The voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan

Ohthere said to his lord, King Alfred, that he lived the furthest north of all Norwegians.

He said that he lived in the northern part of the land by the West Sea (ocean west of Norway).

He said though that the land continues very long to the north from there, but it is all uninhabited, except in a few places here and there Finns (i.e. Sami) camp, hunting in winter and in summer fishing by the sea.

He said that on one occasion he wanted to find out how far that land lay to the north, or whether anyone lived to the north of the wilderness.

Then he traveled north near the land.

The whole way he kept the empty land to his starboard and the open sea to his port side for three days; then he was as far north as the whale hunters travel at the farthest.

Then he traveled still northwards as far as he could sail in the next three days.

Then the land turned eastwards, or the sea turned into the land, he did not know which, but he knew that he waited there for wind from the west and a little from the north and then sailed east by land as far as he could sail in four days.

Then he had to wait there for a wind from due north, because the land turned south there, or the sea turned into the land, he did not know which.

Then he sailed southwards from there near land as far as he could sail in five days.

There a large river led up into the land.

Then they turned up into the river, because they did not dare sail forth by the river for fear of hostility, because the land was all settled on the other side of the river.

He had not encountered any settled land before since he traveled from his own home, but the whole way there there had been empty land to his starboard except for fishermen and fowlers and hunters, and they were all Finns, and open sea was always to his port side.

The Bjarmians (Permians?, Komi?) had very widely cultivated their land, but they (Ohthere and his crew) did not dare go there.

But the land of the Terfinns (Ter-Sami?) was all uninhabited, except where hunters camped, or fishermen or fowlers.

Many stories the Bjarmians told him both about their own land and about the lands that were around them, but he did not know how much was true, because he did not see it himself.

The Finns, it seemed to him, and the Bjarmians spoke almost the same language.

He traveled there mostly, in addition to the exploration of the land, for the walruses, because they have very fine bone in their teeth (the teeth they brought some of for the king), and their hide is very good for ships' ropes.

This whale is much smaller than other whales: it is not longer than 7 ells ($sim$14 feet) long.

But in his own land is the best whale hunting: those (whales) are 48 ells long and the biggest 50 ells long.

Of these (whales), he said that he as part of a crew of 6 (whalers) killed 60 in two days.

He was a very wealthy man in the possessions that their wealth is based on, which is wild beasts.

He still had, when he visited the king, 600 unsold tame animals.

Those animals they call reindeer; of these, 6 were decoy reindeer, which are very valuable to the Finns, because they catch the wild reindeer with them.

He was among the principal men in that land, though he did not have more than 20 cows and 20 sheep and 20 swine, and the little (land) that he ploughed, he ploughed with horses.

But their income is mostly from the tribute that the Finns pay to them.

The tribute consists of animal skins and bird feathers and whale bone and the ships' ropes that are made from whale and seal hides.

Each pays according to his rank.

The highest ranking have to pay 15 marten skins and 5 reindeer skins and 1 bear skin and 10 ambers (unit of measurement) of feathers and a bear-skin or otter-skin coat and 2 ships' ropes; each is 60 ells long: one is made from whale skin, and the other from seal skin.

He said that the Norwegians' land is very long and very narrow.

All that one can either graze or plow of it, that lies by the sea, and even that is very rocky in some places.

And wild moors lie to the east and above, along the settled land; in the moors live Finns.

And the settled land is widest to the east and the further north (one goes) the narrower (it becomes).

Eastward it can be 60 miles wide, or a little wider, and in the middle it can be 30 (miles) or wider.

And northward, he said, where it is narrowest, that it could be three miles wide to the moor, and the moor afterwards is as wide in some places as one can travel over in two weeks, and in some places as wide as one can travel over in six days.

Then along the southern part of the land (Norway), on the other side of the moor, is Sweden, until the northern part of the land; and along the northern part of the land is Cwen (Kven) land.

The Cwens sometimes raid the Norwegians across the moor, sometimes the Norwegians raid them.

And there are very large freshwater lakes throughout the moors, and the Cwens carry their ships over land to the lakes and from there raid the Norwegians; they have very small and very light ships.

Ohthere said that the district that he lived in is called Hålogaland.

He said that no one lived to the north of him.

Then in the south of the land is a port that one calls Skiringssal.

He said that one could not sail there in one month if they camped at night and had favorable wind every day.

And all the while he must sail by land.

And to his starboard first there is Ireland and then the islands that are between Ireland (Shetlands, Orkneys, Hebrides?) and this land (Britain).

Then there is this land (to the starboard) until he comes to Skiringssal, and the whole way to the port side is Norway.

South of Skiringssal a very large sea leads up into the land; it is wider than anyone can see over, and Jutland is opposite on the other side and then Sillende (an area of the Jutland peninsula south of what is being called Jutland here).

The sea runs many hundred miles up into the land.