islands which had been the habitation of the Angles before they went to
England, while those which belonged to Denmark were on his left for two
days. 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. Heal, in the northern languages, signifies a
port, as in such places a ship might be kept in safety. Sciringes-heal,
therefore, was "the harbour of the Scares," and was probably at the
entrance of the gulf of Bothnia, and consequently where Stockholm now is;
and the tract of land where these Scares lay, towards the sea, was the
Scarunga of Paul Warenfried.

The port of Hasthum has occasioned much difficulty to the commentators, as
well as that of Sciringes-heal; but all have agreed that it must be
Sleswic, as this latter is called Haitha by Ethelwerd the Anglo-Saxon. A
Norwegian poet gives it the name of Heythabae, others call it Heydaboe, and
Adam of Bremen Heidaba; and this, in their opinion, is precisely the same
with Haethum. It appears to me, however, that the difference between the
words Haethaby and Hasthum, are by no means so inconsiderable. And I think
the situation of Sleswic does not at all accord with the descriptions which
are given of Haethum by Ohthere and Wulfstan. Indeed, if Sleswic be
Haethum, I must confess, that I cannot in the least comprehend the course
of the voyages of these ancient navigators. 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. If he had gone to Sleswic, he
must have found all the Danish islands on his right hand, and not one