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purgatives from it, much stronger than even a very potent
medicine that one takes as a cure. There is another
fountain toward the east that is used to make Greek fire, together
with other ingredients that are added to it. Once lit, this fire
is so hot that it cannot be extinguished by water
but only by vinegar, urine, or sand. The Saracens
sell this water at a very high price, higher than the
price of good wine. Other fountains rise in
many other places that heal eye illnesses and many
wounds. There are some fountains that cause people
to remember, and others that cause them to forget,
some that hold people back from lust and others
that compel and urge them on in it. Some cause women
who have no children to conceive, and others that cause
women to become barren if they do not want children.
There are some that cause sheep to be black, and others
that make them lily-white. Elsewhere there are
many swamps where nothing at all can swim, neither
man nor hound nor other beast, for if they do they will
sink to the bottom. And there are others where nothing
can sink, but rather float continually