wane with equal rapidity; for the tide, when it rises, completes its
course in seven days plus half an hour of the eighth day; and every
seventh day there is flood tide in place of ebb. For the tide rises one
seventh part daily from the time when the rise begins; and after it
turns and begins to fall, it ebbs in the same way during the next seven
days but is retarded as much as half an hour of the eighth day,[167]
which must be added to the seven days. As to how long an hour should be
I can give you definite information; for there should be twenty-four
hours in two days, that is, a night and a day, while the sun courses
through the eight chief points of the sky: and according to right
reckoning the sun will pass through each division in three hours of the
day. On the other hand, the moon, while it waxes, completes its course
in fifteen days less six hours;[168] and in a like period it wanes until
the course is complete and another comes. And it is always true that at
this time the flood tide is highest and the ebb strongest. But when the
moon has waxed to half, the flood tide is lowest and the ebb, too, is
quite low. At full moon the flood tide is again very high and the ebb is
strong. But when it has waned to half, both ebb and flood are quite low.
Merchants are, however, scarcely able to note these changes, as the
course is too swift; for the moon takes such long strides both in waxing
and waning that men, on that account, find it difficult to determine the
divisions of its course. The sun, on the other hand, completes its
course more slowly both in ascending and declining, so that one may
easily mark all the stages of its course. The sun moves upward one
hundred and eighty-two and one-half days and three hours and for a like
period it recedes again; it has then completed its entire course, both
ascent and decline, in three hundred days, by the twelve-count[169]
{360}, plus five days and six hours. Every fourth year this becomes
three hundred by the twelve-count and six days more {366}; this is
called leap year, for it has one day more than the preceding
twelvemonth, the additional hours being gathered into twenty-four, a
night and a day. In Latin all hundreds are counted by tens, and there
are, therefore, properly computed three hundred by the ten-count plus
sixty-six days whenever leap year occurs, while the intervening years
have only five days and six hours with as many additional days by the
other reckoning as I have just stated.
Footnote 167:
The mean retardation is forty-eight minutes.
Footnote 168:
This is within twenty-two minutes of the length of the lunar
half-month.
Footnote 169:
The Northmen in medieval times had two hundreds, the great hundred, or
duodecimal hundred, which counted 120 (12 × 10) and the ordinary
hundred (10 × 10).
But to your question concerning the growth of the sun’s path, how one
can most clearly discern it, I can scarcely give an answer so precise as
not to be wrong in part; for the sun’s path does not wax at the same
rate in all parts of the earth. I can, of course, answer according to
what I have found in the writings of men who have treated the subject
thoroughly, and it is generally believed that their words come very near
the truth. I have already told you how many hours there are in a night
and day and gave the number as twenty-four.[170] I have indicated the
length of each hour in stating that three hours pass while the sun moves
across one division of the sky. Now there are some other little hours
called _ostensa_,[171] sixty of which make one of those that I mentioned
earlier. It seems to me quite likely that, as far north as we are, the
sun’s path waxes five of these little hours in a day and as much less
than six as a twelfth part of a little hour. And as to the growth of the
sun’s path it seems most reasonable to me that it waxes three-fourths of
these hours toward the east and the west and the remaining fourth in
height toward the zenith. South of us, however, this reckoning will
fail; for north of us the increase is greater and to the south less than
we have just stated; and the farther south, the greater is the
difference, and the sun more nearly overhead.
Footnote 170:
See Brenner’s edition, 20.
Footnote 171:
Error for _ostenta_; the _ostentum_, computed at one-sixtieth of an
hour, seems to appear first in the writings of Rabanus Maurus (ninth
century).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VII
THE SUBJECT OF THE SUN’S COURSE CONTINUED
_Son._ With your permission I wish to inquire somewhat more fully into
this subject, for I do not quite understand it. You have said that the
sun’s ascent is more rapid to the north of us, where summer is almost
wanting, while the strength of winter is so overpowering that summer
seems like a mere shadow, and where in many places both snow and ice lie
all through summer just as in winter, as is true of Iceland and
particularly of Greenland. But I have heard that in the southlands there
are no severe winters, the sun being as hot in winter as it is with us
in summer; and that in winter, when the sun has less power, both grain
and other crops grow, while in summer the earth cannot endure the
fervent heat of the sun and consequently yields neither grass nor grain;
so that in regions like Apulia and even more so in the land of Jerusalem
the heat of summer causes as great distress as the cold of winter with
us. Now when you tell me that the sun’s path waxes faster here in the
north than yonder in the south, I cannot see the reason why; for there
the sun’s heat is as great in winter as it is with us in summer; and it
is so much greater in summer that all vegetation on the earth is
scorched by it. Therefore it seems to me more likely that the sun’s path
waxes most rapidly where the heat is most intense. Now if you can and
will clear this up for me so that I can grasp it, I shall listen gladly
and attentively.
_Father._ I shall begin my talk on the subject that I am now to take up
with a little illustration, which may help you to a clearer insight,
since you find it so difficult to believe the facts as stated. If you
take a lighted candle and set it in a room, you may expect it to light
up the entire interior, unless something should hinder, though the room
be quite large. But if you take an apple and hang it close to the flame,
so near that it is heated, the apple will darken nearly half the room or
even more. However, if you hang the apple near the wall, it will not get
hot; the candle will light up the whole house; and the shadow on the
wall where the apple hangs will be scarcely half as large as the apple
itself. From this you may infer that the earth-circle is round like a
ball and not equally near the sun at every point. But where the curved
surface lies nearest the sun’s path, there will the greatest heat be;
and some of the lands that lie continuously under the unbroken rays
cannot be inhabited. On the other hand, those lands which the sun
approaches with slanting rays may readily be occupied; and yet, some of
these are hotter than others according as they lie nearer the sun’s
path. But when the curved and steep slope of the sphere-shaped wheel
moves up before the light and the beams of the sun, it will cast the
deepest shadow where its curved surface lies nearest the sun; and yet,
the lands nearest the sun are always hottest.[172] Now I agree with you
that Apulia and Jerusalem are hotter than our own country; but you must
know that there are places where the heat is greater than in either of
those just mentioned, for some countries are uninhabitable on account of
the heat. And I have heard it stated as a fact, that even when the sun
mounts highest, the night in those regions is very dark and quite long.
From this you must conclude that where the strength and power of the sun
are greater, since it is nearer, it must ascend and decline more slowly;
for the night is long in summer when the sun mounts highest, and the day
is long in winter when it sinks lowest. Now I shall explain this so
clearly that you will understand it fully.
Footnote 172:
It is evident from this discussion that the author believes in a
spherical earth; elsewhere, too, he speaks of the sphere of earth
(_jarðarbollr_); see c. lvi.
You know that here with us in winter the day and the course of the sun
are brief; for so short is the sun’s path that it passes through but a
single region of the sky, and then only where the sun has considerable
strength. But in many places the sun is not to be seen during a large
part of winter, for example in Halogaland,[173] as we have not only
heard tell but have often and constantly learned and observed with our
own eyes. For we know definitely that from about November 10 to January
10 there never comes a day so bright up north in Vaag or at Andenes[174]
in Halogaland but that the stars in the sky are visible at midday as at
midnight. And although the days have so much light that the stars cannot
be seen, nevertheless, in most of the places that we have mentioned the
sun remains invisible till January 23. But after that date the days
lengthen and the sun mounts so rapidly, that beginning with April 6
daylight does not disappear before September 17, all the intervening
time being one continuous day, for daylight never fails in all that
while. From this you may safely conclude that, though the sun is hotter
in the southern lands that we spoke of earlier, its course waxes and
mounts more slowly where the night, even at mid-summer, is deep and long
and dark, and where there is never a time in the whole twelvemonth when
day does not fail. But in Halogaland, as I have just said, there is no
day in winter and stars are visible at midday when the day should be
brightest; later, however, when the days begin to lengthen, they grow so
rapidly that early in spring daylight begins to tarry all the night and
continues till much of the autumn is past.
Footnote 173:
Halogaland, the modern _Nordland_, is that part of Norway lying north
of the sixty-fifth parallel.
Footnote 174:
Vaag and Andenes are points in the Lofoten Islands; their latitudes
are 68° 12´ 35″ and 69° 18´ 50″ respectively.
There remains one more proof which will seem very clear to you. You know
that in those localities in Halogaland that we have just mentioned the
sun about May 15 begins to shine with the same brightness by night as by
day, never setting either at night or during the day but shining
continuously in this manner and with this brightness, except when its
light is obscured by clouds, even to July 25. Now you know that the sun
is only moderately warm in Halogaland, and that there is but a little
time in summer when it gives sufficient warmth. Still, there it is with
its blazing disk about as long as we have just stated, and it maintains
the daylight about as long as we have just computed. But neither fact is
true of the southlands, though the sun is hotter there. Now these facts
give evidence that the sun is more distant here, for it gives less heat.
They also testify to the waxing of its course, for, since its light is
as bright by night as by day, its path must lengthen more rapidly here.
But yonder it waxes less and more slowly, for there the night has its
prescribed period both for length and darkness in summer as well as in
winter.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VIII
THE MARVELS OF NORWAY
_Son._ I see this so clearly now that I can no longer gainsay that the
sun mounts higher and more rapidly up the sky where there is almost no
day in winter and the sunlight is so abundant in summer that it shines
by night as well as by day throughout almost the entire season. I also
see that its course changes much less yonder where it rises high in
winter and gives long days with much heat and sunshine, though the night
in summer is long and dark. Seafaring traders ought to note the
differences precisely so as to be able to determine what seas they are
upon, whether they lie to the north or to the south. And it seems
unnecessary to inquire any further into these matters, for I believe
that I have had correct and sufficient answers. Now since we are wearied
with profound questions and thoughtful discourse, let us rest from these
for a while and turn our conversation to matters of a lighter sort. And
even though I should inquire about things that are not so useful as
those others, which are of the highest utility, I pray you for the sake
of our intimacy to vouchsafe replies to such questions as I may ask; for
my mind is often as eager for amusement as for things of useful intent.
And it may seem restful in a long talk, if a few questions come up that
can stir the mind to gentle mirth. I do not wish, however, to bring such
themes into our talk unless you give me permission.
_Father._ I take it that you will ask no stupid questions, seeing that
you have thus far inquired into such matters only as seem very
pertinent; and you are therefore free to ask whatever you wish; for if
the questions do not seem appropriate, we are at liberty to drop them as
soon as we like.
_Son._ Now that I am permitted to choose a topic for entertainment, it
occurs to me that I have asked too little about Ireland, Iceland, and
Greenland, and all the wonders of those lands, such as fire and strange
bodies of water, or the various kinds of fish and the monsters that dash
about in the ocean, or the boundless ice both in the sea and on the
land, or what the Greenlanders call the “northern lights,” or the
“sea-hedges” that are found in the waters of Greenland.
_Father._ I am not much disposed to discuss the wonders that exist among
us here in the North, though my reason may be rather trivial: many a man
is inclined to be suspicious and think everything fiction that he has
not seen with his own eyes; and therefore I do not like to discuss such
topics, if my statements are to be called fabrications later on, even
though I know them to be true beyond doubt, inasmuch as I have seen some
of these things with mine own eyes and have had daily opportunity to
inquire about the others from men whom we know to be trustworthy and who
have actually seen and examined them, and therefore know them to be
genuine beyond question. My reason for bringing up this objection is
that a little book has recently come into our country, which is said to
have been written in India and recounts the wonders of that country. The
book states that it was sent to Emmanuel, emperor of the Greeks.[175]
Now it is the belief of most men who have heard the book read, that such
wonders are impossible, and that what is told in the book is mere
falsehood. But if our own country were carefully searched, there would
be found no fewer things here than are numbered in that book which would
seem as wonderful, or even more so, to men of other lands who have not
seen or heard anything like them. Now we call those things fiction
because we had not seen them here or heard of them before the coming of
that book which I have just mentioned. That little book has, however,
been widely circulated, though it has always been questioned and charged
with falsehood; and it seems to me that no one has derived honor from
it, neither those who have doubted it nor the one who wrote it, even
though his work has been widely distributed and has served to amuse and
tickle the ear, seeing that what is written in it has always been called
fiction.
Footnote 175:
Manuel I, Comnenus, 1143-1180. The “little book” is thought to have
been one of the many forms of the legend of Prester John, a fabulous
Christian ruler of India of whom much was heard in the middle ages.
About 1165 a letter from the “Presbyter Johannes” addressed to the
emperor Manuel Comnenus was circulated through Europe and later found
its way into the North. In the extant copies of this letter many
marvels are told, though the wonder mentioned in the _Speculum Regale_
does not appear. See Zarncke, _Der Priester Johannes_, 83-98.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
IX
POPULAR DOUBT AS TO THE GENUINENESS OF MARVELS
_Son._ Of course I cannot know how widely our talks will travel either
in our days or later; and yet, with your permission, I will again ask
the pleasure of hearing further speech concerning those matters that we
might think strange in other lands, but which we know are surely
genuine. And we need not be so very skeptical of this book which is said
to have been written in India, though many marvels are told in it; for
there are many things in our own country, which, though not strange to
us, would seem wonderful to other people, if our words should fly so far
as to come thither where such things are unheard of. But if I should
express surprise at any of those tales that are told in that book, it
seems to me not least wonderful that manikins are able to subdue those
great winged dragons which infest the mountains and desert places there,
as the book tells us, and tame them so completely that men are able to
ride them just as they please like horses, fierce and venomous beasts
though they are said to be and not inclined to allow men in their
neighborhood, still less to be tamed and to do service.
_Father._ Both such and many other tales are told in that book which
seem so marvelous that many express their doubts about them; but it
seems to me that there is no need to compare the wonders that are
described there with those that we have in our own country, which would
seem as strange to men yonder as those that you have just mentioned seem
to us. For it must be possible to tame wild beasts and other animals,
though they be fierce and difficult to manage. But it would seem a
greater marvel to hear about men who are able to tame trees and boards,
so that by fastening boards seven or eight ells long under his feet, a
man, who is no fleeter than other men when he is barefooted or shod
merely with shoes, is made able to pass the bird on the wing, or the
fleetest greyhound that runs in the race, or the reindeer which leaps
twice as fast as the hart. For there is a large number of men who run so
well on skis that they can strike down nine reindeer with a spear, or
even more, in a single run. Now such things must seem incredible,
unlikely, and marvelous in all those lands where men do not know with
what skill and cleverness it is possible to train the board to such
great fleetness that on the mountain side nothing of all that walks the
earth can escape the swift movements of the man who is shod with such
boards. But as soon as he removes the boards from his feet, he is no
more agile than any other man. In other places, where men are not
trained to such arts, it would be difficult to find a man, no matter how
swift, who would not lose all his fleetness if such pieces of wood as we
have talked about were bound to his feet. We, however, have sure
information and, when snow lies in winter, have opportunity to see men
in plenty who are expert in this art.
Not long since, we mentioned a certain fact which must be thought
exceedingly strange elsewhere, as it runs wholly counter to the order
which holds good in most places with respect to the change from night to
day, namely, that here the sun shines as bright and fair and with as
much warmth by night as by day through a large part of the summer.
In our own country, in Möre, there is a bog called the Bjarkudal bog,
which must also seem wonderful: for every sort of wood that is thrown
into it and left there three winters loses its nature as wood and turns
into stone.[176] If it is thrown upon the fire, it will glow like stone,
though before it would have burned like wood. I have seen and handled
many such stones of which the half that rose above the mire was wooden,
while the part submerged in the bog was wholly petrified. Now we must
call that a marvel, for the bog is located in a forest which is heavily
wooded with young trees of all sorts; and these are not injured so long
as they are green and growing, but as soon as one is hewn down and,
having begun to decay, is thrown into the bog, it turns into stone.
Footnote 176:
The “Birchdale” bog seems to be a myth; but that stories of such a
marvel were current is evident from a statement by Giraldus
Cambrensis, who has heard that there was such a bog in Norway.
_Opera_, V, 86. Möre is an old Norwegian shire lying to the west of
Trondhjem along the coast.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
X
THE NATURAL WONDERS OF IRELAND
_Son._ I am familiar with all these things since they are found in our
own country, and I have seen them all. But I have no knowledge of all
those other marvels which are to be found in Iceland, Greenland, and
Ireland, and in the seas about those lands, for of those things I have
heard rumors only.
_Father._ Those lands, if we are to speak more fully about them, differ
much in character and are not all of the same appearance. For the
wonders of Iceland and Greenland consist in great frost and boundless
ice, or in unusual display of flame and fire, or in large fishes and
other sea monsters. And these countries are everywhere barren and
unfruitful and consequently almost unfit for habitation. But Ireland
comes near being the best land that is known to man, though the grape
vine does not grow there.[177] And there are many marvels in Ireland,
some of which are of such a character that this country may be called
holier than all others.
Footnote 177:
Cf. Giraldus Cambrensis, _Opera_, V, 26-28. Giraldus quotes Bede
(_Historia Ecclesiastica_, i, c. 1). See also Isidore, _Etymologiae_,
xiv, 6.
The country lies on that side of the world where heat and cold are so
well tempered that the weather is never very hot or very cold. For all
through the winter the cattle find their feed in the open, and the
inhabitants wear almost no clothes there either in winter or in summer.
And so holy is this land beyond all others that no venomous animal can
exist there, either snake or toad.[178] When such animals are brought in
from other countries, they die as soon as they touch the bare earth or
rock.[179] And if wood, earth, or sand is taken from that country and
brought to a land where venomous beasts are found, and the sand or earth
is strewn around them where they lie, they will never be able to cross
the circle but must remain within it and perish. In the same way, if you
take a stick of wood which has come from the country of which we now
speak and trace a circle around them with it by scratching the soil with
the stick, they will soon all lie dead within the circle. It is told of
Ireland that men scarcely know of another island of equal size where
there are so many holy men. We are also told that the inhabitants of the
country are by nature fierce and murderous and very immoral. But
bloodthirsty though they be, they have never slain any of the saints who
are so numerous in the land; the holy men who have dwelt there have all
died in sick bed. For the Irish have been kindly disposed toward all
good and holy men, though they have dealt savagely with each other.[180]
Footnote 178:
Cf. Giraldus, _Opera_, V, 62; see also Bede, _Hist. Eccles._, i, c. 1.
Footnote 179:
“Wonders of Ireland” (_Irish Nennius_, 219); this writer states that
the experiment has been made.
Footnote 180:
Giraldus tells us that the Irish are faithless and treacherous
(_Opera_, V, 165) but that the island has no martyrs (_ibid._, 174).
Cf. _Ériu_, IV, 4 (Meyer, “Irish Memorabilia in the _Speculum
Regale_”).
There is a lake in that country concerning the nature of which strange
tales are told; it is called Logechag[181] in the native speech. It is
quite an extensive lake and has this property, that if you take a stick
of the wood that some call holm and others holly but is called
_acrifolium_[182] in Latin and fix it in the lake so that part of it is
in the earth, a part in the water, and a part rising above, the part in
the earth will turn into iron, the part in the water into stone, while
that which stands out above will remain as before. But if you set any
other sort of wood in the lake, its nature will not change.[183]
Footnote 181:
The editor of the _Irish Nennius_ gives this name as Loch n-Echach
(Lough Neagh). P. 195, note.
Footnote 182:
Error for _aquifolium_.
Footnote 183:
See the “Wonders of Ireland” (_Irish Nennius_, 195) where a similar
account is given; but according to this “the part of it that sinks
into the earth will be stone, the part that remains in the water will
be iron.” Giraldus writes of a petrifying well (_fons_) in the north
of Ulster, but gives no place name. _Opera_, V, 86. See also
Wright-Halliwell, _Reliquiae Antiquae_, II, 103. (Latin poem on the
wonders of Ireland.)
Again, there are two springs on a mountain called Blandina,[184] which
is almost a desert mountain; these have a peculiar nature. One of them
has this property that if you take either a white sheep, cow, or horse,
or a man with white hair, and wash any one of these with the water, the
white will immediately turn to coal black. And such is the nature of the
other spring in that place that if a man washes himself in its water,
his hair will turn to a snowy white as if he were an aged man, no matter
what its color be before, whether red or white or black.[185]
Footnote 184:
Blandina (Bladina, Bladma) is the Slieve Bloom range in central
Ireland.
Footnote 185:
Giraldus has heard of such springs, but he locates the one in Ulster
and the other in Munster. _Opera_, V, 84. A spring that whitens hair
is mentioned in Wright-Halliwell, _Reliquiae Antiquae_, II, 104, and
in the _Irish Nennius_, 195.