CHAP. X.

MIDDLE AGES.

287

which probably was not then in existence, de-scribes the towns of Aarhusen and Aalberg inJutland , and of Lunden in the island of Scho-nen, saying of the latter place, “ It is a city inwhich there is much gold, which is procured bythose incursions on the barbarous nations on theshores of the Baltic sea, which are tolerated andencouraged by the King of Denmark on ac-count of the tribute he draws from them.”

It would appear that the inhabitants on theshores of the Baltic, from whom this gold wasobtained either by traffic or by force, must havebeen supplied from mines or washing either inNorway or Sweden , or from the more remotecountry of Russia .

We have very imperfect accounts of anymines in Norway and Sweden : they are mostlysuch as have been collected by modern travellers,who, from being natives of other countries, re-fer rather to the condition in which they foundthem than to any historical documents descrip-tive of the ancient state. M. Jars 1 says, “ Thevestiges of gold are found in great numbers,and almost without trouble, in the mines ofsilver, copper, and other metals at Fahlun,Helfors, and other parts of Sweden .” (P. 65.)The principal mines of gold in former timeswere those of Asheda in Smaland. These were

1 Voyages Metallurgiques, vol. i. p. 65.