OLpEN— On the Geography of Ros Ailithir. 227 
where ‘‘the parts of Libya about Cyrené”’ are referred to, and it is 
possible that the Greek-speaking inhabitants, as is usual in popular 
etymology, did interpret the name Libya in their own tongue. 
In Stanza x1. we have the Nile— 
A river flows across Africa from the west, 
From Mount Atlas and the ocean: 
Dara [is] its name at its source, 
But in the east its name is Nuchul. 
XLII. 
It flows in the east underground for a space 
Amongst the learned Egyptians ; 
Nile [is] its name, from Cammus westward, 
Till it reaches the Torrian sea. 
This is the account of Juba, king of Mauretania, and of Pliny, 
though the names vary a little. Mela traces the origin of the Nile to 
a lake called Nuchul. It would appear that travellers meeting with 
different rivers in the interior, and finding in them the same monsters, 
such as crocodiles, and the same vegetation on the banks, concluded 
that they must be parts of the same river, which reminds one of 
Captain Fluellen’s comparison—‘‘ There is a river in Macedon, and a 
river in Monmouth, and there is salmons in both.” 
XLIyv. 
By the river to the south there is 
A fountain that is cold when full day comes. 
It is hot, though far from the sea, 
From the time that full night falls. 
This is the Fountain of the Sun, in the oasis of Jupiter Ammon, 
in the Libyan desert, which has been frequently described, especially 
by the Latin poets.™ 
XLVI. 
The many chattering voices of the black men are described and 
their dumb or stammering words. Mela describes some of them as 
quite dumb, and using only the language of signs; others who do not 
use their tongues; others who have no tongues; others whose lips are 
fastened together,” and other strange monstrosities, which appear to 
have been fully believed by the ancients. 
Coming now to Part III., which treats of Europe, we learn, x1ix., 
that it was named from Europa, who was carried off thither by 
Jupiter. Its north-east boundary is the river Tanais (Don). Now, 
with the earlier geographers the Phasis was the boundary, and we 
23 P, 240, note c. 24 See p. 242, note f. 25 P. 234, note. 
