The Coasts of Illusion: A Study of Travel TalesHarper & Brothers, 1924 - 410 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
adventure Africa Amazons America ancient animals Arab Asia Atlantis Azores beasts believed birds body called Celts century Chinese Christian classic coast Columbus continent creatures Ctesias dæmons death desert dragon dream dwarfs earth east Egypt elephant Ethiopia Europe expedition eyes fable feet fish forest geography giants Gog and Magog gold golden Greek hair head Herodotus horn horse human hundred Ichthyophagi Indian island Isle journey king land legend living magic Marco Marco Polo marvel Maundeville Megasthenes mountain myth natives night ocean Omaguas Ophir palace passed Peru Pliny Prester John pygmies race river Roman Samoyeds satyrs savage says Scythian lamb seemed serpent ships shore skins Solinus Spain Spaniards Spanish stone story Strabo tail tale tells temple things thought thousand told tradition tree tribes unicorn voyage wild wings woman women wonder
Popular passages
Page 122 - It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
Page 236 - And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Page 65 - And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them 'which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Page 285 - They despised everything but virtue, not caring for their present state of life, and thinking lightly on the possession of gold, and other property, which seemed only a burden to them; neither were they intoxicated by luxury, nor did wealth deprive them of their selfcontrol; but they were sober, and saw clearly that all these goods are increased by virtuous friendship with one another, and that by excessive zeal for them and honor of them, the good of them is lost, and friendship perishes with them.
Page 65 - And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
Page 63 - When, then, the Indians reach the place where the gold is, they fill their bags with the sand and ride away at their best speed ; the ants, however, scenting them, as the Persians say, rush forth in pursuit. Now, these animals are so swift, they declare, that there is nothing in the world like them ; if it were not, therefore, that the Indians get a start while the ants are mustering, not a single gold-gatherer could escape. During the flight the male camels, which are not so fleet as the females,...
Page 123 - Though we pursued the men we could not seize any of them ; but all fled from us, escaping over the precipices, and defending themselves with stones. Three women were however taken ; but they attacked their conductors with their teeth and hands, and could not be prevailed upon to accompany us. Having killed them, we flayed them, and brought their skins with us to Carthage.
Page 308 - There falleth over it a mighty river which toucheth no part of the side of the mountain, but rusheth over the top of it, and falleth to the ground with so terrible a noise and clamour, as if a thousand great bells were knocked one against another.
Page 263 - Gades [Cadiz], concealing the passage from every one ; and when the Romans followed a certain ship-master, that they also might find the market, the ship-master, of jealousy, purposely ran his vessel upon a shoal, loading on those who followed him into the same destructive disaster.
Page 93 - ... large as the masts of middle-sized vessels. " It seems these are the creature's arms, and it is said if they were to lay hold of the largest man-of-war, they would pull it down to the bottom.