Chap. 27.] ACCOirN"T OP COTJNTEIES, ETC. 339 



islands which are to be found between the moutlis of the 

 Ister we have already mentioned^ Before the Borysthenes 

 is Achillea" previously referred to, known also by the names 

 of Leuce and Macaron^. Researches which have been made 

 at the present day place this island at a distance of 140 miles 

 from the Borysthenes, of 120 from Tyra, and of fil'ty from 

 the island of Pence. It is about ten miles in circumference. 

 The remaining islands in the Gulf of Carcinites are Cepha- 

 lonnesos, Rhosphodusa, and Macra. Before we leave the 

 Euxine, we must not omit to notice the opinion expressed 

 by many writers that all the interior^ seas take their rise in 

 this one as the principal source, and not at the Straits of 

 Gades. The reason they give for this supposition is not an 

 improbable one — the fact that the tide is always running 

 out of the Euxine and that there is never any ebb. 



AVe must now leave the Euxine to describe the outer por- 

 tions'" of Europe. After passing the Riphsean mountains we 



^ In C. 24 of the present Book. 



^ Mentioned in the last Chapter as the " Island of AchUles." 



' From the Greek fiaKapwi', " (The island) of the Blest." It was also 

 called the " Island of the Heroes." 



^ Meaning aU the inland or Mediterranean seas. 



* As the whole of Phny's description of the northern shores of Europe 

 is replete with difficulties and obscurities, we cannot do better than tran- 

 scribe the learned remarks of M.Parisot, the Geographical Editor of Ajas- 

 son's Edition, in reference to this subject. He says, " Before entering on 

 the discussion of tliis portion of Pliny's geography, let us here obsen^e, once 

 for all, that we shall not remark as worthy of our notice aU those ridiculous 

 hypotheses which covJd only take their rise in ignorance, precipitation, or 

 a love of the marvellous. We shall dechne then to recognize the Doflre- 

 felds in the mountains of Sevo, the North Cape in the Promontory of 

 Rubeas, and the Sea of Greenland in the Cronian Sea. The absurdity 

 of these suppositions is proved by — I. The impossibility of the ancients 

 ever making their way to these distant coasts without the aid of large 

 vessels, the compass, and others of tliose apphances, aided by which Eu- 

 ropean skill finds the greatest difficulty m navigating tliosc distant seas. 

 II. The immense lacuna; wliich woidd be found to exist hi the. descrip- 

 tions of these distant seas and shores : for not a word do we find about 

 those numerous arcliipelagos which are found scatten'd tlirougliout tlio 

 North Sea, not a word about Iceland, nor about the numberless seas and 

 fiords on the coast of Norway. III. The abseniie of all remarks upon 

 the local phamomena of these spots. The Norl.h Cape belongs to the 

 second polar climate, the longest day there being two months and a half. 

 Is it hkcly that navigators would have omitted to mention this renuirkablc 

 phsenomenon, well known to the Kumuus by virtue of their astronomical 



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