ENPage 146
Facsimile
And then there is another which is called Columbine,
where there is a great profusion of wondrous
serpents. And there is another, very long and
large, that is called Alleares, where the sling (see note)
was first invented. There is also the island of Meroes,
where in the middle of the day there is no shadow.
Also in this island there is a pit that measures seven feet
long and a hundred feet deep, and the sun shines
all the way to the bottom of it. And there is another
that is called Cilla, where the Cyclops used to be.
And there was (see note) another very large island in this country,
as the wise man Plato testifies to us, who
in his time was a very famous cleric, and it enclosed
a larger space than all of Europe and all of Africa.
But after the time of Plato it was completely destroyed
and broken to pieces, as it pleased Our Lord,
and sank into the abyss for the great sins
that its inhabitants had committed. That place
in the sea is called Bethee. There is still
another island that one cannot see when
Notes and Questions
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original ms. Folio 64v
Walters ms. Folio 69v
BL Royal MS 19 A IX fols 73r-v.
Caxton, ed. Prior, pp 95-96.
Gossuin, ed. Prior, 131-132
Columbine, Alleares: Prior p. 95 fns 4 and 5: "4 Colombyne: “ Columbina terra ” or “Colubraria” in Pliny, may be either “Formentera,” one of the Balearic Islands, or the “ Columbretes ” on the coast of Spain.
5 “Alleares . . . metals” : Alleares : O.F. text, p. 131, “Hal- earcs,” the Balearic Islands. — “ En cele y lie fu premierement controvfo la fonde " : “ the sling was first invented in this island.” Caxton confuses fonde , a sling, with fondre , to melt.
Line 19, "Bethee": Prior p. 96 fn 2: Bethee: O.F. text, p. 132, “la mer Bete” (“Concretum mare ” in Honorius).
8
Line 11: The original has present tense here and for “enclosed”, but it is clear from the next sentence that the island no longer exists.