and ten stadia, and its length not more than seven thousand
one hundred and thirty-two stadia. In some parts 12
it is moorland, in others there are wooded plains, and
sometimes it rises into mountain peaks. The island is
surrounded by a sluggish sea, which neither gives readily
to the stroke of the oar nor runs high under the blasts
of the wind. I suppose this is because other lands are
so far removed from it as to cause no disturbance of the
sea, which indeed is of greater width here than anywhere
else. Moreover Strabo, a famous writer of the Greeks,
relates that the island exhales such mists from its soil,
soaked by the frequent inroads of Ocean, that the sun is
covered throughout the whole of their disagreeable sort
of day that passes as fair, and so is hidden from sight.

Cornelius also, the author of the Annals, says that in 13
the farthest part of Britain the night gets brighter and
is very short. He also says that the island abounds in
metals, is well supplied with grass and is more productive
in all those things which feed beasts rather than men.
Moreover many large rivers flow through it, and the
tides are borne back into them, rolling along precious
stones and pearls. The Silures have swarthy features
and are usually born with curly black hair, but the inhabitants
of Caledonia have reddish hair and large loose-jointed
bodies. They are like the Gauls or the Spaniards,
according as they are opposite either nation. Hence some 14
have supposed that from these lands the island received
its inhabitants, alluring them by its nearness. All the
people and their kings are alike wild. Yet Dio, a most