314 ON THE ICTIS OF DIODORUS SICULUS. 
tracts of land would appear. The same writer 
says,* ‘if true proportional sections be con- 
structed, and many miles from the land be 
included in them, the plain-like character of the 
floor of the sea adjoining such coasts as those of 
this district becomes very striking.” The line 
of forty fathoms includes the whole of the Scilly 
Islands, and the line of thirty fathoms approaches 
within about six or seven miles of the Land’s 
End; but between the latter and the main land 
the depth diminishes more rapidly, so as to render 
navigation exceedingly dangerous. ‘The passage 
to the Longships’ lighthouse is attended with so 
much hazard, that the men who have the charge 
of it are frequently unable to communicate with 
the land for two or three months together. Here 
then, in all probabilty, lay the island of Ictis. 
Tradition says, moreover, that a considerable 
tract of country formerly existed, between the 
Cornish coast and the Scilly Islands, containing 
not fewer than a hundred and forty parish 
churches. Gibson, alluding to this tradition, 
says,t ‘about the middle way between the 
Land’s-end and Scilly, there are rocks called, 
* Chap. i. p. 24. 
{ Camden’s Britannia ; Ubi supra. 
