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He says that no human being abode in any fixed habitation to the north of him. There is a port to the south of this land, which is called Sciringes-heal.
But farther, a large bay stretches to the northward, deep into the country, along the coast of which he had been continually sailing; and this bay commences quite to the southward of Sciringes-heal, and is so broad that a man cannot see across, and Gotland is directly opposite to this bay . But the sea, which extended from Zeeland to this spot, goes many hundred miles up into the country to the eastwards.
Sciringes-heal, therefore, is consequently in Sweden, at the entrance of the Gulf of Bothnia, which runs up into the land northwards, just on that spot where the Baltic, after having passed Zeeland, spreads into a wide gulf, extending several hundred miles into the land. Just in this place I find the Svia-Sciaeren, or Swedish Scares, a cluster of little islands, surrounded by rocks.
During this voyage, the navigator must sail near the land, or make a coasting voyage along the coast of Norway towards the south, having Iraland , and the islands which are between that country and Norway, on his right hand; for this country continues all the way on the left hand of the navigator, from Halgoland to Sciringes-heal.
But, first, the spot where the Scyres lived, is by no means satisfactorily determined; and, next, it is evident that Ohthere went continually along the coast from Halgoland to Sciringes-heal, and that this coast was on his left-hand during the whole course of his navigation.
When he sailed to this place from Sciringes-heal, Dene, or Denmark, was on his left, and on his right was a wide sea for three days; as were also on his right, two days before he came to Haethum, Gotland, Sillende, and many other islands, which were inhabited by the Angles before they came to Britain; and during these two days, the islands belonging to Denmark were on his left hand.
The name of this place, Sciringes-heal, has given a great deal of trouble to former commentators on Alfred; viz. Sir John Spelman, Bussaeus, Somner, John Philip Murray, and Langebeck, who have all chosen spots totally different, in which to place Sciringes-heal. Spelman, and others, look for this place near Dantzic, where, in their opinion, the Scyres formerly resided.
Ohthere says, that the shire or district which he inhabited is called Halgoland, and that there were no inhabitants beyond him to the north. There is likewise a port in the southern land, which is called Sciringes-heal , which no one could reach in a month's sailing, even with a fair wind, at least if he lay to at night.
Ohthere farther says, that he sailed in five days from Sciringes-heal to that port which is called Haethum , which lies between Winedum, Seaxun, and Anglen, and makes part of Dene.
Ohthere tells us, that in sailing from Sciringes-heal to Haethum, he had Denmark to the left, and the open sea, for the space of three days, to the right; but that, for two days before he reached Haethum, he had Gotland and Zeeland to the right, and the islands which belong to Denmark to the left.
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