54 
PLIKY's l^ATURAL HISTOBT. 
[Book VI, 
that the nearest point of the Indian coast is a promontory 
known as Coliacum,^ distant from the island four days' sail, and 
that midway between them lies the island of the Sun. They 
stated also that those seas are of a deep green tint ; besides 
which, there are numerous trees growing at the bottom, so much 
so, that the rudders of the vessels frequently break olF portions 
of their foliage.^ They were much astonished at the constel- 
lations which are visible to us, the Greater Eear and the Plei- 
ades,^ as though they had now beheld a new expanse of the 
heavens ; and they declared that in their country the moon, 
can only be seen above the horizon* from the eighth to its 
sixteenth day. They also stated that Canopus, a large bright 
star, gives light to them by night. But what surprised them 
more than anything, was that the shadow of their bodies was 
thrown towards our hemisphere^ and not theirs, and that the 
sun arose on the left hand and set on the right, and not in the 
opposite direction.^ They also informed us that the side of 
their island which lies opposite to India is ten thousand stadia 
in length, and runs in a south-easterly direction — that beyond 
the Emodian Mountains they look towards"^ the SersD, whose 
1 It is difficult to say whether by this name is meant the modern Cape 
Comorin, or that known as Hamanan Cor, which is in reality the nearest 
point to the coast of Ceylon. Perhaps the latter is meant ; in which case 
it is not improbable that the Island of the Sun will be represented by the 
islet called Rameserum in the maps, or else the one adjoining called 
Manaar. It must not be confounded with the Island of the Sun, men- 
tioned in c. 26. See p. 60. 
It is not improbable that he alludes to coral reefs. 
^ This assertion Gosselin would either reject as a fabulous falsehood, or 
as having originated in some misconception on the part of the Romans ; 
for, as he remarks, it is quite impossible that the Pleiades should be a 
constellation unknown at that time to the people of Ceylon ; but, on the 
other hand, it would be equally true that the Greater Eear was concealed 
from them. 
* This was also a fable, or else originated in misapprehension of their 
language on the part of the Romans. 
Gosselin remarks that their story may have been that for about 
seven months in the year the shadows fell to the north, and during the 
remaining five to the south, which would not have been inconsistent with 
the truth. 
^ This also is classed by Gosselin under the head either of fabulous 
stories or misapprehensions. 
7 " Seras — ab ipsis aspici." It is difficult to say whether this does not 
mean that they were in sight of the coast of the Serae. Under any cir- 
cumstances, the Serae here spoken of must not be taken for the Seres or 
