The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-12-22

lsiaud' NOV ana then some adventurous or
storm-drlven mariner saw the low and indis-
tinct outlines of this tabled isle shimmering
in the moon light.
But IL the sailor laid his craft to and wait
ed for the dawn 10! the island had vanished
and only wide expanse of white capped
waves rolled where green groves had stood
all through the hours Of night.
For this strange island sank beneath the
sea every morning, and where it would re-
appear in the night no man knew for it
drifted about through the seas like spectre
ship.
But at last a stalwart northern chieftain,
Thjelyar by name. sailed forth from the
coast of Sweden in quest of this ghostly
holm. Fortune favored the valiant sailor
lie succeeded in etfeeting a landing on the
Shores OF TINS drifting, sinking no-man's-
land. He instantly lighted fire. The
heaven born flames as they leapt on high
drove out the demons and trolls and powers
Of darkness that had betwitched this wander
ing isle, and 1t now became fixed and stable
So was Gotland located and settled
Now this is only a myth, but it may
embody history for, all that. The island
drifting about now here, now there, may
mean only. that it was difficult for sea-
farers to hit upon an isle lying so far
away from shore, as indeed it must have
been before the discovery of the mariner
compass. That it now fi0ated on the waves
and again was lost beneath them might W ell
mean that as you sailed away from such a
low lying island it soon sank beneath the sea,
The name of the doughty chieftain,
Thjelvar, means in old Swedish, ''the indus
tri0us' which indeed every successful pioneer
must be, and his fixing the island and
driving out the evil spirits by fire is simply
another way of saying that by setting fire to
his clearing he consumed the wild woods,
drove off the wild beasts and sWamps. and
miasmatic calculations of the place, caused
bright crops to wave, where dark forests
grew before, and permanently fixed the
abode of man.
Some of the industrious defendants of
Thjelvar are among the pioneers in the for
ests of Northern Maine today, and there
they are hard at work even as their indus
trious ancestor, driving out the powers Of
darkness and calling in the powers of light.
clearing the land and cutting happy homes
out of the dense woods.
Myths and sagas are after all only poetic
way of telling history.
The. little colony founded by Thielvar
spread gradually over the island and i'm their
insulated position took to the water as natur-
ally as ducks. They built ships and sailed on
trading voyages, not only TO Sweden, but al
so to Germany and Denmark and Russia.
They sailed far up the rivers of Northern
Europe, and traded with the inhabitants
along their banks.
Indeed they must have been imbued with
the same spirit that characterizes the Yam.
kee population of the shores of Maine-they
were ever ready to sail ship or drive a
trade.
In those early days Of a, thousand years
ago or so, no spot of Northern Europe was
so well fitted to be the home of a race of
sea-traders as Gotland. 1t lies in the middle
OF the Baltic, and nearly equi-distant
from Sweden, Germany and Russia. The
island is 70 miles long,, 80 broad, and con-
Jams iZOO square miles. 1t is about one
sixth larger than our own county of Cum
berland Gotland is q low-lying plateau Of
limestone. 1t is quite level, the soil is gen
orally good, and its climate is peculiarly
mild for so high latitude.
From the earliest times Gotland was trib-
utary TO Sweden, to which power, after
many. vicissituGes, it belongs TODAY. Int
the island lay so far out to sea and away
from the Swedish coast that in the olden
time 1t enjoyed very large degree of free
dom and independence. This was favorable
10 Its growth and prosperity Its trade in
creased apace and soon a city sprang up near
safe harbor and beneath cliff
where of old heather priests sacrificed their
victims.
They called the city Wisby, which means
the city OF the place of sacrifice" Wisely
about midway the island from north to
south. Wisely continued to increase in
trade and riches, in power and Importance.
throughout the eleventh, twelfth and thir.
teenth centuries.
The trade of Russia and other countries to
the east of the Baltic centred at Noygorod
or Smolensk, thence it flowed down the Gulf
OF Finland or the river Dvina to Wisby
Here the products Of the Russian forests and
nelus were received in great warehouses and
Iaetorles. 10 meet this Eastern trade there
sailed -
from Germany, Flanders, Sweden, Denmark
ana England, with the wooden goods, scarlet
cl0tns, weapons, tools and luxuries of life.
Along the quays and streets, and in the
warehouses and factories of Wisely, there
was always going on lively traffic. Its
merchants were perpetually buying and sell
ing, shipping or receiving goods from nearly
every part of the known world. Soon
many Of the costly goods and precious
wares OIL India, Persia and the farthest
orient FOUND their way up thei VOlga, the
Dnleper and other rivers of Russia. and a.
over land and sea to Wisely, whence they
were distributed throughout Western Eli-
rope. During the 18th century Wisby
Was situated upon one of the most
Important lines OF the worlds traffic. and
was unquestionably the most Important mar
ket ON that line. Hundreds oil rich mer-
chants moved their business from the Ger.
man and other ports of the Baltic and North
S sea, 70 Wisby Nearly every nation and
Autth UuilL ito OWN mouse OIL worship at this
prosperous port Seventeen great churches.
some OF them 200 feet il length, were built
ana their lofty towers and spires overlooked
the busy commerce of Wisely. A massive
wall Oh stone, 80 feet high and more than
Two ana nall miles long, was built around
the city. FOrtV-aiQhf stone toaasexs. ~ -,
feet IA helgAt and pierced with many en-
braSures, were built above this girelle of
stone, and from tower to tower along the
walls paced armed sentries to and fro by day
Wisely became the chief emporium of the
trade OF the North. She was Queen of the
Baltic. as Venice became Queen of the
Aurlatlc Sea. She was the most important
commercial n city Of Northern Europe Wisely
and Gotland were in the 18th century what
London and England are to the world TODAY
How large population Wisely had cannot
De accurately ascertained. The old Chroni-
cles state that the number of merchants re-
siding within the walls was 10000 All me-
chanlcs and artizans, save only bakers and
goldsmlths, resided in two suburbs with ont
the wall. SO rich did the inhabitants be-
come that the doors of many of the private
houses were made of copper and the Window
frames gilt with gold. The old Chronicles
go on to say that
THE Gotlanders weigh their gold with twenty
pound weights
And play with the choicest Jewels;
The pigs eat out of silver troughs,
Ana the women spin with golden distaffsn
VI course we must not take these Chroni-
Giles too literally. They only mean to saw
that the good people of Gotiand were very
rich. And this queen city of the North was
not only rich, but was of such commanding
commercial Importance that it gave ont q
code OF sea laws that were followed and
obeyed throughout Northern and Western
Europe. The maritime code of Wisby COM
manded implicit obedience from the Dorts Of
Russia to the Mediterranean and was fine
ground work of the Admiralty law of the
world today. '''0
The vast riches of this thriving CITY excit-
ed the cupidity Of Naldemar Atterdag. King
Of Denmark. He landed with an army on
the coast of Gotland. The proud bnrghers
Of Wisely advanced to meet him. A pitched
battle was fought just outside the walls. and
the forces OF WHISKY were defeated with a
loss of 1900 slain. SO Valdemar marched in
and plundered the town, gaining an enor-
nous booty. This was in 1861. From that
time dates the decline of this great trade
center OF the north. Not singlydo misfor-
tunes fall either upon individuals or cities.
Some thirty years after the sacking of Wisby
by Naidemar In 1890, the Monaghan hordes.
under Tamerlane invaded Russia. They de-
stroyed the city Of Astrachan, where the
Nolga flows into the Caspian Sea. and thus
cut OF from Gotland the greater portion of
the rich traffic of the Orient. "A century
later, IN 1875 SIX years after the discovery of
America, a new route to India was found by
sailing around the Cape of Good Hope, This
was an easier road for the commerce of the
East IMAM overland across Russia, and So
trade noated around the southern cane Of
Africa ana deserted tha Rolt ond Ufcb,,