Ohthere told his lord, King Alfred, that he dwelt the farthest north of
all the Northmen. He said that he lived in the northern part of the land
toward the West Sea. He reported, however, that the land extended very
_5_ far north thence; but that it was all waste, except in a few places
here and there where the Finns dwell, engaged in hunting in winter and
sea fishing in summer. He said that on one occasion he wished to find out
how far the land lay northward, or whether any man inhabited _10_ the
waste land to the north. Then he fared northward to the land; for three
days there was waste land on his starboard and the wide sea on his
larboard. Then he had come as far north as the whale hunters ever go.
Whereupon, he journeyed still northward as far as he _15_ could in three
days sailing. At that place the land bent to the east--or the sea in on
the land, he knew not which; but he knew that there he waited for a west
wind, or somewhat from the northwest, and then sailed east, near the
land, as far as he could in four days. There he had to _20_ wait for a
wind from due north, since there the land bent due south--or the sea in
on the land, he knew not which. From there he sailed due south, close in
to the land, as far as he could in five days. At this point a large river
extended up into the land. They then followed _25_ this river, for they
dared not sail beyond it because of their fear of hostile reception, the
land being all inhabited on the other side of the river. He had not found
any inhabited land since leaving his own home; for the land to the right
was not inhabited all _30_ the way, except by fishermen, fowlers, and
hunters, and these were all Finns; to the left there was always open sea.
The Permians had cultivated their soil very well, but they dared not
enter upon it. The land of the Terfinns was all waste, except where
hunters, fishers, or _35_ fowlers dwelt.
The Permians told him many tales both about their own country and about
surrounding countries, but he knew not how much was true, for he did not
behold it for himself. The Finns and Permians, it appeared to him, _40_
spoke almost the same language. He went hither on this voyage not only
for the purpose of seeing the country, but mainly for walruses, for they
have exceedingly good bone in their teeth--they brought some of the teeth
to the king--and their hides are very good for _45_ ship-ropes. This
whale is much smaller than other whales; it is not more than seven ells
long; but the best whale-fishing is in his own country--those are eight
and forty ells long, and the largest are fifty ells long. He said that he
was one of a company of six who killed _50_ sixty of these in two days.
Ohthere was a very rich man in such possessions as make up their wealth,
that is, in wild beasts. At the time when he came to the king, he still
had six hundred tame deer that he had not sold. The men call these _55_
reindeer. Six of these were decoy-reindeer, which are very valuable among
the Finns, for it is with them that the Finns trap the wild reindeer. He
was among the first men in the land, although he had not more than twenty
cattle, twenty sheep, and twenty swine, and the _60_ little that he
plowed he plowed with horses. Their income, however, is mainly in the
tribute that the Finns pay them--animals' skins, birds' feathers,
whalebone, and ship-ropes made of the hide of whale and the hide of seal.
Every one contributes in proportion to his _65_ means; the richest must
pay fifteen marten skins and five reindeer skins; one bear skin, forty
bushels of feathers, a bear-skin or otter-skin girdle, and two
ship-ropes, each sixty ells long, one made of the hide of the whale and
the other of the hide of the seal.
_70_ He reported that the land of the Northmen was very long and very
narrow. All that man can use for either grazing or plowing lies near the
sea, and even that is very rocky in some places; and to the east,
alongside the inhabited land, lie wild moors. The Finns live _75_ in
these waste lands. And the inhabited land is broadest to the eastward,
becoming always narrower the farther north one goes. To the east it may
be sixty miles broad, or even a little broader; and in the middle thirty
or broader; and to the north, where it was narrowest, _80_ he said that
it might be three miles broad to the moor. Moreover the moor is so broad
in some places that it would take a man two weeks to cross it. In other
places it was of such a breadth that a man can cross it in six days.
_85_ Then there is alongside that land southward, on the other side of
the moor, Sweden, as far as the land to the north; and alongside the land
northward, the land of the Cwens (Finns). The Finns plunder the Northmen
over the moor sometimes and sometimes the Northmen _90_ plunder them. And
there are very many fresh lakes out over the moor; and the Finns bear
their ships over the land to these lakes and then ravage the Northmen;
they have very small and very light ships.
Ohthere said that the place was called Halgoland, in _95_ which he dwelt.
He said that no man lived north of him. There is one port in the southern
part of the land which is called Sciringesheal. Thither he said that one
might not sail in one month, if he encamped by night and had good wind
all day; and all the while he should sail _100_ close to land. And on the
starboard he has first Ireland, and then the island that is between
Ireland and this land. Then he has this land till he comes to
Sciringesheal, and all the way he has Norway on the larboard. To the
south of Sciringesheal the sea comes far up into _105_ the land; the sea
is so broad that no man may see across. And Jutland is in the opposite
direction, and after that is Zealand. The sea runs many hundred miles up
in on that land.
And from Sciringesheal he said that he sailed in five _110_ days to that
port that is called Haddeby; it lies between the country of the Wends and
the Saxons and the Angles, and belongs to the Danes. When he sailed away
from Sciringesheal for three days, he had Denmark on the larboard and the
wide sea on his starboard; and then, _115_ two days before he reached
Haddeby, he had Jutland on his starboard and also Zealand and many
islands. In that land had dwelt the English before they came hither to
this land. And then for two days he had on his larboard the islands which
belong to Denmark.