On our way back Bichri wounded a gigantic stag, which Chamai succeeded in killing by stabbing it just below the shoulder-blade. It was of a kind which Gisgo said was not often seen by the Celts, and he called it an elenn or eland. Elenns are considerably larger than horses, and as a general rule feed upon the lower branches of trees, their necks being so short and rigid that unless they can graze upon soft soil into which they can sink nearly to their knees, they cannot get their heads down sufficiently low to reach the grass; they have very formidable antlers, which do not stand high, but branch out very wide on both sides; their strength is enormous, and, unlike the rest of the deer tribe, they do not exhibit terror when attacked, but boldly front the hunter. They are consequently animals which it is by no means prudent to assail in close quarters, as we subsequently learnt by our own experience.
Hamilcar returned, bringing a fair supply of amber that he had collected along the coast.
We remained in our quarters here for more than a fortnight, spending our time in gathering amber, and subsisting upon whatever renns, elenns, or wild bulls we were able to kill.
The poor fellow who had been killed was buried where he had fallen. Over his grave was placed a stone engraved with his name and an invocation to the gods.
CHAPTER XVII.
JONO, THE GOD OF THE SUOMI.
After sixteen days' sojourn, finding the amber beginning to run short, and the game getting very wild, I resolved to proceed, and sailed eastwards for five days, until the lack of provisions, no less than the desire of exploring, induced me to enter the mouth of the great river we had previously seen. The aspect of the place was scarcely more inviting than where we had landed before, but we hauled up our ships, and made an encampment as near to them as we could.
On setting out next morning to explore, we had proceeded but a little way before we came upon traces proving beyond a question that human beings had been in the neighbourhood quite recently. We entered nearly a dozen of the conical huts that we came to, in one of them finding a fire still burning, and in several of the others a variety of arms and implements, consisting of weapons made of polished stone, hatchets, and some copper caldrons. Examining them with greater minuteness, we ascertained that the huts had been abandoned in great haste; not only were there fragments of partially-consumed meat and fish, but one of the litters of reeds covered with moss was still warm from being lately occupied. I felt convinced that the natives must have evacuated their tenements in alarm at our approach, and suspecting that they were still lurking about, I ordered some red cloth, some beads, some bracelets and necklaces, and other things which I thought might attract their interest, to be displayed in one of the most spacious of the huts. I next made my people retire about three hundred paces, and waited to see the result of my device.
Before long the savages returned, and seeing us stand quietly, without any apparent wish to molest them, they allowed themselves to be seen, and came nearer to us. I took Gisgo and advanced to meet them; but when he addressed them in the Celtic tongue, I found that they did not understand a word he said, but replied in a language that neither of us had ever heard before. Pointing first to a neighbouring marsh, they cried, "Suom, Suom," and then pointing to their own breasts, they said, "Suomi, Suomi," from which I conjectured that they called a marsh "suom," and that they were themselves "people of the marshes." When they showed us their stone weapons, they pointed to the north-east and said "Gothi;" and what struck me as remarkable, they used the same word when they spoke of their articles of Tibarenian bronze. I had never before heard of a people of that name, but could not help wondering whether these "Gothi" could by any possibility be Caucasians.