'  Ibid.,  p.  446.
THE    FIRST    EDITION.  lxXVli

sequently  what  its  signification.  As  to  the  designation  by
which  that  island  is  generally  known,  Witsen  states,  though
without  further  explanation,  that  it  was  acquired  from  one
Iwan  or  Ian  Waigats  ;x  in  commenting  on  which  statement,
Liitke  says  that  the  name  should  propei'ly  be  written  Wai-
gatsch,  the  Russian  termination  tsch  having  been  changed
by  the  Dutch  into  tz,  in  the  same  way  as  in  Piteora  for
Tetschora,  etc."2  The  correctness  of  this  criticism  is,  how-
ever, questionable.  For,  long  before  the  Dutch  visited  or
knew  anything  of  these  parts,  we  find  Englishmen, — who
certainly  had  no  difficulty  in  pronouncing  the  sound  ch
(tscli),  which  is  common  to  our  language,  and  who  in  fact
always  wrote  Pechora  (Petschora),  and  not,  like  the  Dutch,
Yitzora, — invariably  writing  not  Vaigach  (Va.iga.tsch),  but
Vaigats  or  Vaygatz.  It  is  therefore  reasonable  to  conclude
that  Vaigats  is  the  original  pronunciation  of  the  name,  and
that  the  Russian  form  is  merely  a  corruption.
