48 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
He then went due north along the country, leaving all the way 
the waste land on the right, and the wide sea on the left. After 
three days he was as far north as the whale-hunters go at the 
farthest. Then he proceeded in his course due north, as far as he 
could sail within another three days; then the land there in¬ 
clined due east, or the sea into the land, he knew not which; but 
he knew that he waited there for a west wind or a little north, 
and sailed thence eastward along that land as far as he could 
sail in four days. Then he had to wait for a due north wind 
because the land inclined there due south, or the sea in on that 
land, he knew not which. He then sailed along the coast due 
south, as far as he could sail in live days. There lay a great river 
up in that land; they then turned in that river, because they 
durst not sail on up the river on account of hostility; because 
all that country was inhabited on the other side of the river. 
He had not before met with any land that was inhabited since 
he left his own home ; but all the way he had waste land on his 
right, except some fishermen, fowlers, and hunters, all of whom 
were Fins : and he had constantly.a wide sea to the left. The 
Beormas had well cultivated their country, but they (Othere 
and his companions) did not dare to enter it. And the Ter- 
finna * land was all waste, except where hunters, fishers, or 
fowlers had taken up their quarters. 
'' The Beormas told him many particulars both of their own 
land and of other lands lying around them; but he knew not 
what was true because he did not see it himself It seemed to 
him that the Fins and the Beormas spoke nearly the same lan¬ 
guage. He went thither chiefly, in addition to seeing the 
country, on account of the walruses,^ because they have very 
1 By Fins are here meant Lapps ; by Terlins the inhabitants of the 
Tersk coast of Russian Lapland. 
2 Walruses are still captured yearly on the ice at the mouth of the 
White Sea, not very far from the shore (cf. A. E. Nordenskiold, Redogdr- 
elsefor en expedition till mynningen af Jenisej och Sihirien dr 1875, p. 23 ; 
Bihang till VetensJcaps-Ahad. Handl. B. iv. No. 1). Now they occur there 
indeed only in small numbers, and, it appears, not in the immediate neigh¬ 
bourhood of land ; but there is scarcely any doubt that in former days they 
were common on the most northerly coasts of Norway. They have evidently 
been driven away thence in the same way as they are now being driven 
away from. Spitzbergen. With what rapidity their numbers at the latter 
place are yearly diminished, may be seen from the fact that during my 
many Arctic journeys, beginning in 1858, I never saw walruses on Bear 
Island or the west coast of Spitzbergen, but have conversed with hunters 
