Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/383

 Chap. 29.] ACCOUNT OF COTJKTEIES, ETC. 349 CHAP. 29. (15.) — NINETY-SIX ISLANDS OF THE GALLIC OCEAN. In the Ehine itself, nearly 100 miles in length, is the most famous island^ of the Bata^d and the Canniuefates, as also other islands of the I'risii", the Chauei, the Frisia- bones^, the Sturii"', and the Marsaeii, which lie between He- lium' and Flevum^. These are the names of the moutha Schwarzwald, Odenwald, Spcssart, Ehon, Tliiiringer Wald, the Hartz mountain (which seems in a great measiire to have retained the ancient name), Raube Alp, Steigerwald, Ficlitelgcbirge, Erzgcbirge, and Riesen- gebirge. At a later period when the mountains of Germany had become better known, the name was apphed to the more limited range extending around Bohemia, and through Moravia into Hvmgary. ^ This island appears to have been formed by the bifurcation of the Ehine, the northern branch of which enters the sea at Katwj^ck, a few miles north of Leyden, by the Waal and the com'se of the Maas, after it has received the Waal, and by the sea. The Waal or Vahahs seems to have undergone considerable changes, and the place of its junction with the Maas may have varied. Phny makes the island nearly 100 miles in length, which is about the distance from the fort of Schenkenschanz, where the first separation of the Ehine takes place, to the mouth of the Maas. The name of Batavia was no doubt the genuine name, which is stiU preserved in Betuwe, the name of a district at the bifiu-cation of the Ehine and the Waal. The Canninefates, a people of the same race as the Batavi, also occupied the island, and as the Batavi seem to have been in the eastern part, it is supposed that the Canniuefates occupied the western. They were subdued by Tiberius in the reign of Augustus. 2 The Frisii or Frisones were one of the great tribes of north-western Germany, properly belonging to the group of the Inga?vones. They in- habited the covmtry about Lake Flevo and other lakes, between the Ehine and the Ems, so as to be bounded on the south by the Bructeri, and on the east by the Chauei. Tacitus distinguishes between the Frisii Ma- jorcs and Minorcs, and it is supposed that the latter dwelt on the east of the canal of Drusus in the north of Holland, and the former between the rivers Flevus and Amisia, that is, in the coimtiy which stnU bears the name of Friesland. The Chauei have been previously mentioned. 3 The Frisiabones or Frisfcvones are again mentioned m C. 31 of the present Book as a people of Gaul. In what locality they dwelt has not been ascertained by historians. 4 The Sturii are supposed to liave inhabited the modem South IIoDand, while the IMarsacii probably inhabited the island which the Meuso fonna at its junction with the Eliine, at the ntodern Dortn^cht in Zealand. the mouth of the Meuse. ' Probably the same as the modem Ylieland (thus partly retaining its ancient name), an island north of the Texel. The more ancient writers speak of two main arms, into which the Ehine was divided on entering
 * Supposed to be the site of the modem fortress of Briel, situate at