That lak is passynge depe. I assayde it not, but
men seyn that it hath wel mo than a 200 fadmes ;
and in the myd place ther of stont an awtere of
stone. Seeynge it on a sodeyne, thou woldest
trowen that it fleyted and rode upon the water, and
manye men wenen thus; but I suppose that a gret
piler pight undernethe bereth up the awtere. And
it is ever more dressed with gerlondes and hath
encens brennynge, and manye swymmen overthwart
to it eech day for a vowe that thei han, and bryngen
gerlondes. Gruppe (Gr. Myth. u. Religionsgesch., p. 813) connects this "Floating” island with the holy island of Tyre, the floating island of Chemmis in the swamps of Buto, and with the Greek stories of Delos and Patmos. 
 
At that place ben wondur grete festes, the which
highte Desceyntes unto the Lak, be cause that in
tho festes alle the ydoles gon doun to the lak.
Amonges hem Iuno cometh first, be cause of the
fissches, to the entente that Iove schalle not seen
hem first; for if so be that this happeth, thei dyen
alle, as men seyn. And for sothe he cometh to




 

seen hem, but sche, stondynge beforn him, letteth ; «3
him, and with manye supplicatiouns sendeth him his : **
weye. "The rite of descending to the water (xardBaois, Semitic yerid) was common all over Syria. . . . Its purpose was to revive the water-sources and bring rain” (Dussaud, Pauly- Wissowa s.v. Hadad). Why the fish should need protection from Hadad is a mystery to me, unless here too Hadad had begun to be identified with the sun. 
 
Wondur grete ben also the festes that thei ben
wont to make in goynge to the see. Of tho festes
ne can I not seye no thing certeyn, be cause that
I ne wente not myself ne assayde not that pilgrimage. But what thei don whan thei retornen,
that I saughe and schalle devyse you. Thei beren
everychon a pot fulle of water, and thise pottes ben
seeled with waxe. And of hem self thei ne breke
not the seel for to schede it out; but ther is a holy
Cokke, Not, according to Dussaud, a Gallus, but an overseer. that woneth (dwells) nyghe to the lak, that whan
he resceyveth the vesseles he loketh to the seel, and
getteth him a fee for to undon the bond and remeve
the waxe; and the Cokke gadereth moche silver
thorghe this werk. And fro thens thei hem self
bryngen it in to the temple, and scheden it out;
and after this thei perfourmen sacrifise, and than
thei wenden hoom ayen.
 
But the grettest of alle festes wherof I knowe is
kepte in the firste somer sesoun, and some men
clepen it Fuyr Feste and some Torche Feste. Ther
inne thei don sacrifise in this wyse. Thei kutten
grete trees and setten hem in the clos, and after,
brynginge gotes and schepe and othere bestes, thei
hangen hem fro the trees, alle on lyve, and eke
briddes (birds) and clothes and ioyelles of gold and of silver,
And whan thei han mad everyche thing complet and
perfyt, thei beren the ydoles aboute the trees, and
thanne thei casten inne fuyr and als swythe alle tho




 

thinges brennen. Baudissin (176, 3) knows no closer parallel than the Continental Mai-feste, and thinks that, if the Syrian custom came down from the North, a community of origin is possible. Somewhat similar is the practice at Tarsos of erecting a pyre, setting on it an image of the god Sandan, and then burning it up. Frazer (i, 126, 146) associates the two customs and ascribes their origin to the immolation of a human victim, the priest-king. For myself, I should like to know what became of the tree in the Attis-cult, that was cut down and brought into the temple, that the image of Attis might be tied to it (Frazer, i, 267). In the Gilgamesh Epic, Humbaba is posted by Bel as watcher of the cedars (Schrader-Zimmern, 570); and sacred trees still have offerings hung on them (Robertson Smith, Jel. of the Senvites, pp. 185-6). To this feste comen manye bothe
fro Surrye and from alle the marches there aboute ;
and alle bryngen here owne holy thinges and han
alle here Tokenes made in lyknesse of that on.
 
And upon sette dayes the multytude assemblen
hem in the clos, and manye Galles and tho religious
men that I spak of pertourmen here cerimonyes ;
and thei kutten here owne armes and beten that oon
that other upon the bak. See 1 Kings, 18, 26-28. — And manye that stont
ther neer floyten, and manye beten timbres, and
othere syngen wode songes and holy. This is don
withouten the temple, and thei that don it comen
not in to the temple.