_120_ Wulfstan said that he set out from Haddeby, and that he arrived
after seven days and nights at Truso, the ship being all the way under
full sail. He had Wendland (Mecklenburg and Pomerania) on the starboard,
and Langland, Laaland, Falster, and Sconey on _125_ the larboard; and all
these lands belong to Denmark. And then we had on our larboard the land
of the Burgundians (Bornholmians), and they have their own king. Beyond
the land of the Burgundians we had on our left those lands that were
first called Blekinge, and _130_ Meore, and Oland, and Gothland; these
lands belong to the Swedes. To the starboard we had all the way the
country of the Wends, as far as the mouth of the Vistula. The Vistula is
a very large river, and it separates Witland from Wendland; and Witland
belongs to the _135_ Esthonians. The Vistula flows out of Wendland, and
runs into the Frische Haff. The Frische Haff is about fifteen miles
broad. Then the Elbing empties into the Frische Haff, flowing from the
east out of the lake on the shore of which Truso stands; and there they
empty _140_ together into the Frische Haff, the Elbing from the east,
which flows out of Esthonia, and the Vistula from the south, out of
Wendland. The Vistula then gives its name to the Elbing, and runs out of
the mere west and north into the sea; hence it is called the mouth of the
_145_ Vistula.
Esthonia is very large, and there are many towns there, and in every town
there is a king. There is also very much honey, and fishing. The king and
the richest men drink mare's milk, but the poor men and the slaves _150_
drink mead. There is much strife among them. There is no ale brewed by
the Esthonians; there is, however, plenty of mead. And there is a custom
among the Esthonians that when a man dies he lies unburied in his house,
with his kindred and friends, for a month--sometimes _155_ two; and the
kings and most powerful men still longer, in proportion to their riches;
it is sometimes half a year that they stay unburnt, lying above ground,
in their own houses. All the time that the body is within, drinking and
merry-making continue until _160_ the day that he is burned. The same day
on which they are to bear him to the funeral-pyre they divide his
possessions, whatever may be left after the drinking and pleasures, into
five or six parts--sometimes into more, in proportion to the amount of
his goods. Then they _165_ place the largest share about a mile from the
town, then the second, then the third, until it is all laid within the
one mile; and the smallest portion must be nearest the town in which the
dead man lies. Then there are gathered together all of the men in the
land that have _170_ the swiftest horses, about six or seven miles from
the goods. Then they all run toward the possessions, and the one who has
the swiftest horse comes to the first and largest part, and so one after
another till all is taken up; and the man who arrives at the goods
nearest the _175_ town obtains the smallest part. Then each man rides his
way with the property, and he may keep it all; and for this reason fast
horses are very dear in that country. When the property is thus all
spent, they bear him out and burn him along with his weapons and his
raiment. _180_ And generally they spend all his wealth, with the long
time that the corpse lies within and with the goods that they lay along
the roads, and that the strangers run for and bear off with them. Again,
it is a custom with the Esthonians to burn men of every tribe, _185_ and
if any one finds a bone which is unburned he has to make amends for it.
And there is one tribe among the Esthonians that has the power of making
cold, and it is because they put this cold upon them that the corpses lie
so long and do not decay. And if a man _190_ places two vessels full of
ale or water, they cause both to be frozen over, whether it is summer or
winter.