184 EARLY HISTORY OF GUERNSEY. 



Sylla informs us that it was the custom fpr persons to go from 

 the " Ogygian islands* to Delos'^ every century, which means every 

 thirty years. The voyagers, known by the vague and ill-defined 

 title of HYPERBOREANS,f also visited the temple of Dodona ; this 

 junction of the Welch and the Dodoneans, apparently furnishes us 

 with the origin of the term Dodona, which as late even as the sixth 

 century, was bestowed to that part of Brittany, the nearest to our 

 coasts. This gives an air of truth to the fable which attributes the 

 foundation of this celebrated oracle to Dodona, a sea nymph, for its 

 priestesses were all virgins. " From Delos,'* adds Sylla, " the sacred 

 navigators were conducted by the winds to the isle of Saturn, 

 which was peopled entirely by themselves and their predecessors ; 

 for although they were by their laws permitted to return after having 

 served Saturn thirty years, which was the century of the Druids, 

 yet they frequently preferred remaining in the tranquil retirement 

 of this island, to returning to their birth places." 



We must now quit Sylla, and return to Demetrius, who says, 

 " among the islands which lie adjacent to Britain, some are desert, 

 known by the name of the isles of Heroes, or of Demons. Being 

 desirous of seeing these islands, I embarked in the suite of the em- 

 peror, who was about to visit the nearest of them. We found 

 thereon but a few inhabitants, and these were accounted sacred and 

 inviolable ;" the literal meaning of this, is, that they enjoyed the 

 privilege of asylum and of refuge. 



I cannot vouch for the soundness of the theology contained in the 

 following passages. 



" Scarcely had we disembarked before a sudden tempest shook 

 the sea and sky ; the winds had broken their chains and were clash- 

 ing one against the other, the atmosphere seemed in a blaze, and 

 thunder-bolts were falling to the earth with a fearful crash. When 

 the storm had abated, the islanders informed the emperor that it 

 foretold the death of some important personage, for as it is with 

 light, said they, so it is with illustrious spirits. Whilst the taper 

 burns, none are dazzled with its light, but no sooner is it extinguish- 

 ed than darkness is diffused throughout, and its loss is felt by all. 

 Saturn is imprisoned in a neighbouring island, where he reposes 



* Gallic or Breton. 



t This is a distinctive title of the inhabitants of North Wales, and 

 applies especially to our neighbours, the Bretons. The wind 

 CiRcius, or IIyperboreus, was peculiar to the Alps, and swept 

 along the Mediterranean. 



