jg INTRODUCTORY. [CHAP. I.
when we come to speak of Pytheas' travels: for the present we may
remark as a proof of his having been in Britain, that he mentions
mead the favourite British beverage, as being made and drunk
there, when he says, "those of the inhabitants who have corn and
honey make a drink of those ingredients'"; and further, he is
shewn to have reached the northern extremity of that island by his
noticing the extraordinary rise of the tide in the adjoining sea,
which is at all times a remarkable phenomenon2. In such cases
we may feel confident that these peculiar statements, corresponding
as they do to what are now well ascertained foots, were not mere
inventions, but the result of observation on the spot. In other
instances, too, where information of this kind lias been more
indirectly transmitted-even in the mythical accounts of distant
portions of the earth which Homer gives us-when we meet with
facts which were marvels to the men of that time, but now are
capable of easy explanation, we need find no difficulty in accepting
them as true. In this way we are to a certain extent provided
with landmarks to guide us in exploring a region of knowledge,
the outlines of which are vague and shadowy. It is not un-
reasonable to assume a sceptical attitude towards narratives of
extraordinary voyages, which profess to have been undertaken at
a time when it is highly improbable that they would have been
carried out, unless such narratives are corroborated by further
evidence. Strange statements, also, about unknown countries
and peoples may fairly be relegated to the region of fable, if their
tone is extravagant, and nothing has subsequently been brought to
light that may confirm them. But, on the other hand, the veri-
fication of such statements goes far to establish the truthfulness
of the reporter, the more so because of their original unlikelihood;
and when these occur in accounts of extended voyages and travels,
a further presumption is created in favour of the authentic character
of those expeditions themselves.
1 Strabo, 4.5. 5; see Elton, Origins of English Historyt p. 30.
1 Pliny, i.117; see Elton, p. 71.