Let us stand then on Udröst if only in thought, And there find the knowledge we seek: The grand northern story as truthfully told When we learn it from Andenäs peak.” We hear the first authentic Arctic story from England’s own king, Alfred--the most truly great, the wisest, and the best monarch that ever ruled over any country. Always working for the good of his people, he translated the geographical work of Orosius for their benefit, inserting his own priceless additions and comments. Among them is the narrative of an Arctic voyage obtained at first hand from a native of that Halgoland whence Udröst was sometimes visible on the horizon. The explorer, named Ohthere, came to Alfred’s court to tell his story, and so it was saved from oblivion by being inserted in the King’s edition of Orosius. King Alfred describes Ohthere as a very wealthy man, owning 600 reindeer, horned cattle, sheep, and swine; as having a small extent of tilled land, but deriving the chief part of his revenues from the tribute of the Finns (as the Lapps were called) in skins and feathers, whalebone, and hides for making ropes. Ohthere gave the length of a walrus as 15 feet, and of a whale as 96 feet. He told the King that the best whale-fishing was off the coast of Halgoland. Ohthere’s own home was at Gibostad on the mainland of Senjen in the province of Halgoland, “the land of fire,” or “of the northern lights.” It was well within the Arctic Circle. Ohthere wished to discover the coast beyond his ken, so he undertook a most adventurous voyage to the north and east, keeping the wild rocky shore on his starboard hand, and the wide Arctic sea on what he called his _boec bord_. He explored the whole of the Finmarken coast, mentioning the business of fishing for walrus or “horse-whales” as he called them, and he also described the Lapps, who were met with up to the North Cape. Ohthere reached the most northern point of Europe. This is Nordkyn or Kinnerodde, at the eastern entrance of the Laxe fjord; but on the island of Magerö the low projecting spit of Knivskjärodde reaches still further north to 71° 11′. The bold black headland of the North Cape, with its flat summit and nearly vertical strata of mica slate, has a height of 1005 feet, but a mile less northing. The adventurous Ohthere was thus the first to round the North Cape. He then shaped a course eastward and finally entered the White Sea, sailing round the Kola Peninsula as far as the mouth of the Karzuga river, and coming into touch with people called Terfinna and Beorma. The former were the Finns of Ter, the old name for the Kola Peninsula; the Beormas were the North Karelians. This was the extent of Ohthere’s discoveries as recorded by King Alfred.