IN NORTHERN MISTS 



Of the cold in " Ifranga " (the land of the Franks, Western 

 Europe) he says that it 



** is quite terrible, and the air there is thick on account of the excessive cold." i 

 " ' Burgan ' [or ' Bergan,' as the first vowel is doubtful] is a land which lies 

 far in the north. The day there becomes as short as four hours and the night 

 as long as twenty hours, and vice versa [cf. Ptolemy on Thule, Vol. I, p. 117]. 

 The inhabitants are heathens [' Magus '] and worshipers of idols. They 

 make war on the Slavs. They resemble in most things the Franks [West Eu- 

 ropeans]. They have a good understanding of all kinds of handicraft and ships." 



Professor Seippel considers it not impossible that there may 

 here be a corruption of the Arabic Nurman ( = Normans) to 

 Burgan, and to a layman this looks probable. In any case 

 Burgan cannot here as elsewhere in Arab authors be Bulgar 

 (the Bulgarians) ; on the other hand it might be the Norwegian 

 town of Bergen. In any case the description seems to suit the 

 Norwegians best, and the mention of Ptolemy's latitude for 

 Thule (the longest night of 20 hours) also points to this. That 

 they are said to be heathens is due again to the name " Magus " 

 (cf. pp. 201, 209). 



Qazwini also ^ tells us that : 



"Warank is a district on the border of the northern sea. For from the 

 ocean in the north a bay goes in a southerly direction, and the district which 

 lies on the shore of this bay, and from which the bay has its name, is called 

 Warank. It is the uttermost region on the north. The cold there is exces- 

 sive, the air thick, and the snow continuous. [This region] is not suited either 

 for plants or animals. Seldom does anyone come there, because of the cold 

 and darkness and snow. But Allah knows best [what is the truth of the matter]." 



As mentioned above (p. 199), elsewhere in Arab writers the 

 Varangians' Sea undoubtedly meant the Baltic; but here, as 

 is also suggested by Professor Seippel, one might be tempted 

 to think that it is Varanger or the Varangerfjord in Finmark 

 that is intended.^ It may also be recalled that Edrisi already 



1 Jacob, 1896, pp. II f. 



- Seippel, 1896, p. 44. 



3 It might seem tempting to suppose that the name " Varanger " is con- 

 nected with "Warank"; but this can hardly be the case. Mr. J. Qvigstad in- 

 forms me that in his view the name of the fjord must be Norwegian, " and was 

 210 



