Ptolemy places the ‘Itunae Aestuarium’ on the west, and the mouth of the river ‘Vedra’ on the east, nearly opposite each other, and there is little difficulty in identifying the former with the Solway Firth, and the latter with the river Wear.[56] It is between these points and the river Tay that the distortion of the country takes place,—the north shore of the Solway Firth being continued in the same northern line with the west coast of England, instead of stretching to the west at right angles to it,—the Mull of Galloway being his northern point, and the northern part of Scotland made to extend towards the east. The effect is, that in the remaining part of his description the word east must be understood as really north, and that the east coast, from the Wear to the Forth, is too much circumscribed in distance, while the distances on the western side of the country are proportionably made too great. It is remarkable that the part of the country thus affected by this extraordinary mistake should be exactly the scene of Agricola’s campaigns; and it appears strange that the more northern part of the country, the information as to which he must have derived from report, and the observation of the coast from the Roman fleet, should surpass in accuracy that part of the country so often and so recently traversed by Agricola’s troops, with regard to which his means of correct knowledge might be supposed to be so much greater. We are almost led to attribute more simple truth and force to the remark made by Tacitus, that ‘it frequently happened that in the same camp were seen the infantry and cavalry intermixed with the marines, all indulging their joy, full of their adventures, and magnifying the history of their exploits; the soldier describing, in the usual style of military ostentation, the forests he had passed, the mountains he had climbed, and the Barbarians whom he put to the rout; while the sailor, no less important, had his storms and tempests, the wonders of the deep, and the spirit with which he conquered winds and waves,’ than we should otherwise suppose. If it could be inferred that Agricola’s soldiers had reported exaggerated itinerary distances, and magnified the country they had traversed, and the difficulties they had overcome, and, further, had believed, that in the second campaign, while the rest of the country was unknown to them, they were marching north instead of west, the mistake would be precisely accounted for. It seems almost to add force to this conjecture, that in the very scene where this emulation between the army and the navy is recorded to have taken place, and where a whole summer was spent in subjugating a comparatively small territory—the peninsula between the firths of Forth and Tay—the distances are still more greatly exaggerated, and the area of the peninsula increased beyond all proportion. [Sidenote: The coast.]