AD. THE ENGLISH VOYAGES 



1592. 



further matter, we thinke it good in this section to 



touch that which the last forenamed man (in this Map 



of Island, that he caused to be put forth in ye foresaid 



yeere under his own name) hath given out concerning 



two other fountains besides the former : whereof the 



one should die white wooll black, & the other blacke 



wooll white. Which thing where he received it, or 



Who be the whence he had it, we can by no means imagine : for 



Islandish -^ -g ^^^ ^q ^^g found in our own writers, nor in ye 



witteis. writers of other countries. But whence soever it be, 



it is but a tale, & hath not one iote of trueth in it. 



And although it be incredible That black wooll may 



be died of a white colour, seeing it is affirmed by 



Plinie, that blacke wooll (of all other) will receive no 



colour : notwithstanding there is some such thing 



reported by Theophrastus ; namely, that there is a 



river in Macedonia which maketh blacke sheepe white. 



Speculum Also, that Norway pamphlet called the Roiall looking- 



regale. glasse, which I mentioned before, doth attribute these 



fountains to Ireland, which is also called Hybernia, and 



not to Island. Which peradventure deceived the 



Reader, reading in a strange language S instead of R. 



That likewise deserveth no better credite which 

 another Author writeth : That there is a certaine great 

 stone in Island which runneth up and downe the crags 

 and clifs of mountaines by no outward force, but by 

 the owne proper and naturall motion. Hee that will 

 beleeve this, what will he not beleeve } For it is 

 such a rare devise that the Epicures themselves (who 

 yet seemed to Lucian to have fained many incredible 

 things) I am sure never invented the like : unlesse 

 perhaps the sayd Author doeth imagine, that a man 

 (who is called of the Islanders by the proper name of 

 Stein) should compasse about, and clime up certaine 

 rockes : which although it be ridiculous to put into 

 a story of wonders, namely, that a man should moove 

 or walke, yet is it so to bee supposed to save the 

 credite of the Author, that we may not more severely 



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