cies of the whale, a similar
catch may still, at the present day, be made on the coasts of the
Polar countries. For various small species go together in great
shoals; and, as they occasionally come into water so shallow that
they are left aground at ebb, they can be killed with ease.
Sometimes, too, a successful attempt is made to drive them into
shallow water. That whales visit the coast of Norway in spring in
large shoals dangerous to the navigator is also stated by Jacob
Ziegler, in his work, _Quae intus continentur Syria, Palestina,
Arabia, AEgyptus, Schondia, &c._ Argentorati, 1532, p. 97. ]

[Footnote 26: In this case is meant by "whale" evidently the walrus,
whose skin is still used for lines by the Norwegian walrus-hunters,
by the Eskimo, and the Chukchis. The skin of the true whale might
probably be used for the same purpose, although, on account of its
thickness, perhaps scarcely with advantage without the use of
special tools for cutting it up. ]

[Footnote 27: It ought to be remarked here that the distances which
Othere in that case traversed every day, give a speed of sailing
approximating to that which a common sailing vessel of the present
day attains _on an average_. This circumstance, which on a cursory
examination may appear somewhat strange, finds its explanation when
we consider that Othere sailed only with a favourable wind, and,
when the wind was unfavourable, lay still. It appears that he
usually sailed 70' to 80' in twenty-four hours, or perhaps rather
_per diem._ ]

[Footnote 28: The maps are taken from _Ptolemaei Cosmographia latine
reddita a Jac. Angelo, curam mapparum gerente Nicolao Donis Germano,
Ulmoe_ 1482, and from the above-quoted work of Jacobus Ziegler,
printed in 1532. That portion of the latter which concerns the
geography of Scandinavia is reprinted in _Geografiska Sektionens
Tidskrift_, B.I. Stockholm, 1878. ]

[Footnote 29: These were the Dane, Erik Valkendorff, and the
Norwegian, Olof Engelbrektsson. The Swedes, Johannes Magnus,
Archbishop of Upsala, and Peder Maonsson, Bishop of Vesteraos, also
gave Ziegler important information regarding the northern countries. ]

[Footnote 30: Of these much-discussed narratives concerning
_Indians_--probably men from North Scandinavia, Russia, or North
America, certainly not Japanese, Chinese, or Indians--who were
driven by storms to the coasts of Germany, the first comes down to
us from the time before the birth of Christ. For B.C. 62