864 pLnnr's natueal histoet. [Book rv. 



tory, while many call it the Promontory of Olisipo, from 

 the city' near it. This spot forms a dividing line in the 

 land, the sea, and the heavens. Here ends one side^ of 

 Spain ; and, when we have doubled the promontory, the 

 front of Spain begins. (22.) On one side of it lie the North 

 and the Gallic Ocean, on the other the "West and the Atlantic. 

 The length of this promontory has been estimated by some 

 persons at sixty miles, by others at ninety. A considerable 

 number of writers estimate the distance from this spot to 

 the Pyrenees at 1250 miles ; and, committing a manifest 

 error, place here the nation of the Artabri, a nation 

 that never^ was here. Per, making a slight change in the 

 name, they have placed at this spot the ArrotrebsD, whom 

 we have previously spoken of as dwelling in front of the 

 Celtic Promontory. 



Mistakes have also been made as to the more celebrated 

 rivers. Prom th^ Minius, which we have previously men- 

 tioned, according to Varro, the river -^minius ^ is distant 

 200 miles, which others* suppose to be situate elsewhere, 

 and called Limaea. By the ancients it was called the " Biver 

 of Oblivion," and it has been made the subject of many 

 fabulous stories. At a distance of 200 miles from the 

 Durius is the Tagus, the Munda^ Ijiiig between them. 

 The Tagus is famous for its golden sands'. At a distance 



a very curious error. He mentions a promontory called Artabrum as 

 the headland at the N. W. extremity of Spain ; the coast on the one side of 

 it looking to the north and the G-alUc Ocean, on the other to the west and 

 the Atlantic Ocean. But he considers this promontory to be the west 

 headland of tJie estuary of the Tagus, and adds, that some called it 

 Magnum Promontorium, or the " Great Promontory," and others OHsi- 

 ponense, from the city of OHsipo, or Lisbon. He assigns, in fact, all the 

 west coast of Spain, down to the mouth of the Tagus, to the north 

 coast, and, instead of being led to detect his error by the resemblance of 

 name between his Artabrum Promontorium and his Arrotrebse (the 

 Artabri of his predecessors, Strabo and Mela), he perversely finds fault 

 with those who had placed above the promontory Artabrum, a people of 

 the same name who never were there. 



^ On the site of which the present city of Lisbon stands. 



* See note ^^ in the preceding page. 3 ggg notQ ^^. 

 ^ See note ^^ in the preceding page. 



^ Among these is Pomponius Mela, who confoimds the river Limia^ 

 mentioned in the last chapter, with the ^minius, or Agueda. 



• Now the river Mondego, 7 gee B. xxxiii. c. 21. 



