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.
[100.] Ireland: Iceland is probably meant.
Wulfstan’s Voyage
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.
INDEX TO TITLES
PAGE [Account of the Poet Cædmon] 179 [Alfred’s Preface to His Translation of Gregory’s “Pastoral Care”] 183 [Badger, A] 51 [Battle of Brunnanburg, The] 159 [Battle of Maldon, The] 163 [Bede’s Death Song] 84 [Bible, A] 52 [Bookworm, A] 54 [Bow, A] 52 [Brunnanburg, The Battle of] 159 [Cædmon, Account of the Poet] 179 [Cædmon’s Hymn] 83 [Charm Against a Sudden Stitch] 42 [Charm for Bewitched Land] 38 [Christ, Selections from the] 95 [Conversion of Edwin, The] 187 [Crossing of the Red Sea, The] 90 [Deor’s Lament] 26 [Dough] 54 [Dream of the Rood, The] 108 [Edwin, The Conversion of] 187 [Elene, Selections from the] 103 [Exeter Gnomes] 56 [Exodus, Selections from] 90 [Fates of Men, The] 58 [Fight at Finnsburg, The] 34 [Finnsburg, The Fight at] 34 [Genesis, Selections from] 85 [Grave, The] 157 [Gregory’s “Pastoral Care,” Preface to] 183 [Horn, A] 50 [Husband’s Message, The] 75 [Isaac, The Offering of] 85 [Judith] 116 [Maldon, The Battle of] 163 [Nightingale, A] 49 [Offering of Isaac, The] 85 [Ohthere and Wulfstan, The Voyages of] 189 [“Pastoral Care,” Preface to] 183 [Phœnix, The] 132 [Reed, A] 54 [Riddles] 44 [I. Storm, A] 44 [II. Storm, A] 45 [III. Storm, A] 46 [V. Shield, A] 48 [VII. Swan, A] 49 [VIII. Nightingale, A ]49 [XIV. Horn, A] 50 [XV. Badger, A] 51 [XXIII. Bow, A] 52 [XXVI. Bible, A] 52 [XLV. Dough] 54 [XLVII. Bookworm, A] 54 [LX. Reed, A] 54 [Ruin, The] 78 [Seafarer, The] 68 [Shield, A] 48 [Storm, A] 44 [Storm, A] 45 [Storm, A] 46 [Swan, A] 49 [Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan, The] 189 [Waldhere] 29 [Widsith] 15 [Wife’s Lament, The] 72