westward to the Mediterranean, and northward to Mount Taurus, even into Armenia, and southward to near Egypt, are many countries, namely Comagene, Phenicia, Damascena, Coelle, Moab, Ammon, Idumea, Judea, Palestine, and Sarracene, all of which are comprehended under the general name of Syria. To the north of Syria are the hills called Taurus, and to the north of these are Capadocia and Armenia, the former being to the westward of the latter; and to the westward of Capadocia is the country called the lesser Asia. To the north of Capadocia is the plain called Temisere, and betwixt Capadocia and lesser Asia are Cilicia and Isauria. Lesser Asia is entirely surrounded by salt water, except to the eastward; having the Euxine on the north, the Propontis and Hellespont on the west, and the Mediterranean on the south. In it is the high mountain of Olympus.
[9] Taprobana, Serendib, or Ceylon.--E.
[10] By the Red Sea must be here meant that which extends between the peninsula of India and Africa, called the Erithrean Sea in the Periplus of Nearchus.--E.
[11] The Persian gulf is here assumed as a part of the Red Sea.--E.
[12] He is here obviously enumerating the divisions of the latter Persian empire. Orocassia is certainly the Arachosia of the ancients; Asilia and Pasitha may be Assyria and proper Persia.--E.
[13] The Saxon word is beorhta or bright, which I have ventured to translate parched by the sun, as this signification agrees well with the context.--Barr.
§ 5. To the northward of hither Egypt is Palestine, to the eastwards the land of the Sarracens, to the west is Libia, and to the south the mountain called Climax. The head of the Nile is near the cliffs of the Red Sea, though some say it is in the western part of Africa, near Mount Atlas, whence it flows over a large track of land, till it sinks; after which, it proceeds in its course, till it becomes a great sea, or wide river[14]. The spot where the river takes its rise is called by some Nuchal, and by others Dara. Hence, for some distance from the wider part, before[l5] it rises from the sand, it runs westward to Ethiopia, where it is called Jon, till it reaches the eastern part, where it becomes a wide river[16], and then it sinks again into the earth; after which it appears again opposite to the cliffs of the Red Sea, as I mentioned before, and from this place it is called the Nile. Then running from thence westwards, it divides its stream round an island called Meroe[17]; then running to the northward, it empties itself into the Mediterranean. There, in the winter season, the current at its mouth is opposed by the north winds, so that the river is spread all over the land of Egypt;[l8] and by the rich earth which it deposits, it fertilizes the whole country. The farther Egypt lies along the southern part of the Red Sea, and to the east is the ocean. To the west is the hither Egypt, and in the two Egypts there are twenty-four nations.
[14] The true Niger, running from the westwards till it loses itself in the sands of Wangara, seems here alluded to; and the Bahr el Abiad, or Western Nile, is supposed to be its continuation, rising again out of the sand.--E.
[15] This ought certainly to be after, and seems to allude to the Bahr el Abiad.--E.
[16] Literally a great sea.--Barr.
[17] This is a mistake, as it only takes a wide turn to the west in Dongola, around what has been falsely called the Isle of Meroe. The cliffs of the Red Sea seem to imply the mountains of Nubia, and the wide sea may be the lake of Dembea.--E.
[18] A strange attempt to account for the regular overflow of the Nile.--E.
§ 6. Having before given an account of the north part of Asia, I shall now speak of its southern parts. I have before mentioned that Mount Caucasus is to the north of India, beginning eastwards on the ocean, and running due west, till it join the Armenian mountains, which the inhabitants call Parcoatrae, from which the Euphrates takes its rise; and from the Parcoatrian mountains mount Taurus runs due west, quite to Cilicia. To the north of these mountains, quite to the ocean which environs the north east end of the earth, where the river Bore empties itself into the ocean, and from thence westwards to the Caspian sea, which extends to Mount Caucasus, all the land is called Old Scythia, or Hircania. In this country there are forty-three nations, all situate at great distances from each other, on account of the barrenness of the soil[19]. Then to the westward of the Caspian unto the Tanais or Don, and the Palus Maeotis, thence south to Mount Taurus[20], and north to the ocean, is all Scythia, and is divided among thirty-two nations. The country on the east side of the Tanais is inhabited by a nation called the Alboari in the Latin tongue, which we now call Liobene. Thus have I shortly stated the boundaries of Asia, and shall now state those of Europe, as far as we are informed concerning them.
[19] This account of the boundaries of Old Scythia is extremely vague. It seems to imply an eastern boundary by an imaginary river Bore, that the Caspian is the western, the northern ocean on the north, and Mount Caucasus on the south.--E.
[20] In the translation by Barrington, this portion of Scythia is strangely said to extend south to the Mediterranean; the interpolation surely of some ignorant transcriber, who perhaps changed the Euxine or Caspian sea into the Mediterranean.--E.
§ 7. From the Tanais westwards to the Rhine, which takes its rise in the Alps, and runs northward, till it falls into that branch of the ocean which surrounds Bryttannia, and southward from the Tanais to the Donua or Danube, whose source is near that of the Rhine, and which runs to the northward of Greece, till it empties itself into the Euxine[21], and north even to that part of the ocean which is called the Cwen sea[22], there are many nations; and the whole of this extensive country is called Germany. Hence to the north of the source of the Danube, and to the east of the Rhine are the people called eastern Franks[23]. To the south of them are the Swaepas[24]. On the opposite banks of the Danube, and to the south and east, are the people called Baegth-ware[25], in that part which is called Regnes-burh[26]. Due east from them are the Beme[27]. To the north-east the Thyringas[28]. To the north of these are the Old Seaxan[29]. To the north-west of these are the Frysan[30]; and to the west of Old Saxony is the mouth of the Aelfe or Elbe, as also Frysan or Friesland. Prom hence to the north-west is that land which is called Angle, with Sellinde, and some other parts of Dene[31]. To the north is Apdrede[32], and to the north-east the Wolds[33], which are called AEfeldan[34]. From hence eastwards is Wineda-land[35], otherwise called Sysyle[36]. To the south-west, at some distance, is the Macroaro[37], and these have to the west the Thyringas and Behemas, as also part of the Baegthware, all of whom have been already mentioned. And to the south, on the other side of the Donua or Danube, is the country called Carendrae[38].
[21] Called by mistake, or erroneous transcription, Wendel sea, or Mediterranean in the text and translation.--E.
[22] The Cwen sea is the White sea, or sea of Archangel. The Kwen or Cwen nation, was that now called Finlanders, from whom that sea received this ancient appellation.--Forst.
[23] East Francan in the original. The eastern Franks dwelt in that part of Germany between the Rhine and the Sala, in the north reaching to the Ruhre and Cassel, and in the south, almost to the Necker; according to Eginhard, inhabiting from Saxony to the Danube. They were called east Franks to distinguish them from that other part of the nation which inhabited ancient Gaul, and Franconia continues to preserve their name.--Forst.
[24] Swaepas, or Suevae, who formed part of the Allemanic confederacy, and afterwards gave their name of Swabes to an extensive nation, in whose bounds modern Swabia is still situated.--Forst.
[25] The Bavarians, who were the remnant of the Boii or Baeghten, who escaped from the exterminating sword of the Suevi.--Forst.
[26] This may have been the province in which Regens-bergh or Ratisbon is still situated.--Forst.
[27] These were undoubtedly the Bohemians, called
