a row of helmeted heads looking down at me, and among them I saw, to
my great surprise and pleasure, that of Eric the Swart, with whom I do
business at Venta every year. He greeted me heartily when I reached the
deck, and became at once my guide, friend, and counsellor. This helped
me greatly with these Barbarians, for it is their nature that they are
very cold and aloof unless one of their own number can vouch for you,
after which they are very hearty and hospitable. Try as they will, they
find it hard, however, to avoid a certain suggestion of condescension,
and in the baser sort, of contempt, when they are dealing with a
foreigner.

It was a great stroke of luck meeting Eric, for he was able to give me
some idea of how things stood before I was shown into the presence of
Kenna, the leader of this particular ship. The crew, as I learned from
him, was entirely made up of three tribes or families--those of Kenna,
of Lanc, and of Hasta. Each of these tribes gets its name by putting the
letters "ing" after the name of the chief, so that the people on
board would describe themselves as Kennings, Lancings, and Hastings. I
observed in the Baltic that the villages were named after the family who
lived in them, each keeping to itself, so that I have no doubt if these
fellows get a footing on shore, we shall see settlements with names like
these rising up among the British towns.

The greater part of the men were sturdy fellows with red, yellow, or
brown hair, mostly the latter. To my surprise, I saw several women among
them. Eric, in answer to my question, explained that they always take
their women with them so far as they can, and that instead of finding
them an incumbrance as our Roman dames would be, they look upon them
as helpmates and advisers. Of course, I remembered afterwards that our
excellent and accurate Tacitus has remarked upon this characteristic of
the Germans. All laws in the tribes are decided by votes, and a vote has
not yet been given to the women, but many are in favour of it, and it
is thought that woman and man may soon have the same power in the State,
though many of the women themselves are opposed to such an innovation.
I observed to Eric that it was fortunate there were several women on
board, as they could keep each other company; but he answered that
the wives of chiefs had no desire to know the wives of the inferior
officers, and that both of them combined against the more common women,
so that