34 History of Nature. [BooK IV. 



sius, Rhenus, Mosa. And within, the Hircynium Hill, 1 infe- 

 rior to none in estimation, is stretched forward. 



CHAPTER XV. 

 Islands in the Gallic Ocean. 



IN the Rhine itself, for almost an hundred Miles in 

 Length, is the most noble Island of the Batavi, Cannenu- 

 fates ; and others of the Frisii, Cauchi, Frisiaboni, Sturii, 

 and Marsatii, which are spread between Helius and Flevus. 

 For so are the Mouths called, into which Rhenus, as it gushes, 

 scatters itself: from the North into Lakes; from the West 

 into the River Mosa. But in the middle Mouth between 

 these, he keepeth a small Channel, of his own name. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

 Britannia and Hybernia England and Ireland.* 



OVER against this Tract lieth the Island Britannia, be- 

 tween the North and West ; renowned in Greek and Roman 



1 The Hercynian Hill (jugum) is elsewhere called the Hercynian 

 Forest (saltus). 



Although Pliny had served with the army in Germany, and had 

 written a history of the war in which he was engaged, yet he makes no 

 mention, in this work, of any city or region of that country ; a proof 

 that the celebrity of a place as estimated at Rome, was the measure of its 

 importance with him. Wern. Club. 



a Different suggestions have been offered in explanation of the word 

 " Britannia." By some it has been supposed to be derived from the British 

 word " Brithy" painted ; from a practice by the inhabitants of staining 

 their skin of a blue colour with woad, to render themselves formidable to 

 their enemies. But a name thence derived would only be applied by 

 strangers, who would not have selected a word foreign to their own lan- 

 guage to express the custom. It is more likely, therefore, to have been 

 derived from a foreign source ; and it is Bochart's opinion that it was 

 first applied by the Phrenicians, in whose language the word " Baratanac" 

 signifies the land of tin : the chief produce which tempted these adven- 

 turous merchants to visit this country, and make settlements in its most 

 western extremity, at a very remote period. The word became after- 

 wards translated into the Greek name " Cassiterides," which was applied by 



