Scheeps-togt na Ysland en Groenland, gedaan door Dithmar Blefkenius, in 't jaar 1563. : Waa...

1563. Whether Iceland is the Thule of Ptolemy.

the ice, and yet the island burns from within, and that all the more because, during this time, the heat is contained within by the cold. This island has a latitude crossing the Æquator Equator of 65 and a half degrees. On its north side lie the islands of Ebudæ Hebrides. Whether this is now the land that Ptolomæus Ptolemy calls Thule, or whether it has been more appropriately christened Iceland, is unknown to me, just as the Thule of Ptolemy is not found; likewise, mapmakers of past times posit a greater length near Scotland and the surrounding lands than Ptolemy did. I shall trace the origin of the people a bit further back, following therein the annals of Iceland.

Who first discovered the same and Greenland.

In the year 1400, in the time of Alebrand, Bishop of Bremen, there were certain noblemen from East Friesland and Bremen who wanted to seek new lands in the North. These set sail from the Weser, past the Orcades Orkney islands, and found this island—which was already inhabited at that time—in the far reaches of Europe, and named it "Iceland" because of the great cold and the ice. As they sailed further northward, they found another island, which they christened "Greenland" because it is the opposite. Now, wishing to go even further north through the ice sea, they were hindered for a long time by the ice, and having finally escaped it with great effort, they came upon large swells and thick darkness, from which those who understand navigation, according to the testimony of Olaus Magnus, believe the flow of the sea originates.

Disasters and adventures of the discoverers.

Here the entire fleet remained, except for one ship, which, after many struggles and dangers, came through the Tartarische Zee Tartarian Sea into a hot land and landed there in a large and very wide harbor. While the inhabitants of this land hid themselves in caves and secret places because of the great heat, those who had stepped ashore took much gold and other valuables, which they found here and there, back to their ship. But when they saw that they were being pursued by many dogs of unspeakable size,