, whereas nowe havinge but twoo moneths or tenne weekes of fisshinge, by this newe plantinge they mighte be drawen more south-westerly, where the speciall fisshing places are, bothe for plentie and greateness of fishe; and beinge oute of daunger and ympedimente of yse, they mighte fishe there safely the greatest parte of the yere, and by their nereness unto our fortes there, builte aboute Cape Briton, they mighte yelde succour unto them, and likewise by their neighbourhoode be themselves in more securitie.
The other kind is called flake yse, blue, very hard and thinne not aboue three fadomes thick at the farthest, and this kinde of yse bordreth close vpon the shore.
And it behovethe to the Cristene men, that schulle werre azen hem every zeer, to bere here vitaylles with hem: for thei schulle fynde there no good. And than most thei let carye here vitaylle upon the yse, with carres that have no wheeles, that thei clepen scleyes. And als longe as here vitaylles lasten, thei may abide there, but no longer.
The inhabitantes of Moscouia, Lapland, Swethland, Norway and Tartaria omit not to trauel for their commodity: in the deepest of winter, passing by sleades ouer the yse and congealed snowe being made very slipperie and compact like yse by reason of much wearing and trading, hauing the vse of a kind of stag by them called Reen to drawe those their sleades.
And myselfe likewise howe coulde I haue sayled to the septentrionall latitude of seuentie fiue degrees, being nine degrees within the frozen zone, betweene two lands where the sea was straightened not fortie leages broade in some places, and thereby restrained from the violent motion and set of the maine occian and yet founde the same Nauigable and free from yse not onely in the midst of the chanell, but also close aborde the estern shore by me name Desolation, and therefore what neede the repetition of authorities from writers, or wrested philosophical reasons, when playne experience maketh the matter so manifest, and yet I deny not but that I haue seene in some part of those seas, tow sortes of yse, in very great quantity, as a kind of yse by seamen name ylands of yse, being very high aboue the water, fortie and fiftie fadomes by estimation and higher, and euery of those haue beene seuen times as much vnder the water, which I haue proued by taking a peece of yse and haue put the same in a vessell of salt water, and still haue found the seuenth part thereof to bee aboue the water, into what forme soeuer I haue reduced the same, and this kind of yse is nothing but snow, which falleth in those great peeces, from the high mountains bordering close vpon the shore depe seas.
The passage is to be perfourmed at all times of the yere, and in that respecte passeth our trades in the Levant Seas within the Straites of Juberalter, and the trades in the seas within the Kinge of Denmarkes Straite, and the trades to the portes of Norwey and of Russia, &c.; for as in the south weste Straite there is no passage in somer by lacke of windes, so within the other places there is no passage in winter by yse and extreme colde.
For no man may passe be that weye godely, but in time of wyntir, for the perilous watres, and wykkede mareyes that ben in tho contrees; that no man may passe, but zif it be strong frost, and snowe aboven. For zif the snow ne were, men myght not gon upon the yse, ne hors ne carre nouther. And it is wel a 3 journeys of suche weye, to passe from Prusse to the lond of Sarazin habitable.
Wherefore if in winter where is aboundance of yse and snowe the ayre is so sufferable, as that traueling and hunting may be exercised how much rather may wee iudge the seas to be Nauigable, and that in the deepest of winter, where there is neither yse nor snow that may yeld any such damps or cold breathings to the anoiance of such as shall take these interprises in hand.
When they buy any maydes or yong women, they yse to fede them in all partes, as with vs men doe horses: when one hath bought a yong woman, if he like her, be will keepe her for his owne vse as long as him listeth, and then selleth her to an other, who doth the like with her. So that one woman is sometimes sold in the space of foure or fiue yeeres, twelue, or twentie times.
Which if it be so, that the nature of cold can congeale the seas, it is very likely that his first working power, beginneth vpon the vpper face of the waters, and so descending worketh his effect, which if it were, howe then commeth it to passe that shippes sayle by the North cape, to Saint Nicholas fiue degrees or more within the frozen zone, and finde the seas from pester of yse, the farther from the shore the clearer from yse.
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