A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol.I

Robert Kerr


A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, #1

A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. I
PREFACE
GENERAL PLAN OF THE WORK
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XIX.

A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. I
by Robert Kerr

   GENERAL HISTORY AND COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS,
   ARRANGED IN SYSTEMATIC ORDER:
   FORMING A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF NAVIGATION, DISCOVERY, AND COMMERCE, BY SEA AND LAND, FROM THE EARLIEST AGES TO THE PRESENT TIME.
   BY
   ROBERT KERR, F.R.S. & F.A.S. EDIN.
   ILLUSTRATED BY MAPS AND CHARTS.
   VOL. I.

   TO HIS EXCELLENCY, THE HONOURABLE
   SIR ALEXANDER COCHRANE, K.B.
   VICE-ADMIRAL OF THE WHITE,
   LATE COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF HIS MAJESTY'S NAVAL FORCES ON THE LEEWARD ISLAND STATION,
   NOW
   GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF THE ISLAND OF GUADALOUPE, &C. &C. &C.


   Dear Sir,
   Unused to the adulatory language of dedications, I am well aware that any such mode of address would offend your delicacy. While, therefore, I gratify my own feelings by inscribing this work with your valued name, I only use the freedom to assure your Excellency, that I have the honour to be, with the warmest sentiments of respectful esteem and sincere regard,
   Dear Sir,
   Your affectionate friend, and gratefully devoted servant,
   ROBERT KERR.
   Edinburgh, 1st March 1811.

PREFACE

   In this enlightened age, when every department of science and literature is making rapid progress, and knowledge of every kind excites uncommon interest, and is widely diffused, this attempt to call the attention of the public to a Systematic Arrangement of Voyages and Travels, from the earliest period of authentic history to the present time, ought scarcely to require any apology. Yet, on appearing before the tribunal of public opinion, every author who has not cherished an unreasonable estimate of his own qualifications, must necessarily be impressed with considerable anxiety respecting the probable reception of his work; and may be expected to offer some account of the plan and motives of what he proposes to lay before the public.
   The present work is the first of the kind that has ever been attempted in Scotland: and though, as already avowed in the Prospectus, the Editor has no wish to detract from the merits of similar publications, it might appear an overstrained instance of false delicacy to decline a statement of the circumstances which, he presumes to hope, will give some prospect of the work being received with attention and indulgence, perhaps with favour. It certainly is the only General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels that has been hitherto attempted in the English language, upon any arrangement that merits the appellation of a systematic plan. And hence, should the plan adopted be found only comparatively good, in so far the system of arrangement must be pronounced the best that has been as yet devised. If this be conceded, and the fact is too obvious to require extended proof or minute elucidation, the Editor shall not feel mortified even if his arrangement may be considerably improved hereafter.
   The only work on the subject that has the smallest pretensions to system, and that is fanciful, involved, irregular, abrupt, and obscure, is PURCHAS HIS PILGRIMS. Even admitting the plan of that work to be in itself excellent; although it may be a General History, so far as it extends, it certainly is in no respect a Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels. In a very large proportion of that curious work, it is the author who speaks to the reader, and not the traveller. In the present work, wherever that could possibly be accomplished, it has uniformly been the anxious desire of the Editor that the voyagers and travellers should tell their own story: In that department of his labour, his only object has been to assume the character of interpreter between them and the readers, by translating foreign or antiquated language into modern English. Sometimes, indeed, where no record remains of particular voyages and travels, as written by the persons who performed them, the Editor has necessarily had recourse to their historians. But, on every such occasion, the most ancient and most authentic accessible sources have been anxiously sought after and employed. In every extensive work, it is of the utmost consequence that its various parts should be arranged upon a comprehensive and perspicuously systematic plan. This has been accordingly aimed at with the utmost solicitude in the present undertaking; and the order of its arrangement was adopted after much deliberation, and from a very attentive consideration of every general work of the same nature that could be procured. If, therefore, the systematic order on which it is conducted shall appear well adapted to the subject, after an attentive perusal and candid investigation, the Editor confidently hopes that his labours may bear a fair comparison with any similar publication that has yet been brought forward.
   In the short Prospectus of this work, formerly submitted to the public, a very general enunciation only, of the heads of the intended plan, was attempted; as that was then deemed sufficient to convey a distinct idea of the nature, arrangement, and distribution of the proposed work. Unavoidable circumstances still necessarily preclude the possibility, or the propriety rather, of attempting to give a more full and complete developement of the divisions and subdivisions of the systematic arrangement which is to be pursued, and which circumstances may require some elucidation.
   An extensive and minutely arranged plan was carefully devised and extended by the Editor, before one word of the work was written or compiled, after an attentive examination of every accessible former collection; That plan has been since anxiously reconsidered, corrected, altered, and extended, in the progress of the work, as additional materials occurred: yet the Editor considers that the final and public adoption of his plan, in a positively fixed and pledged systematic form, any farther than has been already conveyed in the Prospectus, would have the effect to preclude the availment of those new views of the subject which are continually afforded by additional materials, in every progressive step of preparation for the press. The number of books of voyages and travels, as well general as particular, is extremely great; and, even if the whole were at once before the Editor, it would too much distract his attention from the division or department in which he is engaged for the time, to attempt studying and abstracting every subdivision at once. The grand divisions, however, which have been already indicated in the Prospectus, and the general principles of the plan, which are there explained, are intended to be adhered to; as no reasons have been discovered, after the most attentive consideration, for any deviation from that carefully adopted arrangement, the heads of which are here repeated.

GENERAL PLAN OF THE WORK

   PART I.
   Voyages and Travels of Discovery in the middle ages; from the era of Alfred, King of England, in the ninth century to that of Don Henry of Portugal at the commencement of the fourteenth century.
   PART II.
   General Voyages and Travels chiefly of Discovery; from the era of Don Henry, in 1412, to that of George III. in 1760.
   PART III.
   Particular Voyages and Travels arranged in systematic order, Geographical and Chronological.
   Note.–This part will be divided into five books, comprehending,
   I. Europe.
   II. Asia.
   III. Africa.
   IV. America.
   V. Australia and Polynesia; or the prodigious multitude of islands in the great Pacific Ocean.And all these will be further subdivided into particular chapters or sections correspondent to the geographical arrangements of these several portions of the globe.
   PART IV.
   General Voyages and Travels of Discovery during the era of George III. which were conducted upon scientific principles, and by which the Geography of the globe has been nearly perfected. .
   PART V.
   Historical Deduction of the Progress of Navigation Discovery and Commerce by sea and land, from the earliest times to the present period.
   In the deliberate construction of this systematic plan, it has been a leading object of anxious consideration, to reduce the extensive and interesting materials of which the work is composed under a clear, intelligible, and comprehensive arrangement, so combined in a geographical and chronological series, that each successive division and subdivision, throughout the whole work, may prepare the mind of the reader for that which is to follow, and may assist the memory in the recollection of what has gone before. By these means, an attentive perusal of this work must necessarily be of material usefulness, in fixing distinct and just ideas of geography, history, and chronology in the minds of its readers; besides the important information and rational amusement which it will afford, by the frequent description of manners, customs, laws, governments, and many other circumstances, of all the countries and nations of the world.
   In determining upon an era for the commencement of this work, the Editor was naturally led, from a consideration of the accidental discovery of Iceland by the Norwegians in the ninth century, as coincident with the reign of the great ALFRED, who ascended the throne of England in 872, to adopt that period as the beginning of the series, both because the commencement of modern maritime discovery took place during the reign of a British sovereign, and because we derive the earliest written accounts of any of these discoveries from the pen of that excellent prince. It is true that the first accidental discovery of Iceland appears to have been made in 861, eleven years before the accession of Alfred to the throne; yet, as the actual colonization of that island did not take place till the year 878, the seventh of his glorious reign, we have been induced to distinguish the actual commencement of maritime discovery by the modern European nations as coinciding with his era.
   From that time, till the year 1412, when Don Henry, Prince of Portugal, first began to prosecute a consecutive series of maritime discoveries along the western coast of Africa, during which a long inactive period of 551 years had elapsed, the only maritime incident connected with our subject, was the accidental re-discovery of the Canary or Fortunate Islands, by a nameless Frenchman, about the year 1330, though they were not attempted to be taken possession of till 1400. This long interval, between the eras of King Alfred and Don Henry, constitutes the first Part, or grand division of our work, in the course of which, a considerable number of adventurous travellers penetrated into the almost unknown regions of Tartary and the East, and considerable notices of the empire of China, and even of Japan, and of the coast and islands of India and north-eastern Africa, were communicated to the Europeans by the Polos and others.
   In separating Part IV. from Part II. the General Voyages and Travels of Discovery which have been undertaken during the long and busy reign of our present venerable Sovereign, from those of a similar nature which succeeded the discovery of the new world, and of the route by sea to India, the Editor only pays a just tribute to the enlightened spirit of the age, under the munificent and enlightened patronage of the beloved Monarch of a free and happy people. Those former voyages of Part II. were mostly undertaken from mere interested views of direct or expected commercial benefit; while these of the era of George III. originated in the grand principles of endeavouring to extend the bounds of science and human happiness.
   Perhaps it may occur to some readers, that PART V. the last in order of the general heads of our plan, ought to have formed PART I. as partaking of the nature of an introduction to the subject, and forming a summary of the whole work. Upon even a very slight consideration, however, it must be obvious, that it is impossible to compose that proposed deduction in any adequate manner, until the whole mass of selected materials is possessed by the Editor, and definitively arranged. It may likewise be known to many, that introductions and prefaces, though usually placed at the beginning of books, are uniformly and necessarily last composed, and usually last printed, except in new editions.
   A great variety of Collections of Voyages and Travels have been published at different periods, many of which are inaccessible from their scarcity, or from being in foreign languages: And such great numbers of Voyages and Travels to particular regions and countries have been printed, as to be Altogether unattainable by the generality of readers. Every thing, however, which could contribute to the perfection of this work has been collected, or will be carefully procured during its progress; and no pains or expense shall be withheld which, can contribute to render it as complete and comprehensive as possible. In the employment of the vast variety and extent of excellent materials, great care shall be taken to insert every useful and curious information, reduced, where necessary, to modern language; and nothing shall be omitted which is conducive to valuable information and rational amusement.
   In our approach towards the present times, the multitude of particular Voyages and Travels increases prodigiously; and, in employing these, it becomes peculiarly necessary to make a selection of the best in every period, and especially of those best adapted for conveying just ideas of each geographical division and subdivision of the world; while those of less merit, but which contain useful notices of the regions and countries of which they treat, shall be carefully epitomized in illustration of the different subjects. Without the employment of discriminate selection and occasional abridgement, this work must have extended to an inconvenient and consequently expensive size, or must have been left unfinished and abrupt in some of its parts: But abridgement shall be very seldom employed and never without acknowledgment. Indeed, the grand object of the present work is to bring together a more complete and entire collection of Voyages and Travels, than has hitherto appeared in any language.
   From the nature of the plan, it is utterly impossible to ascertain, with any precision, the exact length to which it may extend; but, so far as can be judged of at present, it is not expected to exceed eighteen or twenty volumes. Throughout the whole work, a series of Maps and Charts will be inserted in their proper places, carefully selected and constructed for the purpose of illustrating the various Voyages and Travels. At the close of the whole, a complete Index will be given to the entire series of volumes, so arranged as to form a regular Gazetteer of the whole world. In every article which has been adopted into this work, the original and accessory sources of all the materials shall be distinctly indicated. Notes of explanation will be given, wherever necessary; and, as many of these are drawn from various sources, the names of the authors from whom they are adopted shall always be acknowledged. Such notes as are marked by the letter E. are by the Editor of the work.
   Owing to the indispensable nature of this work, it makes no positive claim to the character of an original composition, in the strict acceptation of that term; and he, therefore, who has undertaken the care of its collection and arrangement, assumes no higher title than that of Editor. In the discharge of that duty, however, the labour which he has necessarily bestowed, though always pleasing, has often been considerable, and sometimes arduous; and he trusts that the plan of the work, which is altogether original, will be found appropriately adapted to the end in view, and that the execution may appear not inadequate to the high importance of the subject. Without imputation of arrogance, he may be permitted to assert, that he has exerted the most unremitting attention and industry, in the collection, selection, and preparation of the several portions of the whole work, and in the arrangement and distribution of its parts. He has the satisfaction to add, that all his efforts have been seconded with the utmost readiness and liberality by the Proprietor of the work, who has spared no trouble, and withheld no expense, in procuring and supplying the necessary materials.
   It is with much grateful satisfaction, that the Editor has to acknowledge his high obligations to the Curators and Librarians of the Edinburgh public libraries, belonging to the Faculty of Advocates, the University, and the Writers to his Majesty's Signet, for the communication of many valuable and scarce materials. Nor ought he to withhold his tribute of gratitude, on this occasion, from the liberal spirit of a private individual, the Reverend Henry White of Lichfield, who has most obligingly offered the use of his valuable Collection of Voyages and Travels, and other curious and scarce works connected with the subject, for assisting towards the perfection of this publication.
   Having thus briefly announced the nature, plan, and object of the present work, of which this first Volume is now before the public, it only remains to say, that the Editor and Proprietor, each in his particular department, are resolved to exert their utmost endeavours, that nothing may be omitted which can contribute to render the work deserving of public approbation and extensive patronage.

PART I.
VOYAGES AND TRAVELS OF DISCOVERY, FROM THE ERA OF ALFRED, KING OF ENGLAND, IN THE NINTH CENTURY; TO THE ERA OF DON HENRY, PRINCE OF PORTUGAL, AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY

CHAPTER I.
Discoveries in the time of Alfred King of England, in the ninth century of the Christian era



INTRODUCTION
   In the midst of the profound ignorance and barbarism which overspread the nations of Western Europe, after the dissolution of the Roman empire in the West, a transient ray of knowledge and good government was elicited by the singular genius of the great Alfred, a hero, legislator, and philosopher, among a people nearly barbarous. Not satisfied with having delivered his oppressed and nearly ruined kingdom from the ravages of the almost savage Danes and Nordmen, and the little less injurious state of anarchy and disorganization into which the weakness of the vaunted Anglo-Saxon system of government had plunged England, he for a time restored the wholesome dominion of the laws, and even endeavoured to illuminate his ignorant people by the introduction of useful learning. In the prosecution of these patriotic views, and for his own amusement and instruction, besides other literary performances, he made a translation of the historical work of Orosius into his native Anglo-Saxon dialect; into which he interwove the relations of Ohthere and Wulfstan, of which hereafter, and such other information as he could collect respecting the three grand divisions of the world then known; insomuch, that his account of Europe especially differs very materially from that of Orosius, of which he only professed to make a translation.
   Although Alfred only mounted the throne of England in 872, it has been deemed proper to commence the series of this work with the discovery of Iceland by the Nordmen or Norwegians, about the year 861, as intimately connected with the era which has been deliberately chosen as the best landmark of our proposed systematic History and Collection of Voyages and Travels. That entirely accidental incident is the earliest geographical discovery made by the modern nations, of which any authentic record now remains, and was almost the only instance of the kind which occurred, from the commencement of the decline of the Roman power, soon after the Christian era, for nearly fourteen centuries. And as the colonization of Iceland did not begin till A.D. 878, the insertion of this circumstance in the present place, can hardly be considered as at all deviating from the most rigid principles of our plan

SECTION I. Discovery of Iceland by the Norwegians in the Ninth Century1
   It were foreign to our present object to attempt any delineation of the piratical, and even frequently conquering expeditions of the various nations of Scandinavia, who, under the names of Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, and Normans, so long harassed the fragments of the Roman empire. About the year 861, one Naddod, a Nordman or Norwegian vikingr, or chief of a band of freebooters, who, during a voyage to the Faro islands, was thrown by a storm upon the eastern coast of an unknown country, considerably beyond the ordinary course of navigation, to which he gave the significant name of Snio-land, or Snow-land, from the immense quantities of snow which every where covered its numerous lofty mountains, even in the height of summer, and filled its many valleys during a long and dreary winter. As Naddod gave a rather favourable account of his discovery on his return to Norway, one Gardar Suafarson, of Swedish origin, who was settled in Norway, determined upon making an expedition to Snow-land in 864; and having circumnavigated the whole extent of this new discovery, he named it from himself, Gardars-holm, or Gardars-island.
   Gardar employed so long a time in this expedition, that, not deeming it safe to navigate the northern ocean during the storms of winter, he remained on the island until the ensuing spring, when he sailed for Norway. He there reported, that though the island was entirely covered with wood, it was, in other respects, a fine country. From the favourable nature of this report, one Flocke, the son of Vigvardar, who had acquired great reputation among the Nordmen or Normans, as an experienced and intrepid vikingr or pirate, resolved to visit the newly-discovered island. Flocke likewise wintered in the northern part of the island, where he met with immense quantities of drift ice, from which circumstance he chose to give it the name of Iceland, which it still bears. He was by no means pleased with the country, influenced, no doubt, by the unfavourable impression he had imbibed by spending a long protracted winter on the dreary northern shore, amid almost ever-during arctic ice, and surrounded by the most unpromising sterility; and though some of his companions represented the land as pleasing and fertile, the desire of visiting Iceland seems, for some time, to have lain dormant among the adventurous Norwegian navigators; probably because neither fame nor riches could be acquired, either by traffic or depredation, in a country which was utterly destitute of inhabitants.
   At length, in 874, two friends, Ingolf and Lief, repaired to Iceland, and were so much satisfied with its appearance, that they formed a resolution of attempting to make a settlement in the country; induced, doubtless, by a desire to withdraw from the continual wars and revolutions which then harassed the north of Europe, and to escape from the thraldom which the incipient monarchies of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, were then imposing upon the independent chiefs or vikingr of the Normans. In pursuance of this determination, Ingolf transported some people to Iceland, about the year 878, with several cattle, and all kinds of implements, to enable him to commence a colony. At this period his friend Lief was absent in the English wars; but went soon afterwards into Iceland, to which he carried the booty which he had acquired in England.
   The first discoverers of Iceland are said to have found some Irish books, bells, and croziers on the coast; whence it has been imagined, that some people from Ireland had resided there previous to its discovery and settlement by the Normans. But it seems a more probable supposition, to account for these articles having been seen, that a party of Norman pirates or vikingr, who had previously landed in Ireland, or perhaps on Icolmkil, and had carried away the plunder of some abbey or monastery, had been driven to Iceland by a storm, and wrecked upon the coast, where these articles might have been washed on shore: Or they may have attributed the storm, by which they were driven so far beyond their knowledge, to the anger of the God of the Christians, for their sacrilegious robbery of a holy institution, and may have left these articles behind, in hopes of propitiating a more favourable termination to their voyage. The first settlers found extensive forests in the valleys of Iceland; and we know, from authentic documents, that corn was formerly cultivated with decent success in that northern region; whereas, in the present day, not a tree is to be found in the whole island, except some stunted birches, and very low bushes or underwood, in the most sheltered situations, and no corn will now ripen, even in the most favourable years. But the roots and stumps of large firs are still to be seen in various parts; and the injurious alteration of its climate is known to have been occasioned by the straits between old Greenland and Iceland having been many years choked up with ice, which the short summers of that high latitude are not sufficiently powerful to dissolve.
   About the present period, Harold Harfagr, or the fair-haired, one of the petty sovereigns or vikingr of Norway, began to subjugate the other chieftains of the country under his paramount authority, and was so successful as to establish the Norwegian monarchy in 875. Gorm, likewise, about the same time, united the petty states of Jutland and the Danish islands into one kingdom, as Ingiald Illrode had done long before in Sweden. Such independent spirits as found themselves dissatisfied with this new order of affairs, found a sure asylum in Iceland; and the emigrations to this new country became so numerous, that Harold at length deemed it expedient to impose a tax of half a mark of silver, equal to five pounds of our modern money, on every one of his subjects who were desirous of going to settle in that island.

SECTION II. Voyages of Ohthere to the White Sea and the Baltic, in the Ninth Century2
   Some of the Norwegian chieftains, who were dissatisfied with the usurpation of supreme authority by Harold, took refuge in England, where Alfred had recently settled many of the vanquished Danes and Nordmen in the northern part of his dominions, which had been almost entirely depopulated and laid waste, by their long-continued and destructive ravages. Among these was one Ohthere, who had made himself famous by his voyages to unknown parts of the north, and who was invited to court by Alfred, to give an account of the discoveries and observations he had made during his unusual expeditions. This person had been a chief of some note in his own country, and dwelt at a place which he called Halgoland, supposed by some to have been in Numadalen, while others say in Nordland, the most northerly p province of Norway proper. In the succeeding paragraph, he is said to have dwelt opposite to the West Sea, and as Alfred only uses the word sea to denote a confined expanse or narrow channel, while he calls the ocean Garsecg, it seems highly probable, that, by the West Sea, the west ford was intended – a channel or strait which divides the Luffoden islands from the coast of Nordland, which would clearly place the residence of Ohthere in this northern province. The account which he gave of his voyages to his royal patron, is as follows.
   Ohthere told his lord King Alfred, that lie lived to the north of all the Nordmen or Norwegians; and that he dwelt in that land to the northward, opposite to the west sea; and that all the land to the north of that sea is waste and uninhabited except in a few places, to which the Finans3 or Fins repair in winter for hunting and fowling, and for fishing in the summer. Being desirous to ascertain how far this country extended towards the north, and whether there were any inhabitants beyond these wastes, he proceeded by sea due north from his own habitation, leaving the desert land all the way on the starboard or right-hand, and the wide sea on the larboard or left-hand of his course. After three days sail, he was as far north as the whale-hunters ever go4; and then proceeded in his course due north for other three days, when he found the land, instead of stretching due north, as hitherto5, to trend from thence towards the east. Whether the sea there lies within the land, he knew not6, as he only waited for a west wind, and then sailed near that land eastwards, as far as he could, in four days; as he found the direction of the coast then to change to due south, he waited for a north wind, and then sailed due south as far as be could in five days.
   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 Beormas7, indeed, had well peopled their country, for which reason he did not venture to enter upon it; and the land of the Terfenna8, 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 language9. 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-whales10, 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 days11.
   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.
   According to the description given to the king by Ohthere, Northmanna-land, or Norway, is very long and narrow, all the land which is fit for pasture or tillage being on the seacoast, which is very rocky in some places. To the east of this, and parallel to the cultivated land, there are wild and huge mountains and moors, which are inhabited by the Fins. The cultivated land is broadest in the south12, where it is sixty miles broad, and in some places more; about the middle of the country, it is perhaps thirty miles broad, or somewhat more; and where it is narrowest in the north, it is hardly more than three miles from the sea to the moors. In some places, the moors are so extensive that a man can hardly travel across them in a fortnight, and in other places perhaps in six days.
   Opposite to the south part of this country is Sueoland13, or Sweden, on the other side of the moors, and opposite to its northern part is Cwenland. The Cwens sometimes pass the moors and mountains to invade and plunder the country of the Normans; who likewise sometimes retaliate, by crossing over to spoil their land. In these moors, there are some very large meres or lakes of fresh water, and the Cwenas14 sometimes carry their small light ships over land into these lakes, and employ them to facilitate their depredations on the Nordmen. Ohthere says, that the shire or district which he inhabited is called Halgoland, and that there were no inhabitants beyond him to the north. There is likewise a port in the southern land, which is called Sciringes-heal15, which no one could reach in a month's sailing, even with a fair wind, at least if he lay to at night. During this voyage, the navigator must sail near the land, or make a coasting voyage along the coast of Norway towards the south, having Iraland16, and the islands which are between that country and Norway, on his right hand; for this country continues all the way on the left hand of the navigator, from Halgoland to Sciringes-heal. As he proceeds again to the northward, a great sea to the south of Sciringes-heal runs up into this land, and that sea is so wide, that a person cannot see across it. Gotland17 is opposite on the other side, or right-hand; and afterwards the sea of Sillende18 lies many miles up in that country.
   Ohthere farther says, that he sailed in five days from Sciringes-heal to that port which is called Haethum19, which lies between Winedum, Seaxun, and Anglen, and makes part of Dene. When he sailed to this place from Sciringes-heal, Dene, or Denmark, was on his left, and on his right was a wide sea for three days; as were also on his right, two days before he came to Haethum, Gotland, Sillende, and many other islands, which were inhabited by the Angles before they came to Britain; and during these two days, the islands belonging to Denmark were on his left hand.

SECTION III. Remarks by J. M. Forster, respecting the situation of Sciringes-heal and Haethum20
   The name of this place, Sciringes-heal, has given a great deal of trouble to former commentators on Alfred; viz. Sir John Spelman, Bussaeus, Somner, John Philip Murray, and Langebeck, who have all chosen spots totally different, in which to place Sciringes-heal. Spelman, and others, look for this place near Dantzic, where, in their opinion, the Scyres formerly resided. But, first, the spot where the Scyres lived, is by no means satisfactorily determined; and, next, it is evident that Ohthere went continually along the coast from Halgoland to Sciringes-heal, and that this coast was on his left-hand during the whole course of his navigation. The late Mr Murray placed Sciringes-heal at Skanor, in the southern extremity of Sweden; but I cannot think that this place could be five days sail from Haethum in Jutland, as it is expressly declared to have been by Ohthere. Langebeck is for carrying Sciringes-heal to Konga-hella, on the Guatelf, near Marstrand; and insists, that the name, in Alfred's account of the voyage, ought to have been written Cyninges-heal instead of Sciringes-heal. If the word had only once occurred, I might have allowed Langebeck to be right; but we meet with it five times in the space of a few lines, and always without the slightest variation in orthography. 2dly, The voyage from Halgoland to Konga-hella is not of sufficient extent to have employed a month in the passage. 3dly, Konga-hella is too near Jutland to have required five days for the voyage between it and Haethum.
   Having demonstrated the insufficiency of these conjectures, we shall now endeavour to point out where Sciringes-heal was really situated. Paul Warenfried, in his Historia Longobardorum, Lib. i, cap. 7. and 10. makes mention of a district, named Scorunga, in which the Winili, or Lombards resided, for some time before they removed to Mairinga and from thence, farther on to Gotland, Anthabet, Bethaib, and Purgendaid. This Scorunga was not far from Gotland, and consequently in Sweden; and seems to have been the district in which Sciringes-heal was situated. Add to this, that Ohthere, after having described Sueoland, or Sweden, as being to the southwards of his habitation, immediately says, "there is a port in this southern land which is called Sciringes-heal." By this, he seems plainly to indicate, that this place certainly was in Sweden; and all this will appear, still more evidently, if we carefully follow the course of the voyage which he describes. First of all, he has Scotland, called Iraland, evidently by mistake, and the Orkney and Shetland islands, which lie between Scotland and Halgoland, on his right hand; and the continent is continually on his left hand, all the way, until he arrive at Sciringes– heal. But farther, a large bay stretches to the northward, deep into the country, along the coast of which he had been continually sailing; and this bay commences quite to the southward of Sciringes-heal, and is so broad that a man cannot see across, and Gotland is directly opposite to this bay21. But the sea, which extended from Zeeland to this spot, goes many hundred miles up into the country to the eastwards.
   From Sciringes-heal, Ohthere could sail in five days to Haethum, which lies between the Wends Saxons and Angles. Now, by this voyage, we are enabled to determine, with still greater exactness, the situation of this place which we are searching for. In order to get to Haethum, he left Gotland on the right22, and soon afterwards Zeeland likewise, together with the other islands which had been the habitation of the Angles before they went to England, while those which belonged to Denmark were on his left for two days. Sciringes-heal, therefore, is consequently in Sweden, at the entrance of the Gulf of Bothnia, which runs up into the land northwards, just on that spot where the Baltic, after having passed Zeeland, spreads into a wide gulf, extending several hundred miles into the land. Just in this place I find the Svia-Sciaeren, or Swedish Scares, a cluster of little islands, surrounded by rocks. Heal, in the northern languages, signifies a port, as in such places a ship might be kept in safety. Sciringes-heal, therefore, was "the harbour of the Scares," and was probably at the entrance of the gulf of Bothnia, and consequently where Stockholm now is; and the tract of land where these Scares lay, towards the sea, was the Scarunga of Paul Warenfried.
   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.

SECTION IV. Voyage of Wulfstan in the Baltic as related to Alfred24
   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.

SECTION IVa. Voyage of Sighelm and Athelstan to India, in the reign of Alfred King of England, in 88340
   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.
   This short, yet clear declaration, of the actual voyage, has been extended by succeeding writers, who attribute the whole merit to Sighelm, omitting all mention of Athelstan, his co-adjutor in the holy mission. The first member of the subsequent paraphrase of the Saxon Chronicle, by Harris, though unauthorized, is yet necessarily true, as Alfred could not have sent messengers to a shrine, of which he did not know the existence. For the success of the voyage, the safe return, the promotion of Sighelm, and his bequest, the original record gives no authority, although that is the obvious foundation of the story, to which Aserus has no allusion in his life of Alfred.
   "In the year 883, Alfred, King of England, hearing that there existed a Christian church in the Indies, dedicated to the memory of St Thomas and St Bartholomew, dispatched one Sighelm, or Sithelm, a favourite ecclesiastic of his court, to carry his royal alms to that distant shrine. Sighelm successfully executed the honourable commission with which he had been entrusted, and returned in safety into England. After his return, he was promoted to the bishoprick of Sherburn, or Shireburn, in Dorsetshire; and it is recorded, that he left at his decease, in the treasury of that church, sundry spices and jewels, which he had brought with him from the Indies."
   Of this voyage, William of Malmsbury makes twice mention; once in the fourth chapter of his second book, De Gestis Regum Anglorum; and secondly, in the second book of his work; entitled, De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum; and in the chapter devoted to the Bishops of Shireburn, Salisbury, and Winchester, both of which are here added, although the only authority for the story is contained in what has been already given from the Saxon Chronicle42.
   "King Alfred being addicted to giving of alms, confirmed the privileges which his father had granted to the churches, and sent many gifts beyond seas, to Rome, and to St Thomas in India. His messenger in this business was Sighelm, bishop of Sherburn, who, with great prosperity, which is much to be wondered at in this age, penetrated into India; whence he brought on his return, splendid exotic gems, and aromatic liquors, of which the soil of that region is prolific."
   "Sighelm having gone beyond seas, charged with alms from the king, even penetrated, with wonderful prosperity, to Saint Thomas in India, a thing much to be admired in this age; and brought thence, on his return, certain foreign kinds of precious stones which abound in that region; some of which are yet to be seen in the monuments of his church."
   In the foregoing accounts of the voyage of Sighelm, from the first notice in the Saxon Chronicle, through the additions of Malmsbury, and the amplified paraphrase by Harris, we have an instance of the manner in which ingenious men permit themselves to blend their own imaginations with original record, superadding utterly groundless circumstances, and fancied conceptions, to the plain historical facts. Thus a motely rhetorical tissue of real incident and downright fable is imposed upon the world, which each successive author continually improves into deeper falsehood. We have here likewise an instance of the way in which ancient manuscripts, first illustrated by commentaries, became interpolated, by successive transcribers adopting those illustrations into the text; and how many fabricators of story, first misled by these additaments, and afterwards misleading the public through a vain desire of producing a morsel of eloquence, although continually quoting original and contemporary authorities, have acquired the undeserved fame of excellent historians, while a multitude of the incidents, which they relate, have no foundations whatever in the truth of record. He only, who has diligently and faithfully laboured through original records, and contemporary writers, honestly endeavouring to compose the authentic history of an interesting period, and has carefully compared, in his progress, the flippant worse than inaccuracies of writers he has been taught to consider as masterly historians, can form an adequate estimate of the enormity and frequency of this tendency to romance. The immediate subject of these observations is slight and trivial; but the evil itself is wide-spread and important, and deserves severe reprehension, as many portions of our national history have been strangely disfigured by such indefensible practices.