108 PLINY'S NATUEAL HISTORY. [Book VI. 



fennel, and from which water is extracted ; that drawn from 

 those that are black is of a bitter taste, but that produced by 

 the white ones is agreeable and good for drinking. He states 

 also that a second island has the name of Junonia, but that 

 it contains nothing beyond a small temple of stone : also that 

 in its vicinity there is another, but smaller, island 70 of the 

 same name, and then another called Capraria, which is in- 

 fested by multitudes of huge lizards. According to the same 

 author, in sight of these islands is Mnguaria, 71 which has re- 

 ceived that name from its perpetual snows ; this island abounds 

 also in fogs. The one next to it is Canaria ; 73 it contains vast 

 multitudes of dogs of very large size, two of which were 

 brought home to Juba : there are some traces of buildings to be 

 seen here. While all these islands abound in fruit and birds 

 of every kind, this one produces in great numbers the date palm 

 which bears the caryota, also pine nuts. Honey too abounds 

 here, and in the rivers papyrus, and the fish called silurus, 73 

 are found. These islands, however, are greatly annoyed by 

 the putrefying bodies of monsters, which are constantly thrown 

 up by the sea. 



CHAP. 38. THE COMPABATIVE DISTANCES OP PLACES ON THE 

 FACE OP THE EAKTH. 



Having now fully described the earth, both without 74 as 

 well as within, it seems only proper that we should succinctly 

 state the length and breadth of its various seas. 



(33.) Polybius has stated, that in a straight line from the 

 Straits of Gades to the mouth of the Maeotis, it is a distance of 



says that in Ferro there still grows a tree of this nature, known as the 

 " holy tree." 



70 Or the Lesser Junonia ; supposed to be the same as the modern Lan- 

 zarote. 



71 Or " Snow Island," the same as that previously called Invallis, the 

 modern Teneriffe, with its snow-capped peak. 



72 So called from its canine inhabitants. 



73 As to the silurus, see B. ix. c. 17. 



74 Hardouin takes this to mean, both as to the continent, with the 

 places there situate, and the seas, with the islands there found ; the con- 

 tinent being the interior, and the seas the exterior part. It is much more 

 likely ^however, that his description of the interior of the earth is that 

 given in the 2nd Book, while the account of the exterior is set forth in the 

 geographical notices contained in the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th. 



