have the arm of that sea to their west and Swedes
to the north. East of them are the Sermende and to
_
their south the Surfe. The Swedes have south of
them the arm of the Ostse and to their east the
Sermende and to their north beyond the uninhabited
land is Cwenland. Northwest of them are
_ the Scridefinne and west are the Notwegians.
Ohthere’s Account
Ohthere told his lord, King Alfred, that he lived
the furthest north of all Norwegians. He said that
he lived in the north of Norwayon the coast of the
Atlantic. He also said that the land extends very
far north beyond that point, but it is all
uninhabited, except for a few places here and
there where the Finnas have their camps, hunting
in winter, and in summer fishing in the sea.
He told how he once wished to find out how far
the land extended due north, or whether anyone
lived to the north of the unpopulated area. He
went due north along the coast, keeping. the
uninhabited Jand to starboard and the open sea to
port continuously fot three days. He was then as
’ far north as the whale hunters go at their furthest.
He then continued due north as far as he could
reach in the second three days. There the land
turned due east, or the sea penetrated the Jand he
did not know which - but he knewthat he waited
there for a west-north-west wind, and then sailed
east along the coast as far as he could sail in four
days. There he had to wait for a due northern
wind, because there the land turned due south, or
the sea penetrated the land he did not know
which, Then from there he sailed due south along
the coast as far as he could sail in fivé days. A
great river went up into the land there. They
turned up into the river, not daring to sail beyond
it without permission, since the land on the far
side of the river was fully settled. He had-not
previously come across any settled district since
he left his own home, but had, the whole way,
land to starboard that was uninhabited apart from
fishers and bird-catchers and hunters, and they :
_ were all Finnas. To port he always had the open
sea. The Beormas had extensive settlements in
their country but the Norwegians did not dare to
venture there. But the land of the Jerftnnas was ~
totally uninhabited except where hunters made
camp, or fishermen or bird-catchers.
The Beormas told him many stories both about
their own country and about the lands which
surrounded them, but he did not know how
much ofit was true because he had not seenit for
himself. It seemed to him that the Finnas and the
Beormas spoke almost the same language. His
main-reason for going there, apart from exploring
the Jand, was for the walruses, because they havevery fine ivory in their tusks — they brought some
of these tusks to the king — and their hide is very--
good for ship-ropes. This whale [i.e. walrus] is
much smaller than other whales; it is no more
than seven ells long. The best whale-hunting isin
his own country; those are forty-eight ells long,
the biggest fifty ells long; of these he said that he,
-one of six, killed sixty in two days.
Hewas a very rich man in those possessions
.
which their riches consist of, that is in wild deer.
He had still, when he came to see the king, six
hundred unsold tame deer. These deer they call
‘reindeer’. Six of these were decoy-reindeer.
These are very valuable among the Finnas
because they use them to catch the wild reindeer.
He was among the chief men in that country, but
he had not more than twenty cattle, twenty sheep
and twenty pigs, and the little that he ploughed
he ploughed with horses. Their wealth, however,
is mostly in the tribute which the Finnas pay
them. That tribute consists of the skins of beasts,
the feathers of birds, whale-bone, and ship-ropes
made from whale-hide and sealskin. Each pays
according to his rank. The highest in rank has to
pay fifteen marten skins, five reindeer skins, one
bear skin and ten measures of feathers, and a
jacket of bearskin or otterskin and two shipropes.
Each of these must be sixtyells long, one
made from whale-hide the other from seal.
He said that the land of the Norwegians is very
long and narrow. Al! of it that can be used for
grazing or ploughing lies along the coast and even
that is in some places very rocky. Wild mountains
‘lie to the east, above and alongside the cultivated
land. In these mountains live the Finnas. The
cultivated land is broadest in the south, and the
further north it goes the narrower it becomes. In
the south it is perhaps sixty miles broad ora little
broader; and in the middle, thirty or broader;
and to the north, he said, where it is narrowest, it
might bé three miles across to the mountains.
The mountains beyond are in some places of a
width that takes two weeks to cross, in others ofa
width that can be crossed in six days.
Beyond the mountains Sweden borders the
southern part of the land as far as the north, and
the country ofthe Cwenas borders the land in the
north. Sometimes the Cwenas make raids on the
Norwegians across the mountains, and sometimes
the Norwegians make raids on them. There ~
are very large fresh-water lakes throughout these
mountains, and the Cwenas carry their boats
overland onto the lakes and from there make
raids on the Norwegians. They have very small,
very light boats. ‘
Ohthere said that the district where he lived is
called Halgoland. He said no-one lived to the
north of him. In the south part of Norway thereis
a trading-town which is called Sciringes heal. He
said that a man could scarcely sail there in a
month, assuming he made camp at night, and
each day had a favourable wind. He would sail by
the coast the whole way. To starboard isfirst of all
Traland and then those islands which are between
Traland and this land, and then this land until he
comes to Sciringes heal, and Norway is on the port
side the whole way. To the south of Sciringes heala
great sea penetrates the land; it is too wide to see --
across. Jutland is on the far side and after that
Sillende. This sea flows into the land for many
hundred miles.
’ From Sciringes heal he said that he sailedin five
_
days to the trading-town called Hedeby, which is
situated among Wends, Saxons and Angles and
belongs.to the Danes: When he sailed there from
Sciringes heal he had Denmark to port and the
open sea to starboard for three days. Then two
days before he arrived at Hedebyhe had Jutland
and Sillende and many islands to starboard. The
Angles lived in these districts before they came to
this land. On the port side he had, for two days,
those islands which belong to Denmark.

Wulfstan said that he travelled from Hedeby,
arriving in Truso after seven days and nights, the
boat running under sail the whole way. To
starboard he had Wendland, to port Langeland,
Lolland, Falster and Skane. All these lands
belong to Denmark. ‘Then we had Bornholm to port, where the
people have their own king. Then after Bornholm
we had on our port side the lands which are called
Blekinge, Mére, Oland and Gotland, and these
lands’ belong to the Swedes. Wendland was to
starboard the whole of the way to the mouth of
the Vistula.” This Vistula is a very large river
which separates Witland and Wendland. Witland
belongs to the Este. The Vistula’ flows out of
Wendland into Estmere which is at least fifteen
miles wide. The Elbing flows into Estmere from
the lake on the shore of which Truso stands, and
they flow together into Estmere, the Elbing west
from Estland and the Vistula north from Wendland.
Then the Vistula deprives the Elbing of its
name — for the estuary is known as the Vistula
estuary — and flows from Estmere northwest into
the sea.
This Estland is very large and has many
fortified settlements, and in each of these there is
aking. There is a great deal of honey and fishing.
The king and the most powerful men drink
mare’s milk, the poor men and the slaves drink
mead. There is very much strife among them.
Thereis no ale brewed among the Este but there ,
is plenty of mead. There is a custom among the -
Este that after a man’s death he lies indoors
uncremated among his relatives and friends fora
month, sometimes two. The kings and other
high-ranking men remain uncremated sometimes
for half a year — the more wealth they have the
longer they lie above ground in their houses. All
the time that the corpse lies indoors it is the
custom for there to be drinking and gambling
until the day on which they cremate it. On the.
very day on which they intend to carry the dead
man to the pyre, they divide his property —
- whatever is left of it after the drinking and
’ gambling — into five or six portions, sometimes
more, depending on how much there is. They
" place the biggest portion about amile from the :
. settlement, then the second, then the third, until:
it is all distributed within the mile, so that the
smallest portion is closest to the place where the
dead man lies. All the men who have the swiftest
horses in the country are assembled at a point
about five or six miles from the property, and
then they all gallop towards it. The man who has
the fastest horse comes to the first portion (which
is also the largest) and then one after another until
it has all been taken. He has the smallest portion
who gets from his ride the one nearest to the
settlement. Then each of them rides on his way
with the property and ts allowed to keep itall. For
this reason good horses are extremely valuable
there. When the man’s treasures have all been
spent in this way, then he is carried out and
burned up with his weapons and clothes. They
use up most of the dead man’s wealth with what
they squander during the long period of his lying
in the house, and with what they put by the
wayside which strangers ride up to and take. It is
the custom among the Este that the men of each
tribe are cremated, and if one bone is found not
completely burned, heavy compensation must be
paid.Thereisa tribe among the Esve that knows how
to cause cold, and this is why the.dead men there
hie so long and do not rot, because they keep them
cold. If two containers are put out full of beer or
water, they can cause one of the twoto be frozen
over whether it is summer or winter.
wr.