To the west the Balearic islands, and to the north Corsica. The
island of Corsica lies directly west from the city of Rome. To the south of
Corsica is Sardinia, and Tuscany is to the north. It is sixteen miles long,
and nine broad[87]. Africa is to the south of the Balearic islands, Gades
to the west, and Spain to the north. Thus I have shortly described the
situation of the islands in the Mediterranean.
[1] Anglo-Saxon version from Orosius, by AElfred the Great, with an English
translation, by Daines Barrington, 8vo. London, 1773. Discoveries in
the North, 54.
[2] This word is always employed by Alfred to denote the ocean, while
smaller portions are uniformly called sae in the singular,
saes in the plural. - Barr
[3] Called Wenadel sea in the Anglo-Saxon original; probably because it
had been crossed by the Vandals or Wends, in going from Spain to the
conquest of Africa. - E.
[4] In the translation by Barrington, this sentence is quite
unintelligible. "All to the northward is Asia, and to the southward
Europe and Asia are separated by the Tanais; then south of this same
river (along the Mediterranean, and west of Alexandria) Europe and
Asia join." - E.
[5] Riffing, in the Anglo-Saxon. - E.
[6] Sermondisc in the Anglo-Saxon, Sarmaticus in Orosius. - E.
[7] Rochouasco in Anglo-Saxon, Roxolani in Orosius. - E.
[8] Certainly here put for Ireland. - E.
[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.
[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.
