A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 1 | Page 9

the White Sea trends E. and by N.--E.
[5] This doubt, of whether the sea lies within the land or not, probably refers to the numerous inlets or fiords along the whole coast of Norway and Finmark, and may mean, that he did not examine whether the land might not be parcelled out into innumerable islands.--E.
[6] The Beormas are the Biarmians or Permians of the northern writers; and Perm or Permia is still mentioned among the numerous titles of the emperors of Russia.--Forat.
[7] The Terfennas are mentioned as different from the Scrite-fennas. These were distinguished by Guido, the geographer of Ravenna, in the seventh century, into Rerefinni and Scritifinni. The latter lived entirely by hunting, and wore snow-shoes in winter, called Schrit. The former subsisted on their herds of rein-deer, and perhaps ought to have been therefore called Rene-finni. The name in the text ought perhaps to have been Rhane-fenna, as he tells us they had rein-deer, and employed decoy deer to catch the wild. Perhaps Fer-fenna, from their travelling in sledges; from farra, to travel in a carriage.--Forst.
[8] It is highly probable, from this remark, in which Ohthere could not be mistaken, as it will appear in the sequel that he must have been perfectly well acquainted with the Fins, that the Biarmians were a branch of the great Finnish stock. The principal difference seems to have been, that the Fins continued to be wandering hunters and herdsmen, while the Beormas or Biarmians had advanced to the state of fixed cultivators of the soil. They had likewise an idol called Jomala, which is still the name of one of the deities of the Finlanders.--Forst.
[9] The morse is here named horse-whale by king Alfred, with infinitely greater propriety than the appellation of sea-horse, which long prevailed in our language. The tusks of this animal are still considered as excellent ivory, and are peculiarly valuable for the construction of false teeth; and leather made from the hide is still used in Russia for coach-harness, but stretches more when wet than any other leather.--Forst.
[10] It would appear, from the vast number killed, that this successful fishing must refer to the morse or horse-whale, not to the ordinary large whale.--E.
[11] In the original, the broad and comparatively fertile part of Norway is said to be in the _east_: the correction adopted in the text is obvious and necessary.--E.
[12] In former translations, this passage is: "opposite to this land, to the south, is Sueoland." The alteration in the text removes the ambiguity--E.
[13] Cwenland and the Cwenas appear to refer to Lapmark, and its inhabitants, the Finlanders.--Forst.
[14] See Sect. iii. p. 12, in which this place is supposed by Mr J. R. Forster to have been where Stockholm now is.
[15] Iraland obviously here means Scotland, with the Faro, Shetland, and Orkney islands.--E.
[16] This is plainly the isle of Gothland.--E.
[17] Apparently the Baltic proper is here called the sea of Sillende, and may have been named from the isle of Zeeland. Yet in this passage it seems to refer to the gulf of Bothnia, as running far up into the country.--E.
[18] See Sect. iii. p. 14, in which Forster endeavours to fix this place at Aarhuus in Jutland.

SECTION III.
_Remarks by J. M. Forster, respecting the situation of Sciringes-heal and Haethum_[1].
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. 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. The late Mr Murray placed Sciringes-heal at Skanor, in the southern extremity of Sweden; but I cannot think that this place could be five days sail from Haethum in Jutland, as it is expressly declared to have been by Ohthere. Langebeck is for carrying Sciringes-heal to Konga-hella, on the Guatelf, near Marstrand; and insists, that the name, in Alfred's account of the voyage, ought to have been written Cyninges-heal instead of Sciringes-heal. If the word had only once occurred, I might have allowed Langebeck to be right; but we meet with it five times in the space of a few lines, and always without the slightest variation in orthography. 2dly, The voyage from Halgoland to Konga-hella is not of sufficient extent to have employed a month in the passage. 3dly, Konga-hella is too near Jutland to have required five days for the voyage between it and Haethum.
Having demonstrated the insufficiency of these conjectures, we shall