Chapter X: Section IV

_Voyage of Wulfstan in the Baltic as related to Alfred_[1].

Wulfstan said that he sailed from Haethum to Truso[2] in seven days and nights, the ship being under sail all the time. Weonothland[3] was on his right; but Langaland, Laeland, Falster, and Sconeg, were on the left, all of which belong to Dene-mearkan[4]. Burgendaland[5] also, which has a king of its own, was on the left. After leaving Burgendaland, the islands of Becinga-eg, Meore, Eowland, and Gotland, were on the left, all of which belong to Sueon[6], and Weonodland[7] was all the way on the right to the mouth of the Wisle[8]. This is a very large river, and near it Witland[9], and Weonodland are situated; the former of which belongs to Estum, and the Wisle does not run through Weonodland, but through Estmere[10], which lake is fifteen miles broad. Then runs the Ilfing[11] from the eastwards into Est-mere, on the banks of which is Truso. The Ilfing flows from Est-land into the Est-mere from the east, and the Wisle through Weonodland from the south. The Ilfing, having joined the Wisle, takes its name, and runs to the west of Estmere, and northward into the sea, where it is called Wisle-mouth[12].

Est-land is a large track of country, having many towns, in each of which there is a king. It produces a great quantity of honey, and has abundance of fish. The kings, and other rich men, drink mares milk, while the poor people and slaves use only mead[13]. They have many contests among themselves; and the people of Estum brew no ale, as they have mead in profusion[14]. There is also a particular custom observed by this nation; that, when any one dies, the body remains unburnt, with the relations and friends, for a month or two; and the bodies of kings and nobles remain longer, according to their respective wealth, sometimes for half a year, during all which time it is kept in the house, and drinking and sports continue until the body is consumed[15]. When the body is carried to the funeral pile, the substance of the deceased, which yet remains, after the sports and drinking bouts, is divided into five or six heaps, or more, according to its value. These heaps are placed at the distance of a mile from each other; the largest heap at the greatest distance from the town, and the lesser heaps gradually diminishing, so that the smallest heap is nearest to the town where the dead body lies. Then all are summoned who have fleet horses, within the distance of five or six miles around, and they all strive for the substance of the dead person. He who has the swiftest horse, gains the most distant and largest heap, and the others, in just proportion, till the whole is won; then every one takes away his share, as his own property: and owing to this custom, swift horses are in great request, and extremely dear. When the wealth of the deceased has been thus exhausted, the body is taken from the house and burnt, together with the dead man's weapons and clothes; and generally, they expend the whole wealth of the deceased, by keeping the body so long in the house before it is burnt, and by these heaps which are carried off by strangers. It is the custom with the Estum to burn the bodies of all the inhabitants; and if any one can find a single bone unconsumed, it is a cause of great offence. These people, also, have the means of producing a very severe cold; by which, the dead body continues so long above ground without putrefying; and by means of which, if any one sets a vessel of ale or water in the place, they contrive that the liquor shall be frozen either in winter or summer[16].

[1] Alfred's Orosius, by Barrington, p. 16. Langebeck, Scrip. Dan. II. 118-
123. Wulfstan appears to have been a Dane, who had probably become
acquainted with Ohthere, during his maritime expeditions, and had gone
with him to reside in England.--Forst.

[2] There is a lake still called Truso or Drausen, between Elbing and
Prussian Holland, from which, probably, the town here mentioned, which
stood on the Frisch-haf, took its name.--Forst.

[3] It is necessary to distinguish accurately between Weonothland, which is
probably Fuehnen, Funen, or Fionio, now called Fyen; and Weonodland or
Winodland, afterwards Wendenland.--Forst.

[4] Denmark obviously, called simply Dene, in the voyages of Ohthere.--E.

[5] Probably Bornholm.--E.

[6] Called Sueoland in the voyages of Ohthere, is assuredly Sweden, to
which all these islands belong. Becinga-eg, is certainly Bleking; the
_l_ being omitted in transcription, called an island by mistake.
Meore is indisputably the upper and lower Moehre in Smoland; Eowland
is Oeland; and Gotland is doubtless the modern isle of that name.
--Forst.

[7] Weonodland, or Winodland, extends to the mouth of the Vistula; and is
obviously a peculiar and independent country, totally different from
Weonothland, belonging to Denmark.--Forst.

[8] Wisle, or Wisla, is the Sclavonian orthography for the Vistula, called
Weichsel by the Germans, and Weissel by the Prussians.--Forst.

[9] Witland is a district of Samland in Prussia. It had this name of
Witland at the time of the crusades of the Germans against Prussia.
The word Wit-land, is a translation of the native term Baltikka, or
the white land, now applied to the Baltic Sea.--Forst.

[10] Est-mere, a lake of fresh water, into which the Elbing and Vistula
empty themselves; now called Frisch-haf, or the fresh water sea.
--Forst.

[11] This is undoubtedly the Elbing which flows from lake Drausen, or
Truso, and joins, by one of its branches, that arm of the Vistula
which is called Neugat or Nogat.--Forst.

[12] The Ilfing, or Elbing, comes out of Esthonia, yet not from the east,
as here said by Alfred, but from the south; except, indeed, he mean
that arm of the Elbing which runs into the Nogat, or eastern arm of
the Vistula. But the Vistula comes out of Wendenland, called
Weonodland in the text, from the south; and the two rivers discharge
themselves into the Frisch-haf, which stretches from west to north, or
in a north-east direction; and at Pilau, goes northwards into the sea.
It is certainly possible that this entrance may have been formerly
called Wisle-mund, or the mouth of the Vistula, as well as the western
mouth of that river.--Forst.

This concession is not necessary to the truth of Wulfstan and Alfred.
There is a cross branch from Elbing, which joins the Nogat and Vistula
proper; and which is probably meant in the text, where the Ilfing and
Wisle, united, are said to run to the west of Est-mere, or the haf,
and then north, into the sea at Wisle-mund.--E.

[13] This circumstance is singular; yet may be explained from the custom of
the Tartars. The mares milk, drank by the kings and rich men, was
certainly prepared into cosmos, or kumyss, the favourite beverage of
the great; while mead, a much inferior liquor in their estimation, was
left to the lower orders.--E.

[14] Mead was called Medo in Anglo-Saxon, in Lithuanian Middus, in Polish
Miod, in Russian Méd, in German Meth, in old English Metheglin:
perhaps all these are from the Greek verb [Greek: methuo], to
intoxicate. Alfred naturally observes, that these drinking-bouts
produced many frays; and notices the reason of the Estum or Esthonians
brewing no ale, because they had abundance of mead.--Forst.

[15] In a treaty between the Teutonic knights, and the newly converted
Prussians, the latter engaged never to burn their dead, nor to bury
them with their horses, arms, clothes, and valuables.--Forst.

[16] This power of producing cold in summer, so much admired by Wulfstan
and Alfred, was probably the effect of a good ice-cellar, which every
Prussian of condition had in, or near his house.--Forst.