ABSTRACT
TOWARDS the White Sea in the farthest North, where the king’s domain and the realm of Sweden is of very wide extent, extremely fierce tribes live everywhere about, wearing no breastplates except those made from the hides of wild asses, otherwise known as elks. Similarly they use bows, and spears that have a very small prong fixed at each end. 2 By twisting and circling in every direction with marvellous agility (as I said above in Bk I about the Scricfinns), they are adept at eluding or averting any charge of the enemy. This they are especially able to do on the peaks that rise above the valleys, for these summits are totally covered with a perpetual layer of thick snow, as I described earlier in numerous chapters of the first, second, and third books, as the occasion arose. 3 One might almost say of these folk what Anacharsis, the foremost philosopher of the Scythians, wrote about his people’s customs: that no one who approaches them can escape, and they themselves cannot be caught, or even detected and seized, if they do not wish it. Since they have erected no towns or walls, each man carries his house with him; their foot-soldiers are archers, and they live not on bread but on fish and by hunting wild creatures. 4 As houses they have wagons and tents, with either the tanned hides of animals or the bark of trees for a covering. In winter, however, they relax by the banks of rivers and in summer among bushes and trees and in shady places, moving from one spot to another. For headgear they quite frequently wear the skins of geese, or of wild ducks and cocks, for, as well as other birds, great multitudes of these are to be found there. 5 Hundreds of valuable furs can also be obtained in that region, but by barter rather than by offering a large number of coins. 6
Extent of king of Sweden’s dominions Breastplates of elk hide
Anacharsis
Each Scythian carries his house with him In winter they repose on river banks
