2°^ S. N" 104., Dec. 26. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



515 



penetrated beyond the Elbe ; and no one has made 

 the journey by land" (vii. 2. 4.). 



The original belief was, that the ocean flowed 

 from Scythia, round the north of Germany and 

 Gaul, to Iberia and the Pillars of Hercules ; and 

 that in this Northern Ocean there were many large 

 islands. Pliny mentions that islands of vast size, 

 lying off" the coast of Germany, had been recently- 

 discovered in his time. (" Nam et a Germania 

 immensas insulas non pridem compertas cognitum 

 habeo," N. H. ii. 112.) Xenophon of Lampsacus, 

 — a geographer whose date is unknown, but who 

 probably lived about the Augustan age, — stated 

 that at a distance of three days' sail from the shore 

 of Scythia was an island of enormous size called 

 Baltia. (Plin. N. H. iv. 27.) Mela speaks of the 

 Codanus Sinus, — the Cattegat, or southern part 

 of the Baltic, — as a large bay beyond the Albis 

 (Elbe), full of great and small islands (iii. 3.). 

 The largest island in this bay, inhabited by the 

 Teutoni, he calls Codanonia (iii. 6.). The pe- 

 ninsula of Jutland was likewise known to the 

 Romans at the same period, and was named the 

 Cimbric Chersonese. (Strab. viii. 2. § 1. ; Plin. 

 iv. 27. Compare Zeuss, die Deutschen, p. 144.) 



One of the great islands in this part of the 

 Northern Ocean was called Scandia or Scandi- 

 navia. According to Pliny, Scandinavia was the 

 most celebrated island in the Codanus Sinus ; its 

 size was unknown. The portion of it which was 

 known was inhabited by the Hilleviones, a nation 

 containing 500 pagi, who regarded it as another 

 quarter of the world, (/i.) Another account 

 preserved by Pliny describes Scandia as an island 

 beyond Britain (iv. 30.). Agathemerus mentions 

 Scandia as a large island near the Cimbric Cher- 

 sonese, extending to the north of Germany ; and 

 he couples it with the island of Thule. (De Geogr. 

 ii. 4.) According to Ptolemy, there were to the 

 east of the Cimbric Chersonese four islands called 

 Scandia, viz., three small ones, and a large one, 

 furthest to the east, near the mouths of the river 

 Vistula (ii. 11. §§ 33, 34. Compare viii. 6. § 4.) 

 Between the times of Strabo and Ptolemy, there- 

 fore, discovery had advanced from the Elbe to 

 the Vistula. It may be added, that the Island of 

 Scanzia is mentioned by Jornandes (Z)e Reb, Get. 

 c. 3.), who lived in the sixth century. 



Another writer, who also lived in the sixth 

 century, having occasion to mention the island of 

 Scandinavia, gives it the appellation of Thule. 

 Procopius, in his History of the Gothic War, de- 

 scribes the course oi the Heruli across central 

 Europe. He states that, defeated by the Lom- 

 bards, they first crossed the country of the Scla- 

 veni (near the Danube), and afterwards that of 

 the Varni (Saxony) ; that they next overran the 

 Danes, from whose country they reached the 

 ocean ; and having embarked in ships, they sailed 

 to the island of Thule, where they remained. On 



The course of this migration, see Buat, Hist. anc. 

 des Peuples de V Europe, torn. ix. p. 388. ; Zeuss, 

 ib. p. 481. 



In this passage, Procopius, wishing to designate 

 the great island which (as he believed) lay to the 

 north of Germany, applied to it the vague appel- 

 lation of Thule, fiimiliar indeed to the Greeks, 

 but never hitherto used as the name of any real 

 country. He then proceeds to describe this 

 island : — 



" Thule," he says, " is an island of great size, more 

 than ten times as large as Britain, and lies at a distance 

 from it, to the north. Most of the land is barren, but there 

 are thirteen large nations in the cultivated regions, all 

 governed by kings. For forty daj's about the summer 

 solstice the sun does not set, and for the same time at the 

 winter solstice it does not rise. The latter period is 

 passed by the inhabitants in dejection of spirits, as they 

 are unable to communicate with each other. Although 

 (adds Procopius) I much wished to visit this island, and 

 to see these phenomena with my own eyes, I have never 

 been able to accomplish my desire. Nevertheless, I have 

 heard a credible account of them from natives of the 

 country, who have travelled to these parts. During the 

 period when the sun^never sets, they reckon the daj's by 

 the motion of the sun round the horizon. During the 

 period when the sun never rises, they reckon the days by 

 the moon. The last five days of the dark period are 

 celebrated by the Thulitse as a great festival. These 

 islanders are perpetuallj' haunted with a fear that th6 

 sun should on some occasion fail to return, although the 

 same phenomenon recurs every year. 



" The Scrithifini, one of the nations of Thule, are in a 

 savage state, wearing no clothes or shoes, not drinking 

 wine, or eating any vegetable product. They never cul- 

 tivate the ground, but both men and women follow the 

 chase. They live on the animals thus killed, and use the 

 skins of beasts as clothes. Their infants are nourished 

 not with milk, but with the marrow of wild animals. 



"The remaining Thulitte scarcely differ from other 

 men. They worship a variety of gods in heaven, earth, 

 and sea, and particularly in springs and rivers, and thej' 

 sacrifice human victims, killing them with frightful tor- 

 tures. The largest nation is the Gauti, to whom the Heruli 

 came." {Bell. Goth. ii. 15.) 



The Scrithifini mentioned in this passage are 

 more correctly called Skridefinni by other writers. 

 They were sometimes called simply Fins ; they 

 inhabited part of Sweden and Norway. (Zeuss, 

 ib. p. 684.) The Gauti are a nation of Goths, 

 dwelling in this region, whose name is preserved 

 in the island of Gothland. According to Ptolemy 

 (uhi sup.), the Goutae (rovrat) occupied the southern 

 part of Scandia : this nation is doubtless iden- 

 tical with the Gauti of Procopius, and this coin- 

 cidence affords an additional proof that Thule is 

 used by him as synonymous with Scandia. (Zeuss, 

 ib. pp. 158. 511.) The mention of the Scritbifini, 

 who are expressly placed by other writers in the 

 Scandinavian peninsula, likewise indicates the 

 sense which he assigns to the old fabulous name of 

 Thule. 



In another place, Procopius says that Brittia is 

 an island opposite the mouth of the Rhine, be- 

 tween Britannia and Thule (ib. iv. p. 20.). It does 



