In This Land He Found A Large River, At The Mouth Of Which He Lay To, As He
Could Not Proceed Much Farther, On Account Of The Inhabitants Being
Hostile.
All the land on one side of this river was inhabited, and
tolerably well cultivated, but he had not
Met with any inhabitants till
now, since he left his own country; the whole land on his right being a
desert, and without inhabitants, except the fishers, fowlers, and hunters,
before-mentioned, who were all Fins; and the open sea lay on his left hand
during his whole voyage. The Beormas [6], indeed, had well peopled their
country, for which reason he did not venture to enter upon it; and the land
of the Terfenna [7], which he had passed hitherto, was all a desert, with
the exception of the hunters and fishers already mentioned.
The Beormas told him many particulars about their land, and of the
neighbouring countries; but he could not rely on their accounts, as he had
no opportunity of seeing with his own eyes, but it seemed to him that the
Beormas and Fins spoke the same language [8]. Ohthere stated, that his
motive for this expedition, besides some little curiosity to explore these
countries, which were unknown to his countrymen, was principally in pursuit
of horse-whales [9], which are valuable, because their tusks are excellent
ivory, some of which he brought to the king, and because their hides serve
for making into ropes for ships. This species of the whale is much smaller
than the other kind, being seldom more than seven ells in length; while the
other species is often forty-eight ells long, and sometimes even fifty. In
this country was the best whale-fishing that Ohthere had ever seen, the
whales being so numerous, that he was one of six who killed threescore in
three days[10].
Ohthere was a very rich man in those things which are considered as
valuable in his country, and possessed, at the time when he came to the
king, six hundred tame deer, none of which he had bought; besides which, he
had six decoy deer, which are much in request among the Fins, as by means
of them, they are enabled to catch wild deer. Yet, though one of the
richest men in these parts, he had only twenty head of cattle, twenty
sheep, and twenty swine; and what little land he had in tillage was
ploughed by horses. The principal wealth of the Norman chiefs in that
country consisted in tribute exacted from the Fins; being paid in skins of
wild beasts, feathers, whalebone, cables and ropes for ships, made from the
hides of whales or seals. Every one pays in proportion to his substance:
the wealthiest paying the skins of fifteen martins, five rein-deer skins,
and one bear-skin, a coat or cloak made of bear-skin or otters skins, and
two cables or ship ropes of sixty ells long each, one of which is made of
whale hide, and the other from the skins of seals.
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