Ohthęre sǣde his hlāforde, Ælfrede cyninge, þæt hē ealra Norðmǫnna norþmest būde. Hē cwæð þæt hē būde on þǣm lande norþweardum wiþ þā Westsǽ. Hē sǣde þēah þæt þæt land sīe swīþe lang norþ þǫnan; ac hit is eal/ wēste, būton on fēawum stōwum styccemǣlum wīciað Finnas, on huntoðe on wintra, ǫnd on sumera on fiscaþe be þǣre sǽ. Hē sǣde þæt hē æt sumum cirre wolde fandian hū lǫnge þæt land norþryhte lǣge, oþþe hwæðer ǣnig mǫnn be norðan þǣm wēstenne būde. Þā fōr hē norþryhte be þǣm lande: lēt him ealne weg þæt wēste land on ðæt stēorbord, ǫnd þā wīdsǽ on ðæt bæcbord þrīe dagas. Þā wæs hē swā feorr norþ swā þā hwælhuntan firrest faraþ. Þā fōr hē þāgīet norþryhte swā feorr swā hē meahte on þǣm ōþrum þrim dagum gesiglan. Þā Beormas hæfdon swiþe wel gebúd hira land: ac hīe ne dorston þǣr on cuman. Fela spella him sǣdon þā Beormas ǣgþer ge of hiera āgnum lande ge of þǣm landum þe ymb hīe ūtan wǣron; ac hē nyste hwæt þæs sōþes wæs, for þǣm hē hit self ne geseah. Þā Finnas, him þuhte, ǫnd þā Beormas sprǣcon nēah ān geþēode. Swīþost hē fōr ðider, tōēacan þæs landes scēawunge, for þǣm horshwælum, for ðǣm hīe habbað swīþe æþele bán on hiora tōþum; (þā tēð hīe brohton sume þǣm cyninge); ǫnd hiora hȳd bið swīðe gód tō sciprāpum. Se hwæl bið micle lǣssa þonne ōðre hwalas: ne bið hē lęngra ðonne syfan ęlna lang; ac on his āgnum lande is se bętsta hwælhuntað: þā bēoð eahta and fēowertiges ęlna lange, and þā mæstan, fiftiges ęlna lange; Hē wæs swȳðe spēdig mann on þǣm æhtum þe heora spēda on bēoð, þæt is, on wildrum. Hē hæfde þāgȳt, ðā hē þone cyningc sohte, tamra dēora unbebohtra syx hund. Þā dēor hī hātað ‘hrānas;’ þāra wǣron syx stælhrānas; ðā bēoð swȳðe dȳre mid Finnum, for ðǣm hȳ fōð þā wildan hrānas mid. Hē wæs mid þǣm fyrstum mannum on þǣm lande: næfde hē þēah mā ðonne twentig hrȳðera, and twentig scēapa, and twentig swȳna; and þæt lȳtle þæt hē ęrede, hē ęrede mid horsan. Ac hyra ár is mǣst on þǣm gafole þe ðā Finnas him gyldað. Þæt gafol bið on dēora fellum, and on fugela feðerum, and hwales bāne, and on þǣm sciprāpum, þe bēoð of hwæles hȳde geworht, and of sēoles. Æghwilc gylt be hys gebyrdum. Se byrdesta sceall gyldan fīftȳne mearðes fell, and fīf hrānes, and ān beren fel/, and tȳn ambra feðra, and berenne kyrtel oððe yterenne, and twēgen sciprāpas; ǣgþer sȳ syxtig ęlna lang, ōþer sȳ of hwæles hȳde geworht, ōþer of sioles. Hē sǣde ðæt Norðmanna land wǣre swȳþe lang and swȳðe smæl. Eal/ þæt his man āðer oððe ęttan oððe ęrian mæg, þæt līð wið ðā sǽ; and þæt is þēah on sumum stōwum swȳðe clūdig; and licgað wilde mōras wið ēastan and wið uppon emnlange þǣm bȳnum lande. On þǣm mōrum eardiað Finnas. And þæt bȳne land is ēasteweard brādost, and symle swā norðor swā smælre. Ohthęre sǣde þæt sīo scīr hātte Hālgoland, þe hē on būde. Hē cwæð þæt nān mann ne būde be norðan him. Þonne is án port on sūðeweardum þǣm lande, þone man hæt/ Scīringes hēal. Þyder hē cwæð þæt man ne mihte geseglian on ānum mōnðe, gyf man on niht wīcode, and ælce dæge hæfde ambyrne wind; and ealle ðā hwīle hē sceal seglian be lande. And on þæt stēorbord him bið ǣrest Īraland, and þonne ðā īgland þe synd betux Īralande and þissum lande. Þonne is þis land, oð hē cymð tō Scīrincges hēale, and ealne weg on þæt bæcbord Norðweg. Wið sūðan þone Scīringes hēal fylð swȳðe mycel sǽ ūp inn on ðæt lǫnd; sēo is brādre þonne ǣnig mann ofer sēon mæge. And is Gotland on ōðre healfe ongēan, and siððan Sillęnde. Sēo sǽ līð mǣnig hund mīla ūp inn on þæt land. And of Scīringes hēale hē cwæð ðæt hē seglode on fīf dagan tō þǣm porte þe mǫn hæt/ æt Hæþum; se stęnt betuh Winedum, and Seaxum, and Angle, and hȳrð inn on Dęne. Ðā hē þiderweard seglode fram Scīringeshēale, þā wæs him on þæt bæcbord Dęnamearc and on þæt stēorbord wīdsǽ þrȳ dagas; and þā, twēgen dagas ǣr hē tō Hæþum cōme, him wæs on þæt stēorbord Gotland, and Sillęnde, and īglanda fela. And hym wæs ðā twēgen dagas on ðæt bæcbord ðā īgland þe inn on Dęnemearce hȳrað. Wulfstān sǣde þæt hē gefóre of Hæðum, þæt hē wǣre on Trūsō on syfan dagum and nihtum, þæt þæt scip wæs ealne weg yrnende under segle. Weonoðland him wæs on stēorbord, and on bæcbord him wæs Langaland, and Lǽland, and Falster, and Scónēg; and þās land eall hȳrað tō Dęnemearcan. And þonne Burgenda land wæs ūs on bæcbord, and þā habbað him sylfe cyning. And Weonodland wæs ús ealne weg on stēorbord oð Wīslemūðan. And þonne benimð Wīsle Ilfing hire naman, and ligeð of þǣm męre west and norð on sǽ; for ðȳ hit man hæt/ Wīslemūða. Þæt Estland is swȳðe mycel, and þǣr bið swȳðe manig burh, and on ælcere byrig bið cyningc. And þǣr bið swȳðe mycel hunig, and fiscnað; and se cyning and þā rīcostan męnn drincað mȳran meolc, and þā unspēdigan and þā þéowan drincað medo. And ne bið ðǣr nǣnig ealo gebrowen mid Estum, ac þǣr bið medo genóh. And þēah man āsętte twēgen fǣtels full ealað oððe wæteres, hȳ gedōð þæt ǣgþer bið ofer·froren, sam hit sȳ sumor sam winter.

Ohthere told his lord, King Alfred, that he lived farther north than any other Norseman. He said he lived in the northern part of the land, by the Western Sea. He said, though, that the land stretches very far north from there. But it is all wasteland, except that here and there, in a few places, Finns camp, hunting through the winter and fishing by the sea over the summer. He said that he once wanted to find out how far the land stretched due north, or whether anyone lived north of the wasteland. Then he sailed due north along the coast. All the way he kept the wasteland on his starboard side and the open sea on his port side, for three days. By then he was as far north as the whale hunters ever travel. Then he kept going due north, getting as far as he could manage in the next three days of sailing. The Permians had settled their land very well, but [his crew] did not dare to go onto it. The Permians told him a great many tales, about their own country as well as the lands near them; but he could not tell how much was true, since he had not seen it himself. The Finns, it seemed to him, and the Permians spoke almost the same language. He went there chiefly, besides seeing the land, for the walruses, because they have very fine bone in their teeth. Some of those teeth they brought to the king. And their hide is very good for ship ropes. This kind of whale is much smaller than other whales: it grows no longer than seven ells. Yet in his own country is the best whale hunting: those are forty-eight ells long, and the biggest fifty ells long. He was a very wealthy man in the kind of goods that their wealth consists of, that is, in wild animals. He still had, when he went to see the king, tame animals that were not yet sold, six hundred of them. These animals they call reindeer. Of these there were six decoy reindeer. These are very valuable among the Finns, because with them they catch the wild reindeer. He was among the foremost men in the land. Yet he had no more than twenty cattle, twenty sheep and twenty pigs. And the little that he plowed, he plowed with horses. But their income comes mostly from the tribute paid to them by the Finns. The tribute is paid in animal skins, in bird feathers, in whale bone, and in ship ropes made of whale hide and of seal hide. Each man pays according to his rank. The highest-ranking man has to pay fifteen marten skins, five reindeer [skins], one bearskin, ten ambra of feathers, a coat of bearskin or otter skin, and two ship ropes. Each is to be sixty ells long; one is to be made of whale hide, the other of seal hide. He said that the Norsemen’s land was very long and also very narrow. Everything that can be grazed or plowed lies along the sea. And it is, though, here and there very rocky. And wild moors lie to the east and up above, alongside the settled land. On the moors live Finns. And the settled land is broadest in the east, and always the farther north, the narrower. Ohthere said that the district was called Halgoland, where he lived. He said that no one lived north of him. There is a port in the southern part of that land, which is called Sciringes heal. He said that a person could not sail there in a month, even if he camped at night and had a fair wind every day; and all that time he has to sail along the land. And on the starboard side he first has Iraland, and then the islands that lie between Iraland and this land. Then there is this land, until he reaches Sciringes heal, and the whole way, on the port side, is Norway. South of Sciringes heal a very large sea flows far inland; it is wider than anyone can see across. And Gotland is on the other side, opposite, and then Sillende. This sea runs many hundreds of miles inland. And from Sciringes heal, he said, he sailed in five days to the port that is called Haethum. It stands between the Wends, the Saxons and the Angles, and belongs to Denmark. When he sailed that way from Sciringes heal, he had Denmark on his port side and open sea on his starboard side for three days. And then, two days before he arrived at Haethum, he had, on his starboard side, Gotland and Sillende and many islands. And he had, for those two days, on his port side the islands that belong to Denmark. Wulfstan said that he set out from Haethum and that he was at Truso within seven days and nights, and that the ship ran under sail the whole way. Weonodland was on his starboard side, and on his port side were Langaland, Læland, Falster and Sconeg; and all those lands are part of Denmark. And then Burgenda land was on our port side, and they have a king of their own. And Weonodland was all the way on our starboard side, to the mouth of the Wisle. And then the Wisle takes the Ilfing’s name away, and flows from the lake west and north into the sea; that is why it is called Wislemuða. Estland is very large, and there are very many towns there, and in each town there is a king. And there is very much honey there, and fishing. The king and the richest men drink mare’s milk, and the poor and the slaves drink mead. And there is no ale brewed among the Ests, but there is mead in plenty. And even if someone set out two vessels full of ale or water, they [this clan] cause either one to be frozen over, whether it is summer or winter.