34 Arctic and Antarctic Exploration [part i 
a walrus as 15 feet, and of a whale as 96 feet. He told 
the King that the best whale-fishing was off the coast 
of Halgoland. Ohthere's own home was at Gibostad on 
the mainland of Sen j en in the province of Halgoland, 
u the land of fire," or u of the northern lights/' It was 
well within the Arctic Circle. 
Ohthere wished to discover the coast beyond his ken, 
so he undertook a most adventurous voyage to the north 
and east, keeping the wild rocky shore on his starboard 
hand, and the wide Arctic sea on what he called his 
boec bord. He explored the whole of the Finmarken 
coast, mentioning the business of fishing for walrus or 
" horse- whales " as he called them, and he also described 
the Lapps, who were met with up to the North Cape. 
Ohthere reached the most northern point of Europe. 
This is Nordkyn or Kinnerodde, at the eastern entrance 
of the Laxe fjord; but on the island of Magero the low 
projecting spit of Knivskjarodde reaches still further 
north to 71 0 11'. The bold black headland of the North 
Cape, with its flat summit and nearly vertical strata of 
mica slate, has a height of 1005 feet, but a mile less 
northing. The adventurous Ohthere was thus the first 
to round the North Cape. He then shaped a course 
eastward and finally entered the White Sea, sailing 
round the Kola Peninsula as far as the mouth of the 
Karzuga river, and coming into touch with people called 
Terfinna and Beorma. The former were the Finns of 
Ter, the old name for the Kola Peninsula ; the Beormas 
were the North Karelians. This was the extent of 
Ohthere's discoveries as recorded by King Alfred. 
In those far-off days, when Alfred the Great was 
devoting his life to the good of his people, England was 
in the course of being made, and the Norsemen were 
destined to have no small share in the making of it. But 
it is worthy of note that even then the work of polar ex- 
ploration and the achievements of explorers were the 
subjects of investigation by Alfred, an interest which has 
been continued for a thousand years. 
The difficulty of communication by land, and the 
innumerable bays and fjords in the country of the Norse- 
men soon led to extensive ship-building, each district 
doubtless following its own designs, to some extent, in 
