¶1] VII. In writing of Ethiopia in Africa, I spoke briefly of its many islands, using Plinius Secundus, but I mentioned none by name. And so I shall mention by name some few whose names I have read.
¶2] The same Plinius Secundus in his sixth book states that there are islands near the Ploughmen Ethiopians, and also Bacchias and Antibacchias and the Isle of Soldiers.
¶3] Priscian in the book which in Greek is called Periegesis, that is, description of the earth, which he wrote in very good metre, tells us that the island Erithrea will be found beside Ethiopia on the Atlantic, saying: The just-souled Ethiopians dwell in Erithrea beside the Atlantic, and live to a great age, from whose territories once . . . .
¶4] The island of Gaulea lies in the southern ocean of western Ethiopia, and Isidorus makes known its name in the ninth book of his Etymologiae.
¶5] There are the Fortunatae islands, and the Gorgodes, and the Hesperides, and many authors state that these islands lie in the sea west of Africa. The Gorgodes are farther from Africa than the Fortunatae, and the Hesperides farther than the Gorgodes. Since in the Cosmography the river Malva is said to rise near the Fortunatae islands, from this it is reckoned to be close to Africa. The Gorgodes are distant a two days' journey by ship from the continent, as Isidorus says in the fourteenth book of his Etymologiae.
¶6] We do not read of islands being found in the sea west or north of Spain. There are islands around our own island Hibernia, some small and some very small. Near the island Britannia are many islands, some large, some small, and some medium-sized. Some are in the sea to her south and some in the sea to her west, but they abound mostly to the north-west and north. Among these I have lived in some, and have visited others; some I have only glimpsed, while others I have read about.
¶7] Plinius Secundus in his fourth book informs us that Pytheas of Marseilles states that Thule lies six days' sail to the north of Britain.
¶8] About the same island, which was always uninhabited, Isidorus says in the same fourteenth book of his Etymologiae: Thule is the farthest island of the ocean, lying between north and west beyond Britain, getting its name from the sun, since at it the sun reaches its summer solstice.
¶9] Priscian speaks about the same island in his Periegesis more clearly than Isidorus, saying: Here crossing in boats the open waters of the ocean, and coming to Thule, which shines both by day and by night under the rays of the sun, when he ascends in his chariot to the axes of the zodiac, lighting up the north with his torch.
¶10] Iulius Solinus treats of the same island more clearly and fully than Priscian, and, speaking of Britannia, he writes thus in his Collectanea: Farthest Thule, in which, at the summer solstice, there is no night, when the sun passes out of the Crab: and in like manner no day at the winter solstice.
¶11] It is now thirty years since clerics, who had lived on the island from the first of February to the first of August, told me that not only at the summer solstice, but in the days round about it, the sun setting in the evening hides itself as though behind a small hill in such a way that there was no darkness in that very small space of time, and a man could do whatever he wished as though the sun were there, even remove lice from his shirt, and if they had been on a mountain-top perhaps the sun would never have been hidden from them.
¶12] In the middle of that moment of time it is midnight at the equator, and thus, on the contrary, I think that at the winter solstice and for a few days about it dawn appears only for the smallest space at Thule, when it is noon at the equator.
¶13] Therefore those authors are wrong and give wrong information, who have written that the sea will be solid about Thule, and that day without night continues right through from the vernal to the autumnal equinox, and that vice versa night continues uninterrupted from the autumnal to the vernal equinox, since these men voyaged at the natural time of great cold, and entered the island and remaining on it had day and night alternately except for the period of the solstice. But one day's sail north of that they did find the sea frozen over.
¶14] There are many other islands in the ocean to the north of Britain which can be reached from the northern islands of Britain in a direct voyage of two days and nights with sails filled with a continuously favourable wind. A devout priest told me that in two summer days and the intervening night he sailed in a two-benched boat and entered one of them.
¶15] There is another set of small islands, nearly all separated by narrow stretches of water; in these for nearly a hundred years hermits sailing from our country, Ireland, have lived. But just as they were always deserted from the beginning of the world, so now because of the Northman pirates they are emptied of anchorites, and filled with countless sheep and very many diverse kinds of sea-birds. I have never found these islands mentioned in the authorities.
¶16] Iulius Solinus in his Collectanea says about Germany and its islands: In this region and in all the area of the north there are numerous bisons, which are like wild cattle, with shaggy necks and bristling manes. They can run faster than bulls; when captured they cannot be tamed. There are also wild oxen, popularly called buffaloes, but buffaloes have nearly the appearance of deer and are found in Africa. Those, however, which we call wild oxen have bull's horns of such large dimensions, that because of their great capacity they are removed and used as drinking vessels at royal banquets.
¶17] There is also the elk which may be likened to the mule, whose upper lip hangs down so much that it can feed only by walking backwards. The island Gravia in the Germanic region produces an animal like the elk, but whose houghs cannot bend; for this reason they cannot lie down to sleep, but a tree supports them while sleeping. This is cut to the point of falling, so that the beast topples over when it leans on its accustomed support. In that way it is captured; otherwise it is difficult to catch it, as despite its stiff houghs it can run so fast that it cannot be overtaken.
¶18] Of the Germanic islands Scandinavia is the greatest, but there is nothing great in it beyond itself.
¶19] Plinius Secundus in his book about the ocean north of Scythia and its islands says: Hecataeus calls the northern ocean Amalchius beyond the river Parapanisus, which forms the (western) boundary of Scythia, the name Amalchius signifying ‘frozen’ μαλκιος in the language of that people: Philemon says it is named Morimarusa, that is, ‘Dead Sea’, from the Cimbri to Cape Rusbeae, and beyond that the Cronian sea.
¶20] Xenophon of Lampsacus states that three days' sail from the Scythian coast there is an island of immense size called Balcia, which Pytheas calls Basilia.
¶21] The islands of Oeonae are also said to be near by, whose inhabitants
¶22] Plinius Secundus, again speaking on the islands of Germany, says: We then begin to get clearer information with the tribe of the Ingueones, which is the first in Germany. Here is the unmeasured Mount Saevo, as large as the Riphaean mountains, which makes a great bay reaching to the Cimbrian promontory; it is called Codanus and is filled with islands. The most famous is Scadinavia, of unknown size. Even the portion of it which is known, because the Hilleviones dwell there in five hundred cantons, is called a second world. And it is thought that Aeningia is just as large. Some authors relate that the region as far as the river Vistula is inhabited by the Sarmatae, Venedi, and Sciri.
¶23] In the Cosmography before-mentioned we read of an island of the Sun, called Burned, where the Ganges enters the sea. And in the same eastern ocean are located Hippopodes, Elephantine, and Ptolemais Epitheras.
¶24] Plinius Secundus in his sixth book tells of the following islands found in the Indian ocean: Four satrapies a little later, since my mind hastens forwards to the island of Ceylon. But first comes Aliopatale, which I have mentioned as being at the very mouth of the Indus, of triangular shape, and two hundred and twenty miles across. Outside the mouth of the Indus are Golden and Silvery, rich in mines, as I understand it. For what some authors have stated, that their soil is made of gold and silver, I can scarcely credit. Crocala is twenty miles from these, and twelve from it is Bibaga, rich in oysters and shell-fish, then eight miles from this is Coralliba, and many islands of no importance.
¶25] Iulius Solinus wrote at the end of the book mentioned: Tylos is an Indian island. It produces palms and olive-trees, it abounds in vines, and surpasses all lands in this wonder, that the trees which grow there never lose their leaves. Somewhat earlier Iulius also said: The Indian seas have whales beyond four acres in length, which they call 'blowers', which raise their immense size, higher than tall columns, above the sail-yards of ships, and sucking up the waves with their blow-holes they so spew them forth that they often sink the ships of voyagers with the stormy spray.
¶26] Shortly after this Iulius again says: People for long thought that the island of Ceylon was another world, before human daring, by an extensive exploration of the sea, made the truth widely known; indeed the Antipodes were thought to live there. But the enterprising spirit of Alexander the Great did not allow this ignorance and public error to remain any longer, and even to these remote parts he spread the glory of his name.
¶27] So Onesicritus, the admiral of the Macedonian fleet, was sent out and provided for our information a detailed investigation of this land, of its size, its products, and its condition. It is seven thousand stadia in length and five thousand stadia in breadth, and is divided by a river flowing through; for part is filled with beasts and elephants much larger than the Indian, and humans inhabit the other part. It is rich in pearls and every kind of gem. It lies from east to west.
¶28] Beginning from the eastern sea it lies stretched before India. From Prasia, the Indian tribe, it was a journey of twenty days to it at first, when the trip was made with Nile boats of papyrus, but soon the speed of our ships made it a seven days' journey. Between there lies a shallow sea, not deeper than six paces, but with certain channels so deep that no anchor has ever found bottom in their depths.
¶29] They do not observe the stars while sailing, since indeed the Bears are never seen, the Pleiades never appear. They see the moon above the horizon only from the eighth to the sixteenth hour. Canopus shines there, bright and strong. They have the rising sun on the right, the setting sun on the left.
¶30] Since therefore they can make no observations while sailing, in order to make port at a destined goal they carry birds, whose course, as they make for land, they use to direct their voyage. They sail for not more than four months in the year.
¶31] Priscian in his Periegesis says the following of the same island of Ceylon and of two other islands: From here turning your ship's prow to the warm south winds you will come to Ceylon, the great island which produces elephants at the border of Asia. It lies under the Crab. About its shores leap numerous whales as large as mountains, fed by the vast Red Sea. Over their backs and shoulders runs a terrible spine, bringing death and fate beneath their savage mouths. They are wont to suck down
¶32] Just as beforehand Iulius Solinus gave the length and breadth of the island of Ceylon, in thousands of stadia, as follows: It extends seven thousand stadia in length, and five thousand in breadth; so later Isidorus gave the same length and breadth in miles, in the fourteenth book of the Etymologiae, saying: Extent in length eight hundred and seventy-five miles, in breadth six hundred and twenty-five.
¶33] And just as the same Iulius reported that the elephants of the said island were much larger than the elephants of India, he also said that the elephants of Mauretania were smaller than the elephants of India when speaking of Mauretania and its elephants.
¶34] The same Iulius speaks in these words of Cyrenaic Africa and its lions: Lions have intercourse back-to-back, and not only lions but also lynxes, camels, elephants, rhinoceroses, and tigers. Lionesses bring forth at their first litter five whelps, and then decrease the number by one at each birth in the following years, and finally when their fertility has come down to one they remain sterile for ever. The lion's forehead and tail indicate his temper, just as a horse's emotions are understood from his ears.
¶35] But the same Iulius in speaking of Germany and its islands makes one mistake about elephants when he says that the elephant never lies down, for he certainly does lie down like an ox, as the people at large of the Frankish kingdom saw the elephant at the time of Emperor Charles. But perhaps the reason for this false statement being written about the elephant was that his knees and houghs cannot be clearly seen except when he lies down.
¶36] Iulius again tells us of India that six thousand four hundred and fifty-three years passed from the time of Dionysus down to the time of Alexander the Great. The same author wrote something else which is incredible: That the men who live at the source of the Ganges have no need of any food, but live solely on the odour of wild apples, and when going on a long journey they bring the same with them as a stand-by to sustain themselves on the odour; but if perchance they draw a breath less sweet, they indubitably die. I have doubts about the width of the Ganges and the Euphrates which he gave in that book, and omit them.
¶37] Iulius again, speaking of Egypt and the Nile, describes the nature of the crocodile, mingling truth with falsehood, in these words: The crocodile, an evil four-footer, has equal powers both on land and in the river; he has no tongue and can move his upper jaw; and shortly afterwards: He lays eggs like those of the goose; he measures out the place with a foresight bestowed by nature, and only produces his young where the waters of the rising Nile cannot reach them.
¶38] And shortly afterwards: They see rather dimly in the water, but very clearly on land. In winter they take no food; indeed, counting from the beginning of winter, they spend four months without eating. The rest of his description of the nature of the crocodile I here omit, since whoever wishes may find it in the twelfth book of Etymologiae.
¶39] In other points which follow I do not believe him; when, that is, he makes this statement a little earlier: On an island in the Nile there live men of small stature, but so skilled in daring as to put themselves deliberately in the way of crocodiles; for these monsters pursue those who flee but fear those who stand their ground; so they are captured, subdued, and enslaved even within their own waters, and, overcome by fear, they are so submissive as to forget their savage nature, and carry their victors riding on their backs. The crocodiles therefore flee afar from this island and its people whenever they scent them by their odour.
¶40] Iulius again, nearly at the end of the volume mentioned, describes by name some of the islands of the Red Sea, saying: In the sea west of Persia is the reddish-coloured island of the Sun, which cannot be approached by any living thing, since it is fatal to all animals introduced there.
¶41] The same author shortly afterwards at the end of his book says this: Among the islands of Arabia, where the Ascite (Cow-hide) Arabs dwell, they say there is an island appropriately named; for they construct stories of wicker-work on top of buffalo hides, and travelling on this kind of raft they attack those who pass with poisoned arrows.
¶42] The remote, sun-scorched parts of Ethiopia are also said to be inhabited by (the tribes of) Troglodytae (Cave-dwellers) and Ichthyophagi (Fish-eaters) . . . ; . . . the fennel-giant grows as high as trees; those of a black colour, when squeezed out, give a very bitter liquid, the white ones produce water even fit for drinking.
¶43] Another island they say is called the island of Iuno, with a small
¶44] There follows Snow-island, where the air is cloudy and dense, and therefore it is always covered with snow. Then Dog-island, full of most beautiful dogs, from which indeed two were procured for King Iuba. In it there are remains of buildings. There are numerous birds, groves of fruit-trees, palm-groves bearing dates, plenty of pine-nuts, abundant honey, and rivers full of the silurus fish.
¶45] They say that when the sea is rough great monsters are cast up on shore; when they decay and rot, the whole island is filled with a foul odour; therefore the nature of the islands does not entirely correspond to their name.
¶46] Isidorus in the twelfth book of his Etymologiae wrote of the phoenix, the bird of Arabia: The Arabian bird, phoenix, is so called, either because it has a purple-red colour, or because it is singular and unique in the whole world; for the Arabs call the singular and unique 'phoenix'. It lives for more than five hundred years, and when it sees that it has grown old it gathers spicy twigs and builds its own funeralpyre, and turning towards the sun's rays it beats its wings and voluntarily feeds the fire for itself; and so it rises again from its ashes.
¶47] Iulius Solinus, speaking of Arabia, wrote the following about the said bird: The phoenix is found in Arabia, a bird the size of an eagle, with a cone of projecting feathers adorning its head, with a tufted throat and a gleam of gold about its neck, and purple at the back apart from its tail, on which a dark-blue sheen is traced amid the rosy feathers. It has been shown that it lives for five hundred and forty years. It makes its pyre of cinnamon twigs, which it gets beside Panchaea, the city of the Sun, and places on top of an altar.
¶48] In the sixteenth book of Etymologiae Opazion is described as an island off Arabia, covered with clouds. As we read of no islands in the ocean east of Egypt, nor south of their Ethiopia, nor in the Caspian sea, (49) I have seen fit to speak here of the few small islands of the Tyrrhenian sea, which many have omitted to mention. Isidorus in the ninth book of Etymologiae wrote that the island of Sardus (perhaps: Pharus) is separated by a narrow strait from the Phoenician shore of the phoenix.
¶50] Priscian in his Periegesis composed the following lines: From here the ocean widens, and boils up to the north in the swelling Sea of Marmara, where rocky Proconnesos flourishes. There is also an island
¶51] lulius on the Scythian islands: The island of the Apollonitae is situated near the Danube, eighty miles distant from the Thracian Bosporus. From it Lucullus carried off for us the Apollo of the Capitol. Before the Dnieper is the island of Achilles with its temple. No bird enters it, and if one flies up by chance, it hastily takes to flight.
¶52] Iulius too had spoken shortly before of the river Dnieper: The Dnieper rises among the Neuri; in it are fish of fine flavour, with no bones, nothing but tender cartilage. Tradition says that the Neuri become wolves during the summer, and then, having fulfilled the period assigned to this fate, return to their previous shape.