[ 462 ] 



" country, for which reafon Ohthere did not dare enter upon it; 

 " and the Terfenna x land was all a defert, except when it was 

 ** inhabited by rimers and fowlers. 



<e The Beormas told him many particulars about their 

 44 land y , as well as of the other countries near them ; but 

 " Ohthere could not rely upon their accounts, becaufe he had 

 44 not an opportunity of feeing with his own eyes.; it feemed 

 44 however to him, that the Beormas and the Finnas fpdke the 

 *' fame language. He went the rather, and Jhaped his courfe to 

 " each of thefe countries % on account of the horfe- whales, be- 

 " caufe they have very good bone in their teeth 3 , fome of which 

 44 he brought to the King b , and their hides are good for fhip- 

 «< ropes. This fort of whale is much lefs than the other kinds, 

 <s it being not longer commonly than feven ells; but [Ohthere 

 44 fays] that in his own country is the befl: whale-hunting, be- 

 64 caufe the whales are eight and forty ells long, and the largejl' 

 " fifty; that he had Lilled fome fix; and fixty d in two days. 



x Mr. Lye, in his Saxon Dictonary, refers to this word in this chapter 

 of Orofius, and renders it Tartary. 



y It muft be owned that this rather contradicts what is mentioned in 

 the preceding period. 



» Sc. of the Finnas and the Beormas. 



a It is faid that one of thefe teeth, in the 16th century, fold for a ru- 

 ble. Hakluyt, vol.i. p. 280. 



b Sc. JElfred. From this eircumftance it Lath been inferred, that 

 Ohthere was fent by this king on this difcovery, .which however is by no 

 means conokuive ; for every traveller, in relating his voyage, Ihews the 

 prbduCT of the countries he hath vifited. }Richard Chancellor, fpeaking 

 of the commodities of Ruffia,, fays, 'J here.are alfo a full's teeth, which 

 < ; frfhis called a Morfe." Hakluyt, vol. i. , p. .237. 



c CQxytav., very improperly rendered in the Latin tranllation non- 



mllce. h 



»i I conceive that fyxa fhould'be a fecond time repeated here inftead of 

 j-yxtrr, or fixty ; itw r ould then only be alferted that Jix had been taken' 

 w two days/which is much more probable than.fixtyi 



44 Ohthere 



