16 



with the liistoiy of the unnatural wars, which took place be- 

 tween Heremon and his reputed brother Heber and thcii- poste- 

 rity, convince me that the Hearni oC Ptolemy, the name of a 

 Belgic tribe, which settled in the south of Ireland, were, owing 

 to defective tradition, construed as personal by Irish bartls, and 

 understood to mean a chieftain, whom they denominated Heber, 

 Eibhear. 



Seamen in those days were merely coasters, and considered in this 

 point of view, I cannot conceive what intuitive knowledge could have 

 guided a Spanish colony to an island 130 leagues removed from 

 Spain, or 1500 for aught they knew ; to say nothing of the te- 

 merity of transporting hither men, women, children and cattle, in 

 carucae or small wicker boats covered with leather ;^'' in an age 

 too Avhen the island and navigation were equally unknown."-- 



The Greek and Latin writers seem to have been completely ig- 

 norant of the relative situation of Ireland ; for, in the first cen- 

 tury Strabo places it north of Britain f^- Tacitus and Orosius 

 between Britani and Spain f-^—^^- and even so late as the eighth 

 century, Bede fixes its south extremity opposite to the north coast 

 of Spain.^^ This general ignorance of its relati\e situation, as 



31. Lusitani, Stiabone teste, lib. 3. navigia habebant ex corio facta. 



Phil. Cluverii Introductio in univers. Geogr. p. 49. 



32^ Appianus, gravis auctor, qui vixit sub Hadriano Imp. scribit, Hispatios ab occidentali 

 et septentrionali occano abstincre, nisi quando in Britaniiiam una cum aestu maiis transvebun- 

 tur. Tlieat. Geogr. vel. Petro Ber. Bevero. 



33. P. 124. Porro extrema navigatio a Celtica versus septentrioneni, nostra attate, dicitur 

 esse in Hiberniam (i is-l rmlt^m] : qu£E ultra Britanniarn sita. 



P. 307. Turn magna Hibernia versus septentrionera juxta Britanniarn porrecta. Strab. 

 Geogr. V. 1. cum notis Casauboni. 



S*. Ch. 10. Tacitus de Vita Agrico. " In occidentem Hispanic obtenditur.'" 



35. Or»sii Hist. 1. 1. c. 2. ' Hibernia insula, inter Britanniarn et Hispaniam sita-" &c. 



36. P. 2. Est autem Hybernia insula ad occidentem quidem Britannia sita ; sed sicut 



