106 THE KING'S MIRROR 



wear almost no clothes there either in winter or in sum- 

 mer. And so holy is this land beyond all others that no 

 venomous animal can exist there, either snake or toad.* 

 When such animals are brought in from other countries, 

 they die as soon as they touch the bare earth or rock.f 

 And if wood, earth, or sand is taken from that country 

 and brought to a land where venomous beasts are found, 

 and the sand or earth is strewn around them where they 

 lie, they will never be able to cross the circle but must 

 remain within it and perish. In the same way, if you 

 take a stick of wood which has come from the country 

 of which we now speak and trace a circle around them 

 with it by scratching the soil with the stick, they will 

 soon all lie dead within the circle. It is told of Ireland 

 that men scarcely know of another island of equal size 

 where there are so many holy men. We are also told that 



/the inhabitants of the country are by nature fierce and 

 murderous and very immoral. But bloodthirsty though 



'they be, they have never slain any of the saints who are 

 so numerous in the land; the holy men who have dwelt 

 there have all died in sick bed. For the Irish have been 

 kindly disposed toward all good and holy men, though 

 they have dealt savagely with each other. J 



There is a lake in that country concerning the nature 

 of which strange tales are told; it is called Logechag 



* Cf. Giraldus, Opera, V, 62; see also Bede, Hist. Eccles., i, c. 1. 

 f "Wonders of Ireland" (Irish Nennius, 219); this writer states that the ex- 

 periment has been made. 



t Giraldus tells us that the Irish are faithless and treacherous (Opera, V, 165) 

 but that the island has no martyrs (ibid., 174). Cf. firiu, IV, 4 (Meyer, "Irish 

 Memorabilia in the Speculum Regale "). 



The editor of the Irish Nennius gives this name as Loch n-Echach (Lough 

 Neagh). P. 195, note. 



