Ox_pEN—On the Geography of Ros Ailithir. 243 
XLII. 
From that river southward to the sea is Ethiopia of deep-black colour, 
Across the south of lofty Africa, to Mount Hesperium and Atlas.¢ 
XLIV. 
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. 
XLY. 
By the river on the north is the land, wherein are the mountains Arascins ; 
Land of wild asses and famous gems; land of serpents and unicorns. 
XLVI. 
That land whoever visits in its length is a land of serpents and fierce dragons ; 
A people that love not gentle converse ; a desert land of monsters. 
XLVII. 
The part from the mountain southward, of Africa in the great heat, 
Has few blossoms to see; [but] from the mountain northward it is a fertile soil.i 
XLVIII. 
Land of chattering black men; land without patience—without honour; 
With stammering words) wherever one argues*; land to which Apher gave his name. 
Apher, &c. 
5 IH9.< 
Europa, charming, famous, the brave daughter of Agenor ; 
It was she gave her name to Europe, the place to which she was carried by force. 
L. 
The sea surrounds it, as is known, on north, on west, and on south-west ; 
On south and east no weak covenant ; and the river Tanais on the north-east. 
Est apud Hammonis fanum fons, luce diurna 
Frigidus, at calidus nocturno tempore fertur. Lib. vi. 848. 
Ovid also: ‘‘ Unda die gelida est, ortuque obituque calescit,’’ Met. xv. 310. 
See Curtius, lib. ui.; Pliny, lib. ii. cap. 103; Mela, lib. 1. viii. 
& Arascin.—This seems to be Mount Aurasius, “the citadel, and at the same 
time the garden of Numidia. That range of hills, a branch of the Great Atlas, con- 
tains, within a circumference of 120 miles, a rare variety of soil and climate.’’— 
Gibbon, Decl. and Fall, vii. 201 (Ed. 1806). 
h Wild Asses.—The true Onager or wild ass is indigenous to north-east Africa. 
i This stanza is wanting in the Oxford copy. 
i Stammering words.—‘‘ Sunt autem trans ea que modo deserta diximus muti 
populi et quibus pro eloquio nutus est: alii sine sono lingue, alii sine linguis alii 
labris etiam coherentibus,’ &c.—Mela, ur. xv. 29. This part of the Geography 
ends here, as the letter A indicates, that being the initial of No. xxxiv., the verse 
with which it began. 
k Catacer.—Ca, and tacraim, tacéra, to argue or discuss. 
