17. I cannot omit mentioning in this place that the Damnii, Voluntii, Brigantes, and Cangiani were all nations of British origin, who being either molested by neighbouring enemies, or unable to pay the heavy tribute exacted of them, gradually passed over into this country in search of new settlements. With respect to the Menapii, Cauci, and some other people, it has been before remarked that many things occur which cannot safely be relied upon. Tacitus relates that Hibernia was more frequented by foreigners than Albion. But in that case, the ancients would undoubtedly have left us a more ample and credible account of this island. While I am writing a description of Hibernia, it seems right to add, that it was reduced under the Roman power, not by arms, but by fear: and moreover, that Ptolemy, in his second map of Europe, and other celebrated geographers, have erred in placing it at too great a distance from Britain, and from the northern part of the province Secunda, as appears from their books and maps.
18. North of Hibernia are the Hebudes, five[671] in number, the inhabitants of which know not the use of corn, but live on fish and milk. They are all, according to Solinus, subject to one chief, for they are only divided from each other by narrow straits. The chief possessed no peculiar property but was maintained by general contribution: he was bound by certain laws; and lest avarice should seduce him from equity, he learned justice from poverty, having no house nor property, and being maintained at the public expense. He had no wife; but took by turns any woman for whom he felt an inclination, and hence had neither a wish nor hope for children. Some persons have written concerning these Hebudes, that during winter darkness continues for the space of thirty days? but Cæsar upon diligent inquiry found this assertion untrue, and only discovered by certain water-measures of time that the nights were shorter here than in Gaul.
19. The Orcades, according to some accounts, are distant from the Hebudes seven days and nights' sail; but this is erroneous. They are thirty in number, and contiguous to each other. They were uninhabited, without wood, and abounded with reeds: several were formed only of sand and rocks, as may be collected from Solinus and others.
20. Thule, the last of the British isles, is placed by Mela opposite to[672] the coast of the Belgæ. It has been celebrated in Greek and Roman verse. Thus the Mantuan Homer says,—
"Et tibi serviat ultima Thule."
Here are no nights during the solstice when the sun passes the sign of Cancer; and on the other hand, in the winter there are no days, as Pliny asserts. These circumstances are supposed to happen for six whole months. The inhabitants, as Solinus affirms, in the beginning of the spring live among their cattle upon herbs, then upon milk, and lay up fruits against the winter. They have their women in common without marriages. Thule, according to the same author, abounds in fruits. At the distance of a day's sail from Thule the sea is difficult to pass through, and frozen; it is by some called Cronium. From Thule to Caledonia is two days' sail.
21. The isle of Thanatos[673] is bounded by a narrow channel, and separated from the continent of Britain by a small estuary called the Wantsum.[674] It is rich in pasture and corn. According to Isiodorus, its soil is not only salubrious to itself, but to others, for no snakes live in it, and the earth being carried to a distance destroys them. It is not far distant from Rhutupis.[675]
22. The isle of Vecta,[676] conquered by Vespasian, is thirty miles in length, on the side next to the Belgæ, from east to west, and twelve from north to south. In the eastern part it is six miles, in the western three, from the above-mentioned southern shore of Britain.
23. Besides the isles just specified, there were VII Acmodæ,[677] Ricnea,[677A] Silimnus,[677B] Andros,[677C] Sigdiles,[677D] XL Vindilios,[677E] Sarna,[678] Cæsarea,[679] and Cassiterides. [680]
24. The island Sena, opposite the Ossismican[681] coast, is according to Mela famous for the oracle of the Gallic deity, of whom the priestesses, sanctified by perpetual virginity, are said to have been nine in number. The Gauls call them Senæ, and suppose them gifted with singular powers; that they raise the winds and the seas with incantations, change themselves into what animals they please, and cure disorders which in other places yield to no remedy; that they have the knowledge of future events, and prophesy. They are not favourable except to mariners, and only to such as go thither for the purpose of consulting them.