A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume I Part 4

[42] The country on the Wisle or Vistula, being great and little Poland.

--Forst.

[43] These for some time inhabited Dacia, and, being famous in history, Alfred was willing at least to mention one of their residences.

--Forst.

[44] The Delamensen, or Daleminzen of the middle age writers, sometimes called Dalmatians by mistake, or to shew their erudition, were situated near Lommatsch, or around Meissen or Misnia, on both sides of the Elbe.--Forst.

[45] These must have been a Scalvonian people or tribe, now unknown, and perhaps inhabited near Gorlitz, or near Quarlitz, not far from great Glogau--Forst.

[46] The Sorbi, Sirbi, and Serbii, of old writers, are the Sorbian Sclavons; and the modern Wends or Vandals of Lusatia, still call themselves Sserbs or s...o...b...--Forst.

[47] These must have been another tribe of Sclavons about Seuselig, to the westward of the Sorbs of lower Lusatia.--Forst.

[48] Perhaps the duchy of Mazovia, called Magaw or Mazaw-land in ancient writers. Or perhaps it is wrong spelt for _Wastaland_ or the Waste.--Forst.

[49] Sermende is the mutilated and disguised name of Sarmatia, which did not exist under that name in the time of Alfred, but which he inserted on the authority of his original author Orosius.--Forst.

[50] A mere corruption of the montes Riphaei or Riphean mountains of Orosius; and Alfred seems here to have got beyond his knowledge, copying merely from Orosius.--Forst.

[51] The Ost sea of Alfred comprehends what are now called the Scaggerrack, Catte-gatt, the Sound, the two Belts, and the Baltic, which our mariners still call the East Sea.--Forst.

[52] That is, both inhabiting North Jutland and the islands of Funen, Zeeland, Langland, Laland, and Falster.--Forst.

[53] Formerly called Apdrede, and explained to be the Obotrites.--E.

[54] Alluding, doubtless, to the country from whence the Saxons who inhabited England had come of old.--E.

[55] This is the same nation called Estum in the voyage of Wulfstan, who lived east of the mouth of the Wisle or Vistula, along the Baltic, and who are mentioned by Tacitus under the name of Estii. When the Hanseatic league existed, they were called Osterlings or Easterlings, or Ost-men, and their country Est-land, Ostland, or Eastland, which still adheres to the northernmost part of Livonia, now called Est-land.--Forst.

[56] The Burgendas certainly inhabited the island of Born-holm, called from them Borgenda-holm, or island of the Borgendas, gradually corrupted to Borgend-holm, Bergen-holm, Born-holm. In the voyage of Wulfstan they are plainly described as occupying this situation.--Forst.

[57] Called formerly AEfelden, a nation who lived on the Havel, and were, therefore, named Hevelli or Haeveldi, and were a Wend.i.c.k or Vandal tribe.--Forst.

[58] These are the Sviones of Tacitus. Jornandes calls them Swethans, and they are certainly the ancestors of the Swedes.--Forst.

[59] This short pa.s.sage in the original Anglo-Saxon is entirely omitted by Barrington. Though Forster has inserted these Surfe in his map, somewhere about the duchy of Magdeburg, he gives no explanation or ill.u.s.tration of them in his numerous and learned notes on our royal geographer.--E.

[60] Already explained to be Finland on the White sea.--E.

[61] This is the same nation with the Finnas or Laplanders, mentioned in the voyage of Ohthere, so named because using _scriden_, schreiten, or snowshoes. The Finnas or Laplanders were distinguished by the geographer of Ravenna into Scerde-fenos, and Rede-fenos, the Scride-finnas, and Ter-finnas of Alfred. So late as 1556, Richard Johnson, Hakluyt, ed. 1809. I. 316. mentions the Scrick-finnes as a wild people near Wardhus.--E.

[62] The North-men or Normans, are the Norwegians or inhabitants of Nor-land, Nord-land, or North-mana-land.--E.

[63] At this place Alfred introduces the voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan, already given separately, in Sect. ii. and iii, of this chapter.--E.

[64] Either the original or the translation is here erroneous; it ought to run thus: "The Propontis is _westward_ of Constantinople; to the north-east of that city, the arm of the sea issues from the Euxine, and flows _south-west_; to the _north_ the mouths of the Danube empty themselves into the _north-west_ parts of the Euxine."--E.

[65] Carinthia. The desert has been formerly mentioned as occasioned by the almost utter extirpation of the Avari by Charlemain, and was afterwards occupied by the Madschiari or Magiars, the ancestors of the present Hungarians.--Forst.

[66] Very considerable freedoms have been taken with this sentence; as in Barrington's translation it is quite unintelligible.--E.

[67] Profent and Profent sea, from the Provincia Gallica, now Provence.

--Forst.

[68] Probably in relation to Rome, the residence of Orosius.--E.

[69] Gascony, called Wascan in the Teutonic or Saxon orthography and p.r.o.nunciation. Thus the Saxons changed Gauls to Wales, and the Gauls changed War-men into Guer-men, hence our modern English, Germans.

--Forst.

[70] Scotland is here a.s.suredly used to denote Ireland.--E.

[71] Probably in relation to Rome, the residence of Orosius.--E.

[72] Alfred includes the whole island, now called Great Britain, under one denomination of Brittannia, taking no notice whatever of any of its divisions. Orcadus is unquestionably Orcades, or the islands of Orkney and Shetland.--E.

[73] The Thila or Thule of Alfred, from its direction in respect of Ireland, and its great distance, is obviously Iceland.--E.

[74] This seems to have some obscure reference to an idea, that the sea had disjoined Europe and Africa. But the sense is extremely perplexed and even unintelligible.--E.

[75] It must be noticed, that Alfred was unacquainted with any more of Africa than its northern coast, along the Mediterranean, which explains this erroneous idea of its size being inferior to Europe.--E.

[76] Syrenaica.--E.

[77] The Red Sea, or Ethiopic Gulf. In this part of the geography of Alfred, his translator has left the sense often obscure or contradictory, especially in the directions, which, in this version, have been attempted to be corrected. This may have been owing to errors in the Anglo-Saxon MS. which Barrington professes to have translated literally, and he disclaims any responsibility for the errors of his author.--E.

[78] Probably some corruption of Syrtes Majores, or of Syrenaica.--E.

[79] Tripolitana, now Tripoli.--E.

[80] I can make nothing of this salt lake of the Arzuges, unless it be the lake of Lawdeah, between Tunis and Tripoli. The Getulians and Garamantes are well known ancient inhabitants of the interior of northern Africa; the Natabres are unknown.--E.

[81] The Garamantes are a well known people of the interior of Africa, in ancient geography; of the Natabres I can make nothing; the Geothulas are evidently the Getulians.--E.

[82] Probably the same called just before the Malvarius, and now the Malul.

But the geographical description of Africa by Alfred, is so desultory and unarranged as to defy criticism.--E.

[83] Alfred may possibly have heard of the Monselmines who inhabit the north-western extremity of the Sahara, or great African desert, and extend to the Atlantic.--E

[84] Faro.

[85] Lillibeum.

[86] The name of this sea is omitted in the MS.--Barr.

[87] These measures are incorrigibly erroneous, or must have been transposed from some other place, having no possible reference to Corsica.--E.