NOTES.
NOTES.
BOOK I.
[Note 1.] Page 78.
Cervantes makes extraordinary mistakes with the names of these northern countries; by Hibernia, he doubtless means Scotland. The absurd story of the Barnacle Goose was believed in the time of Cervantes. Gerard, in his Herbal, published 1636, writes as follows:—
"But what our eyes have seene, and hands have touched, we shall declare: There is a small island in Lancashire called the Pile of Foulders, wherein are found the broken pieces of old and bruised ships, some whereof have been cast thither by shipwracke, and also the trunks and bodies with the branches of old and rotten trees cast up there likewise; whereon is found a certain spume or froth, that in time breedeth unto certeine shels, in shape like those of the muskle, but sharper pointed, and of a whitish color; wherein is contained a thing in form like a lace of silke, finely woven, as it were, together, of a whitish color, one end whereof is fastened unto the inside of the shell, even as the fish of oysters and muskles are: the other end is made fast unto the belly of a rude masse or lumpe, which in time cometh to the shape and form of a bird: when it is perfectly formed the shell gapeth open, and the first thing that appeareth is the aforesaid lace or string: next come the legs of the bird, hanging out, and as it grows greater, it openeth the shell by degrees, till at length it is all come forth, and hangeth only by the bill: in short space after it cometh to full maturitie and falleth into the sea, where it gathereth feathers and groweth to a fowle bigger than a Mallard and lesser than a goose, having blacke legs and bill or beake, and feathers blacke and white spotted, in such manner as is our magpie, called in some places a Pie-annet, which the people of Lancashire call by no other name than a tree-goose; which place aforesaid, and all those parts adjoining, do so much abound therewith, that one of the best is bought for three pence. For the truth hereof, if any doubt, may it please them to repaire unto me, and I shall satisfie them by the testimonie of good witnesses."
Gerarde's Herbal came out first in 1597; a second edition, with corrections and emendations, 1633.
[Note 2.] Page 103.