NORTHERN AUTHORITIES 



of the Scandinavians in literature, in Ottar's straightforward 

 and natural narrative of his voyage to King Alfred, the 

 numerous trustworthy statements about previously unknown 

 regions are a prominent feature, and give proof of a sober 

 faculty of observation altogether different from what one 

 usually meets with in mediaeval literature. This is the case 

 to an even greater degree in the " King's Mirror," and the 

 difference between what is there stated about the North and 

 what we find less than two hundred years earlier in Adam 

 of Bremen is obvious. Apart from the fact that the whole 

 method of presentation is inspired by superior intelligence, 

 it shows an insight and a faculty of observation which are 

 uncommon, especially at that period; and in many points 

 this remarkable man was evidently centuries before his time. 

 Although well acquainted with much of the earlier mediaeval 

 literature, he has liberated himself to a surprising extent 

 from its fabulous conceptions. We hear nothing of the many 

 fabulous peoples, who were still common among much later 

 authors, nor about whirlpools, nor the " curdled " and " dark " 

 sea, but, instead, we have fresh and copious information about 

 the northern regions, and it comes with a clearness like that 

 which already struck us in Ottar. We have a remarkably 

 good description of the sea ice, its drift, etc. (cf. Vol. I, pp. 279 

 f.) ; we have also a description of the animal world of the north- 

 ern seas to which there is no parallel in the earlier literature 

 of the world (cf. pp. 155 f.). No less than twenty-one different 

 whales are referred to fully. If we make allowance for three 

 of them being probably sharks, and for two being perhaps 

 alternative names for the same whale, the total corresponds 

 to the number of species that are known in northern waters. 

 Six seals are described, which correspond to the number of 

 species living on the coasts of Norway and Greenland. Besides 

 these the walrus (rostung) is very well described. But 

 even the author of the " King's Mirror " could not altogether 

 avoid the supernatural in treating of the sea. He describes in 

 the seas of Iceland the enormous monster " hafgufa," which 



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