The port of Hasthum has occasioned much difficulty to the commentators, as well as that of Sciringes-heal; but all have agreed that it must be Sleswic, as this latter is called Haitha by Ethelwerd the Anglo-Saxon. A Norwegian poet gives it the name of Heythabae, others call it Heydaboe, and Adam of Bremen Heidaba; and this, in their opinion, is precisely the same with Haethum. It appears to me, however, that the difference between the words Haethaby and Hasthum, are by no means so inconsiderable. And I think the situation of Sleswic does not at all accord with the descriptions which are given of Haethum by Ohthere and Wulfstan. Indeed, if Sleswic be Haethum, I must confess, that I cannot in the least comprehend the course of the voyages of these ancient navigators. Ohthere tells us, that in sailing from Sciringes-heal to Haethum, he had Denmark to the left, and the open sea, for the space of three days, to the right; but that, for two days before he reached Haethum, he had Gotland and Zeeland to the right, and the islands which belong to Denmark to the left. If he had gone to Sleswic, he must have found all the Danish islands on his right hand, and not one besides Femeren on his left. This being considered, I ask how it is possible, consistent with his own description of the voyage, that the situation of Sleswic can be made to correspond with Haethum? As, in the district of Aarhuus in Jutland, there is an extensive track of land called Alheide, which is in fact a heath, I shall take the liberty to suppose, that the town, in the ninth century, lay higher up towards Al-heide, or All-heath; for the town of Aar-huus is new, and its name signifies in English Oar-house. The old town, therefore, may have been called Al-haethum, or Haethum; so, that if Ohthere set out from Stockholm for this place, Gotland was on his right hand23, and so was Zealand. And as he sailed between Zealand and Funen, or Fyen, all the Danish islands were on his left hand, and he had the wide sea, that is, the Schager-rack, and Cattegat to the right. Farther, when Wulfsten went from Haethum, or Aarhuus to Truso, he had Weonothland, that is Funen, Fionia, or Fyen to his right; and to the left were, Langeland, Laeland, Falster, and Sconeg; together with Bornholm, Bleking, Moehre, Oeland, and Gotland. But Wendenland remained on his right, all the way to the mouth of the Vistula.
Wulfstan said that he sailed from Haethum to Truso25 in seven days and nights, the ship being under sail all the time. Weonothland26 was on his right; but Langaland, Laeland, Falster, and Sconeg, were on the left, all of which belong to Dene-mearkan27. Burgendaland28 also, which has a king of its own, was on the left. After leaving Burgendaland, the islands of Becinga-eg, Meore, Eowland, and Gotland, were on the left, all of which belong to Sueon29, and Weonodland30 was all the way on the right to the mouth of the Wisle31. This is a very large river, and near it Witland32, and Weonodland are situated; the former of which belongs to Estum, and the Wisle does not run through Weonodland, but through Estmere33, which lake is fifteen miles broad. Then runs the Ilfing34 from the eastwards into Est-mere, on the banks of which is Truso. The Ilfing flows from Est-land into the Est-mere from the east, and the Wisle through Weonodland from the south. The Ilfing, having joined the Wisle, takes its name, and runs to the west of Estmere, and northward into the sea, where it is called Wisle-mouth35.
Est-land is a large track of country, having many towns, in each of which there is a king. It produces a great quantity of honey, and has abundance of fish. The kings, and other rich men, drink mares milk, while the poor people and slaves use only mead36. They have many contests among themselves; and the people of Estum brew no ale, as they have mead in profusion37. There is also a particular custom observed by this nation; that, when any one dies, the body remains unburnt, with the relations and friends, for a month or two; and the bodies of kings and nobles remain longer, according to their respective wealth, sometimes for half a year, during all which time it is kept in the house, and drinking and sports continue until the body is consumed38. When the body is carried to the funeral pile, the substance of the deceased, which yet remains, after the sports and drinking bouts, is divided into five or six heaps, or more, according to its value. These heaps are placed at the distance of a mile from each other; the largest heap at the greatest distance from the town, and the lesser heaps gradually diminishing, so that the smallest heap is nearest to the town where the dead body lies. Then all are summoned who have fleet horses, within the distance of five or six miles around, and they all strive for the substance of the dead person. He who has the swiftest horse, gains the most distant and largest heap, and the others, in just proportion, till the whole is won; then every one takes away his share, as his own property: and owing to this custom, swift horses are in great request, and extremely dear. When the wealth of the deceased has been thus exhausted, the body is taken from the house and burnt, together with the dead man's weapons and clothes; and generally, they expend the whole wealth of the deceased, by keeping the body so long in the house before it is burnt, and by these heaps which are carried off by strangers. It is the custom with the Estum to burn the bodies of all the inhabitants; and if any one can find a single bone unconsumed, it is a cause of great offence. These people, also, have the means of producing a very severe cold; by which, the dead body continues so long above ground without putrefying; and by means of which, if any one sets a vessel of ale or water in the place, they contrive that the liquor shall be frozen either in winter or summer39.
Though containing no important information, it were unpardonable in an English collection of voyages and travels, to omit the scanty notice which remains on record, respecting a voyage by two Englishmen to India, at so early a period. All that is said of this singular incident in the Saxon Chronicle, is41, "In the year 883, Alfred sent Sighelm and Athelstan to Rome, and likewise to the shrine of Saints Thomas and Bartholomew, in India, with the alms which he had vowed." (Bartholomew was the messenger of Christ in India, the extremity of the whole earth.) –The words printed in Italics are added in translating, by the present editor, to complete the obvious sense. Those within brackets, are contained in one MS. Codex of the Saxon Chronicle, in addition to what was considered the most authentic text by Bishop Gibson, and are obviously a note or commentary, afterwards adopted into the text in transcription.
23
This is certainly true during the latter part of his voyage, after turning round the south end of Sweden, and standing again to the northward, between Zealand and Fyen; but in coasting down the shore of Sweden to the south, he must have left Gotland to the left, –E.
24
Alfred's Orosius, by Barrington, p. 16. Langebeck, Scrip. Dan. II. 118– 123. Wulfstan appears to have been a Dane, who had probably become acquainted with Ohthere, during his maritime expeditions, and had gone with him to reside in England. –Forst.
25
There is a lake still called Truso or Drausen, between Elbing and Prussian Holland, from which, probably, the town here mentioned, which stood on the Frisch-haf, took its name. –Forst.
26
It is necessary to distinguish accurately between Weonothland, which is probably Fuehnen, Funen, or Fionio, now called Fyen; and Weonodland or Winodland, afterwards Wendenland. –Forst.
27
Denmark obviously, called simply Dene, in the voyages of Ohthere. –E.
28
Probably Bornholm. –E.
29
Called Sueoland in the voyages of Ohthere, is assuredly Sweden, to which all these islands belong. Becinga-eg, is certainly Bleking; the l being omitted in transcription, called an island by mistake. Meore is indisputably the upper and lower Moehre in Smoland; Eowland is Oeland; and Gotland is doubtless the modern isle of that name. –Forst.
30
Weonodland, or Winodland, extends to the mouth of the Vistula; and is obviously a peculiar and independent country, totally different from Weonothland, belonging to Denmark. –Forst.
31
Wisle, or Wisla, is the Sclavonian orthography for the Vistula, called Weichsel by the Germans, and Weissel by the Prussians. –Forst.
32
Witland is a district of Samland in Prussia. It had this name of Witland at the time of the crusades of the Germans against Prussia. The word Wit-land, is a translation of the native term Baltikka, or the white land, now applied to the Baltic Sea. –Forst.
33
Est-mere, a lake of fresh water, into which the Elbing and Vistula empty themselves; now called Frisch-haf, or the fresh water sea. –Forst.
34
This is undoubtedly the Elbing which flows from lake Drausen, or Truso, and joins, by one of its branches, that arm of the Vistula which is called Neugat or Nogat. –Forst.
35
The Ilfing, or Elbing, comes out of Esthonia, yet not from the east, as here said by Alfred, but from the south; except, indeed, he mean that arm of the Elbing which runs into the Nogat, or eastern arm of the Vistula. But the Vistula comes out of Wendenland, called Weonodland in the text, from the south; and the two rivers discharge themselves into the Frisch-haf, which stretches from west to north, or in a north-east direction; and at Pilau, goes northwards into the sea. It is certainly possible that this entrance may have been formerly called Wisle-mund, or the mouth of the Vistula, as well as the western mouth of that river. –Forst.
This concession is not necessary to the truth of Wulfstan and Alfred. There is a cross branch from Elbing, which joins the Nogat and Vistula proper; and which is probably meant in the text, where the Ilfing and Wisle, united, are said to run to the west of Est-mere, or the haf, and then north, into the sea at Wisle-mund. –E.
36
This circumstance is singular; yet may be explained from the custom of the Tartars. The mares milk, drank by the kings and rich men, was certainly prepared into cosmos, or kumyss, the favourite beverage of the great; while mead, a much inferior liquor in their estimation, was left to the lower orders. –E.
37
Mead was called Medo in Anglo-Saxon, in Lithuanian Middus, in Polish Miod, in Russian Méd, in German Meth, in old English Metheglin: perhaps all these are from the Greek verb (Greek: methuo), to intoxicate. Alfred naturally observes, that these drinking-bouts produced many frays; and notices the reason of the Estum or Esthonians brewing no ale, because they had abundance of mead. –Forst.
38
In a treaty between the Teutonic knights, and the newly converted Prussians, the latter engaged never to burn their dead, nor to bury them with their horses, arms, clothes, and valuables. –Forst.
39
This power of producing cold in summer, so much admired by Wulfstan and Alfred, was probably the effect of a good ice-cellar, which every Prussian of condition had in, or near his house. –Forst.
40
Harris, I. 873. Hakluyt, V. II. 38.
41
Chron. Sax. Ed. Gibson, p. 86.