_Segantiorum Portus_ (Vol. vii., p. 180.).--I know not what PRESTONIENSIS
means by Ptolemy's _History of Britain_, but there can be little doubt as
to the whereabouts of what is called, in the _Palatine MS._, _Segantiorum
Portus_, or _Setantiorum Portus_ in Berthius's great edition of Ptolemy's
_Geography_, ch. iii., tit. Albion, tab. 1.
It is curious that the place _immediately_ preceding in Ptolemy's
_Catalogue_ that inquired about, affords, in the vast multitude enumerated
in that work, the closest approach to identity between the ancient and
modern names, viz. [Greek: Morikambê Eischusis], {247} Morecambe Æstuarium,
still called, _totidem literis_ and _idem sonans_, _Morecambe Bay_, in
which Ulverston is the chief town, so that of this point there can be no
doubt. Then comes _Setantiorum Portus_, of which Montanus, Bertius, and
subsequent geographers give _Winandermere_ as the modern name, meaning of
course the mouth of the river through which Lake Windermere discharges
itself into Morecambe Bay. But I doubt this, for there is no town of
Windermere, nor indeed any other, that Ptolemy could have called a harbour
(_portus_), till we come to Lancaster, which I therefore incline to believe
was the _Portus Setantiorum_. After this _portus_ comes _Belisama
Æstuarium_, by which all interpreters understand the mouth of the Ribble,
which is probably the point that interests PRESTONIENSIS, as Preston stands
on that river. The conjecture that Lancaster was the _Portus Setantiorum_
is corroborated by the latitudes and longitudes given by Ptolemy, which,
though not to be absolutely relied on, are not to be disregarded, and which
give to the three places, _Morecambe Æstuarium_, _Setantiorum Portus_, and
_Belisama Æstuarium_, nearly the relative positions in which we find
Ulverston, Lancaster, and the Ribble.