[340] Cf. Zimmer, 1889, p. 287; Whitley Stokes, Revue Celtique, xv. Paris 1894, pp. 437 f.; F. Lot, Romania, xxvii. 1898, p. 559.
[341] Cf. “Lageniensis,” 1870, p. 116; Zimmer, 1889, pp. 263, 279.
[342] It is stated in an Irish legend that the hero Ciaban went as an exile to “Trág in-Chairn” (the strand of cairns) [cf. Zimmer, 1889, p. 271]. This might remind us of Helluland (?).
[343] In the tale of Maelduin’s voyage, which is older than the “Navigatio” (see above, [p. 336]), there occurs a similar mighty bird bringing a branch with fruit like grapes, possessing marvellous properties; but there is no grape-island [cf. Zimmer, 1889, p. 169].
[344] In the Latin translation of the Bible in use at that time, the Vulgate [Num. xiii. 24 f.], the passage runs: “And they came to the valley of grapes, cut a branch with its cluster of grapes, and two men carried it upon a staff. They also took away pomegranates and figs from this place, which is called Nehel-escol, that is, the valley of grapes, because the children of Israel brought grapes from thence.”
[345] In France a poem on Brandan of as early as 1125, founded on the “Navigatio,” is known, dedicated to Queen Aélis of Louvain; cf. Gaston Paris: La Littérature Française en Moyen Age, Paris, 1888, p. 214.
[346] The Irish made a distinction in their tales of voyages between “Imram,” which was a voluntary journey, and “Longes,” which was an involuntary one, usually due to banishment. In Icelandic literature there seems to be no such distinction, but the voyages are often due to outlawry for manslaughter or some other reason; cf. Ganger-Rolf’s voyage, Ingolf’s and Hjorleif’s voyage to Iceland, Snæbjörn Galti’s and Rolf of Raudesand’s voyage to the Gunnbjörnskerries, Eric the Red’s voyage with his father from Norway, and afterwards from Iceland, etc. Björn Breidvikingekjæmpe was also obliged to leave Iceland on account of his illicit love for Snorre Gode’s sister. This agreement may, of course, be accidental, but together with the many other resemblances between Irish and Icelandic literature, it may nevertheless be worth mentioning.
[347] Cf. Zimmer, 1889, p. 168; Joyce, 1879, p. 156.
[348] To these wine-fruits in the “Imram Maelduin” correspond, perhaps, the white and purple-red “scaltæ,” which in the “Navigatio Brandani” cover the low island, bare of trees, called the “Strong Men’s Island” [Schröder, 1871, p. 24]. Brandan pressed one of the red ones, “as large as a ball,” and got a pound of juice, on which he and his brethren lived for twelve days. It might be supposed that these white and red “scaltæ” from the flat ocean-island were connected with Lucian’s water-fishes (which seem to have been white) and wine-fishes (which had the purple colour of wine) (see above). The meaning of “scaltæ” (“scaltis”) is uncertain. Schröder says “sea-snails”; Professor Alf Torp thinks it may be a Celtic word, and mentions as a possibility “scalt” (== “cleft”). In that case it might be a mussel, which is “cleft” in two shells.
[349] D’Avezac’s hypothesis [1845, p. 9] that it might be an echo of Teneriffe [cf. also De Goeje, 1891, p. 61], which in mediæval maps was called “Isola dell’ Inferno,” is untenable, since the Phœnicians’ knowledge of the Canaries had long been forgotten at that time, and it was only after their rediscovery by the Italians, about 1300, that Teneriffe was called on the Medici map of 1351 “Isola dell’ Inferno.” In classical literature there is no indication that any of the Canaries was regarded as volcanic; on the contrary, Pliny’s “Nivaria” (i.e., the snow-island) seems to be Teneriffe with snow on the summit.