376 ON THE SETEIA AND 
Baxter, in his Glossartum Antiquitatum Brit- 
anniarum, applies Belisama to the mouth of the 
Ribble. His etymology of this ancient name is, 
Bel-is-ama, from bel-caput, and Amnis a river, the 
head or mouth of the river. Belisama, he says, was 
also the name of a goddess. Though this Glos- 
sologist makes Lancastrum, the Caput Segantio- 
rum, or Sistuntiorum, yet he says the portus or 
haven of the Sistunti or Segantii was Lither- 
pool, sive pigra palus—the Amnis ostium Mersey. 
Setting aside any criticism about this author 
placing the Segantii so far south, as neither in 
Richard’s map, nor in Ptolemy’s accounts, are these 
tribes placed farther south than the Ribble, it is 
worth noticing the old name of Liverpool, viz. 
Litherpool, which signifies a standing or sluggish 
pool, corrupted sometimes into Lyrepool. The 
original prefix adjective is yet retained in Lither- 
land. 
Dr. Stukely makes the Ribble the Belsama, 
while the Rev. Mr. Whitaker, in his History of 
Manchester, is a keen advocate for appropriating 
Belisama to the Mersey, in opposition to the 
strong reasoning of the former antiquary. A 
great point in the difference between them was 
