Note 55 — INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EDITION.

By writings receiued from thee, as also by reports, wee vnderstand thou wouldest have us seeke out the mouth of the riuer Ob; which we are content to doe, and thou must giue therefore fiftie rubbles: it is requisite to goe to seeke it out with two cochimaes or companies,55 and each cochima must haue ten men; and wee must goe by the riuer Pechora vpwards in the spring, by the side of the ice, as the ice swimmeth in the riuer, which will aske a fortnights time; and then we must fall into Ouson riuer, and fall downe with the streame before we come to Ob, a day and a night in the spring. Then it will hold vs eight dayes to swimme downe the riuer Ob, before we come to the mouth: therefore send vs a man that can write; and assure thy selfe the mouth of Ob is deepe. On the Russe side of Ob soiourne Samoeds, called Vgorskai and Sibierskie Samoeds; and on the other side dwel another kind of Samoeds, called Monganet or Mongaseisky Samoeds. We must passe by fiue castles that stand on the riuer of Ob. The name of the first is Tesuoi-gorodok, which standeth vpon the mouth of the riuer Padou. The second small castle is Nosoro-gorodock, and it standeth hard vpon the side of Ob. The third is called Necheiour­goskoy. The fourth is Charedmada. The fift is Nadesneàa, that is to say, the castle of Comfort or Trust,56 and it standeth vpon the riuer Ob, lowermost of all the former castles toward the sea.