_Ibid._ This “corresponds to the number of species living on the coasts of Norway and Greenland.” Footnote 49: Cc. xii, xvi. For all but the two chapters on Ireland the sources of the author’s geographical information are evidently the tales of travelers and his own personal experiences; of literary sources there is no trace. The account of the marvels of Ireland, however, gives rise to certain problems. It may be that the Norwegian geographer based these chapters on literary sources that are still extant, or he may have had access to writings which have since disappeared. It is also possible that some of the information was contributed by travelers who sailed the western seas and had sojourned on the “western isles;” for it must be remembered that Norway still had colonies as far south as the Isle of Man, and that Norsemen were still living in Ireland, though under English rule. When Hakon IV made his expedition into these regions in 1263, some of these Norwegian colonists in Ireland sought his aid in the hope that English rule might be overthrown.[50] Footnote 50: _Hákonar Saga_, c. 322. It has long been known that many of the tales of Irish wonders and miracles that are recounted in the _Speculum Regale_ are also told in the _Topographia Hibernica_ by Giraldus Cambrensis. The famous Welshman wrote his work several decades before the _King’s Mirror_ was composed; and it is not impossible that the author of the latter had access to the “Irish Topography.” Moreover, the _Speculum Regale_ and the _Topographia Hibernica_ have certain common features which correspond so closely that literary kinship seems quite probable. The resemblances, however, are not so much in the details as in the plan and the viewpoint. In the second book of his “Topography,” Giraldus recounts “first those things that nature has planted in the land itself;” and next “those things that have been miraculously performed through the merits of the saints.”[51] The author of the _King’s Mirror_ has adopted a similar grouping. After having discussed some of the wonders of the island he continues: “There still remain certain things that may be thought marvelous; these, however, are not native to the land but have originated in the miraculous powers of holy men.”[52] This correspondence in the general plan is too remarkable to be wholly accidental; at least it should lead us to look for other resemblances elsewhere. Footnote 51: Giraldus, Opera, V, 62-64; _King’s Mirror_, c. x. Footnote 52: _Topographia Hibernica_, iii, c. 28; _King’s Mirror_, c. x.