ABSTRACT
FINNMARK is a region in the northern part of Norway, because of its size once distinguished with the title of kingdom. Even if this country has been allotted a relatively hard-frozen part of the world as a plot to cultivate and inhabit, it possesses men with tough bodies and great hearts, who are accustomed to defend themselves vigorously against the assault of enemies, as will be shown below when I deal with the wars of these men of Finnmark. 1 2 The air of that land, as also of its neighbours, is always cold and clear, but harmless to the human frame, allowing rain to fall very scantily, and only in summertime; and such is the temperature in those parts that fish, unsalted but dried solely by the air, remain Fish are unrotted for ten years at a time, as I shall show below in the chapter on dangerous fishing in the book on fish. From the twenty-fifth of March till the eighth of September there is continuous daylight there, uninterrupted by darkness, and the sun is visible from the fourth of May right up to the first of August with no intervention of night. This is why you may sail the seas there without serious peril; otherwise, in the gloom, a voyage to that place would be very dangerous because of the concealed rocks. 2
Hardy men
Air always cold but harmless
Fish are dried in the air
Continuous daylight
