29. Chap. 29. (15.)-Ninety-Six Islands Of The Gallic Ocean.

CHAP. 29. (15.)—NINETY-SIX ISLANDS OF THE GALLIC OCEAN.

In the Rhine itself, nearly 100 miles in length, is the most famous island[1] of the Batavi and the Canninefates, as also other islands of the Frisii[2], the Chauci, the Frisiabones[3], the Sturii[4], and the Marsacii, which lie between Helium[5] and Flevum[6]. These are the names of the mouths into which the Rhine divides itself, discharging its waters on the north into the lakes there, and on the west into the river Mosa. At the middle mouth which lies between these two, the river, having but a very small channel, preserves its own name.

1. This island appears to have been formed by the bifurcation of the Rhine, the northern branch of which enters the sea at Katwyck, a few miles north of Leyden, by the Waal and the course of the Maas, after it has received the Waal, and by the sea. The Waal or Vahalis seems to have undergone considerable changes, and the place of its junction with the Maas may have varied. Pliny makes the island nearly 100 miles in length, which is about the distance from the fort of Schenkenschanz, where the first separation of the Rhine takes place, to the mouth of the Maas. The name of Batavia was no doubt the genuine name, which is still preserved in Betuwe, the name of a district at the bifurcation of the Rhine and the Waal. The Canninefates, a people of the same race as the Batavi, also occupied the island, and as the Batavi seem to have been in the eastern part, it is supposed that the Canninefates occupied the western. They were subdued by Tiberius in the reign of Augustus.

2. The Frisii or Frisones were one of the great tribes of north-western Germany, properly belonging to the group of the Ingævones. They in- habited the country about Lake Flevo and other lakes, between the Rhine and the Ems, so as to be bounded on the south by the Bructeri, and on the east by the Chauci. Tacitus distinguishes between the Frisii Majores and Minores, and it is supposed that the latter dwelt on the east of the canal of Drusus in the north of Holland, and the former between the rivers Flevus and Amisia, that is, in the country which still bears the name of Friesland. The Chauci have been previously mentioned.

3. The Frisiabones or Frisævones are again mentioned in C. 31 of the present Book as a people of Gaul. In what locality they dwelt has not been ascertained by historians.

4. The Sturii are supposed to have inhabited the modern South Holland, while the Marsacii probably inhabited the island which the Meuse forms at its junction with the Rhine, at the modern Dortrecht in Zealand.

5. Supposed to be the site of the modern fortress of Briel, situate at the mouth of the Meuse.

6. Probably the same as the modern Vlieland (thus partly retaining its ancient name), an island north of the Texel. The more ancient writers speak of two main arms, into which the Rhine was divided on entering the territory of the Batavi, of which the one on the east continued to bear the name of Rhenus, while that on the west into which the Masa, Maas or Meuse, flowed, was called Vahalis or Waal. After Drusus, B.C. 12, had connected the Flevo Lacus or Zuvder-Zee with the Rhine by means of a canal, in forming which he probably made use of the bed of the Yssel, we find mention made of three mouths of the Rhine. Of these the names, as given by Pliny, are, on the west, Helium (the Yahalis of other writers), in the centre Rhenus, and at the north Flevum; but at a later period we again find mention made of only two mouths.