As mentioned above (p. 199), elsewhere in Arab writers the Varangians' Sea undoubtedly meant the Baltic; but here, as is also suggested by Professor Seippel, one might be tempted to think that it is Varanger or the Varanger-fjord in Finmark that is intended.[200] It may also be recalled that Edrisi already knew the name of Finmark. But as Qazwînî has such exaggerated ideas of the cold in Rûm and in Ifranǵa, he may also be credited with such a description of the regions on the Baltic.[201] No importance can be attached to the statement that the bay proceeds from the northern ocean in a southerly direction, as ideas of that kind were general.
Mahmûd ibn Mas ûd 'ash-Shîrâzî (ob. 1310) has the following about the northern regions:[202]
"Thus far as regards the islands: you may know that in that part [of the sea] which goes into the north-western quarter [of the earth] and is connected with the western ocean there are three, whereof the largest is the island 'Anglîsî' [or 'Anglisei' (-island), probably England], and the smallest the island Irlânda. The most handsome of hunting-birds--those that are known by the name of 'sunqur' [hunting-falcons]--are only found on it [this island]. The middlemost of them is the island of Orknia." Probably Ireland and Iceland are here thrown together under the name of Irlânda, as elsewhere falcons are especially attributed to the latter. "The longest day reaches twenty hours where the latitude is 63° [cf. Ptolemy, vol. i. p. 117]. There is an island that is called Tûlê. Of its inhabitants it is related that they live in heated bathrooms [literally, warm baths] on account of the severe cold that prevails there. This is generally considered to be the extreme latitude of inhabited land." It appears to be Norway that is here meant by Thule.
Shîrazî says that "the sea that among the ancients was called Mæotis is now called the Varangians' Sea, and these are a tall, warlike people on its shore. And after the ocean has gone past the Varangians' country in an easterly direction it extends behind the land of the Turks, past mountains which no one traverses and lands where no one dwells, to the uttermost regions of the land of the Chinese, and because these are also uninhabited, and because it is impossible to sail any farther upon it [the ocean], we know nothing of its connection with the eastern ocean."