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TRUE HISTORY.
205
Homer hath touched it a little, but to small purpose.Odyss. lib. 9, v. 562.
It is round about environed with a wood, the trees whereof are exceeding high poppies and mandragoras,Herbs procuring sleep. in which an infinite number of owls do nestle, and no other birds to be seen in the island: near unto it is a river running, called by them Nyctiporus, and at the gates are two wells, the one named Negretus, the other Pannychia.The names both of places and persons here are compounded of such words as signify something belonging to dreams, sleep, or to the night. The wall of the city is high and of a changeable colour, like unto the rainbow, in which are four gates, though Homer speak but of two: for there are two which look toward the fields of sloth, the one made of iron, the
