Part 12

“The Biarmians told him many stories, both about their own land and about the other countries around them; but Ohthere knew not how much truth there was in them, because he had not an opportunity of seeing with his own eyes. It seemed, however, to him, that the Finlanders and the Biarmians spoke nearly the same language. The principal object of his voyage, indeed, was already gained; which was, to increase the discovery of the land, and on account of the horse-whales, because they have very beautiful bone in their teeth, some of which they brought to the king, and their hides are good for ship-ropes. This sort of whale is much less than the other kinds, it is not longer commonly than seven ells: but in his own country (Ohthere says) is the best whale-hunting; there the whales are eight and forty ells long, and the largest fifty; of these, he said, he once killed (six in company) sixty in two days. He was a very rich man in the possession of those animals, in which their principal wealth consists, namely, such as are naturally wild. He had then, when he came to seek King Alfred, six hundred deer, all tamed by himself, and not purchased. They call them reindeer. Of these six were stall-reins, or decoy deer, which are very valuable amongst the Finlanders, because they catch the wild deer with them.

“Ohthere himself was amongst the first men in the land, though he had not more than twenty rother-beasts, twenty sheep, and twenty swine; and what little he ploughed, he ploughed with horses. The annual revenue of these people consists chiefly in a certain tribute which the Finlanders yield them. This tribute is derived from the skins of animals, feathers of various birds, whalebone, and ship-ropes, which are made of whales’ hides and of seals. Everyone pays according to his substance; the wealthiest man amongst them pays only the skins of fifteen marterns, five reindeer skins, one bear’s skin, ten bushels of feathers, a cloak of bear’s or otter’s skin, two ship-ropes (each sixty ells long), one made of whale’s and the other of seal’s skin.

“Ohthere moreover said that the land of the Northmen was very long and very narrow; all that is fit either for pasture or ploughing lies along the sea coast, which, however, is in some parts very cloddy; along the eastern side are wild moors, extending a long way up parallel to the cultivated land. The Finlanders inhabit these moors, and the cultivated land is broadest to the eastward; and, altogether, the more northward it lies, the more narrow it is. Eastward it may perhaps be sixty miles broad, in some places broader; about the middle, thirty miles, or somewhat more; and northward, Ohthere says (where it is narrowest), it may be only three miles across from the sea to the moors, which, however, are in some parts so wide, that a man could scarcely pass over them in two weeks, though in other parts perhaps in six days. Then parallel with this land southward is Sweoland, on the other side of the moors, extending quite to the northward; and running even with the northern part of it is Cwenaland. The Cwenas sometimes make incursions against the Northmen over these moors, and sometimes the Northmen on them; there are very large meres of fresh water beyond the moors, and the Cwenas carry their ships overland into the meres, whence they make depredations on the Northmen; they have ships that are very small and very light.

“Ohthere said that the shire which he inhabited is called Halgoland. He says that no human being abode in any fixed habitation to the north of him. There is a port to the south of this land, which is called Sciringes-heal. Thither he said that a man could not sail in a month, if he watched in the night, and every day had a fair wind; and all the while he shall sail along the coast; and on his right hand first is Island, and then the islands which are between Island and this land. Then this land continues quite to Sciringes-heal; and all the way on the left is Norway. To the south of Sciringes-heal a great sea runs up a vast way into the country, and is so wide that no man can see across it. (Jutland is opposite on the other side, and then Sealand.) This sea lies many hundred miles up into the land. Ohthere further says that he sailed in five days from Sciringes-heal to that port which men call Æt-Hæthum, which stands between the Winedæ, the Saxons, and the Angles, and is subject to the Danes.

“When Ohthere sailed to this place from Sciringes-heal, Denmark was on his left, and on his right the wide sea, for three days; and for the two days before he came to Hæthum, on his right hand was Jutland, Sealand, and many islands; all which lands were inhabited by the English, before they came hither; and for these two days the islands which are subject to Denmark were on his left.”

“Wulfstan said that he went from Heathum to Truso in seven days and nights, and that the ship was running under sail all the way. Weonodland was on his right, and Langland, Læland, Falster, and Sconey, on his left, all which land is subject to Denmark. “Then on our left we had the land of the Burgundians, who have a king to themselves. Then, after the land of the Burgundians, we had on our left the lands that have been called from the earliest times Blekingey, and Meore, and Eowland, and Gotland, all which territory is subject to the Sweons; and Weonodland was all the way on our right, as far as Weissel-mouth. The Weissel is a very large river, and near it lie Witland and Weonodland. Witland belongs to the people of Eastland; and out of Weonodland flows the river Weissel, which empties itself afterwards into Estmere. This lake, called Estmere, is about fifteen miles broad. Then runs the Ilfing east (of the Weissel) into Estmere, from that lake on the banks of which stands Truso. These two rivers come out together into Estmere, the Ilfing east from Eastland, and the Weissel south from Weonodland. Then the Weissel deprives the Ilfing of its name, and, flowing from the west part of the lake, at length empties itself northward into the sea, whence this point is called the Weissel-mouth. This country called Eastland is very extensive, and there are in it many towns, and in every town is a king. There is a great quantity of honey and fish; and even the king and the richest men drink mare’s milk, whilst the poor and the slaves drink mead. There is a vast deal of war and contention amongst the different tribes of this nation. There is no ale brewed amongst the Estonians, but they have mead in profusion.

“There is also this custom with the Estonians, that when anyone dies the corpse continues unburnt with the relations and friends for at least a month, sometimes two; and the bodies of kings and illustrious men, according to their respective wealth, lie sometimes even for half a year before the corpse is burned, and the body continues above ground in the house, during which time drinking and sports are prolonged till the day on which the body is consumed. Then, when it is carried to the funeral pile, the substance of the deceased, which remains after these drinking festivities and sports, is divided into five or six heaps; sometimes into more, according to the proportion of what he happens to be worth. These heaps are so disposed that the largest heap shall be about one mile from the town; and so gradually the smaller at lesser intervals, till all the wealth is divided, so that the least heap shall be nearest the town where the corpse lies.

“Then all those are to be summoned together who have the fleetest horses in the land, for a wager of skill, within the distance of five or six miles from these heaps; and they all ride a race toward the substance of the deceased. Then comes the man that has the winning horse toward the first and largest heap, and so each after other, till the whole is seized upon. He procures, however, the least heap who takes that which is nearest the town; and then everyone rides away with his share, and keeps the whole of it. On account of this custom fleet horses in that country are wonderfully dear. When the wealth of the deceased has been thus exhausted, then they carry out his corpse from the house and burn it, together with his weapons and clothes; and generally they spend his whole substance by the long continuance of the body within the house, together with what they lay in heaps along the road, which the strangers run for, and take away.

“It is also an established custom with the Estonians that the dead bodies of every tribe or family shall be burned, and if any man findeth a single bone unconsumed, they shall be fined to a considerable amount. These Estonians also have the power of producing artificial cold; and it is thus the dead body continues so long above ground without putrefying, on which they produce this artificial cold; and, though a man should set two vessels full of ale or of water, they contrive that either shall be completely frozen over; and this equally the same in the summer as in the winter.”

Now will we speak about those parts of Europe that lie to the south of the river Danube; and first of all, concerning Greece. The sea which flows along the eastern side of Constantinople (a Grecian city) is called Propontis. To the north of this Grecian city an arm of the sea shoots up westward from the Euxine; and to the west by north the mouths of the river Danube empty themselves south-east into the Euxine. To the south and west of these mouths are the Moessians, a tribe of Greeks; to the west of the city are the Thracians; and to the west also are the Macedonians. To the south of this city, towards the southern part of that arm of the sea which is called the Egean, Athens and Corinth are situated. And to the west by south of Corinth is the land of Achaia, near the Mediterranean. To the west of Achaia, along the Mediterranean, is Dalmatia, on the north side of the sea; to the north of Dalmatia are the boundaries of Bulgaria and Istria. To the south of Istria is that part of the Mediterranean which is called the Adriatic; to the west are the Alps; and to the north that desert which is between the Carinthians and the Bulgarians.

Italy, which is of great length west by north, and also east by south, is surrounded by the Mediterranean on every side but towards the west-north. At that end of it lie the Alps, which begin westward from the Mediterranean, in the Narbonense country, and end eastward in Dalmatia, near the [Adriatic] sea.

With respect to the territory called Gallia Belgica, to the east of it is the river Rine, to the south the Alps, to the west by south the sea called the British Ocean, and to the north, on the other side of the arm of the ocean, is Britannia. The land to the west of the river Loire is Æquitania; to the south of Æquitania is some part of the Narbonense; to the west by south is the territory of Spain; and to the south the ocean. To the south of the Narbonense is the Mediterranean, where the Rone empties itself into the sea, having Provençe both on the east and west. Over the Pyrenean wastes is Ispania citerior, to the west of which, by north, is Æquitania, and the province of Gascony to the north. Provençe has to the north of it the Alps; to the south of it is the Mediterranean; to the north-east of it are the Burgundians; and the people of Gascony to the west.

Spain is triangular, and entirely guarded on the outside by the sea, either by the great ocean or by the Mediterranean, and also well guarded within over the land. One of the angles lies south-west against the island of Gades, the second eastward against the Narbonense territory, and the third north-west against Braganza, a town of Gallicia. And against Scotland (i.e., Ireland), over the arm of the sea, in a straight line with the mouth of the Shannon, is Ispania ulterior. To the west of it is the ocean; and to the south and east of it, northward of the Mediterranean, is Ispania citerior; to the north of which are the lands of Equitania; to the north-east is the weald of the Pyrenees, to the east the Narbonense, and to the south the Mediterranean.

With regard to the island Britannia, it is of considerable length to the north-east, being eight hundred miles long and only two hundred miles broad. To the south of it, on the other side of the arm of the sea, is Gallia Belgica; to the west, on the other side of an arm of the sea, is the island Ibernia, and to the northward the Orkney Isles. Igbernia, which we call Scotland, is surrounded on every side with the ocean; and hence, because the rays of the setting sun strike on it with less interruption than on other countries, the weather is milder there than it is in Britain. Thence, to the west-north of Ibernia, is that utmost land called Thila, which is known to a few men only, on account of its exceeding great distance.

Thus have we now sufficiently described all the landmarks of Europe, according to their respective situations.

ELEGIAC VERSES BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

In Memory of a Brother Drowned at Sea.

TO THE DAISY.

Sweet Flower! belike one day to have A place upon thy poet’s grave, I welcome thee once more: But He, who was on land, at sea, My Brother, too, in loving thee, Although he loved more silently, Sleeps by his native shore.

Ah! hopeful, hopeful was the day When to that ship he bent his way, To govern and to guide: His wish was gained: a little time Would bring him back in manhood’s prime And free for life, these hills to climb; With all his wants supplied.

And full of hope day followed day While that stout Ship at anchor lay Beside the shores of Wight; The May had then made all things green; And, floating there, in pomp serene, That Ship was goodly to be seen, His pride and his delight!

Yet then, when called ashore, he sought The tender peace of rural thought: In more than happy mood To your abodes, bright daisy Flowers! He then would steal at leisure hours, And loved you glittering in your bowers, A starry multitude.

But hark the word!—the ship is gone;— Returns from her long course:—anon Sets sail:—in season due, Once more on English earth they stand: But, when a third time from the land They parted, sorrow was at hand For Him and for his crew.

Ill-fated Vessel?—ghastly shock! —At length delivered from the rock, The deep she hath regained; And through the stormy night they steer; Labouring for life, in hope and fear, To reach a safer shore—how near, Yet not to be attained!

“Silence!” the brave Commander cried; To that calm word a shriek replied, It was the last death-shriek. —A few (my soul oft sees that sight) Survive upon the tall mast’s height; But one dear remnant of the night— For Him in vain I seek.

Six weeks beneath the moving sea He lay in slumber quietly; Unforced by wind or wave To quit the Ship for which he died, (All claims of duty satisfied); And there they found him at her side; And bore him to the grave.

Vain service! yet not vainly done For this, if other end were none, That He, who had been cast Upon a way of life unmeet For such a gentle Soul and sweet, Should find an undisturbed retreat Near what he loved, at last—

That neighbourhood of grove and field To Him a resting-place should yield, A meek man and a brave! The birds shall sing and ocean make A mournful murmur for his sake; And Thou, sweet Flower, shalt sleep and wake Upon his senseless grave.