There are,
however, even during this time, some notices on the subject; as appears
from the laws of Ethelred: by these, tolls were established on all boats
and vessels arriving at Billingsgate, according to their size. The men of
Rouen, who brought wine and large fish, and those from Flanders, Normandy,
and other parts of France, were obliged to shew their goods, and pay the
duties; but the emperor's men, who came with their ships, were more
favoured, though they were not exempt from duty.
From what relates to the geographical knowledge and the commerce of the
Scandinavian inhabitants of England, we shall now pass on to the
geographical discoveries and commerce of the other Scandinavian nations.
About the year 861, a Scandinavian vessel, probably on its voyage to
Shetland or Orkney, discovered the Feroe islands. This discovery, and the
flight of some birds, induced the Scandinavians to believe that there was
other land in the vicinity of these islands. About ten years afterwards,
Iceland was discovered by some Norwegian nobility and their dependants, who
were obliged to leave their native country, in consequence of the tyranny
of Harold Harfragre. According to some accounts, however, Iceland had been
visited by a Norwegian pirate a few years before this; and if the
circumstance mentioned in the Icelandic Chronicles be true, that wooden
crosses, and other little pieces of workmanship, after the manner of the
Irish and Britons, were found in it, it must have been visited before the
Scandinavians arrived.
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