A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume I Part 3

Opposite to the Alps, _on the north_, is Gallia-belgica, near which is the river Rhine, which discharges itself into the Britanisca sea, and to the north, on the other side of this sea, is Brittannia[66]. The land to the west of _Ligore_, Liguria, is AEquitania; to the south of which is some part of Narbonense, to the south-west is Spain. To the south of Narbonense is the Mediterranean, where the Rhone empties itself into that sea, to the north of the Profent[67] sea. Opposite to the wastes is the _nearer_[68] part of Spain, to the northwest Aquitania, and the Wascan[69] to the north. The Profent[67] sea hath to the north the Alps, to the south the Mediterranean, to the north-east the Burgundians, and to the West the Wascans or Gascons.

$ 12. Spain is triangular, being surrounded by the sea on three sides. The boundary to the south-west is opposite to the island of Gades, Cadiz; that to the east is opposite to the Narbonense, and the third, to the north- west, is opposite to Brigantia, a town of Gallia, as also to Scotland[70], over an arm of the sea, and opposite to the mouth of the Scene or Seine. As for that division of Spain which is _farthest_[71] from us, it has to the west the ocean, and the Mediterranean to the north, the south, and the east. This division of Spain has to the north Aquitania, to the north-east Narbonense, and to the south the Mediterranean.

-- 13. The island of Brittannia extends 800 miles in length to the north-east, and is 200 miles broad. To the south of it, on the other side of an arm of the sea, is Gallia-belgica. To the west of it, on the other side of another arm of the sea, is Ibernia or Ireland, and to the north Orcadus[72]. Igbernia, Ibernia, Hibernia, or Ireland, _which we call Scotland_, is surrounded on every side by the ocean; and because it is nearer the setting sun, the weather is milder than it is in Britain. To the north-west of Igbernia is the utmost land called _Thila_[73], which is known to few, on account of its very great distance.

-- 14. Having mentioned the boundaries of Europe, I now proceed to state those of Africa. Our ancestors considered this as a third part of the world; not indeed that it contains so much land as the others, because the Mediterranean cuts it, as it were, in two, breaking in more upon the south part than on the north[74]. And because the heat is more intense in the south, than the cold in the north, and because every _wight_ thrives better in cold than in heat, therefore is Africa inferior to Europe, both in the number of its people, and in the extent of its land[75]. The eastern part of Africa, as I said before, begins in the west of Egypt, at the river Nile, and the most eastern country of this continent is Lybia.

Ciramacia[76] is to the west of lower Egypt, having the Mediterranean on the north, Libia Ethiopica to the south, and Syrtes Major to the west. To the east of Libia Ethiopica is the farther Egypt, and the sea called Ethiopic.u.m[77]. To the west of Rogathitus[78] is the nation called Tribulitania[79], and the nation called Syrtes Minores, to the north of whom is that part of the Mediterranean called the Hadriatic. To the west again of Bizantium, quite to the salt _mere_ of the Arzuges[80]; this nation has to the east the Syrtes Majores, with the land of Rogathite; and to the south the Natabres, Geothulas, and Garamantes[81], quite to the sea of Bizantium. The sea ports of these nations are Adrumetis and Zuges, and their largest town is Catharina. The country of Numidia has to the east the Syrtes Minores and the salt _mere_ formerly mentioned, to the north the Mediterranean, to the west Mauritania, and to the south the hills of Uzera, and the mountains which extend to Ethiopia, one way, and the Mauritanian sea on the other side. To the east is Numidia, to the north the Mediterranean, to the west the river Malvarius, to the south Astryx, near the mountains which divide the fruitful country from the wild and barren sands which lie southwards towards the Mauritanian sea, by others called the Tingitanean. To the east is the river Malon[82], to the north the hills of Abbenas and Calpri. Another mountain also closes the end of the Mediterranean sea, between the two hills to the west, where stand the pillars of Ercoles or Hercules. To the west again is Mount Atlas, quite to the sea; to the south the hills called AEsperos, and to the south again the nation called Ausolum[83], which inhabits quite to the sea.

$ 15. Having thus stated the boundaries of Africa, we shall now speak of the islands in the Mediterranean: Cyprus lies opposite to Cilicia, and Isauria on that arm of the sea called Mesicos, being 170 miles long, and 122 miles broad. The island of Crete is opposite to the sea called Artatium, northwest is the sea of Crete, and west is the Sicilian or Adriatic sea. It is 100 miles long, and 150 miles broad. There are fifty-three of the islands called the Cyclades. To the east of them is the Risca Sea, to the south the Cretisca or Cretan, to the north the Egisca or Egean, and to the west the Adriatic. The island of Sicily is triangular, and at each end there are towns. The northern is Petores[84], near which is the town of Messina; the south angle is Lilitem[85], near which is a town of the same name. The island is 157 miles long from east to west, and 70 broad to the eastward. To the north-east is that part of the Mediterranean called the Adriatic, to the south the Apiscan sea, to the west the Tyrrhene sea, and to the north the [86] sea, all of which are narrow and liable to storms. Opposite to Italy, a small arm of the sea divides Sardinia from Corsica, which strait is twenty-two miles broad. To the east of it is that part of the Mediterranean called the Tyrrhenian sea, into which the river Tiber empties itself. To the south is the sea which lies opposite to Numidia. To the west the Balearic islands, and to the north Corsica. The island of Corsica lies directly west from the city of Rome. To the south of Corsica is Sardinia, and Tuscany is to the north. It is sixteen miles long, and nine broad[87]. Africa is to the south of the Balearic islands, Gades to the west, and Spain to the north. Thus I have shortly described the situation of the islands in the Mediterranean.

[1] Anglo-Saxon version from Orosius, by AElfred the Great, with an English translation, by Daines Barrington, 8vo. London, 1773. Discoveries in the North, 54.

[2] This word is always employed by Alfred to denote the ocean, while smaller portions are uniformly called _sae_ in the singular, _saes_ in the plural.--Barr

[3] Called Wenadel sea in the Anglo-Saxon original; probably because it had been crossed by the Vandals or Wends, in going from Spain to the conquest of Africa.--E.

[4] In the translation by Barrington, this sentence is quite unintelligible. "All to the northward is Asia, and to the southward Europe and Asia are separated by the Tanais; then south of this same river (along the Mediterranean, and west of Alexandria) Europe and Asia join."--E.

[5] Riffing, in the Anglo-Saxon.--E.

[6] Sermondisc in the Anglo-Saxon, Sarmaticus in Orosius.--E.

[7] Rochouasco in Anglo-Saxon, Roxolani in Orosius.--E.

[8] Certainly here put for Ireland.--E.

[9] Taprobana, Serendib, or Ceylon.--E.

[10] By the Red Sea must be here meant that which extends between the peninsula of India and Africa, called the Erithrean Sea in the Periplus of Nearchus.--E.

[11] The Persian gulf is here a.s.sumed as a part of the Red Sea.--E.

[12] He is here obviously enumerating the divisions of the latter Persian empire. Oroca.s.sia is certainly the Arachosia of the ancients; Asilia and Pasitha may be a.s.syria and proper Persia.--E.

[13] The Saxon word is _beorhta_ or bright, which I have ventured to translate _parched by the sun_, as this signification agrees well with the context.--Barr.

[14] The true Niger, running from the westwards till it loses itself in the sands of w.a.n.gara, seems here alluded to; and the Bahr el Abiad, or Western Nile, is supposed to be its continuation, rising again out of the sand.--E.

[15] This ought certainly to be _after_, and seems to allude to the Bahr el Abiad.--E.

[16] Literally _a great sea_.--Barr.

[17] This is a mistake, as it only takes a wide turn to the west in Dongola, around what has been falsely called the Isle of Meroe. The cliffs of the Red Sea seem to imply the mountains of Nubia, and the wide sea may be the lake of Dembea.--E.

[18] A strange attempt to account for the regular overflow of the Nile.--E.

[19] This account of the boundaries of Old Scythia is extremely vague. It seems to imply an eastern boundary by an imaginary river Bore, that the Caspian is the western, the northern ocean on the north, and Mount Caucasus on the south.--E.

[20] In the translation by Barrington, this portion of Scythia is strangely said to extend south to the Mediterranean; the interpolation surely of some ignorant transcriber, who perhaps changed the Euxine or Caspian sea into the Mediterranean.--E.

[21] Called by mistake, or erroneous transcription, Wendel sea, or Mediterranean in the text and translation.--E.

[22] The Cwen sea is the White sea, or sea of Archangel. The Kwen or Cwen nation, was that now called Finlanders, from whom that sea received this ancient appellation.--Forst.

[23] East Francan in the original. The eastern Franks dwelt in that part of Germany between the Rhine and the Sala, in the north reaching to the Ruhre and Ca.s.sel, and in the south, almost to the Necker; according to Eginhard, inhabiting from Saxony to the Danube. They were called east Franks to distinguish them from that other part of the nation which inhabited ancient Gaul, and Franconia continues to preserve their name.--Forst.

[24] Swaepas, or Suevae, who formed part of the Allemanic confederacy, and afterwards gave their name of Swabes to an extensive nation, in whose bounds modern Swabia is still situated.--Forst.

[25] The Bavarians, who were the remnant of the Boii or Baeghten, who escaped from the exterminating sword of the Suevi.--Forst.

[26] This may have been the province in which Regens-bergh or Ratisbon is still situated.--Forst.

[27] These were undoubtedly the Bohemians, called afterwards Behemas by our royal geographer. They had their appellation from Boier-heim, or the dwelling place of the Boii, who were exterminated by the Suevi.

--Forst.

[28] The Thuringians, at one time so powerful, that their king was able to engage in war against the king of the Franks. Thuringia is still a well known district in Germany.--Forst.

[29] The Old Saxons inhabited the country still called Old Sa.s.sen, or Old Saxony, Halsatia in Latin, which has degenerated into Holstein.

--Forst.

[30] These Frysae were afterwards confined by Charlemain to the country between the Weser and Elbe, to which they gave the name of Friesland.

--Forst.

[31] That is to the north-east of Old Saxony, where the Angles, confederates of the Saxon conquerors of Britain, and who gave their name to the English nation, and England or Angle-land, formerly resided. But they likewise appear to have occupied some of the islands in the Baltic. Sillend is certainly the Danish island of Zeeland. Dene is Denmark in its most limited sense.--Forst.

[32] These are the Obotrites, a Venedic nation, settled in Mecklenburgh, who are called, a little farther on, the _Afdrede_. They were not, however, to the north-east of Old Saxony, but rather to the eastwards. Perhaps the copyist inserted north instead of east, or rather we ought to read thus: "To the north-east is Apdrede, and to the north the Wolds."--Forst.

[33] The word here translated _Wolds_ on the authority of Daines Barrington, is in the original, _Wylte_; but whether it refers to the _wild_ or barren state of the country, or the name of a people, it is difficult to say. There were a people named Wilzi in those parts, but J. R. Forster is disposed to believe, that Alfred refers here to the Wends or Vandals, who lived on the Havel, and were called Hevelli. But if they are meant, we must correct the text from north-east to south-east, for such is the situation of Havel-land, with respect to Old Saxony.--Forst.

[34] AEfeldan are, as King Alfred calls them, Wolds or Wilds; as there still are in the middle of Jutland, large high moors, covered only with heath.--Forst.

[35] Wineda-land, the land of the Wends, Vandals, or Wendian Scalvi in Mecklenburg and Pomerania; so called from _Wanda_ or _Woda_, signifying the sea or water. They were likewise called Pomeranians for the same reason, from _po moriu_, or the people by the sea side.

--Forst.

[36] In this Alfred seems to have committed a mistake, or to have made too great a leap. There is a Syssel, however, in the country of the Wends, on the Baltic, which connects them with the Moravians, or rather with the Delamensan, of whom mention is made afterwards.--Forst.

[57] The Moravians, so called from the river Morava, at that time a powerful kingdom, governed by Swatopluk, and of much greater extent than modern Moravia.--Forst.

[38] Carendre must be Carinthia, or the country of the Carenders or Centani, which then included Austria and Styria.--Forst.

[39] Barrington has erroneously translated this, "to the eastward of Carendre country, and beyond the _west_ part is Bulgaria." But in the original Anglo-Saxon, it is _beyond the wastes_, or desert, which had been occasioned by the devastations of Charlemain in the country of the Avari.--Forst.

[40] This is the extensive kingdom of Bulgaria of these times, comprising modern Bulgaria and Wallachia, with part of Moldavia and Bessarabia.

The Bulgarians were probably a Turkish tribe, dwelling beyond the Wolga, in the country now called Casan, deriving their name from Bolgar, their capital.--Forst.

Forster ought to have added, that the latter country was long called _greater_ Bulgaria, and the former, or the Pulgara-land of the text, _lesser_ Bulgaria.--E.

[41] The Greek empire of Constantinople.--E.