CAESAR'S COMMENTARIES.-B.C., 54. BRITAIN.

THE island is, in its natural form, triangular, of which one side is opposite Gaul. Of this side one angle is in Kent, whither vessels from Gaul commonly are directed, and looks towards the rising sun; the lower one to the south. This side contains about five hundred miles. Another side inclines towards Spain and the setting sun; off which part is Ireland, less by half, it is thought, than Britain; but the passage is of equal distance as from Gaul into Britain. Midway in this course is an island which is called Mona^*; besides, very many smaller islands are thought to be opposite, of which islands some have written that for thirty continuous days during winter it is night there. We discovered nothing on that subject by our inquiries, except what we saw by sure measurements by water,⁺ that the nights are shorter than on the continent. The length of this side, according to the opinion of some writers, is seven hundred miles. There is a third, towards the north, to which part no land is opposite, but an angle of that side looks chiefly to Germany: to this, it is thought, there are eight hundred miles in length. Thus all the island is in circumference two thousand miles.

* The Isle of Man.
+ The clepsydra, or water clock.

EX-CAIO JULIO CAESARE. LIB. V.

INSULA nature triquetra, cujus unum latus est contra Galliam. Hujus lateris alter angulus, qui est ad Cantium, quo fere omnes ex Gallia naves appelluntur ad orientem solem, inferior ad meridiem spectat. Hoc latus tenet circiter millia passnum quingenta. Alterum vergit ad Hispaniam, atque occidentem solem; qua ex parse est Hibernia, dimidio minor, ut aestimatur, quam Britannia; sed part spatio transmissus atque ex Gallia est in Britanniam. In hoc medio cursu est insula quae appellatur Mona; complures praeterea minores objectae insulae existimantur; de quibus insults nonnulli scripserunt, dies continuos triginta sub bruma esse noctem. Nos nihil de eo percontationibus reperiebamus, nisi certis ex aqua mensuris breviores esse, quam in continents noctes videbamus. Hujus est longitude lateris, ut fert illorum opinio, septingentorum millium passnum. Tertium est contra septentriones, cui parti nulla est objecta terra; sed ejus angulus lateris maxime ad Germaniam spectat: huic millia passuum octingenta in longitudinem esse existimatur. Ita omnis insula est in circuitu vicies centum millium passnum.

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