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justify-content: center;} +.poetry-container {text-align: center;} +.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; font-size:90%;} +.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} +.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} + + +/* Transcriber's notes */ +.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:small; + padding:0.5em; + margin-bottom:5em; + margin-top:3em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; + border: .3em double gray; + padding: 1em; +} +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3em;} +.poetry .indent1 {text-indent: -2em;} +.poetry .indent16 {text-indent: 5em;} + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75759 ***</div> + +<div class="figcenter1"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="cover"> +</div> + +<hr class="r65"> + +<h1>THE COASTS OF ILLUSION</h1> + +<hr class="r65"> + +<div class="figright"> +<img src="images/fig1.jpg" alt="palm"> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" id="front"> +<img src="images/fig2.jpg" alt="raleigh"> +<p class="caption">THE BOYHOOD OF RALEIGH<br> +<i>By</i> Sir John Millais</p> +</div> + +<hr class="full"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="c sp"> +<span class="xlarge">THE</span><br> +<span class="xxlarge lsp">COASTS OF ILLUSION</span></p> + +<p class="c sp xlarge"> +A Study of Travel Tales</p> + +<hr class="full"> + +<p class="c less"> +BY</p> + +<p class="c sp large"> +CLARK B. FIRESTONE</p> + +<p class="c sp p2"> +<i>With Drawings by</i></p> + +<p class="c sp more"> +RUTH HAMBIDGE</p> + +<div class="figcenter2"> +<img src="images/fig3.jpg" alt="torch"> +</div> + +<p class="c p2 more"> +“<i>Westward of Valhalla grows a plant called<br> +The mistletoe; it seemed too young to swear.</i>”</p> + +<p class="r less"> +—<span class="smcap">Frigg</span></p> + +<hr class="full"> +</div> + +<p class="c sp lsp large"> +HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS</p> + +<p class="c sp lsp"> +NEW YORK AND LONDON</p> + +<p class="c sp lsp more"> +MCMXXIV +</p> + + + + + +<p class="c sp p6 less"> +THE COASTS OF ILLUSION</p> + +<hr class="r5"> + +<p class="c sp more"> +Copyright, 1924, by Harper & Brothers<br> +Printed in the United States of America</p> + +<hr class="r5"> + +<p class="c sp more"> +<i>First Edition</i> +</p> + +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</span></p> + +<p class="ph2">CONTENTS</p> +</div> + +<table class="large"> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"></td> + <td class="tdl"></td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="min">PAGE</span></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Marco Talks with His Neighbors</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#poem">ix</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Preface</span></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#pre">xi</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><span class="min">CHAPTER</span></td> + <td class="tdl"></td> + <td class="tdc"></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c1">I</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The World That Was</span></td> + <td class="tdr">1</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c2">II</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Earth Itself</span></td> + <td class="tdr">5</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c3">III</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Inanimate Nature</span></td> + <td class="tdr">14</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c4">IV</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Animal Kingdom</span></td> + <td class="tdr">27</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c5">V</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Fabulous Beasts</span></td> + <td class="tdr">49</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c6">VI</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Fable upon Wings</span></td> + <td class="tdr">68</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c7">VII</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Dragon</span></td> + <td class="tdr">79</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c8">VIII</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Denizens of the Deep</span></td> + <td class="tdr">89</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c9">IX</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Peoples of Prodigy</span></td> + <td class="tdr">103</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c10">X</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Satyrs</span></td> + <td class="tdr">121</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c11">XI</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Pygmies</span></td> + <td class="tdr">132</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c12">XII</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Amazons of Legend</span></td> + <td class="tdr">151</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c13">XIII</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Amazons of History</span></td> + <td class="tdr">169</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c14">XIV</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Folk of Tradition</span></td> + <td class="tdr">190</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c15">XV</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Horizon Lands</span></td> + <td class="tdr">201</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c16">XVI</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Lands of Legend</span></td> + <td class="tdr">223</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c17">XVII</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Islands of Enchantment</span></td> + <td class="tdr">251</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c18">XVIII</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Terrible Ocean</span></td> + <td class="tdr">262</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c19">XIX</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Sargasso Sea</span></td> + <td class="tdr">274</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c20">XX</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Atlantis</span></td> + <td class="tdr">281</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c21">XXI</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Gilded Man</span></td> + <td class="tdr">298</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c22">XXII</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Dream Quests of Spain</span></td> + <td class="tdr">312</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c23">XXIII</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Fabric of Illusion</span></td> + <td class="tdr">334</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c24">XXIV</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Travel Tales of Mankind</span></td> + <td class="tdr">348</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#c25">XXV</a></td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Gains of Fable</span></td> + <td class="tdr">371</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdr"></td> + <td class="tdl"><a href="#c26"><span class="smcap">Bibliography</span></a></td> + <td class="tdr">379</td></tr> + + +</table> + +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</span></p> + +<p class="ph2">ILLUSTRATIONS</p> +</div> + + +<table class="large hang"> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Boyhood of Raleigh.</span> <i>By Sir John Millais</i></td> + <td class="tdr"><a href="#front"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"></td> + <td class="tdr"><span class="min">FACING PAGE</span></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Voyage to These Strangely Peopled Countries of +the World’s Yesterdays Would Be a Voyage +Along the Bays, Gulfs, and Promontories of the +Human Mind in Its States of Dream</span></td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#f6">2</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Christopher Columbus at the Court of Ferdinand +the Catholic and Isabella of Castile.</span> <i>By V. von +Brozik</i> </td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#f7">10</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">According to Tradition, a Putrid Stream Flows +from the Roots of the Tree and the Vapors +Thereof Kill</span></td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#f8">24</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">In Caldilhe There Groweth a Manner of Fruit, and +Men Find Within a Little Beast as Though It +Were a Lamb Without Wool</span></td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#f9">58</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The First People Engaged in Such Cosmic Adventures +as Warfare Against Stone Giants</span></td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#f10">116</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">A Satyr.</span> <i>By Jacob Jordaens</i></td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#f11">122</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Men Feared Them, as Embodying the Loneliness of +Waste Places</span></td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#f12">128</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Swarthy Men Called Pygmies</span></td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#f13">142</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Thusnelda at the Triumphal Entry of Germanicus +into Rome.</span> <i>By C. T. von Piloty</i></td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#f14">172</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Steeps Overhead Seemed Fit Abode for Giants +and Dwarfs and Griffins—for Cities of Enchantment</span></td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#f15">206</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Enchanted Woods of Romance with Their +Goblin Glooms and Talking Trees Faded from the +Minds of Men</span></td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#f16">216</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</span></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">“Build Us, O Doul-Karnain,” They Begged, “A Rampart +Between Us and Them”</span></td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#f17">236</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">In Islands Men Placed Their Ideal States.... To +Reach Felicity One Must Cross Water</span></td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#f18">254</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Roaring Forties.</span> <i>By F. J. Waugh</i></td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#f19">268</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Things of the Spirit Animated Spain in Some of +the Quests It Followed Beside the Still Waters +of the Lakes of Dream</span></td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#f20">314</a></td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Gargoyles of Stone Which Kept Watch Day +and Night</span></td> + <td class="tdrb"><a href="#f21">338</a></td></tr> + +</table> + + +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="poem">MARCO TALKS WITH HIS NEIGHBORS</h2> +</div> + +<table> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Time</span>: 1295 A.D.</td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Speaker</span>: Marco Polo.</td></tr> + +<tr> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Place</span>: Venice, the Rialto.    </td> + <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Chorus</span>: Citizens of Venice.</td></tr> + + +</table> + + + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="dropcap">I</span> <i>FARED,” said Marco, “as far as one may——</i></div> + <div class="verse indent1"><i>From Astrakhan to the ports of Cathay,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent1"><i>And sailed two years on the Pitch Dark Sea;</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>And something I learned of the ways of man.</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>There is a place that they call Japan,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent1"><i>And Russia lies where the north winds be;</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>The plain of Lop is haunted by dragons;</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Dark are the damsels and fierce the flagons</i></div> + <div class="verse indent1"><i>In the Thousand Islands of Spicery.”</i></div> + </div><div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“<i>Far are these lands and fair is their sheen,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>But tell us, Polo, what have you seen?”</i></div> + </div><div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>“I saw,” said Marco, “the pagans at masses</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>And Tibetan dogs the size of asses,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent1"><i>And oil from the ground, and black stones, blazing.</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>I saw pink pearls from an unknown strand,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>And ten-pound peaches of China-land,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent1"><i>And bales of silk that were past appraising.</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>I saw the Malabar pepper farmers</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>And cannibal sharks subdued by charmers,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent1"><i>But the grunting ox was most amazing.”</i></div> + </div><div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“<i>Much have you seen where the wild capes curve,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>But tell us, Polo, whom did you serve?”</i></div> + </div><div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>“I served,” said Marco, “the Khan of Khans.</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>His edict runs with the caravans</i></div> + <div class="verse indent1"><i>As far as the east is from the west.</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>The Turk and the Hindu hold his charters,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>He sways Cathaians, Persians, and Tartars,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent1"><i>Yet Kublai welcomes the stranger guest.</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>His deeds are writ upon purple pages,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>A shepherd king but a sage of sages,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent1"><i>And his thousand damsels are Asia’s best.”</i></div> + </div><div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“<i>Him must a thousand matters perplex,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>But, Polo, speak yet more of the sex.”</i></div> + </div><div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>“The men of Gobi,” said Marco, “require</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Their dames to sit by the stranger’s fire,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent1"><i>And make his favor the tribal boast.</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Frail are the women in Pin-yang-fu,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>And delicate quin-sai wenches woo</i></div> + <div class="verse indent1"><i>Ambassadors from the Pepper Coast.</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Though maids with feet as swift as the wind</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>May dance, all bare, for the gods of Ind,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent1"><i>The women of Persia please the most.”</i></div> + </div><div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“<i>Whimsical, Marco, your travel word.</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Is there aught else that you saw or heard?”</i></div> + </div><div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>“I heard,” said Marco, “but do not know,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>That Tartar shamans summon the snow,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent1"><i>And suns shine not for the Samoyed.</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>In southern countries its fabled horn</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Means less than its tongue to the unicorn,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent1"><i>Which licks its victims until they are dead.</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Here is a text for songs or sermons:</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>When babes are born to the female Burmans,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent1"><i>Their foolish husbands hie them to bed.”</i></div> + </div><div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Rose, then, a shout from a hundred lips:</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>“Marco, the tar of a thousand trips,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Marco the man of a million quips,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent1"><i>Marco, Marco, Milioni!”</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>And they who would hold the East in fee,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Men of the pitiful midland sea,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Nobles and commons, laughed shamelessly.</i></div> + <div class="verse indent1"><i>“Which the catcher, and who the coney?</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>What I have seen is truly averred,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>But what I have heard is—what I have heard!”</i></div> + <div class="verse indent1"><i>Thus to himself, with a secret mirth,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent1"><i>The only man who had seen the earth.</i></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="pre">PREFACE</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">The</span> book gives a view of the earth and its inhabitants as +seen through the haze of distance, whether of space or of time. +Its purpose is to present those myths and half-myths of +geography which are loosely and yet significantly called travel +tales. It treats of various countries and races and animals which +are, or were, or might have been. Although their true domain is +the imagination, their supposed domain is, or was, somewhere +on the earth. The Coasts of Illusion, as glimpsed here, are +nowhere the shores of the supernatural.</p> + +<p>Always the two tend to merge and the problem has been to +keep them apart. The travel tales of the race have grown +out of, or become entangled with, myths in which men sought to +figure the creation of the world, the journeys of the sun from +dawn to darkness, the conflicts of light with storm and night +and winter, the high places of the gods and their incarnations +and agents. Yet the tales are touched with reality, while the +myths are unearthly.</p> + +<p>Ulysses tarried among the Phacakians, and these were a cloud +people; but he skirted the land of the lotus-eaters, and these +were a mundane folk. Who were the lotus-eaters? Achilles +fought with Memnon, son of the Dawn, but also with Penthesilea, +the Amazon queen. Who were the Amazons? Hercules was +of the progeny of Olympian Zeus, but wandering on earth he +passed through the land of the pygmies. Who were the pygmies? +What reality lies back of the fabulous animals and Deformed +Folk that peopled the mountains and deserts?</p> + +<p>For thousands of years men accepted the realms and races of +prodigy. It was only about a century ago that these disappeared +from the maps and natural histories. The frontiers of +ignorance had been pushed back so far that the never-never +countries dropped off into the sea. There was no longer room +for the phœnix to flap its wings, the dragon to hiss and roar, +the giants to stalk, the kangaroo-men to hop.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</span></p> + +<p>The countries and creatures of legend passed from the scene +without the parting word that every passing merits, without +even a gesture of farewell. Is it more than a tardy courtesy to +summon them back for a word that shall be both appraisal +and remembrance?</p> + +<p>These are the stories wanderers told in hall when the world +was young; and in out-of-the-way places still they tell them, +and men believe. These are stories the lad Raleigh heard along +wharves where sailors in outlandish garb recited the wonders +of countries below the rim of the sea. If one could recapture +Raleigh’s boyish faith, and the faith of ages of listeners before +him, it might still be possible to behold the King of Is in state +beside the menacing ocean, to traverse the streets of the lost +Atlantis, to win to the cities of gold which Spain could not +find, and to repeople the waste places with their strange inhabitants. +So might one achieve the purpose of these pages and +regain a picture of things as they were supposed to be.</p> + +<p>This is a survey of the world through the stained glass of +men’s imaginings.</p> + +<p class="r2 large">C. B. F.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/fig4.jpg" alt="totem"> +</div> + + +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<p class="ph2">THE COASTS OF ILLUSION</p> + + + +<div class="figright"> +<img src="images/fig5.jpg" alt="myth"> +</div> + + +<hr class="full"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c1">Chapter I. The World That Was</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">The</span> geography, anthropology, and natural history of this +volume present a world a little different from that which is +outlined in modern text-books and yet one that is familiar. It +is the traditional world of wonder, which until yesterday was +believed to be the real world. A map of it would show the +same continents, and some of the same races of men and +species of animals that are delineated in any atlas of to-day; +but there would be changes. Asia would bear far away into +the unknown spaces of the East. A shadowy continent would +stretch across the open waters of the Indian Ocean. The clouds +and darkness of supernatural terrors, or dimly remembered +fates, would shroud the Atlantic, the Green Sea of Gloom of +the Arab geographers. Looming vaguely in the mists southwest +of Gibraltar one would discern a lost continent. One would +see there, also, smaller bodies of land which on a second glance +are seen no more.</p> + +<p>Within the contours of continents and islands there would +be countries which seem to belong both to fable and to fact. +The Incense Kingdom would be there on both sides of the Red +Sea, but its sumptuous ritual and swooning odors would suggest +little now to be found in southern Arabia and Somaliland. +The Spice Islands would be there, but wearing the splendor +of a world-desire of which no trace is left to the Moluccas. +There would be seen the haughty realm of Prester John and +the vast pastures of Gog and Magog; but on a modern map of +Asia one does not find the country of the priest king and must +look under other names for the terrifying races of Hebrew +and Moslem legend.</p> + +<p>On the map would appear the gold port of Ophir and the +golden land of Havilah, but the Arab haven was silted up ages +ago, and the abandoned mine-workings of Rhodesia minister +no more to the pride of kings. The Arcadia that it would picture, +of pastoral innocence and bucolic song, has faded from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span> +the central uplands of the Morea, and the rugged mountain land +hears no longer the pipes of Pan. There are other regions of +enchantment—deserts where demon-voices tempted the traveler +from his track, mountains where cymbals clashed and lights +gleamed at night, countries of serene charm which were placed +so far away that few people ever reached them. Of these +regions the modern maps know nothing.</p> + +<p>If the map of the traditional world were pictorial, as such +maps ought to be, it would show strange races of men in Asia, +in Africa, in South America, in the sea-washed islands, and in +the seas themselves. There would be Amazons sweeping down +upon the Mediterranean settlements, pygmies battling with +cranes in Upper Egypt, satyrs pursuing women in African +woodlots, troglodytes of Arabia looking on with indifference +while strangers maltreated their offspring. The vistas of Asia +and Africa would disclose men taking their siestas beneath the +shade of their own gigantic feet, sleeping at night under the +cover of their elephant-like ears, supporting life by smelling +flowers rather than eating food. Sixteenth-century charts of the +Spanish Americas would reveal the unsuspected fact that these +creatures dwelt also in the new world, and that mermaids sang +upon its coasts, as upon those of the old.</p> + +<p>A pictorial map of the traditional world would show that it +was a menagerie of strange animals as well as a museum of +prodigious peoples. The lairs and roosts of heraldry would +return their tenants to its blank spaces. The phœnix would be +seen winging its way from Araby the Blest, or mounting its own +funeral pyre in the City of the Sun in Lower Egypt. The +Desert of Gobi would show the griffin, a formidable guard for +its stores of fabled gold. The unicorn would be sketched doing +the elephant to death in the jungles of Asia and Africa. The +baleful glare of the basilisk would be staged in the recesses +of Libya. The dragon’s breath would poison earth and air and +water alike. The harpies and the Stymphalian birds would +raise their shrill clamor beside the brink of sea or marsh. +Among other creatures in the ocean would be depicted the monstrous +orc, the kraken of the northern deeps, and the ubiquitous, +immemorial, and enigmatic sea serpent. The familiar +animals of natural history would share with the fabled creatures<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span> +the forests, pastures, and waters of the mimic world of the +map, but the text would point out novel things about them.</p> + +<p>A voyage to these strangely peopled countries of the world’s +yesterdays would be a voyage along the bays, gulfs, and promontories +of the human mind in its states of dream.</p> + +<p>There are three chambers in the house of the mind. One of +them is a place where pleasant bedtime stories are told. Another +is the art gallery of hope and memory. The third is a +museum where runs the law of topsy-turvy. The name of the +house is Illusion.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f6"> +<img src="images/fig6.jpg" alt="voyage"> +<p class="caption1"><i>A Voyage to These Strangely Peopled Countries of the World’s Yesterdays +Would Be a Voyage Along the Bays, Gulfs, and Promontories of the +Human Mind in Its States of Dream</i></p> +</div> + +<p>A glance through a few of the older books of travel will +show illusion weaving its careless spells over plain records of +wandering. “We fared on,” says Sindbad, “from sea to sea +and from island to island and city to city in all delight and +contentment, buying and selling wherever we touched, and +taking our solace and our pleasure.” The words prepare the +reader for enchantments. One of the Hakluyt narratives speaks +of “Zanzibar, on the backeside of Africa.” This is geography +somehow touched with magic. When Drake was cruising +around South America, his chronicler recites that on a certain +day “wee had a very sweet smell from off the land.” Simple +as are the words, their quality is dreamlike. The account of +Raleigh’s third voyage to Guiana has this passage: “There +being divers whales playing about our pinnesse, one of them +crossed our stemme and going under, rubbed her backe against +our keele.” The lines unlock the frolic wonder of the sea.</p> + +<p>The same quality illuminates reports of other lands and +peoples taken almost at random. The ancient Cimbri, says +Strabo, explained their wandering life and piracy by the fact +that once they had dwelt on a peninsula and had been driven +out by a very high tide. The ancient Getae wept at births and +laughed at funerals; and in the <i>Arabian Nights</i> Abdallah of the +Sea broke off his friendship with Abdallah of the Land, when +he learned that his people mourned rather than rejoiced over +their dead. Purchas tells of a Livonian people, ignorant but +unashamed, that “aske who learne the Hares in the woods their +prayers.” The same writer declares that Ethiopians hold their +color in such estimation that they paint the saints and angels +black, but “the Divell and wicked persons they paint white.”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span> +Pinkerton describes a tribe of white Indians east of the Andes, +whose naked and beautiful women use a guttural speech and +emphasize every remark by striking their thighs with great +force. The Eskimos attributed the Northern Lights to the +merriment of the ghosts. A Florida tribe made a cult of the +devil because the Spaniards feared him.</p> + +<p>The thing these statements have in common is that perhaps +none of them is quite true, and yet one wishes to believe all of +them.</p> + +<p>The shaping influence in the traditional world is the power of +wish. The poets may seem to use it more than other men, and +children more than grown-ups, but it is the province of mankind.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c2">Chapter II. The Earth Itself</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">Enveloping</span> old stories of legendary lands and peoples as +with an outer husk are beliefs which relate to the world as a +whole. These concern the shape of the earth, the texture of +the heavens, the distribution of land and water, the contours +of continents, and the precise number of islands, countries, and +cities. What they disclose is the instinct of men working +through the apparent confusion of nature toward order. In all +of them is the sense of symmetry, of balance, and because they +are excursions into the unknown, the method of allegory. The +true symmetry of the universe—the great annual journey of the +earth around a sun itself in motion in a firmament so vast that +through the ages the stars seem not to have changed their places—was +not grasped. The result was errors, picturesque sometimes, +sometimes more useful than truth.</p> + +<p>Wherever one stands, the meeting line of the sky and earth +forms a circle of which one is the center. This picture shaped +the primitive geography. The earth was a disk and each people +seemed to itself to be at the central point. In Homer it was a +disk surrounded by a river called the Ocean Stream. The +farther shore of this river supported the brazen dome of heaven, +and earth and heaven were kept apart by the pillars which +Atlas bore on his shoulders. Thales taught that the earth +was a sort of drum floating upright in the wilderness of +waters. The ancient Hebrews thought that the earth was a +rising plain which floated like a lotus flower in the waters. The +Tibetans believed the earth to be cone-shaped. The Chinese +thought that all other lands were grouped as islands about their +own. The Celts thought the earth rested on columns and in the +Irish sea-tales various islands are pictured as standing on pillars. +In North America the plains tribes thought that the Rocky +Mountains supported the sky, the Pacific coast tribes conceived +of the earth as an island swimming in the cosmic waters, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span> +the Southwestern tribes gave it as many stories as the tallest +of their public dwellings. The Shoshones said the vault of the +sky was a dome of ice against which the rainbow-snake rubbed +its back, and the Haida said that the firmament regularly rose +and fell, the clouds striking the mountains with an audible noise. +According to many Western tribes the canopy of heaven was +pierced with holes at the four cardinal points, and these were +constantly opening and closing; a sky-world like the earth was +beyond, into which swans and shamans could pass. All peoples +believed that the earth was immovable, with the sun revolving +around it. Many thought it rested on the back of some animal—a +buffalo, a tortoise, a catfish.</p> + +<p>Sometimes more sophisticated and still more fanciful ideas +were entertained. To one school of Greek thought the world +was a living being and man himself a microcosm, a little world, +as Paracelsus called him. The sun and moon were the two +eyes of the world, the earth its body, the ether its intellect, and +the sky its wings. It was held that the movements of man and +of the world were in exact correspondence; hence astrology, +which interprets the one by the other. To the Venerable Bede +the universe was an egg, the earth its yolk, the water the white +of the egg, the air its membrane, and the encircling fire the shell +or cover of all.</p> + +<p>Cosmas took literally the utterance of St. Paul that the tabernacle +was a figure of the world. In an amazing exercise of +ingenuity he found the oblong design, the walls, roof, and +floor, the candlesticks, the Ark of the Covenant, and the table +of shewbread of this Jewish desert booth all repeated in the +shape and furnishings of the universe. His scheme of things +has been compared to a traveler’s trunk, with its body standing +for the earth, the flat tray for the firmament, and the curved +lid for the arch of upper heaven. The effects of day and night +were produced, Cosmas thought, about as they are on the stage. +There was a tall mountain in the north. When the sun went +behind it darkness fell; when the sun came out from behind +it, there was light. This conception lacks both the intelligence +and the poetry of the American Indian myth where +the Sun-Carrier is pictured as hanging the sun on a peg on +the west wall of his lodge and then unrolling in succession the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span> +robe of dawn, the robe of blue sky, the robe of golden evening +light and the robe of darkness.</p> + +<p>The sense of symmetry demanded that the earth should have +a central point, and each country sought it somewhere in its +own borders. Homer thought that this was on Mount Olympus, +where the Greek gods dwelt. The Hindus thought that it was +on Mount Meru, where their own gods dwelt. The Chinese +fixed it on Mount Sumeru on a circle of gold and with the sun +and moon revolving around it; this was surrounded by the seven +sacred mountains, the seven seas, and the four inhabited continents.</p> + +<p>Christian pilgrims said that Jerusalem was in the center of +the earth, quoting the Psalm, “For God is my King of old, +working salvation in the midst of the earth.” There was a +spot not far from the place of Calvary which the Lord had signified +and measured, and this was called Compas. It was something +pilgrims could see and touch. For eight centuries the +legend was current, and for three centuries, until nearly the time +of Columbus, it dominated European maps of the world, which +were wheel-shaped, with Jerusalem at the hub.</p> + +<p>Among the Eastern nations the sources and courses of rivers +had sometimes a cosmic significance. They flowed from the +center of the earth or from the Terrestrial Paradise. From the +Cool Lake which was in the midst of Asia, to the south of the +Fragrant Mountains and to the north of the Snowy Mountains, +flowed four great rivers, according to the Chinese. The Ganges +issued from the eastern side of the lake through the mouth of +a silver ox, and found the southeastern sea. The Indus issued +from the southern side through the mouth of a golden elephant, +and found the southwestern sea. The Oxus issued from the +western side through the mouth of a horse of lapis lazuli, and +found the northwestern sea. The River of China issued from +the northern side through the mouth of a crystal lion, and found +the northeastern sea.</p> + +<p>In the Genesis story a river goes out of Eden to water the +garden and divides into four—Pison, which compasses the +golden land of Havilah; Gihon, which compasses Ethiopia; Hiddekel, +which goes toward the east of Assyria; and Euphrates. +Josephus, the Romanized Jew, assimilated the Hebrew geography<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span> +with the Greek account of an Ocean Stream that flowed +around the earth. This encircling river, he said, was the source +of the four biblical streams. The Arabs also accepted the rivers +of Eden and showed ingenuity in tracing their courses to the +distant lands where flowed the streams they had identified with +them. So did John Marignolli, the fourteenth-century Franciscan +traveler.</p> + +<p>Paradise, he said, was in Ceylon, about forty miles distant +from Adam’s Peak, which he visited. On this latter peak was +Adam’s footprint and the garden he tilled when expelled from +the abode of innocence. The Mount of Eden overtopped it, +and almost always the mists brooded there, but one could hear +the waters falling from the sacred fount out of which the four +rivers came. These flowed away from the island of Ceylon by +channels under the ocean, the Gihon becoming the Nile, the Pison +passing through India and China, and doubling back through the +deserts to die in the sands and be born again as the Caspian Sea.</p> + +<p>With the greater portion of the earth unknown, a curious +custom obtained of using definite figures in default of definite +facts. Dicuil, the Irish scholar, said that there were 2 seas, 72 +islands, 40 mountains, 65 provinces, 281 towns, 55 rivers, and +116 peoples; he had read this in what he called the cosmography +of Julius Cæsar and Mark Antony. Idrisi declared that there +were 27,000 islands in the Atlantic. Mariners on the Sea of +China told Marco Polo that it contained precisely 7,440 islands, +mostly inhabited. In the Indian Ocean, he said, there were +12,700 islands. The Koreans had an old tradition that there +were fourscore and four thousand several countries upon the +earth, but themselves doubted it. The sun could not warm so +many lands, they thought. Their real belief was that there were +but twelve kingdoms or countries. When the Dutch explorers +named other countries to them they laughed; the visitors must +be talking of towns and villages.</p> + +<p>Sometimes the sense of symmetry, sometimes poetic instinct +and the desire for graphic imagery, led men to give the habitable +world the outlines of animate or inanimate objects. Strabo +likened it to a chlamys, or soldier’s cloak. Dionysius Afer +said it was like a sling. The California Indians said it was +like a mat with the long way north and south. Massoudy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span> +likened it to a bird. The head of the bird was at Mecca and +Medina, Africa was its tail, Irak and India its right wing, and +the land of Gog and Magog its left wing. Other writers pictured +the earth in the semblance of a man, with the head in the +southern hemisphere, and the feet or under part in the northern; +the right hand was the east, whence began the movement of the +<i>primum mobile</i>, and the left the west, whither it trended. +As the head was the noblest part, governing the rest of the body, +so Ptolemy thought, the southern hemisphere was nobler than +the other parts of the earth, and the stars above it were more +resplendent and of greater virtue than those of the northern.</p> + +<p>The tides were the breath of the living earth, Solinus thought. +A large man on the beach of the ocean gets up and sits down +twice a day, said the Tahltan Indians of Canada; twice a day +a colossal crab comes out of and goes back to its cave at the foot +of the world-tree, said the Malays; for six hours a serpent at +the rim of the world draws in its breath and for six hours +lets it out, said the Scotch islanders—wherefore the tides ebb +and flow. The Gauls endowed them with life and attacked them +with weapons.</p> + +<p>Ptolemy pictured Great Britain as a Z written backward. +Strabo compared Spain to an ox hide. Numantianus likened +Italy to an oak leaf. India was thought to be an exact equilateral +triangle.</p> + +<p>There were conflicting views as to the south. Although by the +beginning of the historical period the Sabæans and Phœnicians +had gone down the eastern coast of Africa through the Indian +Ocean some twenty degrees beyond the equator to seek the gold +of Havilah, these ventures into the zone of torrid heat were not +for the Atlantic and the peoples of the west. The insidious +fictions of the Semitic mariners had awakened their fears. No +man, they thought, could live in the lands of vertical sunlight. +In what lay beyond these, they had as little interest as men have +now in the possible populations of other planets. Europeans +of the early Christian era put aside the notion which enlightened +Greeks had entertained that there might be “opposite peoples of +the south.” Assuming the inhuman heat of the torrid zone, it +was evident that a tropical people could not be of the race of +Adam, and heresy was in the thought of any other lineage.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span></p> + +<p>Lactantius, the Christian Cicero of the third century, is remembered +because he gave popular error rhetorical expression +and because his words were flung at Columbus twelve centuries +afterward, when he appeared before the Council of Salamanca +to justify his theory that one might reach the east by sailing +west. “Can any one be so foolish,” asked Lactantius, “as to +believe that there are men whose feet are higher than their +heads, or places where trees may be growing backward or rain +falling upward? Where is the marvel of the hanging gardens +of Babylon, if we are to allow of a hanging world at the Antipodes?” +Pliny had answered him with another question two +centuries before. “If any one,” he said, “should ask why those +situated opposite to us do not fall, we directly ask in return, +whether those on the opposite side do not wonder that we do not +fall.”</p> + +<p>Even when the ancient world had accepted the theory that the +earth was a sphere, this seemed to it somehow half as long again +from east to west as from north to south, and the belief is preserved +in the two terms, Longitude and Latitude. The limits of +the habitable earth were Thule, or Iceland, to the north; Taprobane, +or Ceylon, to the east; the Aromatic Cape, to the south, +and the Sacred Promontory in Portugal to the west. North of +Thule it was too cold, and south of the Cape of Spices it was too +hot, to support life.</p> + +<p>All that the ancient world knew of geography was gathered +up by Ptolemy and systematized in a scheme which among +learned men was the standard of belief for fourteen centuries +afterward. This great Egyptian of the second century eliminated +errors, corrected reckonings, and brought his science +abreast of facts which traders had gathered. He made, however, +three great errors, each, as it proved, more useful than the truth +would have been. Ptolemy estimated the circumference of the +earth as one-sixth less than the fact, although Eratosthenes had +already reached the correct figure. Thus the true sailing distance +from Spain west to Asia was reduced by about 4,000 miles and +the later venture of Columbus made to seem a task less formidable. +Ptolemy also gave Asia a vast extension eastward, further +reducing the apparent distance of a westward route from Europe +to the Orient.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f7"> +<img src="images/fig7.jpg" alt="columbus"> +<p class="caption">CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AT THE COURT OF FERDINAND<br> +THE CATHOLIC AND ISABELLA OF CASTILE<br> +<i>By</i> V. von Brozik</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span></p> + +<p>His third error was to assume that another continental mass +joined the southern extension of Africa with a southeastern extension +of Asia, completely landlocking the Indian Ocean. This +was the Terra Australis Incognita of the older charts. It seemed +to be needed to balance the land masses of the northern hemisphere +and satisfy the persistent demand of the mind for symmetry +in the arrangement of the earth. This vast domain has +disappeared from the maps, but its name and part of its area +are preserved in the island continent of Australia. Thus Ptolemy +anticipated the discoveries of the Portuguese, Dutch, and English.</p> + +<p>Much of what Ptolemy knew succeeding ages forgot. The +mediæval conception of the world was that of a T within an O +with the east at the top of the circle because Paradise was there +and deserved the highest place, and Jerusalem as its center. The +lower half of the circle was divided by the Mediterranean +equally between Europe and Africa, while the upper half was +all assigned to Asia. The Ægean and Red seas, branching to +the left and the right from the head of the Mediterranean, divided +the upper and lower halves of the circle, and these three seas +formed the T within the O. Around all flowed the Ocean +Stream.</p> + +<p>Intellectually, this presentation of the habitable earth belongs +in about the ninth century <span class="allsmcap">B. C.</span> rather than the fifteenth century +<span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span>, but the map, like the Ptolemaic geography, was a brief for +discovery. It cut off the south of Africa, and made it seem a +short voyage around it to India, and thereby it encouraged +efforts to open a sea route to the Orient. It immensely extended +Asia to the east, and thereby led Columbus to believe it might +more easily be reached by sailing west. Also, it revived the +reign of fable and made a new world of wonder. There were +blank spaces on the map of Asia. The monkish map-makers +filled them in with pictures of monstrous races and animals +drawn from the classics, from Old Testament imagery, and from +the Arab repertory.</p> + +<p>It seemed at last that all the mistakes of geography were in +conspiracy to unlock the unknown half of the world. The apocryphal +book of Esdras had said that the earth was one part +water and six parts dry land. That three-fourths of its surface<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span> +was sea, nobody surmised. Marco Polo had moved Zipangu +(Japan) a thousand miles east from its real position by giving +its distance from the mainland of Asia as 1,500 miles instead of +1,500 li—a Chinese measure of about one-third of a mile. In +the map of Toscanelli, on which Columbus counted much, the +Asiatic coast was placed where California is. The Azores were +supposed to lie far west of their true position. Columbus did +not dream that 210 degrees of longitude lay between Lisbon and +Japan by the westward route. He believed that by sailing from +the Azores for about 3,100 miles he would find Zipangu, and +not unknown Florida. “<i>El mundo es poco</i>” (“the world is +small”), he exclaimed, and steered confidently toward the setting +sun.</p> + +<p>These great errors made the adventures of the Genoese in the +New World a gorgeous illusion—the vestibule into a past where, +as he thought, other feet had trodden, instead of the threshold +of continents his feet were first to press. To him it seemed only +that he was reading the book of Marco Polo backward. The +gold and aromatics of which he found traces were those of the +Golden Chersonese and the Spice Islands of the East. An +Indian tale of a white-robed cacique aroused his hope of an +interview with Prester John. He dispatched a mission, including +a converted Jew who knew Hebrew, Chaldaic, and a little Arabic, +to a chieftain of Cuba, in the hope that thus he might establish +relations with the princely house of Kublai Khan. Presently he +would sail farther and, leaving the tropical islands behind him, +would round the Malay Peninsula, cross the Bay of Bengal and +the Sea of the Arabs, and make his way by land from Ethiopia +to Jerusalem, and by ship from Joppa back to Spain. It was a +soaring dream, yet its wings beat feebly beneath the pinions of +the tremendous reality the man died without comprehending.</p> + +<p>Columbus added another chapter to one of the oldest beliefs—the +theory of a world summit. Aristotle had thought that the +highest part of the earth was under the antarctic pole, others +that it was under the arctic pole. Columbus held that it was +under the equator. The earth, he thought, had the shape of a +pear instead of an orange. It seemed to him he knew just when +the globe began to swell toward heaven. This was about a +hundred leagues west of the Azores. There the magnetic needle<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span> +swung from northeast to northwest. The airs became more pure +and genial, the sea grew tranquil. From the climate of oppressive +heat and unwholesome air, the explorer ascended the back +of the sea, as one ascends a mountain toward heaven. The culminating +point was on the Tierra Firma of South America, which +might be approached by way of the Gulf of Paria. Thence +flowed the mighty stream of the Orinoco.</p> + +<p>A Spanish historian, excusing this fancy of Columbus, remarks +that mathematicians have since demonstrated that he was +not entirely wrong. The diameter of the earth is twenty-seven +miles greater at the equator than at the poles, and the mountain +country of Ecuador, beyond the headwaters of Orinoco, is the +true world summit, for, of all lands, it lies nearest heaven.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c3">Chapter III. Inanimate Nature</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">The</span> progress of knowledge has been an advance from poetry +to prose. In part it has consisted in forgetting the things that +were not so. Through most of the story of mankind everything +was fabulous. There were no inanimate objects at the beginning. +Sticks and stones had a soul. This belief passed, but +some quality of marvel remained—the rhythm of the moon repeated +in things terrestrial; the loves and antipathies of the +plants; the properties of gems to bring good fortune or ill, to +promote fecundity, to test the continence of men and women. +There was an unwieldy mass of topographical legends. Every +township had its shrine, or wonder-working well, or hill or tree +that broke a law of nature. There were strange cures for aches +and pains. Illusion was everywhere. The lumber rooms of +history are stored with traditions in which is the faint fragrance +of faded wonder.</p> + +<p>Sea and sky had each their part in the drama of life. To +the Celt the voices of the waves carried warning, or sympathy, +or prophecy. The ninth wave was larger than those before it, +and mystery was in it. It was thought that no man or animal +beside the Gallic sea died with a rising tide. The sun sank into +the ocean with a hissing sound, and there were races on both +sides of the world that heard it. The moon, Pliny said, “is +not unjustly regarded as the star of our life.” All seas were +purified when it was full, the Nile waxed and waned with it, +and sap in trees, and even men’s blood, increased or diminished +with its phases. The time of the rising of the Dog Star +was a sort of zero hour for many things in nature and husbandry.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Table of the Sun</i></p> + +<p>There was a Table of the Sun, where the earth itself presided +as host. Herodotus was the first to describe it. He says<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span> +that when Cambyses, the Persian king, was in Egypt, he sent +spies into Ethiopia under the pretense of bearing gifts to court, +but in reality to see if the table were a fact. The spies came +back with various stories—that the Ethiopians drank only milk +and water, that they lived to be one hundred and twenty +years old, that the Fountain of Youth bubbled up in that country, +and that they had seen the Table of the Sun. This was set +by direction of the magistrates in a meadow in the outskirts of +the capital city, and the people of the land said that the earth +itself brought forth the food spread upon the table for all +comers. For a full description one may use with advantage +the idiomatic paraphrase of Purchas:</p> + +<p>“Of the Table of the Sunne thus writeth Friar Luys de Urreta: +that the king in a curious braverie, and sumptuous vanitie, +caused there to bee set by night in a certain field store of white +bread, and the choysest wines; hanged also on the Trees great +varietie of Fowles, rost and boyled, and set on the ground, +Mutton, Lambe, Veale, Beefe, with many other dainties ready +dressed. Travellers and hungry persons which came hither +and found this abundance, seeing no bodie which prepared, or +which kept the same, ascribed it to <i>Jupiter Hospitalis</i> his bounty +and hospitality, shewing himselfe a Protector of poore Travellers, +and called this field the <i>Table of the Sunne</i>. The report +hereof passed through the world, and brought many Pilgrims +from farre Countries, to visit the same. <i>Plato</i> the Prince +of Philosophers entred into Aethiopia, led with desire to see +this renowned <i>Table</i> and to eate of those delicacies. The Aethiopians, +since their Christianity, in zealous detestation of Idolatry, +will not so much as name this field, and these ancient +Rites.”</p> + +<p>It has been suggested that the legend derives from the system +of dumb trading between civilized and savage peoples which in +Africa antedates history. If this be so, the wheat was supplied +by merchants rather than by the king, the magistrates laid down +the rules for the voiceless market, and the natives, coming after +the merchants had withdrawn, left gold in exchange for what +they took away.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span></p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Mountain of Lodestone</i></p> + +<p>Agib, son of a sultan and by his vicissitudes become the Third +Calendar of the <i>Arabian Nights</i>, had embarked with all the royal +fleet on a tour of his provinces. A storm blew them out of their +course, and then by virtue of the iron in the ships they were +drawn irresistibly toward a black mountain or mine of adamant +that loomed before them. They saw upon it a dome of fine brass +and on the dome a brazen horse, carrying a rider who had a +plate of lead on his breast, on which talismanic characters were +graven. Suddenly “all the nails and iron in the ships flew +toward the mountain, where they were fixed, by the violence of +the attraction, with a horrible noise; the ships split asunder, and +their cargoes sunk into the sea,” with all the men save Agib +himself. He gained the shore, climbed to the dome, and slept +there, in his sleep receiving good counsel. The next day he shot +three arrows of lead from a bow of brass at the brazen horse +and its rider. They were toppled over, the sea rose and engulfed +the mountain, and Agib was ferried off to fresh adventures.</p> + +<p>Some Bedouin or Persian story-teller of the bazaars may +have added the detail of the heaven-kissing statue and its overthrow, +but the body of the narrative is one of the oldest of +legends. Men have always been curious about the lodestone. +The tale of the magnetic mountain to which ships built +with iron bolts are drawn is found in Aristotle, Pliny, and +Ptolemy, in the Arab geographies, in Chinese writings, and in +the reports of explorers clear to the close of the mediæval +period. Ogier the Dane in the Charlemagne cycle was wrecked +on such a mountain and like Agib was spared for sensuous +delights. In a twelfth-century poem, when the ship of Duke +Ernst entered the Klebermeer, it was drawn to the rock called +Magnes and found itself among “many a work of keels,” over +which the masts rose like a tangled forest.</p> + +<p>Ptolemy is the most definite of the early writers. “There are +said to be ten islands,” he says, “forming a continuous group +called Maniolai, from which ships with iron nails are said to +be unable to move away, and hence they are built with wooden +bolts. The inhabitants are reputed to be cannibals.” Dampier, +Gemelli-Careri, and many others identify Maniolai with Manila,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span> +and assume that the magnetic islands were the Philippines; +but Gerini, a sagacious editor of Ptolemy’s eastern geography, +believes they were the Nicobars.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The River Sambation</i></p> + +<p>Rising in a pious Jewish fable, first recited in Josephus, the +River Sambation has flowed for eighteen centuries through the +geography of legend. It separated the lost Ten Tribes from +other Jews, or from the subjects of Prester John. Some said it +was in Caucasia, others in Arabia; and from as far east as +China and as far west as Ethiopia it was reported. Josephus +placed it between Raphanea and a district of Agrippa’s kingdom; +it was called the Sabbatic river because it ran only on +Saturdays, its bed being dry the other six days of the week. +Pliny had it, however, that on Saturdays the stream rested. +Much was heard of it in the Middle Ages. Eldad Hadani, a +ninth-century traveler, said it was in the land of Cush. It had +little water, but sand and stones rolled restlessly down its bed +with a noise “like the waves of the sea and a stormy wind”; +on the Sabbath their tumult was stilled and flames surrounded +the river so that none could pass.</p> + +<p>The stream was in India, spice groves bordered it, and quantities +of precious stones went down in its billowing sand to the +sea; so said the letter of Prester John. It was fifty days’ journey +inland from Aden, said the Jewish traveler Obadiah di Bertinoro, +for thus Arab traders had told him. A Jewish geographer, +Abraham Farissol, also of the fifteenth century, identified it +with the Ganges. Abraham Yazel, a Jewish scholar of the next +century, told of a bottle filled with its sand, and save on the +Sabbath the sand was in motion. A Christian whom he quoted +had seen the river in the dominions of the Grand Turk. It was +from one to four miles broad, with plenty of water, but dangerous +to navigate because of the rocks and sand that rolled along +with the current: “ships which venture on it lose their way, and +indeed no ship is yet known to have returned safely from this +river.” An Arabian in Lisbon carried an hour-glass filled with +this uneasy sand on Friday afternoons through a street of shops +run by Jews who had professed Christianity. “Ye Jews,” he +exclaimed, “shut up your shops, for now the Sabbath comes.”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span> +The last word from the Sambation was in 1847, when the governor +of Aden told a messenger seeking aid for Jews of the +Holy Land that there was a great Jewish kingdom forty stages +inland, but that the river was not there; it was in China.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Magical Springs</i></p> + +<p>Classic mythology peopled lakes, rivers, brooks, and springs +with female divinities of a minor rank known as naiads, who +were endowed with prophetic power and were able to inspire +those who drank of these waters. The belief in the nymphs +waned, but a belief in the singular properties of the waters long +persisted. Many stories relate to the mental effects thereof. +If you drink of a pool in the cave of the Clarian Apollo at +Colophon, says Pliny, you will acquire powers of oracle; but +you will not live long. Ctesias tells of an Indian fountain the +waters of which, when drawn, coagulated like a cheese; if a +little of this were triturated and the powder administered in a +potion, anybody who drank of it would become delirious, rave +all that day, and blab out whatever he had done. Therefore +did the king use this water as the modern drug, scopolamin, has +been used, to detect the guilt of persons accused. In Ethiopia, +according to Diodorus, Semiramis discovered a small lake the +sweet red waters of which impelled people who drank of them +to confess their faults. Pliny recites that at the temple of the +god Trophonius in Bœotia near the river Hercynnus are two +fountains, one promoting remembrance and the other forgetfulness; +one is called Mnemosyne, the other Lethe.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Fountain of the Sun</i></p> + +<p>The Fountain of the Sun was rediscovered by a modern +traveler, Belzoni, in the oasis of Jupiter Ammon. He found +that the ruins of the temple of Jupiter Ammon served as a basement +for nearly a whole village, in the vicinity of which was this +famous fountain in a deep well. According to old report it +was warm at midnight and cold at noon. The fact is its temperature +does not vary between night and day, and its apparent +changes are due to the greater or less heat of the surrounding +air, as the day advances or declines.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span></p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Tree of the Sun</i></p> + +<p>Best known of all trees was the Tree of the Sun. This grew +in Persia, and Maundeville says of it: “Within those Deserts +were the Trees of the Sun and of the Moon, that spoke to King +Alexander and warned him of his Death. And Men say that +the Folk that keep those Trees, and eat of the Fruit and of the +Balm that groweth there live well four hundred Year or five +hundred Year, by virtue of the Fruit and of the Balm.” Sir +John said he would have gone toward the trees “full gladly,” +but because of the wild beasts, serpents, and dragons “I trow +that one hundred thousand Men of Arms might not pass the +Deserts safely.” However, Marco Polo passed them safely, +and gives one of his terse descriptions of the tree “called the +tree of the sun and by Christians <i>arbo secco</i>, the dry or fruitless +tree.” It looked like the chestnut, but its husks contained no +fruit, and probably it was the Oriental plane tree. Here Alexander +fought Darius.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Wonder-working Trees</i></p> + +<p>Ctesias has a characteristic traveler’s account of the parebon, +an Indian tree about the size of the olive, but with neither +flowers nor fruit. It has, however, fifteen thick roots, which, +like the diviner’s rod, will attract the precious metals. If a +cubit’s length of root be taken, says the Cnidian, “it attracts +lambs and birds, and with this root most kinds of birds are +caught.” If you cast it into wine, it solidifies the liquor so that +it can be held in your hand like a piece of wax.</p> + +<p>The ancients had much to say of the properties of other trees +and plants. It was thought that the laurel or bay tree was +never struck by lightning, and so the peasants of the Pyrenees +hold to this day; the Emperor Tiberius wore a laurel wreath +during thunderstorms. The oak, planted near the walnut, would +perish. The shadow of the walnut was injurious to men and +productive of headache. The shadow of the elm was refreshing. +The olive, if so much as licked by a she-goat, became barren. +There was a moral feud between the vine and the cabbage, and +between the vine and the radish, so that the latter was prescribed +for drunkenness. The virtue of the mistletoe, says Pliny, was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span> +to resist all poisons and make fruitful any that used it. The +cocoanut and the betel nut were powerful aphrodisiacs. The +gum of the camphor tree bred impotency. The smell of the basil +begat scorpions in the brains of men. Moly would neutralize +sorcery. There was a plant called the eriphia with a hollow +stem, inside of which was a beetle which kept ascending and +descending its narrow home the while it bleated like a kid; this +plant was beneficial to the voice.</p> + +<p>The fable of the deadly upas, or poison tree of Macassar, +Erasmus Darwin’s “hydra tree of death,” is modern. According +to tradition, a putrid stream flows from the roots of the tree, +which grows in Java, and the vapors thereof kill. Foersch, a +Dutch physician who published a book in 1783, is mainly +responsible for the ill repute of this tree. He declares that +“not a tree nor blade of grass is to be found in the valley or +surrounding mountains. Not a bird or beast, reptile or living +thing lives in the vicinity.” He even asserts that “on one occasion +sixteen hundred refugees encamped within fourteen miles +of it, and all but three hundred died within two months.” +Investigation has disproved all of this. The tree grows in a +region where vegetation is luxuriant, men make a garment of +its fiber and walk under its branches, and there birds roost. +The venom known as Macassar poison with which Malays tip +their arrows is, however, made from its gum.</p> + +<p>There grows on the island of Hierro in the Canaries a remarkable +tree, if one may credit Richard Hakluyt and others of his +time. Hierro is six leagues in circuit and produces ample foodstuffs +for its inhabitants and their flocks of goats, although no +rain falls and no springs gush. There is, however, a great stone +cistern standing at the foot of a tree with leaves like the olive’s. +Clouds hover over the tree “and by means thereof,” says Hakluyt, +“the leaves of the sayd tree continually drop water, very +sweet, into the sayd cisterne, which cometh to the sayd tree from +the clouds by attraction.”</p> + +<p>The rain tree of Peru is described as tall, rich in leaves, and +possessed of “the power of collecting the dampness of the atmosphere +and condensing it into a continuous and copious +supply of rain.” “In the dry season,” says a Spanish newspaper +quoted in Walsh’s <i>Handy Book of Curious Information</i>,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span> +“when the rivers are low and heat great, the trees’ power of +condensing seems at the highest and water falls in abundance +from the leaves and oozes from the trunks. The water spreads +around in veritable rivers. These rivers are canalized so as to +regulate the course of the water.” This singular statement +closes with an estimate that a Peruvian rain tree will yield +nine gallons of water a day, and that 10,000 trees producing +daily 385,000 liters of water can be grown on a square kilometer.</p> + +<p>The Weather Bureau at Washington examined (1905) the +facts as to the rain tree, and declared that such a tree never +existed. The American consul-general at Callao reported +(1911) that he could find no rain trees in Peru. Then the Department +of Agriculture made a statement that the rain-tree +legend was centuries old, but had no basis. In partial explanation +thereof an English botanist said that cicada-swarms, settling +upon trees, tap their juices, which fall on the ground.</p> + +<p>Australia has planted many so-called rain trees.</p> + +<p>Ulloa, the Spanish astronomer, brought back to Europe a +related story in 1736. He found at Quito, he said, a species +of cane from thirty-five to fifty feet high and half a foot +thick. Until the canes reach full size most of the tubes contain +a quantity of water, and this rises and falls and is clear or +turbid, according to the phases of the moon.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Mandrake Myth</i></p> + +<p>Legends of the mandrake are perhaps a legacy of the ancient +dark white race whose gloomy imaginings and orgiastic practices +survived to color the brighter religions of Greece and +Rome, and emerged again in the witch-burnings of the Middle +Ages. These legends are widespread, uniformly sinister, often +obscene. Their basis may be in homeopathic magic—the belief +that like cures like, and also may kill like; or it may be in the +sea, where affinities with the pearl myth have been noted. It is +possible that the mandrake of forbidding fable is just a stranded +cowry, the shell which has been called the first deity.</p> + +<p>The mandrake is a member of the potato family growing in +Mediterranean countries. It is an emetic, a purgative, a narcotic +poison. Usually its flesh-colored roots are forked, so that,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span> +like a transplanted carrot or parsnip, it resembles a miniature +human figure. On this resemblance, and on its sleep-producing +properties, men have thought that the legends were based, and in +China, ginseng, which also has man-like roots, has inherited +them. The possessor of the mandrake could win good luck for +himself, bring bad luck to others, sway the passions, and even +in some measure command the elements.</p> + +<p>Hence the popular notions that the mandrake was an aphrodisiac, +that it relieved barrenness and promoted pregnancy, as +in the triangular episode in Genesis in which Jacob, Rachel, and +Leah figured; it was known as the love-apple, and Venus was +called Mandragorotis, while the Emperor Julian wrote Calixenes +that he drank its juices as a love potion. Hence, also, the belief +that it dripped blood when pulled from the earth and, as Homer +says, emitted a deathly shriek fatal to the man who heard it; +according to Josephus it was the custom in a certain Jewish +village to use a dog to pull up the roots, the dog being killed +by the shrieks that followed. Grimm describes this process, +which consisted in Germany of loosening the soil about the root, +tying the root to the dog’s tail, retreating to a safe distance down +the wind, and then decoying the dog with a piece of bread. The +dead canine was buried on the spot with religious honors, +and the root “washed with wine, wrapped in silk, laid in a +casket, bathed every Friday, and clothed in a little new white +smock every new moon. If thus considerately treated, it acts +as a familiar spirit, and every piece of coin laid by it at night +doubles in the morning.”</p> + +<p>Thus the mandrake legend entered its mediæval phase of +devil worship. The root was used as a charm against nightmare, +and against robbers, and to locate buried treasure. It was +supposed to be a living creature “engendered,” as Thomas Newton +says, “under the earth of the seed of some dead person +put to death for murder,” or, as Grimm says, “growing up beneath +the gallows from which a thief is suspended.” Heads +were carved on the mandrakes and these elaborated images went +by the names of manikin and erdman, or earth-man. As much +as twenty-five ducats in gold was paid for them. They were +often carried on the person in bottles, and bottle imps were +credited with the magic powers of homunculi. But if a man<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span> +died with one of these upon his person, the devil owned him +forthwith. Joan of Arc was charged with carrying such an +image about with her, but replied that she did not know what a +mandrake was. Margaret Bouchey was hanged near Orléans +in 1603 on the ground that she kept a living mandrake fiend, +in form of a female ape.</p> + +<p>Mandrake manikins were counterfeited from the root of a +yam-like plant, which had been manipulated into a complete +likeness of the human body. Sir Thomas Browne describes the +process: “The roots which are carried about by imposters to +deceive unfruitful women are made of the roots of canes, briony, +and other plants; for in these, yet fresh and virent, they carve +out the figures of men and women, first sticking therein the +grains of barley or millet where they intend the hair should +grow; then bury them in sand until the grains shoot forth their +roots, which, at the longest, will happen in twenty days; they +afterward clip and trim those tender strings in the fashion of +beards and other hairy teguments. All which, like other impostures, +once discovered, is easily effected, and in the root of white +briony may be practiced every spring.”</p> + +<p>A century ago mandrake images were still seen in French +seaport towns, but now mandragora has lost its vogue even as +a medicine. In Africa and the East, however, it is still used +as a narcotic and anti-spasmodic, while ginseng, which is a +surrogate, maintains its spell in China, where as much as four +hundred dollars has been paid for an ounce of it.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Precious Stones</i></p> + +<p>Among minerals jade held a place as distinct as that of the +mandrake among plants, but its associations were all auspicious. +Its place is the highest among the precious stones, although it is +not a precious stone at all. It is a substance to which heliolithic +culture attached magical power and which it carried quite +around the world before history began, Aryans, Kanakas, and +red Indians holding it in equal regard. Axes and hatchets of +jade or jadeite have been uncovered in the burial grounds of +neolithic Europe, and there are jade celts, cylinders, and amulets +bearing Greek, Babylonian, and Egyptian inscriptions. In a +sense the civilization of China has been built up around this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span> +stone. Eighteen centuries before the Christian era the emperors +of the Shang dynasty used it in the state ritual, paying homage +to the east with a green jade tablet, to the south with a red tablet, +to the west with a white tablet, and to the north with a black +tablet. According to Confucius, “its sound, pure and sonorous, +with its peculiarity of ceasing abruptly, is the emblem of music; +its splendor resembles the sky, and its substance, drawn from +mountain and stream, represents the earth.” An ancient caravan +trade in this stone is commemorated by a portal in the +Great Wall called the Jade Gate.</p> + +<p>The Amazon stone which the Spaniards obtained from the +South American Indians was jadeite. By them as well as by +their conquerors it was thought to be a cure for diseases of the +kidneys, hence its name of nephrite. A revived interest in jade +followed American exploration. Historically it has been treasured +as a cure for colic and for diseases of the spleen and loins; +hung against the stomach, Galen believed it a remedy for +cramps. It was a good-luck charm, and, fashioned into drinking +cups, a detector of poisons, which foamed against the brim. +It survives in art and symbolism after having passed out of +magic and medicine.</p> + +<p>Many of the old traditions about stones persist in popular +belief, which holds certain kinds of gems and individual jewels +as lucky or unlucky; and in fashion, which assigns to each +month its appropriate birthstone. It was supposed that the +garnet preserved health, that the ruby was a remedy for plague, +that the turquoise protected from accident, that the eagle-stone +would promote childbirth, that the emerald would prevent epilepsy, +that the topaz would cure insanity, that lapis lazuli was +a purgative, and bezoar antidotal. Jasper was a febrifuge and +rock crystal quenched thirst. An amethyst would prevent intoxication, +a bloodstone would confer the gift of prophecy, a +chrysoprase would cure cupidity, a sapphire would defend +against enchantments, an agate would avert a tempest, a carbuncle +would give light in the dark, an opal would dispel +despondency, an emerald would break if worn in the commerce +of the sexes, and a diamond under a woman’s pillow would +discover her incontinency.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f8"> +<img src="images/fig8.jpg" alt="putrid"> +<p class="caption"><i>According to Tradition, a Putrid Stream Flows from the Roots of the<br> +Tree and the Vapors Thereof Kill</i></p> +</div> + +<p>In Christian symbolism, jasper signified the foundation of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span> +the church, emerald the freshness of piety, beryl the illumination +of the divine spirit. Sapphires typified the heavenly-minded, +chrysolite those who let their light shine in word and +deed, chalcedony those who fast and pray in secret.</p> + +<p>However vain the pagan jewel-lore from which Christian +borrowings were made, the ideas it arrays are older than the +conception of precious stones as mere adornment. These things +were sought and worn at first as life-givers and luck-bringers, +and not because they were beautiful. Justinus Kerner is of +those writers who contend that primitive man was so attuned to +nature that “even the spirit of the stone, now grown dull and +sluggish, was capable of affecting him.” Only when persons +are under the influence of magnetism, says this writer, are they +susceptible to the inherent powers of precious stones; because +that state was in a measure the normal state of early men they +found greater medicinal virtue in gems than in roots and herbs.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Wonders of Countries</i></p> + +<p>The travelers of yesterday found marvel awaiting them in +every land. The sun of India, Ctesias says, appears to be ten +times larger than in other countries, and for four finger-breadths +downward the surrounding seas are so hot that fish cannot come +near the surface. It is so hot in Ormuz, says Maundeville, that +“the Folk lie all naked in Rivers and Waters, Men and Women +together, from nine o’clock of the Day till it be past the Noon.” +In the Persian city of Susis, says Strabo, “lizards and serpents +at midday in summer cannot cross the streets quick enough to +prevent their being burnt to death midway by the heat.” Setting +one thing against another, Diodorus says that in Scythia by the +force of cold even brazen statues are burst asunder, while “in +the utmost coasts of Egypt and the Troglodytes the sun is so +scorching hot at midday that two standing together cannot see +each other by reason of the thickness of the air.”</p> + +<p>Ctesias speaks of a fountain in India which swims every year +with liquid gold, and out of which are drawn a hundred earthen +pitchers filled with the metal—melted ore, suggests Lassen. +There is growing upon Mount Ida in Scandia, says Father +Jerom Dandini, “a herb whose virtue is to gild the teeth of +those animals that eat of it; one may believe, and with good<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span> +reason, that this proceeds from the golden mines which are in +that ground.” Herodotus reports the Thracians as saying that +the country beyond the Ister (Danube) is possessed by bees, +wherefore travelers cannot penetrate it; these may have been +mosquitoes. At the altars of Mucius in the country of the Veii, +and about Tusculum and in the Cimmerian Forest, says Pliny, +there are places in which things that are pushed into the ground +cannot be pulled out again.</p> + +<p>Geographical marvel may be brought down almost to date +with Humboldt’s report on the moving “stone of the eyes” in +South America, which the natives believed to be both stone and +animal; and with Irving’s account of the extinct thunderbolts +which the plains Indians told him they sometimes used for arrow +heads. So armed, a warrior was invincible, but he vanished +if a thunderstorm arose during battle.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c4">Chapter IV. The Animal Kingdom</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">Much</span> of the literature of marvel relates to real animals. +The savage could see no great difference between them and himself; +that their bodies were unlike his did not seem important. +They could reason like him, they could understand what he +said to them, they had souls which, like his own, lived after +death. A beast could assume human shape, a man could become +a beast, and it was totemic theory that some beasts were +ancestors of some men.</p> + +<p>There were tribes that acted as if they were beasts, or birds. +The Bororo Indians identified themselves with gorgeous red +birds that lived in the heart of the Brazilian forest, and treated +them as if they were fellow mortals. Travelers have told of +savages who ate maggots bred in the carcasses of animals, and +on ceremonial occasions thereafter writhed, roared, barked, or +grunted, in keeping with the nature of the snake, lion, jackal, or +hippopotamus whose body had been the table of their feast. The +people of an Alaskan island mistook the first Russian party +that landed there for cuttlefish, because the men had buttons +on their clothes.</p> + +<p>Abundant traces of a belief that animals were beings of a +higher order than men are found in early religion, magic, and +medicine. Many of them were worshiped. Out of a fear that +their spirits might work harm, all of them were propitiated even +when pursued or killed. Portions of their dead bodies were used +as amulets and to work spells. Their brains, blood, entrails, and +excrements were a principal part of the Roman pharmacopœia +in the most brilliant age of the Empire; the witches’ broth in +Macbeth is an Augustan brew. Along with hundreds of like +prescriptions, Pliny recites that a mole’s right foot and the earth +thrown up by ants are remedies for scrofula, that a bat’s heart +is an antidote for ant venom, that a hen’s brains will cure snake +poison and the owlet’s a bee sting, that profuse perspiration may<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span> +be checked by rubbing the body with ashes of burnt goats’ horns +mixed with oil of myrtle, and that catarrh may be relieved by +kissing a mule’s nostrils.</p> + +<p>Curious as these things may seem, they come naturally from +the fact that primitive man had mainly to do with animals. +Outside of his tribal group he knew other men only as enemies. +But all about were furred and feathered and not unfriendly +creatures whose acts had a certainty and finality lifting them +above the doubts and fears that harassed him. He seemed a +late comer and guest in an animal world. So he did what timid +peoples are wont to do. He put himself under the protection +of beings more gifted than himself. He became a vassal of the +beasts. This was the first feudalism.</p> + +<p>The savage was glad to assert his kinship with the brute. In +the Indian west it was through the First People, who had the +human shape but an animal nature, and were transformed into +beasts and birds; a beast or a bird then created the second race +of men. The natives of Vancouver Island thought that when +nobody was about animals laid aside their skins and were people. +In places the tradition lingers that migratory birds become +men when in other lands. A traveler far from home was amazed +when a stranger called him by name and asked about each member +of the family. The mystery was solved when he learned how +this intimate knowledge was gained; the stranger was the stork +that each year built its nest upon his roof.</p> + +<p>Both in skin-shifting and shape-shifting the blood relationship +between man and brute was avowed. In the one, the hero of +savage epic, by donning or doffing an animal skin, put on or put +off the beast nature. In the other, the human or animal actor +strutted for a space on his cousin’s stage. Wizards could transform +themselves, as men thought, into wolves and hyenas; the +world-wide legend of the werewolf traces from the time when +metamorphosis was the alpha and omega of myth. Its survivals +strew the classics. Io became a heifer, Actæon a stag, Antigone +a stork, Arachne a spider, Itys a pheasant, Philomela a nightingale, +and Progne a swallow.</p> + +<p>Animals took on human form to get better acquainted with +men. Indian story tells of a man who unwittingly married a +female buffalo. An Indian woman wedded a stranger who bade<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span> +her always throw the bones in a certain place, and whenever +he went out to eat she heard the barking of a dog near the +bone-heap; that was what he was. There are stories from every +continent of the union of women with reptiles that masqueraded +as men. Perhaps because they can assume the erect posture, +bears were often parties to alliances of this kind. It was thought +in Iceland that they were men bewitched and that their progeny +were born human but turned into cubs at a touch of the dam’s +paw. The Votiaks of the American northwest say the bear +traces back to man and knows his speech. When the hide is off, +the California Indians aver that bears are just like people. In +a Coos Indian story a girl married a fine-looking man whom she +met while picking berries; but when he took her to the ancestral +lodge, she found herself in a bear camp. There is a Tlingit +tale of a hunter who was captured by a female grizzly—object, +matrimony.</p> + +<p>The mitigation of these world stories is that they are literalistic +misreadings of old totemistic custom. Yet it is pleasant +enough to learn from a Tahltan tale that caribou “like to be +called people.”</p> + +<p>Under totemism, men chose their elder brothers, the brutes, +for guardians, took their names, deposited their own souls with +them for safekeeping, and, after death, entered their bodies. +Where totemism was unknown it was thought that the larger +prowling animals might be tenanted by demons and that their +weird howls at night were incidents of beast debates which had +the destinies of men as their topic. It was well not to affront +them even by naming them; better to use ingratiating epithets, +such as “blue-foot,” “gold-foot,” “gray-beard,” “broad-brow,” +“flash-eye,” “forest-brother.” The lesser sort were rogue heroes +in the beast epics—among the Hottentots the jackal; among the +Bantus, the rabbit; among the Orientals, the fox; among the +American Indians, the turtle, coyote, and raven.</p> + +<p>As a memorial of the antique relation between man and beast, +three out of every hundred persons in England and America +bear animal names. There is a wealth of detail as to how that +relation was carried down through legend into history. The +woodpecker directed the Aryan migrations, the wolf suckled the +founders of Rome, the nest of the eagle determined the winter<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span> +camps of the legions, the flights of birds fixed the sites of cities, +and their entrails decided for nations the issues of war and +peace. Animal forms range the entire field of early man’s interests. +Deified bulls, rams, crocodiles, hawks, and ibises thronged +the hospitable pantheon of Egypt. In the speculation of various +peoples the snake, the elephant, the whale, the boar, the turtle, +or the catfish supported the world, and when the creature moved +itself earthquake followed. The dove of Hebrew deluge story +found the earth. The larger animals were in the sky as constellations +before history began. When the moon is in eclipse there +are men to believe that it has been swallowed by a snake, a wolf, +a frog, a crab.</p> + +<p>In their primitive judicial processes men took oath in the +name of the sacred animal. In their agriculture they conceived +of the life of the grain as residing in an animal corn spirit—a +horse, a pig, a goat, or a dog, which hid itself in the last clump +of grain to be cut. In their marriage ceremonies, the cock, +duck, goat, or goose was a fertility emblem. Totem beasts are +tattooed on the bodies of savages. Animal outlines, at first as +a strong magic, were used upon pottery, clothes, and weapons, +and as decoration are still used. In animal masks and with +magical intent, dances are performed which mimic the ways of +beasts. Their feet, horns, claws, and teeth enter the medicine +bag of the shaman. When at last death comes to the savage, +perhaps a turkey buzzard or a humming bird convoys his soul to +the other world, or a dog guards the bridge over which it is to +pass to a happier realm, where the hunting of animals begins +anew.</p> + +<p>The reverence paid to the least considered of animals may +serve to show in what regard all of them were held and to explain +the marvels told about them. Scattered through the literature +and folklore of various peoples is a copious mass of +traditions as to vermin worship and to practices just suggested +by the fact that Beelzebub, the devil of Jewish Scripture, is the +Semitic god of flies. There was a classic deity known as the +mouse-Apollo and tame mice were kept in his sanctuary. The +Philistines sent to Israel, with the captured Ark, golden images +of mice. Isaiah bears witness that certain of the Jews met +secretly in gardens and ate swine’s flesh and mice for sacramental<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span> +purposes. In old stories the soul is pictured as issuing +from the mouths of dying or sleeping persons in the form of +a mouse. The Chams of Indo-China erected a pillar to the god +rat. Herodotus tells of the destruction of an Assyrian army +in Egypt by the aid of mice auxiliaries. It is still the custom +in some districts of Europe for peasants to exorcise mice from +the crops by running wildly with lighted torches around the +fields on the eve of Twelfth Day; to put the milk teeth of +children in a rat runway, so that the second teeth shall be as +white and strong as the rodent’s; to treat white mice with kindness +so as to bring luck to the house, and even to post a writing +with a message of good will where rats and mice can see it.</p> + +<p>While domestic animals which had killed or maimed persons +were regularly tried in the criminal courts of ancient Greece and +mediæval Europe, ecclesiastical courts long exercised jurisdiction +over smaller animal offenders. The curse of the Church +was relied upon to reach vermin against which the secular law +knew itself to be powerless; yet anathema was not pronounced +without judicial process. On complaint of ravaged parishes, +field mice, locusts, and beetles were summoned to appear in +court on a certain day and counsel was appointed to defend +them. In defense of accused rats in the diocese of Autun, +Chassenée, the brilliant French advocate of the sixteenth century, +laid the foundations of his fame. He cited biblical and +classical writers, interposed various technical objections, attributed +the failure of his clients to appear to the absence of +safe conducts, and demanded that the plaintiffs give bond that +their cats would not molest the defendant rodents in their journey +to court. On their refusal to give bond the case was adjourned +without day.</p> + +<p>Many such cases were compromised by setting aside a plot +of land to which the accused creatures might repair for sanctuary. +In the suit of Franciscan friars in Brazil in 1713 against +white ants which had invaded their monastery, the compromise +was influenced by the plea of counsel that the defendants not +only had prior possession of the ground, but were more industrious +than the complaining monks. Ecclesiastical suits were +brought at various times against caterpillars, cockchafers, flies, +leeches, moles, snails, slugs, weevils, and worms. From the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span> +ninth to the nineteenth century there is a record of 144 successful +prosecutions of animals, vermin included, and these are +thought to be only a fraction of the total number of such litigations. +The age which brought them was no less sure that +insects had rights, including the right of subsistence, than that +the Church had effectual power over them.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Elephant</i></p> + +<p>About the larger creatures fable has been busy and the foremost +figure is naturally the hugest of the land animals; only with +mediæval and heraldic times did the lion win pre-eminence. +Classic tradition revolves around the elephant’s intelligence, +morality, and social traits. There are stories of its understanding +Greek, and even writing it. As Pliny repeats, “it is sensible +alike of the pleasures of love and glory, and, to a degree that +is rare among men even, possesses notions of honesty, prudence, +and equity; it has a religious respect also for the stars, and a +veneration for the sun and the moon.”</p> + +<p>When surrounded by hunters, report had it that elephants +placed themselves in battle line, with the smaller-tusked animals +in front, so that the enemy might see that the spoil was unworthy +the seeking. When they perceived themselves about to be overcome, +they broke off their teeth against a tree in order to pay +their ransom. While other animals avoided fire, they resisted +and fought it because they saw it destroyed the forests. When +worn out by disease, they have been seen lying on their backs +and casting grass up into the air, “as if deputing the earth to +intercede for them with its prayers.”</p> + +<p>John Lok, in his <i>Voyage to Guinea</i>, paraphrases an ancient +belief as to the feud between the elephant and what he calls +the dragon: “They have continual warre against Dragons, which +desire their blood, because it is very colde; and therefore the +Dragon lying awaite as the Elephant passeth by, windeth his +taile, being of exceeding length, about the hinder legs of the +Elephant, & so staying him, thrusteth his head into his tronke +and exhausteth his breath, or else biteth him in the Eare, whereunto +he cannot reach with his tronke, and when the Elephant +waxeth faint, he falleth downe on the serpent, being now full +of blood, and with the poise of his body breaketh him: so that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span> +his owne blood with the blood of the Elephant runneth out of +him mingled together, which being colde, is congealed into that +substance which the Apothecaries call Sanguis Draconis, (that +is) Dragons blood, otherwise called Cinnabaris, commonly +called Cinoper or Vermilion, which the Painters use in certaine +colours.”</p> + +<p>The elephant is polygamous, although, as Lok says, “Plinie +and Soline write that elephants use none adulterie.” It was +thought that the intercourse of the sexes took place every second +year, in a honeymoon of five days’ length, and that the couples +purified themselves in a river before rejoining the herd. Of +these nuptial journeys Buffon says, “In their march love seems +to precede and modesty to follow them, for they observe the +greatest mystery in their amours.” To this day the East Africans +think that if their wives are unfaithful while they are on an +elephant hunt, themselves will be killed or maimed by their +quarry.</p> + +<p>It was a Roman belief that when elephants met a man who +had lost his way in the woods they would go gently before him +and bring him to a plain path. Sindbad had a kindred experience +on his seventh voyage when a herd conducted him to their +cemetery so that henceforth “I should forbear to kill them, as +now I knew where to get their teeth without inflicting injury on +them.” It is still widely believed that somewhere in Central +Africa, perhaps in a remote valley of the western Sudan, is +an elephant graveyard whither all the aged and ailing pachyderms +of the continent repair, sometimes traveling thousands of +miles in order to die in peace amid the relics of their kind. No +elephants dead of natural causes are ever found, tradition avers, +and from time to time expeditions have sought the vast riches +of this storehouse of mortuary ivory.</p> + +<p>To the elephant various peoples have accorded royal honors. +Akbar, the great Mogul, erected a monument to a favorite +elephant, which still stands near the deserted city of Fatephur +Sikri; it is a tower seventy-two feet high, studded with hundreds +of artificial tusks. At the court of Siam the traditional rank of +the chief white elephant has been next to the queen and before +the heir-apparent. The chief of the Burmese court herd has the +residence and honors of a minister of state. “The king of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span> +Pegu,” says one of the Hakluyt travelers, “is called the King of +the White Elephants. If any other king have one, and will not +send it him, he will make warre with him for it; for he had +rather lose a great part of his kingdome than not to conquere +him.” This was history when penned. In the sixteenth century +a long war was waged between Pegu, Siam, and Aracan, wherein +five kings were killed, in order to obtain possession of one white +elephant. These albinos are regarded as an appurtenance of +royalty and lack of them is an ill omen. Siam is the Land of +the White Elephant.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Rhinoceros</i></p> + +<p>The ancients had less to say of the rhinoceros than of the monoceros +or unicorn, for which fabulous beast it may have provided +the pattern; but they wove legends about the virtues of +its horn and its feud with the elephant. Cosmas Indicopleustes +wrote that when the rhinoceros walked its horn shook, but that +rage tightened it so that the beast was able to uproot trees. Its +skin was four fingers thick, and so hard that from it, instead of +iron, men made plowshares. In later ages the horn was kept +for the cure of diseases and detection of poison. Drinking cups +were made of it on a turner’s lathe, and the mediæval west +accepted the tradition of the east that these would sweat at the +approach of poison. Horns taken from young bull rhinoceroses +which had never coupled with females were preferred. Set in +gold and silver, the goblets were an acceptable present for kings. +Thunberg was one of the first inquirers to put the superstition to +the test by bringing the horn and various poisons together; there +was no chemical reaction.</p> + +<p>The tongue, not the horn, of the rhinoceros was its weapon +of offense, according to old belief. Marco Polo says that this +member, in the Sumatran species, is armed with long sharp +spines, wherewith, after trampling its enemies, it licks them to +death. Pliny has a like story.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Hippopotamus</i></p> + +<p>Of the hippopotamus two travelers’ tales may be noted. Pliny +gives it on hearsay that the river horse enters a cornfield backward, +so that there will be no one waiting to waylay it when it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span> +comes out. The statement of Father Joano dos Santos in his +history of eastern Ethiopia (1506) may best be set down verbatim: +“The hippopotamus is naturally of a sickly constitution, +and subject to gouty paines, which it cures by scratching the +stomach with the left foot; and it has further been noticed, when +it wishes to effect a perfect cure that it falls on the horn of +the hoof of the left foot; this, entering the stomach, appeases +and terminates the pain. Hence the Caffres and Moors make +use of this horn as a remedy for the gout.”</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Hyena</i></p> + +<p>The foul countenance and abject gaze of the hyena, its misshapen +body, its slinking tread, its affinities with both the wolf +and the cat tribes, have been provocative of legend. It lurks +in caves and ruins by day, it prowls for carrion food at night, +it despoils graveyards of their dead, it roams through unlighted +villages, and its howl when excited has a weird note, as of a +demon’s laughter; so antique fable had much to work upon. “Of +prodigious strength,” Ctesias called the beast under its Indian +name of Krokottas; and, indeed, no animal of its size has jaws +so powerful. He credited it with the courage of the lion, the +speed of the horse, and the strength of the bull. It imitated +the human voice, he said, and, pronouncing their names, called +men out at night, when it fell upon and devoured them. “We +cannot in the least credit this,” is however, the comment of Diodorus +Siculus.</p> + +<p>Pliny, and Solinus after him, thought that the hyena was +male one year and female the next—an opinion challenged by +Aristotle. It was supposed to carry a stone in its eye which, +placed under a man’s tongue, would enable him to prophesy. +Purchas says the beast “hath no necke joynt, and therefore +stirres not his necke but with bending about his whole body.” +Improving upon Ctesias, he says the animal draws near to +sheepcotes at night in order to learn the names of herdsmen, +whom afterward it decoys to destruction. Its eyes are “diversified +with a thousand colours” and the touch of its shadow +“makes a dogge not able to barke.” Buffon mentions, only to +scout, the notion that the hyena fascinates shepherds so that they +cannot move, and renders shepherdesses distracted in love. As<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span> +a supposed hybrid, Raleigh excludes it from the Ark. A kind of +worship is still paid it in East Africa, where the oath of the +hyena is administered; it is a crime to kill one and a misdemeanor +to mimic its voice. Stories are told of gold rings found +in the ears of dead hyenas similar to those worn by sorcerers +and workers in iron.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Gnu</i></p> + +<p>Near the headwaters of the Nile, according to Pliny, roams +the catoblepas, an animal of moderate size and of movements +made cumbersome by a head immoderately heavy, which is +always bent down toward the earth. This is a fortunate thing, +for otherwise “it would prove the destruction of the human +race,” since “all who behold its eyes fall dead upon the spot.” +In this demon-beast of dejected aspect Cuvier recognizes the +antelope-gnu, a horned creature apparently compounded of a +bison’s head, a horse’s body, and an antelope’s legs; a fantastic +and mournful silhouette of the African prairies.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Crocodile</i></p> + +<p>The standing of the crocodile in ancient Egypt, and among the +savages of the East Indies to this day, has been that of a sacred, +or at least a tabooed, animal. It had its own temple at Memphis, +where it was worshiped as a divinity, and tame crocodiles took +part in the religious processions. The Dyaks of Borneo and the +Minangkabauers of Sumatra never kill a crocodile unless it has +killed a man. Its privileged position among animals is due to +a variety of reasons, of which only three need be noted: it is a +dangerous reptile, it flourishes mainly where other food is +plenty, and its meat is not agreeable to most palates, having, as +Sir Samuel Baker puts it, “the combined flavor of bad fish, rotten +flesh, and musk.” Such a creature it is both savage superstition +and policy to let alone, and even to flatter.</p> + +<p>The older explanations of crocodile worship are more fantastic. +According to Plutarch, this reptile is a symbol of deity because +it is the only aquatic animal which has its eyes covered +with a thin membrane, so that, like divinity, it sees without being +seen. He adds that the Egyptians worship God symbolically in +the crocodile, that being the only animal without a tongue, like<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span> +the Divine Logos, which is in no need of speech. One species +has something more than a hundred teeth, wherefore Achilles +Tatius declares, “the number of its teeth equals the number of +days in a year.”</p> + +<p>In his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Ludolf saw a crocodile +which the Knights Templars, by extracting certain of its teeth, +had converted into a serviceable beast of burden. “In winter,” +says Maundeville, “the Cockodrills lie as in a dream.” Purchas +provides a detail on a matter of peculiar interest to the mediævals: +one lobe of the crocodile’s liver is poison, the other counter-poison.</p> + +<p>“Crocodile tears” are defined as simulated weeping, and back +of this useful metaphor is the venerable tradition set down in +Hakluyt’s collection: “His nature is ever when hee would have +his prey, to cry and sobbe like a Christian body, to provoke them +to come to him, and then hee snatcheth at them, and thereupon +came this proverbe that is applied unto women when they weepe, +<i>Lachrmyæ Crocodili</i>, the meaning whereof is, that as the Crocodile +when hee crieth, goeth then about most to deceive, so doeth +a woman most commonly when shee weepeth.”</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Snakes</i></p> + +<p>Most of the numerous snake traditions have a religious significance. +The older writers, however, have left observations +which belong to natural history. Pliny recites it as “a well-known +fact” that a serpent 120 feet in length was taken at the +river Bagrada in the Punic Wars by the Roman army under +Regulus. The monster was besieged as if it were a fortress, +balistæ and other engines being used. Of India, known from +earliest time for its immense serpents, the most striking reptile +story Ctesias has to tell is of a snake only a fathom long, and +without fangs. It is purple with a white head and does execution +by vomiting. Flesh putrefies wherever the vomit falls. +Suspended by the tail, it yields two kinds of poison, amber-hued +when the snake is living, black when obtained from a carcass. +A sesame seed’s bulk of the former brings instant death to him +who swallows it, his brains oozing from his nostrils, while the +latter brings death from consumption after about a year.</p> + +<p>Out of many traditions that snakes have power to fascinate<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span> +or injure without striking, two opinions from respectable sources +may be given. Ulloa, the Spanish explorer, thinks the breath +of the cobra produces “a kind of inebriation,” in persons, as +does “the urine of the fox” and “the breath of the whale.” +Lobo, the Portuguese friar, reports that while lying on the +ground in Abyssinia, he was seized with a pain which forced +him to rise, when he discovered a serpent something more than +four yards from him. He revived himself with “that sovereign +remedy” a bezoar stone. These serpents, he explains, have wide +mouths and swallow air in great quantities, which they presently +eject with such force that it kills at four yards.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Grasshoppers</i></p> + +<p>Classic writers knew the grasshopper less as a pest than as +a food, and it has a pleasant place in myth. Tithonus, beloved +of Aurora and dowered by the gods with immortality but not +with eternal youth, was changed by her into a grasshopper after +he shrank up with old age. There is a grasshopper fable to +which Strabo gives a naturalistic and Solinus a supernatural +tinge. In southern Italy, Rhegium and Locris are divided by a +river flowing through a deep ravine. The insects on the Locrian +side sing, while those on the other side are silent.</p> + +<p>Strabo suggests that this is because it is sunny on the Locrian +side, and densely wooded across the river. In the one case the +membranes used in stridulation are dry and horny and therefore +resonant when rasped together; in the other, they are so +softened by shade and dew that they produce no sound. Solinus +has a simpler explanation. Hercules passed by Rhegium and +its grasshopper orchestra irritated him. So he bade the insects +be silent, and, resentful or forgetful, failed to lift the embargo.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Salamander</i></p> + +<p>The best account of the salamander appears in the <i>Memoirs</i> +of Benvenuto Cellini. “One day,” he said, “when I was about +fifteen years of age, my father was in a cellar where they had +been scalding some clothes for washing. He was alone, and +was playing upon the viol and singing in front of a good fire +of oakwood, for the weather was very cold. On looking at the +fire accidentally, he saw a small animal resembling a lizard, +gambolling joyously in the midst of the fiercest flames. My<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span> +father instantly perceiving what it was, he called my sister and +me, pointed out the animal to us, and gave me a severe box on +the ear, which caused me to shed a perfect deluge of tears. He +gently wiped my eyes and said to me, ‘My dear boy, I did not +strike you as a punishment, but only that you should remember +that that lizard which you behold in the fire is a salamander, an +animal which has never been seen by any known person.’ He +afterwards kissed me and gave me a few quattrini.”</p> + +<p>That the salamander is able to live in flames, Aristotle +thought, and Ælian, and Nicander, and Pliny. The last named +tells why: This lizard is so cold that it extinguishes fire like +ice. There is great danger in its venom. Unless precautions +are taken it might destroy whole nations, for if it crawls up a +tree it infects all the fruit and those who eat thereof are killed. +It will also poison water or wine in which it is drowned. Sir +Thomas Browne concedes that it may resist a flame or put out +a coal, but “thus much will many humid bodies perform.”</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Spider Dance</i></p> + +<p>The tarantula is a large, brown mining spider which is found +on both shores of the Mediterranean, and is said to be numerous +near Taranto in southern Italy, whence its name. Its bite is +painful, although not dangerous, but in the fifteenth century +the superstition arose that it caused what is called tarantism, +a nervous affection with some of the symptoms of hydrophobia, +and now classed with St. Vitus dance. Those who were bitten, or +believed themselves to be, assumed a livid color, lost the senses +of sight and hearing, and sank into a deep depression; nausea +and sexual excitement were also remarked. Only music could +arouse the sufferer; under the influence of lively strains he +would dance himself into a perspiration and the poison of the +spider bite would escape through the skin. If the dance was +continued to exhaustion the patient was cured, at any rate for a +time.</p> + +<p>The disease soon assumed the form of a contagion communicated +from one person to another. Dancers were violently +affected by bright colors. Red was the favorite, and then green +and yellow, and one man’s hue might be another’s madness. +Sufferers sought water, some plunging into the sea, others immersing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span> +their heads in a tub or carrying globes of water while +dancing. Old and young, skeptical visitors as well as natives, +and women more than men, were the victims. Attacks lasted +from two to six days, and recovery was effectual until warm +weather came the following year, when the symptoms had again +to be exorcised to music. One woman was a tarantant for +thirty summers.</p> + +<p>The earliest mention of the mania is in the writings of Nicolas +Perotti, a contemporary of Columbus. It broke out at the same +time that the St. Vitus dance appeared in Germany. A like +superstition and a like cure are known in a Persian province. +The northern nations were first to recover and since the seventeenth +century the epidemic has slowly waned. The lively +Neapolitan folk dance, called the tarantella, is a memorial of +the madness that set the Middle Ages dancing with a spider +calling the tune.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Swallow</i></p> + +<p>Swallows show themselves suddenly in the northern climes +in April, and as suddenly vanish at the threshold of autumn. +They are often seen skimming the surface of water. Doctor +Kalm, the Swedish traveler, reports that in April, 1750, he saw +great numbers perched upon posts, “and they were as wet as if +they had just come out of the sea.” That the swallow comes +out of the sea in the spring and returns to it in the fall is a +belief of unknown antiquity. Thus, thought Luther, it repeated +each year the process of creation recorded in Genesis, when +the water obeyed the command to bring forth “fowl that may +fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.”</p> + +<p>There is a considerable literature on the reputed hibernation +of the swallow. It has been credited with electing at will +the winter economy of the wild goose, the bear, or the batrachian. +In Mediterranean countries it is conceded that swallows migrate. +In England and Germany, according to one eighteenth-century +observer, they “retire into clefts and holes in rocks, and remain +there in torpid state.” In the colder northern countries popular +opinion has been that they submerge in the sea. Regnard, the +French comic poet, who made a journey to Lapland in 1681, +accepted this on the word of trustworthy Danes and Swedes.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span></p> + +<p>In the eighteenth century the secretary to the city of Dantzig +obtained sworn testimony in support of this opinion from collectors +of the revenues of the king of Prussia. The mother of +the Countess Lehndorf reported that she saw “a bundle of +swallows” brought from under water to a warm room, where +they revived and fluttered about. Count Schlieben said that +while fishing on his estate he saw several swallows netted, one +of which he carried into a warm room; it lay there for an hour +and then began to stir and fly around. Collector-General +Witkowski said that in 1741 he got two swallows from the great +pond at Didlacken, and that these birds revived in a warm room, +“fluttered about, and died three hours later.” Six other witnesses +made their several oaths to similar incidents.</p> + +<p>A final touch of poetry is given by the statement of Doctor +Wallerius, the celebrated Swedish chemist, who deposed “that +he had seen more than once swallows assembling on a reed till +they were all immersed and went to the bottom; this being preceded +by a dirge of a quarter of an hour’s length.” Holy, +luck-bringing, and inviolate, men everywhere have thought the +swallow, and the solemn descents into the sea with which legend +credited it deepened this character.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Wild Geese</i></p> + +<p>About wild geese a still more fantastic belief obtained up +to four centuries ago, when the Dutch discovered Spitzbergen. +It was thought that goslings grew upon trees in the form of nuts. +The nuts fell into the sea and the chicks came forth. Therefore +a decree at the Sorbonne in Paris adjudged that wild geese were +not birds and could be eaten in Lent. In Spitzbergen, Barentz +came upon the breeding grounds of these migratory fowl, and, +breaking open the eggs, discovered the unhatched young in them. +So the myth passed. “It is not our fault,” he remarked, “that +we have not known this before, when these birds insist upon +breeding so far northward.” Two variants of the story are +found among Norwegian writers. Jonas Ramus says that “a +particular sort of Geese found in Nordland leave their seed on +old trees and stumps and blocks lying in the sea”; a shell forms +around the seed, and from the shell, as from an egg, young<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span> +geese are hatched by the sun. Pontoppidan describes what +seems to be the goose barnacle which contains “the little creature +reported to be a young wild goose.” It looks like “little +crooked feathers squeezed together” and is merely a “living +sea insect.” While the legend was credited it was used to confirm +the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Animal Politics</i></p> + +<p>Fable dowered various creatures with the political institutions +and social sense of the ant and bee. Pearl oysters were said +to live in settlements under the rule of the oldest. Cranes +placed sentinels on guard at night, each with a stone in its claw; +if the bird nodded the stone fell to the ground, betraying its +neglect of duty. Cranes, rooks and storks, even modern observers +assert, hold criminal courts. Twice a year a pair of +ravens was assigned to each farm in Iceland by a parliament +of their fellows. The storks of Egypt were supposed every +winter to make the Mecca pilgrimage and were regarded as +hajjis. Because the panther’s diet was aromatic roots and herbs, +its breath was balmy and medicinal, and when it walked abroad +all the other beasts attended it. Wild beasts and apes tended a +mountain shrine near Srinagar in India, bringing daily offerings +of flowers. In Ceylon “very pious and credible persons” told +Ibn Batuta that the bearded black monkeys had their own sultan, +who wore a green turban woven of leaves, as if he wished to +seem an Islamite, and maintained a council of state and a harem.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Other Animal Marvels</i></p> + +<p>Marvel tales about animals might be recited almost indefinitely, +and a respectable authority ancient or modern, named for +each. A few representative ones may be noted. It is a well-known +fact, says Solinus, that magpies have died because they +could not master the pronunciation of a difficult word. In South +America, according to Purchas, men make clean their teeth with +the beards of seals, “because they bee wholesome for the toothache.” +The she-camel, so says Launcelot Addison, father of the +essayist, “brings forth her young in a negligent slumber.” The +toucan, says Humboldt, makes an extraordinary gesture when +preparing to drink, which the monks assert is the sign of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span> +cross upon the water, and so the creoles call it <i>diostede</i> (God +gives it to thee). Bordering the country of the grasshopper-eaters +in Africa, says Diodorus, is a fair land which has been +untenanted since rain bred a multitude of venomous spiders that +stung many persons to death and drove away the remainder. +Plutarch thought that the ibis became more sacred by standing +with straddled legs so as to form a triangle. Buffon confutes +the notion, based on the noisome odor of the shrewmouse, that +its bite is dangerous to cattle. Isaac Walton cites a polygamous +fish which “goes courting she-goats on the grassy shore.” Even +Linnæus thought that birds of paradise had neither wings nor +feet.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Pliny’s Mirabilia</i></p> + +<p>Pliny is authority for the fables which follow: The ant rests +from her labors at the changes of the moon. The sea remains +calm while the halcyon is hatching her young upon it. When +the sun is in Cancer the bodies of dead crabs on the seashore +are transformed into serpents. When the porcupine stretches its +skin it discharges its quills like missiles. Lions resent it if a +man looks at them asquint. The breath of the elephant will +draw serpents from their retreats. Only by using the left hand +can one pull snakes from their holes. They will flee from a +naked man, but pursue one clothed. The best way to catch +eels is to put the bait in the end of a hollow fishing rod and +suffocate them by blowing through it.</p> + +<p>Bears crawl into their dens on their backs in order to leave no +betraying trail. Ostriches throw stones at their pursuers. Vultures +will entice a bull over a precipice by holding their wings +before its eyes. The boding raven is most so when it swallows +its voice as if choked. If a horse follows in the track of a +wolf it will burst asunder beneath its rider. If a shrewmouse +crosses the rut of a wheel it will die at once. The pastern bones +of swine promote discord. Madness in he-goats may be calmed +by stroking their beards. She-goats in pasture never look at one +another at sunset. Goats breathe through their ears, are never +quite free from fever, and are therefore more lascivious than +sheep. Roebucks grow fat on poisons.</p> + +<p>As to birds and insects, it is doubtful if they dream; yet<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span> +pigeons “have a certain appreciation of glory.” At a certain +season cuckoos become hawks. The crow is at enmity with the +weasel, the duck with the sea-mew, but there is friendship between +the peacock and the pigeon, the turtle-dove and the parrot, +the heron and the crow. Quails sometimes settle so thickly on +ships at night as to sink them. Locusts make their whirring +noise by grinding their teeth. Hornets, wasps, and bees will not +attack a person stung by a scorpion. In high winds bees carry +small stones for ballast. It is not certain whether their honey is +“the sweat of the heavens, or whether a saliva emanating from +the stars, or a juice exuding from the air while purifying itself.”</p> + +<p>Stranger than these classic beliefs is the early Christian tradition +of the small hole found in the forefeet of pigs when the +hair is removed. Therein of old time passed the legion of +devils in the country of the Gadarenes. The rings about the +hole which seem branded in the skin are the marks of demons’ +claws as they entered their unclean habitation. Javanese Moslems +have it that the peacock was gatekeeper of Paradise and admitted +the devil by swallowing him. A third domestic creature, +the cock, could scatter ghosts and demons by his dawn cry.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Browne Catalogues Vulgar Errors</i></p> + +<p>The treatise upon <i>Vulgar Errors</i> which Sir Thomas Browne +made in the seventeenth century attacks many notions that had +come down to his time from a past without date. Among them +are the following: Swans sing their own death songs. The +badger has the legs of one side shorter than the other. Spermaceti +is the spawn of the whale. Lampries have nine eyes. +There is antipathy between the toad and the spider. There is +a lucky-stone in the toad’s head. The pelican pierces her breast +and feeds her young with her own blood. The clicking sound +made in a wainscoting by the beetle called the death-watch +presages bereavement. Peacocks are ashamed of their legs. +Storks will live only in republics or free states. Lions are +afraid of cocks.</p> + +<p>Each of these beliefs the great physician confutes in turn, +remarking, for example, that storks nest in kingly France and +in the dominions of the Great Turk, and that a lion, escaped +from a menagerie, had robbed a hen roost in Bavaria.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span></p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Beasts of the Hermits</i></p> + +<p>A chapter of charming legends has for its theme not the remarkable +traits of different species of animals, but the conduct +of single creatures that came under the influence of holy men +who went out into the deserts in the early days of the Christian +era. In the absence of human society the fowls of the air and +the beasts of the field formed for the hermit the society of the +waste. The crocodile, protected and worshiped by pagan Egypt, +the gross-looking hippopotamus, the venomous serpents, and +above all the hyena, with its fearful laughter, rimmed the +anchorite’s life with a horizon of supernatural terror; these +were embodied dæmons with designs upon his very soul. But +sometimes he could cast out the evil spirit that tenanted them, +and there were other and gentler beasts that became his servants +and companions. In them the unfriendly deserts were made to +repeat the polity of Eden, where all created things obeyed man.</p> + +<p>Wild asses, lions, stags, wolves, and fowls were the hermit’s +domestic animals. Stags, harnessed to plow, cultivated the +field of St. Leonor, and took the place of St. Colodoc’s cattle +when these were driven away because he had sheltered a hunted +deer. St. Helenus rode on the back of a crocodile. Dragons +guarded the cell of Abbot Ammon. The lion from whose foot +St. Gerasimus extracted a thorn protected his ass. St. Costinian +saddled and rode a bear. St. Sulpicius tells of a she-wolf as +tame as a dog and of a lioness under a palm tree that moved +modestly aside at a hermit’s command until he had eaten his +fill of dates. Swallows sang upon the knees of St. Guthlac.</p> + +<p>Not all of this, it may be, is the mere poetry of pious imaginations. +After the breakdown of Roman civilization in the west, +many of the oxen, horses, and dogs returned to the wild state, +and what the hermits did in some cases was merely to recall +them to their ancient allegiance. Here and there among so +many thousands of solitaries, so Kingsley urges, were men such +as become horse-tamers and bee-takers in settled communities, +whose natures won them friends in the world of brutes. The +very quietude of the hermits, their habit of silent meditation in +field and forest, would disarm the fears of wild things and draw +them toward companionship.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span></p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Invasion of the Cathedrals</i></p> + +<p>The church had yet another chapter to write in the story of +the beasts, and this time they became hieroglyphs on the vast +scroll of the cathedrals. The early significance of animals in +the life of man was completely revived in the mediæval fanes, +but as allegory rather than reality. Brute and fowl were created, +it was thought, only to illustrate the truth of God’s word +and to convey some spiritual message. Did not Job say, “Ask +the beast and it will teach thee, and the birds of heaven and they +will tell thee”? What they taught and told was set forth at +large in the cathedral, which became in very fact a rebus carved +in stone. With effects that were indescribably quaint, and beautiful +at times, Christian symbolism wrought itself in ecclesiastical +architecture in an age when few could read other writing.</p> + +<p>From Egypt, where cenobites were already in communion +with desert creatures, the impulse came; and from India, where +Buddhist ascetics were taught to pattern their humility from the +ass that sleeps by the roadside, their aloofness from the rhinoceros +that wanders alone. Its immediate source was the +<i>Physiologus</i>, or Naturalist, the compilation by an Alexandrian +Greek of what the ancient world reported of animals and plants, +with moral reflections added. The compendium was translated +into all of the languages of Europe and several African and +Asiatic tongues, and, being in the vernacular, may have been +for a time more widely read than the Bible itself. For the +unlearned a source of pleasant stories and forerunner of the +bestiaries, for the learned it was a theological treatise. Its +subject-matter entered patristic writings and popular sermons +and was at length transferred to stone.</p> + +<p>The vogue of animal symbolism in Christian churches covered +half a millennium, was at its height in the eleventh and +twelfth centuries, was still alive at the Reformation, and left +its marks in sacred vessels and ecclesiastical vestments as well +as in sculpture. Façades, portals, buttresses, and gargoyles of +church exteriors, and cloisters, chancels and chapels of interiors, +were decorated with animal forms. As an emblem +of priestly chastity, the elephant was embroidered on sacerdotal +vestments. Lamps, censers, and sacramental vessels<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span> +repeated the outline or carried the effigy of the griffin, the pelican, +the dolphin. Sculptured lions ramped at cathedral doors, +lizards peeped from crevices, and all about the sanctuary were +the figures of foxes and ferrets, harts and hedgehogs, panthers +and partridges, the whale, the crocodile, the tortoise, and a hundred +other flying, walking, creeping, or swimming things.</p> + +<p>Though St. Bernard denounced this as “the foul and tattered +vesture of pagan allegory,” every animal was a text, or was +designed to be. The lion typified majesty, the ox patience, the +ram spiritual leadership, the turtle-dove constancy, the skin-sloughing +snake the repentant believer, the salamander the +righteous who extinguish the flames of desire. The sun-staring, +youth-renewing eagle was an admonition to those grown old +in sin to face the day star of revelation. Ravens symbolized +Jews who battened on the carrion of the Law. Sometimes virtues +and vices were pictured as women riding animals or bearing +animal devices—Humility on a panther, Chastity on a unicorn, +Devotion on an ibex, Patience with a swan helmet, Love +with a pelican shield, Lust with a siren-buckler.</p> + +<p>Animal symbolism had also its secular phases. Amorous +troubadours likened themselves to flame-walled salamanders; +or, disappointed in love, likened woman to the double-natured +dragon and the hooting owl. By degrees the secular impulse +invaded the churches. Animal sculptures were admitted as +such and not as cipher characters of divine script; and satire, +inspired or tolerated by the regular body of clergy, raided the +sheepfold of allegory. This was directed against the preaching +friars and the failings of the monastic orders, all the actors +in the beast-epos of Reynard the fox entering the sanctuary +as its auxiliaries. The animals overran windows, balustrades, +cornices, and capitals; foxes were significantly depicted in +palmer weeds; a stall in the cathedral at Amiens showed Reynard +preaching to a flock of fowls and with pious gesture reaching +for the nearest hen. Death, “the sarcastic and irreverent +skeleton,” capered among the creatures in the dance macabre. +At the outset an attack on religious abuses, the secular phase +became in effect a lampoon of the very rites of the church.</p> + +<p>Among other figures that caricatured its principal ceremonies +under its own roof, says Evans in his authoritative study of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span> +the period, were “apes in choristers’ robes, swine in monks’ +hoods, asses in cowls chanting and playing the organ, sirens in +the costume of nuns with their faces carefully veiled and the +rest of their persons exposed, stags in chasubles ministering at +the altar and wolves in the confessional giving absolution to +lambs.” The ass, which the east had long celebrated for its +devoted service and which has a high niche in biblical story, +attained a place in the churches of the west which neither fact +fully accounts for. There was thought to be some mystic relation +between its anatomy and the architecture of a cathedral. +In a catechism of the last century used in a French town it was +recited among other details that the head of the ass signified +the bell of the town cathedral, its paunch the poor-box and its +tail the aspergill for sprinkling holy water. In the one-time +popular Feast of the Ass, a living ass was led up the nave into +the chancel, the chants were sung in a braying tone, and the +officiating priest dismissed the congregation with a loud hee-haw.</p> + +<p>The ceremony has passed. Most of the beast figures have +been removed from the cathedrals. Animal symbolism still +lives, but more in letters than in stone.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c5">Chapter V. The Fabulous Beasts</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">In</span> the world that was, the fabulous animals that roved the +land were creatures of unusual interest, though of limited number. +More species were to be found in the deep. Thither, +Pliny explains, fall the seeds from the innumerable figures of +beasts impressed as constellations upon the heavens, and these +seeds, being mixed together in the watery element, produce a +variety of monstrous forms.</p> + +<p>With animal life abounding in the thickets and fields of the +earth, and for every bird and beast a fable, there was less incentive +to invent new species of them than there was to make +stories of ghosts, dæmons and faeries, or of men with beast +attributes or lineage or some quality of caricature in their +anatomy. With the coming of heraldry the category of strange +creatures is greatly enlarged, but the shapes added by blazonry +do not purport to be living things and have no place in geography +or in literature, save in massive volumes where the quaint +designs and quainter jargon of a curious erudition are preserved.</p> + +<p>The ancient had naïve ideas about cross-breeding. Every +unusual animal seemed a hybrid of two known species. These +were produced in hot climates. Hence, says Pliny, arose the +saying, common even in Greece, that “Africa is always producing +something new.” The males and females of various species +in that singular land, he thought, coupled promiscuously with +each other, but not always with impunity. “The lion recognizes, +by the peculiar odor of the pard, when the lioness has been +unfaithful to him, and avenges himself with the greatest fury.”</p> + +<p>There was a belief, which lasted nearer to the present time, +that the savage dogs of India, two of which would make no +scruple of attacking the lion, had tigresses for their dams. +Diodorus noted that eastern Arabia produced beasts of double +nature and mixed shape, and he deemed it reasonable that “by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span> +the vivifying heat of the sun in southern parts of the world +many sorts of wonderful creatures are there bred.” Among +these he cites the crocodiles and river horses of Egypt. He +strains a point in support of his theory in the account of what +he calls the Struthocameli of Arabia, “who have the shape both +of a camel and an ostrich.” He describes their bodies “big +as a camel, newly foaled,” their small heads with large black +eyes, their long necks, the “hairy feathers” on their wings, their +strong thighs, and “cloven hoofs.” This creature, says the +Sicilian geographer, “seems both terrestrial and volatile, a land +beast and a bird”—after all, only an inexact yet graphic portrait +of the ostrich. That this fowl is a cross between a camel +and a bird is an Arab notion; according to Aristotle it is of an +equivocal nature, part bird and part quadruped. So its Persian +name signifies, and sacred writers liken its voice to the bellowing +of a bull.</p> + +<p>Even the breezes take part in the creation of hybrids, so men +have thought. That there is actual generative power in the wind +is a belief older than the discovery of its function in carrying +the fertilizing pollen of plants. Pliny records the popular belief +that barren eggs are breeze-begotten; hence their name of +Zephyria. The modern “wind-egg” for an egg without a shell +laid by a fat hen, but supposed by Doctor Johnson not to contain +the principle of life, comes from a similar notion. Male +sheep are conceived when the northeast wind blows, and females +when the south wind blows, according to the Romans. One of +the heroic ballads of the Tartars personifies the wind as a foal +which courses about the earth. The fable about Portuguese +mares, widely credited by the ancients and roundly asserted +by Pliny, is an echo of sailor reports on the fertility of Lusitania: +“In the vicinity of Olisipo and the river Tagus, the mares, +by turning their faces toward the west wind as it blows, become +impregnated by its breezes, and the foals thus conceived are +remarkable for their fleetness; but they never live beyond three +years.”</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Unicorn</i></p> + +<p>Best known animal of legend is the unicorn. There are two +veritable unicorns, or animals with one horn—the rhinoceros<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span> +and the narwhal. The accepted description of this animal gives +it the narwhal’s straight and spirally twisted horn but none of +the parts of the rhinoceros. It is pictured with the legs of a +buck, the tail of a lion, and the head and body of a horse. Its +markings suggest the zebra’s; its head is red, its body white, +its eyes blue, while its horn is red at the tip, white at the base +and black in between. The high authority of Aristotle has +determined these points.</p> + +<p>The ancients mention five different animals as having one horn +set in the middle of the forehead. The most famous of these +were the Egyptian oryx and the Indian ass. Pliny says the oryx +gazes at the Dog Star when it rises, and sneezes in a sort of +worship. It has the stature of a bull, the form of a deer, and +hair that sets forward instead of backward. The Indian ass is +described by Ctesias as having the traditional shape and hues +of the unicorn, solid hoofs, and a horn a cubit in length. Filings +of this horn, if taken in a potion, are an antidote to poison. +Drinking cups made from it give immunity also from epilepsy. +The Indian ass is so fleet it can be seized only when it leads its +foal to pasture. In defense of its young it uses its horn, teeth, +and feet, killing horses and men. It is sought for the horn and +huckle bones, the latter, Ctesias declares, “the most beautiful +I have ever seen”; they are as heavy as lead, he says, and of the +color of cinnabar.</p> + +<p>The third animal was the monoceros, on which the Orsæan +Indians preyed. It had the head of the stag, the feet of the +elephant, and the tail of the boar, while the rest of its body was +horse-like. The single black horn projecting from the middle +of its forehead was two cubits long. It lowed like a bull, was +of ferocious nature, wandered alone, and could not be taken +alive. The two other unicorns of ancient story were the single-horned +horse and the single-horned ox.</p> + +<p>There was a second growth of the fable in the Middle Ages +and the unicorn took on new dignities. It was the only animal +that would attack the elephant, disembowelling the pachyderm +with one blow of its sharp-nailed foot; and it charged the lion +at sight. The king of beasts was constrained to kingly craft, +dodging behind a tree. His assailant, says Topsell, “in the +swiftness of his course runneth against the tree, wherein his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span> +sharp horn sticketh fast”; and the lion dispatches him at leisure. +In his <i>Display of Heraldry</i> (1724) Guillim says the unicorn is +never taken alive because “the greatness of his mind is such +rather to die.” Mediæval intelligence at last hit upon a characteristic +device to secure this creature without slaying him, and +the bestiaries of the time record it. This was to place a young +virgin near his haunts. As soon as he saw her he would run +to her and lie down at her feet, placing his head in her bosom, +when the hunters could halter him.</p> + +<p>It was the alexipharmic virtues of the unicorn’s horn that most +engaged the ages of faith, when the poisoning of princes was +almost an article of statecraft. As late as 1789 it was used to +test food at the court of France, and horns, usually of the narwhal, +were in the royal museums. The ancients had made little +of this. The reference of Ctesias to the horn of the Indian ass +as an antidote for poison and a cure of the falling sickness +stands alone. What was later made of this reputed power is +shown in a passage from John of Herse, who pilgrimed to +Jerusalem in 1389: “Near the field Helyon in the Holy Land +is the river Mara, whose bitter waters Moses struck with his staff +and made sweet, so that the children of Israel could drink +thereof. Even now evil and unclean spirits poison it after the +going down of the sun, but in the morning after the powers of +darkness have disappeared, the unicorn comes from the sea and +dips its horn into the stream, and thereby expels and neutralizes +the poison, so that the other animals can drink of it during the +day.”</p> + +<p>According to Guillim, it became “a general conceit that the +wild beasts of the wilderness used not to drink of the pools, for +fear of venomous serpents there breeding, until the unicorn +hath stirred them with his horn.” Thus its office was that of +water-conner for the other beasts of the forest.</p> + +<p>Cosmas Indicopleustes said he had seen the brazen statues +of four unicorns set upon towers in the royal palace of +Ethiopia. Frobisher found a dead “sea unicorne” on the +Canadian coast with a broken horn two yards long. Into the +hollow of the horn the sailors put spiders, where they presently +died. In his second voyage (1564) Sir John Hawkins found the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span> +Florida Indians wearing pieces of the unicorn’s horn about their +necks.</p> + +<p>The unicorn was celebrated in Christian symbolism before +it found a permanent niche in heraldry. When Balaam blesses +Israel he says, “God led him out of Egypt even as the glory of +the unicorn.” According to the <i>Bestiare Divine de Guillaume +Clerc de Normandie</i>, the animal represents Christ, and its horn +signifies the Gospel of Truth. It became a favorite charge in +Scottish heraldry and James I of England made it the sinister +support in the arms of Great Britain, replacing the red dragon +of Wales.</p> + +<p>Purchas the Pilgrim was always expecting news of the unicorn, +hearing of it and doubting report. Browne avows his +belief in the animal in a sardonic dissertation. Far from doubting +its existence, he says, “we affirm there are many kinds +thereof,” and he mentions the five classic animals, several +fishes, and “four kinds of nasicornous beetles.” What he wants +to know is which one possesses the alexipharmic horn. He +complains that the animal is not uniformly described: “Pliny +affirmeth it is a fierce, terrible creature; Vartomannus, a tame +and mansuete animal; those which Garcias ab Horto described +about the Cape of Good Hope were beheld with heads like +horses; those which Vartomannus beheld he described with the +head of a deer: Pliny, Ælian, Solinus, and Paulus Venetus affirmeth +the feet of the unicorn are undivided and like the elephant’s; +but those two which Vartomannus beheld at Mecca +were footed like a goat. As Ælian describeth, it is in the bigness +of an horse; as Vartomannus, of a colt; that which Thevet +speaketh of was not so big as an heifer; but Paulus Venetus +affirmeth that they are but little less than elephants.”</p> + +<p>Browne proceeds remorselessly: The horns of the unicorn, +as described by writers or preserved in collections, are too +various. Some are red, some are black, and some have spiral +markings, while “those two in the treasure of St. Mark are +plain and best accord with those of the Indian ass.” Albertus +Magnus describes one ten feet long, a narwhal’s, Browne suggests. +Others are but fossil teeth and bones and petrified tree +branches.</p> + +<p>Yet the tradition long survived Browne. His contemporary,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span> +the Portuguese Jesuit Lobo, said that in Abyssinia he had seen +the unicorn, in shape like a beautiful bay horse with a black +tail. He could give no minute account, for it ran with prodigious +swiftness from wood to wood, and never fed save when +surrounded by animals that protected it. “The unicorn really +exists in Tibet,” Huc affirmed after traveling there in 1846. +At Kordofan, in 1848, a man, whose custom was to provide +Baron Von Mueller with animal specimens, offered to sell him +an <i>a’nasa</i>, which he described as of donkey size with a tail like +a boar’s, and a single pendulous horn which it erected when it +saw an enemy. In 1876 Prejevalski gave an account of the +<i>orongo</i>, a stag-like creature with two vertical horns, which he +said was common in Tibet; according to natives there were a +few single horned individuals among the herds.</p> + +<p>Every feature in the unicorn legend of the west has its counterpart +in the Chinese books. Six species of unicorns are mentioned; +one figures in the crest of the Mikado of Japan; another +is sculptured in the avenue of animals that leads to the Ming +tombs north of Peking. Another, and the best known, the +<i>ki-lin</i>, appeared only in the reign of upright monarchs. It +was called a spiritual beast, chief of the 360 kinds of hairy +creatures. Its pace was regular, it ambled only on selected +grounds, and its voice was like a monastery bell. So softly it +trod that it left no footprints and crushed no living thing.</p> + +<p>All a moon myth, says one ingenious writer. But Gould declares, +“I find it impossible to believe that a creature whose +existence has been affirmed by so many authors, at so many +different dates, and from so many countries, can be the symbol +of a myth.” He thinks it either a hybrid occasionally produced +by the crossing of the equine and bovine families, or else the +generic name for extinct missing links between horses, cattle, +and deer.</p> + +<p>Whence the world’s long belief in the unicorn? Was there +such an animal, now extinct? Cuvier returns an emphatic negative: +“The nations of modern days have only been able to drive +back the noxious animals in the deserts, but have never yet +suceeded in exterminating a single species.” He goes further: +there could never have been a cloven-footed ruminant with a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span> +single horn, because its frontal bone must have been divided, +and no horn could have been placed on the suture.</p> + +<p>Ctesias may have woven some rhinoceros details into his +picture of the so-called Indian ass. The Egyptian unicorn was +called an oryx—a word perhaps related to the Sanscrit and +Teutonic aurochs. There is a large African antelope the modern +name of which is oryx. It is probable that the correct name +has been retained, and that the oryx, or gemsbok, of to-day, is +the unicorn of Herodotus, Strabo, Pliny, Lampridius, et al. But +the real oryx has two horns, while the fabled animal had but +one because the Egyptians did not understand perspective in +drawing.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Griffin</i></p> + +<p>Greek and Persepolitan griffins are curiously alike, and both +may have derived from the winged lion of the Assyrians, emblem +of the god Nergal. Griffin lore, however, is rich in details +which have no religious significance. Herodotus speaks of the +animal as guarding the gold of the one-eyed Arimaspians in +Asia north of the Altai Mountains. Ctesias places it in the mountain +barrier of India.</p> + +<p>According to Ælian the griffin was a winged and feathered +lion with an eagle’s head and a color scheme that suggests the +German imperial flag—the breast plumage red, the wings white, +and the dorsal plumage black; “a mixed and dubious animal,” +Browne calls it. Ctesias says it had also blue neck feathers +and red eyes. He describes the species as a race of four-footed +birds the size of wolves, but Maundeville says they +were as large and strong as eight lions and could carry to +their nests “a great Horse, or two Oxen yoked together as they +go to the Plough.” Of their talons the Indians made drinking +cups. The griffins built their nests like the eagle, but laid +therein agates instead of eggs. The Bactrians said that these +birds dug gold out of the mountains and made their nests therewith, +and the Indians carried off so much of it as falls to the +ground. The Indians denied that the griffins were watchmen for +the gold of their district or had any use for it; they said that +when the birds see them coming to gather gold, they fear the intruders +are after their young and assail them. Also they attack<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span> +all other beasts and prevail over them, save only the lion +and the elephant.</p> + +<p>Fearful of their vengeance, the natives go not out to gather +gold in the daytime, say the chroniclers, but under cover of +night make their raids into a frightful desert where griffin and +gold are found together. Companies of one thousand or even +two thousand men set out, equipped with mattocks and sacks. +The expeditions take from three to four years, for this region +lies afar. If successful, the members return wealthy; but should +they be detected in the act of theft, says Ælian, certain death +would be their fate.</p> + +<p>There are four explanations of this four-footed bird of classic +legend and Welsh heraldry—that the winged Assyrian lion was +taken for a portrait instead of a symbol; that the Samoyeds mistook +mammoth bones in the gold-bearing district of the Ural +Mountains for remains of monster fowls; that the griffins were +merely Tibetan mastiffs of singular ferocity and reputed tigrine +decent, and that they are an early form of the dragon. The so-called +griffin’s claws in the museums of Dresden and Vienna +and in the churches elsewhere are horns of the Caffrarian buffalo. +Drinking cups made of them were used in treating +epilepsy.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Hippogrif</i></p> + +<p>It would be vain to seek among animals the original of the +hippogrif, a creature related to the griffin, though of more involved +lineage, and like it treated sometimes as a bird, sometimes +as a beast. The hippogrif is a product of mediæval +romance, and wings its way as the courser of more than mortal +knights over countries of fable, albeit they bear such names as +Brittany, Abyssinia, Circassia, and Cathay. As the griffin was +called a hybrid between the lion and the eagle, so the hippogrif +was supposed to be a hybrid between the griffin and the +horse. It had the head, wings, and fore claws of the griffin and +the body, hind hoofs and tail of the horse. Its habitat was the +Riphæan Mountains, source of the north wind. The hippogrif +enters the Orlando cycle as the mount of an enchanter with a +castle on the Pyrenees, but later serves the far adventures of the +paladins of Charlemagne.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span></p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Monster Rat</i></p> + +<p>The Samoyeds and Chinese who found in the river banks of +the north the frozen bodies of mammoths, with skin and flesh intact +as if they had died but yesterday, reached the strange yet +natural conclusion that this was a kind of monstrous burrowing +rat. It figures in Chinese books as <i>fen-shu</i>, the “digging rat,” or +<i>yen-men</i>, the “burrowing ox.” Why was it always dead when +men came upon it? Because air and sunshine were both fatal +to it; evidently in its wanderings underground it had broken the +crust above it and died in the daylight. Sometimes the Yakuts +saw the earth tremble and knew this great rat walked beneath. +“There is got from it,” says the <i>Chinese Encyclopedia</i>, “an ivory +as white as that of the elephant, but easier to work, and not +liable to split. Its flesh is very cold and excellent for refreshing +the blood.”</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Martikhora</i></p> + +<p>In the jungles of Ind roved the martikhora—a creature with +unpleasant affinities to men, the great cats, and the serpents. +Its face was like a man’s with pale blue eyes and human ears +but with three rows of teeth. Its body was as big as the lion’s +and in color red like cinnabar. It had a tail like the scorpion’s +and more than a cubit long. The martikhora, indeed, was a +sort of anticipation of the machine gun, for it had one sting +at the end of its tail, two at the roots of this member, and a +fourth on the crown of its head; and these it projected to the +distance of a hundred feet. The missiles, which were about a +foot long and no thicker than fine thread, were fatal to every +animal save the elephants. The natives, says Ctesias, hunted it +from the backs of elephants. The name of the animal means +man-eater, so-called because the beast carried off men and +women. Its size, also, and general description, and the manner +of hunting it all suggest the tiger as fearful Indians might +report it. To this day the Cambodians think the whiskers of +the tiger are a strong poison. The Malays call it a demon in +beast form and speak of its Village where the houses are raftered +with men’s bones and thatched with human hair.</p> + +<p>In heraldry the martikhora is called the montegre, manticora,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span> +or man-tyger, and is pictured with the body of a lion, the head +of an old man, the horns of an ox, and sometimes with dragon +feet.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Scythian Lamb</i></p> + +<p>To match the barnacle goose which came from a nut, the ages +of faith had the Scythian lamb which grew in a gourd. Maundeville +has the best account, for did he not make a meal of one? +The creature is found in “a kingdom that men call Caldilhe,” +one of “the Countries and Isles that be beyond the Land of +Cathay.” In this country “there groweth a manner of Fruit, as +though it were Gourds. And when they be ripe, men cut them +in two, and Men find within a little Beast in Flesh and Bone +and Blood, as though it were a little Lamb without Wool. And +men eat both the Fruit and the Beast. And that is a great +Marvel.”</p> + +<p>Friar Odoric makes a similar report. In other stories the +Scythian lamb is a true animal attached to the earth by its +umbilical cord. The Scythian lamb of botany is a woolly +fern (<i>Cibotium barometz</i>) with a prostrate stem turned upside +down. It is also called vegetable lamb and Tartarian lamb. +In his <i>Travels into Muscovy and Persia</i> (1636) the ambassador +from the Duke of Holstein describes it as a gourd like unto a +lamb in all its members and with the lamb’s sacrificial relation +to the wolf. It grows wild in the district of Samara, in Russia, +and its growing is a kind of destructive browsing. “It changes +places in growing, as far as the stalk will reach, and wherever it +turns the grass withers, which the Muscovites call feeding.” +When all available grass fails, it dies. The rind of the gourd +is covered with a sort of hair, which makes a good substitute +for fur. The natives showed the traveler certain skins, covered +with a soft frizzled wool “not unlike that of a lamb newly +weaned”—vegetable lamb, they affirmed. Scaliger declares that +alone among animals the wolf feeds on this gourd and that +wolf traps are baited with it.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f9"> +<img src="images/fig9.jpg" alt="fruit"> +<p class="caption"><i>In Caldilhe There Groweth a Manner of Fruit, and Men Find Within a<br> +Little Beast as Though It Were a Lamb Without Wool</i></p> +</div> + +<p>Erasmus Darwin has these lines upon the Scythian lamb in +his <i>Botanic Garden</i>:</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span></p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Rooted in earth each cloven hoof descends,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And round and round her flexible neck she bends;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Crops the gray coral moss and hoary thyme;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or laps with rosy tongue the melting rime,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Eyes with mute tenderness her distant dam,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And seems to bleat, a Vegetable Lamb.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>So until 1915 stood the fable—seemingly just a tale of the +credulous Middle Age, rationalized by later science and gently +derided in still later rhyme. Then the scholarship of Berthold +Laufer, basing itself mainly upon Chinese texts, gave it long +backgrounds. The Scythian lamb has been in turn a mollusk, a +marine sheep, a bird, the cotton-plant, a strange half-human +creature and—this part is surmise—an allegory of the early +Christian Church, the Lamb of Revelation that “stood on the +mount Sion.”</p> + +<p>Unto this day fabrics are made of the undyed fleece of the +true Scythian lamb. Byssus silk is the name it bears in commerce, +and Taranto is the seat of its manufacture. The silk +is derived from the fibrous foot by which mollusks of the +species called the pinna, found in the waters about southern +Italy, attach themselves to rocks. The original Scythian lamb +was this mollusk and its umbilical cord was the byssus, or foot, +which anchored it. The genesis of the legend seems to be a +statement of Aristotle that these creatures have within them +a parasite, a small crab, nicknamed the “pinna-guard” which +in gathering its own food collects fishes also for its blind, stationary, +and helpless host. Without the pinna-guard, says +Aristotle, the mollusk soon dies; and he cites the latter to illustrate +his observation that in the sea “there are certain objects +concerning which one would be at loss to determine whether +they be animal or vegetable.” After Aristotle’s time, and in +the first centuries of the Christian era, byssus fabrics, which +may have been a by-product of pearl fisheries in the Persian +Gulf, appeared in the Mediterranean countries.</p> + +<p>Here, then, is an animal living within what passed for a +vegetable that was “rooted in earth,” and that produced a substance +later known as marine wool. But how did the Adriatic +mollusk and its tenant crab become a lamb-tenanted gourd, or +a veritable sheep attached to the soil by a fleshy stem, in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span> +plains of Asiatic Scythia? And how did this tiny partnership +of the sea floor become in turn a phœnix-like creature of the +air and the grisly Yedua, man-monster of Talmudic legend? +The process illustrates the part that travel tale, the carrying +of confused reports from place to place, has in creating myth. +Though the fable grew up in the Roman Orient and reached +China only through such reports, the superior historical sense +of the Chinese has made their annals the key to its meaning.</p> + +<p>The first Chinese record in point, not later than <span class="allsmcap">A. D.</span> 220, +speaks of a fine cloth in the Roman Orient “said by some to +originate from the down of a water sheep.” This may be inference +from the almost contemporary phrase of Alciphron, +the Greek sophist, who calls byssus textiles “woolen stuffs out +of the sea.” In the sixth century Procopius recites that each of +the five hereditary satraps of Armenia had from the Roman +emperor a golden-hued cloak made from “wool gathered out of +the sea.” In an account by the Arab Istakhri, written about +<span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 950, it is said that an animal runs out of the sea and rubs +itself against the rocks, “whereupon it deposes a kind of wool +of silken texture and golden color.” Robes of this, worn by +the Ommiad princes at Cordova, were valued at a thousand +gold pieces each.</p> + +<p>By etymological error and a device of ancient trade, the +mollusk, which had already become a water sheep, got itself +wings. Pinna, its name, is also the classic Latin word for +“feather,” an ambiguity which may have confused the Arabs; +and the filaments of the shellfish are rather like the plumage of +fowls. Byssus weaves were held at so high a price that they +were counterfeited in feather fabrics, and to promote their sale +the discovery of a wonderful bird was at length announced. +The Arab, Kazwini, calls it <i>abu baraquish</i> and pictures it as +like the stork; but “every hour its plumage glitters in another +color, red, yellow, green and blue.” The fabric from its plumage +is named “phœnix-feather gold” in a Chinese work of the +Mongol period. Skilled artisans, it is related, weave a soft +golden brocade from the neck feathers of the phœnix, which +in the spring drop to the foot of the mountains. These were +probably the feathered headskins of peacocks, which in China +are still made into jackets.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span></p> + +<p>When the <i>Annals</i> of the T’ang Dynasty (618-906) were compiled, +the water sheep had become a land animal of Syria, or +Fu-lin as that country was called. Here is the Chinese account: +“There are lambs engendered in the soil. The inhabitants wait +till they are going to sprout, then build enclosures around as +a preventive measure for wild beasts that might rush in from +outside and devour them. The umbilical cord of the lambs is +attached to the soil, and when forcibly cut off they will die. +The people, donning cuirasses and mounted on horseback, beat +drums to frighten them. The lambs shriek from fear and thus +their umbilical cord is ruptured. Thereupon they set out in +search of water and pasture.”</p> + +<p>It was part of the tradition of the marine sheep that it yielded +its fleece of its own accord, and this was carried over into the +later Chinese story that the Scythian or Syrian lamb must +itself rupture the umbilical cord, which others could not sever +without killing it. The appearance of men in armor to frighten +it to this end is elucidated by a passage from the thirteenth-century +Arab traveler, Abul Abbas. After the pinna comes +ashore and lets its wool escape, he records, it is pounced upon +by large crabs. In the Chinese story, these crabs have become +men on horseback and their shells are the cuirasses worn by the +horsemen.</p> + +<p>A debased version of the same story appears in the Mongol +period when a thirteenth-century Chinese traveler describes the +“sheep planted on hillocks” in the countries of the western sea. +The umbilical cord of a sheep is planted and watered. At the +time of the first thunder peals it begins to grow. When matured, +the creature is frightened by the sound of wooden instruments +and, breaking off the cord that attaches it to the ground, roams +about in search of herbage. This was the tale Odoric and +Maundeville heard; that the lamb was inclosed in a gourd may +have been their own invention, or the report of some early attempt +to relate it to the cotton pod, which about a generation +ago was conjectured to be the basis of the fable.</p> + +<p>“Creatures called Lords of the Field are regarded as beasts,” +says the Talmud. The same creature is also called the Man +of the Mountain. “It draws its food out of the soil by means +of the umbilical cord; if its navel be cut, it cannot live,” says<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span> +Simeon a thirteenth-century rabbi. In the detailed portrait by +Rabbi Meir the timid vegetable lamb undergoes a wolfish transformation: +“There is an animal styled Yedua, with the bones +of which witchcraft is practiced. It issues from the earth like +the stem of a plant, just as a gourd. In all respects the Yedua +has human form in face, body, hands, and feet. No creature +can approach within the tether of the stem, for it seizes and +kills all. As far as the stem stretches, it devours the herbage all +around. Whoever is intent on capturing this animal must not +approach it, but tear at the cord until it is ruptured, whereupon +the animal soon dies.”</p> + +<p>Laufer thinks that the Jewish legend is early Christian allegory +misunderstood; that the Man of the Mountain is “the +lamb that stood on the mount Sion,” a symbol of the Church +itself the followers of which are attached to the earth by sensual +pleasures; and that the mounted horsemen of the Chinese version, +who cause the lambs to break their connection with the +earth, may be the two hundred thousand horsemen of Revelation +that symbolize the Last Judgment.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Gold-guarding Ants</i></p> + +<p>Bits of turquoise, chips of obsidian arrow heads, and fragments +of prehistoric jewelry are found in the little heaps of +earth which ants bring up from underground on the sites of +vanished cities in New Mexico. On the Pajarito plateau ant-gold +is not unknown. Ant-gold is the theme of one of the +most circumstantial and puzzling stories told by ancient travelers. +Herodotus lays its scene somewhere near Cabul. The +Indians of that district send forth men in search of gold into a +sandy desert “where live great ants in size somewhat less than +dogs, but bigger than foxes.” A number of these were caught +by hunters and sent to the Persian king. The ants live underground +and, “like the Greek ants, which they very much resemble +in shape, throw up sand-heaps as they burrow.”</p> + +<p>There is gold in the sand, but the ants are formidable enemies +and fleet in pursuit. So the Indians harness a female camel +between two males, and the female is one that has lately dropped +a foal. The inroad is timed so that the caravans arrive when<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span> +the sun is hottest and the ants are hiding from the heat. +Herodotus continues:</p> + +<p>“The Indians fill their bags with the sand and ride away at +full 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 grow tired and begin to drag; +but the females recollect the young which they have left behind, +and never flag. Thus, say the Persians, the Indians get most of +their gold.”</p> + +<p>In substance the story is repeated in the letter which Prester +John sent to the Pope in the twelfth century. The “emmet +valley” also appears in the <i>Arabian Nights</i>. Megasthenes said +that the plain tenanted by the monster ants is three thousand +stadiæ in circumference and lies eastward in the mountains in +the kingdom of the Dardæ. In winter the ants dig holes and +pile the auriferous earth in heaps at the pit mouths. Pliny +declares the ants are of the color of cats and the size of Egyptian +wolves; that they work in winter and are despoiled in summer. +“The horns of the Indian ant,” he remarks, “fixed up in the +temple of Hercules at Erythræ were objects of great wonderment.” +Nearchus, admiral of Alexander, reports having seen +skins of these ants as large as leopard skins. Ctesias speaks in +his <i>Persica</i> of a horse-pismire which was fed by the magi and +became of such monstrous size that it took two pounds of meat +a day to victual it. As late as the sixteenth century there is a +story by Busbequius that the Shah of Persia sent one of the +Indian ants as a present to Sultan Soliman at Constantinople. +Maundeville transfers the whole scene to Taprobane (Ceylon) +and varies the incidents: Men do not enter ant-land but send +thither mares to which empty vessels are suspended. “It is +Pismire nature that they let nothing be empty among them, but +anon they fill it, and so they fill those Vessels with Gold.” When +the foals neigh in the distance their dams return to them with +a golden burden.</p> + +<p>What were these ants, and whence the fable?</p> + +<p>It will be noted that the griffins were cast in a similar rôle<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span> +in another Indian gold quest. It may be accepted that good-sized +animals, or the skins of animals, were seen in menageries, +museums, and temples, and identified with the ant custodians +of the Scythian metal. It has been suggested that these were +some other burrowing animal—the anteater, or the marmot; +but neither is fleet of foot. M. de Weltheim thought the Herodotoan +ant might be the corsac, a small Asiatic fox.</p> + +<p>Philology has a word to offer. The gold collected on the +plains of Little Tibet is popularly known as <i>pippilika</i>, or “ant +gold,” from the belief that ants bring it up, or bare the veins +which carry it. McCrindle asserts that the gold-diggers were +neither ants nor other animals, but “Tibetan miners, who, like +their descendants of the present day, preferred working their +mines in winter when the frozen ground stands well and is not +likely to trouble them by falling in.” Thus the raid and retreat +would be accomplished with the same expedition with which +any tribe would make a sudden foray on another tribe equipped +with equal ordnance and cavalry. Metaphor still speaks of the +miner as a mole or a human ant.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Questing Beast</i></p> + +<p>In <i>Le Morte d’Arthur</i>, Malory describes a singular animal +with an economy of phrase that whets curiosity. Arthur had +had a heavy dream of griffins and serpents that devoured his +land, and to put it out of his mind he went a-hunting. And he +followed a white hart until his horse fell dead under him and +his quarry was embushed. “He set him down by a fountain, +and there he fell in great thoughts. And as he sat him so, him +thought he heard a noise of hounds, to the sum of thirty. And +with that the king saw coming toward him the strangest beast +that ever he saw or heard of; so the beast went to the well and +drank, and the noise was in the beast’s belly like unto the +questyng of thirty couple hounds; but all the while the beast +drank there was no noise in the beast’s belly; and therewith the +beast departed with a great noise, whereof the king had great +marvel.”</p> + +<p>Followed a knight hight Pellinore, and sought to borrow the +king’s horse to pursue this animal, and the king would have +taken over his quest for a twelvemonth, but he would not. After<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span> +Pellinore’s death it is Palomides that rides across the pages +of romance, well in the rear of the questing beast.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Beasts of Revelation</i></p> + +<p>The beasts of Revelation were but symbols; yet they moved +like realities through the imagery of the Church, and, undergoing +a sea change, appeared alive in the distant Atlantic Islands +of Irish epic. St. John beheld the shapes of locusts like unto +horses prepared for battle; “and their faces were as the faces +of men, and they had hair as the hair of women, and they had +tails like unto scorpions.” He saw also a beast coming up out +of the earth; “and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake +as a dragon.” Above all, John saw the beast that came up out +of the sea, a leopard with the feet of a bear and the mouth of +a lion, and with the dragon’s authority; and the beast had seven +heads and ten horns, “and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” +The Whore of Babylon rode this beast—composite +of seven mountains and ten kings, the text explains—to world +power and to downfall; and rode on into literature, and an +unending controversy.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>American Contributions</i></p> + +<p>Animal elders are America’s main contribution to the collection +of fabulous beasts. The Indian believed that every +species had a giant ancestor like itself in form, but with supernatural +powers to protect it. Hunters who killed more animals +than they needed for food felt the vengeance of the elder beasts. +The latter gave a tribe its medicine, and themselves became +totems. They are sometimes represented as in human form +and living in stately lodges. The Pacific coast of South America +has also stories of a house-haunting ram, a repulsive tree-dweller, +a water-monster resembling a distended cowskin, and a +creature with the head of a heifer and the body of a sheep.</p> + +<p>According to members of the Forest Service, American lumberjacks +have their own mythology. Product of camp-fire chaff +and a whimsical humor, the creatures that people it are noted +here only because, both in name and in nature, they illustrate +the traditional instinct for composites that elsewhere has +wrought to more serious ends. They include the tote-road<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span> +shagamaw, with the head of a lion, the forepaws of a bear and +the hind legs of a moose; the splinter cat, which crushes hollow +trees in search of raccoons; the hugag, with buffalo body and +jointless legs, which sleeps leaning against a tree; the sausage-like +wapaloosie, which lives on fungi; the billdad, which kills +fish with its tail; the gumberoo, which explodes when it gets too +near a fire; the snoligoster, a spiked and legless crocodile, and +the lachrymose squonk. A common human figure in these tales +is the grotesque giant, Paul Bunyan.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Prodigies of Heraldry</i></p> + +<p>In the later totemism, which is called heraldry, the following +fabulous creatures with human, animal, or bird attributes, or +an admixture of all of these, were represented on crests and +coats of arms: allerion, chimera, cockatrice, dragon, griffin, +harpy, hydra, lyon-dragon, lyon-poisson, mermaid, montygre, +martlet, opinicus, pegasus, sphinx, sagittary, satyr, tarask, +tityrus, unicorn, wyvern, winged lyon, winged bull.</p> + +<p>Several of these are noted elsewhere in this study, and a word +will serve for the rest. The allerion is an eagle without beak +or claws. The chimera, says Bossewell, is “a beast or monstre +having thre heades, one like a Lyon, an other like a Goate, the +third like a Dragon.” The hydra is a seven- or nine-headed +water serpent. The lyon-dragon is a composite of a lion and a +dragon, and the lyon-poisson of a lion and a fish. The martlet +is a swallow without feet. The opinicus is a composite of +camel, dragon, and lion. The pegasus is a winged horse. The +sphinx is a figure with a woman’s head and breasts, a lion’s +body, and usually eagle’s wings. The sagittary is the centaur of +antiquity with the head, arms, and body of a man from the +waist up, united to the body and legs of a horse. The heraldic +satyr has a human face, a leonine body, and the horns and tail +of an antelope. The tarask is a dragon-basilisk on the shield of +Tarascon. “The tityrus is ingendred between a sheep and a +buck-goat,” says Guillim. The wyvern is a serpentine dragon +with a long tail and only two legs. The winged lyon is an +achievement of Venice, the winged bull a memory of Assyria.</p> + +<p>Other heraldic creatures, not so well authenticated, are mentioned +by Randle Holme in his <i>Academy of Armory</i>. These<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span> +include the ass-bittern, the cat-fish, the devil-fish, the dragon-tyger, +the dragon-wolf, the falcon-fish with a hound’s ear, the +friar-fish, the lamya, compounded of a woman, a dragon, a lion, +a goat, a dog, and a horse; the lyon-wyvern, the minocane or +homocane, half child and half spaniel dog; the ram-eagle, the +winged satyr-fish, and the wonderful pig of the ocean.</p> + +<p>The menagerie of blazonry has been enlarged by representing +nearly all of the animals at times with fish-tails, when they are +said to be marined. The zodiacal sign of the capricorn, shown +as half goat and half fish, is a familiar example. Sometimes +the sea-horse is drawn as an enlarged hippocampus, sometimes +with the forequarters of a horse and a fish tail. Griffins and +unicorns are marined in German heraldry.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c6">Chapter VI. Fable upon Wings</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">For</span> the most part the winged creatures of fable are exiles +from mythologies broken down or forgotten. They are imperfect +and confused embodiments of the phenomena of the +heavens. In them one sees, what the men who repeated stories +about them did not see, the diurnal journeys of the sun into the +west, the shadowing storm-cloud, the lightning flash, the fury +of evil winds, the hail, and the snow. But the poetry of the +air, of which these creatures are the flying shreds, is weighted +with terrestrial prose. Extinct birds of colossal size, prehistoric +winged reptiles, and the bones of fossil mammals are reflected +in the shapes of cloudland. Few of the creatures that hover +there can be called fowls at all; their wings carry bodies that +belong upon the earth. Thus Pliny, in one of the most flagrant +of his carelessly credulous passages, makes the casual statement +that Ethiopia produces “horses with wings, and armed with +horns, which are called pegasi.” Because of its human affinities +the dragon must be considered by itself.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Phœnix</i></p> + +<p>Of the phœnix, a true fowl of legend and its most renowned, +Maundeville has a vivacious picture. This bird, he says, “is +not much more big than an Eagle, but he hath a Crest of Feathers +upon his Head more great than the Peacock hath; and his Neck +is yellow after the Colour of an Oriel that is a fine shining Stone; +and his Beak is coloured blue as Azure; and his wings be of +purple Colour, and the Tail is yellow and red, cast in streaks +across his Tail. And he is a full fair Bird to look upon, against +the Sun, for he shineth full gloriously and nobly.”</p> + +<p>Other men were not so sure about the phœnix. Herodotus +said he had never seen it and Pliny declared he was “not quite +certain that its existence is not all a fable.” Herodotus, however, +had seen its picture, and the Maundeville account is copied +from him.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span></p> + +<p>The bird was Arabian, its legend Egyptian. It was said that +there was only one phœnix in the world, and that it appeared at +very long intervals. The Roman Senator, Manlius, wrote that +no person had seen it eat since its food was air, that in Arabia +it was sacred to the sun, and that its lifetime was five hundred +and forty years. When stricken with age it built a nest of cassia +and sprigs of frankincense and lay down to die; from its bones +and marrow issued a worm which in time changed into a small +bird. The first duty of the new bird was to perform the obsequies +of its predecessor, and carry the nest containing its myrrh-swathed +remains to the City of the Sun in Egypt, placing it +upon the altar of that divinity.</p> + +<p>According to the more familiar account, when the phœnix is +full of years it flies to Heliopolis, sings its own dirge there, +flaps its wings to fan the funeral pyre, and presently is utterly +consumed; the next day emerges the new bird, fully feathered; +and on the third day, its wings well grown, it salutes the priest +and returns to the East. Still another account has it that in its +old age the bird casts itself on the ground, receiving a mortal +wound, and the new bird issues from the ichor.</p> + +<p>In the censorship of the Emperor Claudius what purported +to be a phœnix was brought to Rome and exhibited in the +Comitium, but it was adjudged an imposture. Plutarch ventures +the daring statement that “the brain of the phœnix is a pleasant +bit, but that it causeth the headache.” He may have meant the +golden pheasant, or even wine from cocoanuts, but it is said that +Heliogabalus made a fruitless attempt to secure this unique +tidbit for his table.</p> + +<p>Popular art reflects the phœnix legend, metaphor still more. +It is the favorite symbol of self-regeneration. The burned city, +the ruined country or cause, “rises like the phœnix from its +own ashes.” Jesus, whose death coincided with one of the +reported flights of the fowl to Egypt, was called the Phœnix by +monastic writers, and St. Clement of Alexandria cites the fowl as +proof that the dead will rise again. Its effigy was taken over +from the pagan urn by the Christian sarcophagus. Browne, +however, thought that the notion of a solitary phœnix was repugnant +to Scripture, “because it infringeth the benediction of +God concerning multiplication.” At one time its image hung<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span> +before chemists’ shops because of its association with alchemy. +Sometimes the Arabs confused it with the salamander and pictured +the latter as a bird.</p> + +<p>The relation of the phœnix to astronomical reckoning gives +a clue to the legend. It reappeared, according to some authors, +at intervals of 250, 500, 654, 1,000, 1,461 or even of 7,006 +years, but the accepted Phœnix Period or Cycle was 540 years, +and Egypt reports having seen the fowl five times, the first in +the reign of Sesostris, and the last time in <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 334. This relates +the appearances of the phœnix to the Great Year, which Hardouin +says is 532 years.</p> + +<p>It was an ancient belief that the same aspect of heaven and +order of the stars that had prevailed when the world began +recurred every 532 years, and that at one of these periods, with +all the planets in conjunction or all the stars returned to the +same point in the ecliptic, the world would be destroyed; or +else that it would perish and revive again to go through the +same sequence of celestial phenomena. The phœnix, self-regenerating, +sun-dedicated, westward-winging, arrayed in the gold +and purple of dawn and twilight, seems to be an obscure form +of the sun myth; and this inference is strengthened by the fact +that at Heliopolis a bird called the bennu was a symbol of the +Egyptians for the rising sun. It was a heron which “created +itself” and rose in a “fragrant flame” over a sacred tree. Bennu +in Egyptian and phœnix in Greek are the same word, and +signify the palm tree.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Fung-wang</i></p> + +<p>There was a Chinese phœnix called the fung-wang which at +long intervals and only in the reigns of upright monarchs +emerged from the deserts. Six feet high, with plumage reflecting +the five colors that the Chinese recognized—red, white, +yellow, azure, and black—it was something like an immense +bird of paradise. It was called the chief of the three hundred +and sixty kinds of birds, and classed with the dragon and the +unicorn as a spiritual creature. On its poll appeared the +Chinese character for uprightness, on its back that for humanity, +while its wings enfolded the character for integrity. Its low +notes were bell tones, and its high like those of a drum. When<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span> +you play the flute, in nine cases out of ten the fung-wang comes +to hear, says the <i>Shu King</i>. It frequented only groves and +gardens and would not peck living grass. The <i>Bamboo Books</i> +record its visits as far back as 2647 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> The emperor in +whose reign it first showed itself recast his cabinet so that officers +bore the names of birds, and the Minister of the Calendar +was called the Phœnix. “Another example of an interesting and +beautiful species of bird which has become extinct within +historic times,” rashly concludes Gould.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Flying Serpents of Araby</i></p> + +<p>Another winged creature besides the phœnix sought to go out +of Arabia into Egypt, but its passage was opposed. This was +the flying serpent. Herodotus says he went to “a certain place +in Arabia” to ask about it. He saw the backbones and ribs of +these reptiles in inconceivable number, piled in a gorge, and +learned why they got no further. They are met in this place +by “the birds called ibises, who forbid their entrance and +destroy them all.” Hence the Egyptians hold the ibis in +reverence.</p> + +<p>Josephus uses the incident as basis of a story about Moses +that is not in the Pentateuch. The Ethiopians had successfully +invaded the land of Egypt, and an oracle advised the defenders +to choose for their general Moses the Hebrew. His choice +pleased the scribes of both nations—the Egyptian because they +apprehended that Moses would be slain, and the Jewish because +they expected that he would be the instrument of their deliverance. +The line of march lay through the country of winged +serpents, powerful and mischievous creatures that came out of +the ground unseen or fell upon men from the air. But Moses +“made baskets like unto arks of sedges, and filled them with +ibes, and carried them along with him, which animals are the +greatest enemies to serpents imaginable, for these fly from them +when they come near them, and as they fly they are caught and +devoured.” So Moses passed on unscathed, and into the heart +of an Ethiopian princess through whose aid her father’s forces +were routed.</p> + +<p>After centuries of discussion the sacred ibis of the Egyptians +was finally identified by the traveler Bruce with the bird the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span> +Abyssinians call Father John; but the winged serpents have not +been satisfactorily explained. It has been suggested that what +Herodotus saw in the Arabian gorge was the remains of a locust +invasion—a difficult surmise, although Pliny reports that the +legs and wings of grasshoppers three feet long were dried in +the sun and used by the Indians for saws.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Roc</i></p> + +<p>The case for the roc—a creature unknown to either Greek or +Roman legend—rests mainly upon three beguiling names of +travel tale. These are Aladdin and Sindbad of the <i>Arabian +Nights</i>, and Marco Polo of the <i>Diversities</i>. By the magic of +his lamp Aladdin, the wayward gamin of a Chinese city, had +won a princess and a palace; and he had poisoned the African +magician who sought to use him as a tool and then to take the +lamp from him. Bent on vengeance, the magician’s brother +stabbed a holy woman with the very un-Chinese name of Fatima, +disguised himself in her habiliments and won entrance +into the palace of Aladdin and into the confidence of his princess. +The latter asked the false Fatima what she thought of her +residence, and this was the reply.</p> + +<p>“My opinion is that if a roc’s egg were hung up in the middle +of the dome, this hall would have no parallel in the four quarters +of the world, and your palace would be the wonder of the +universe.”</p> + +<p>“My good mother,” said the princess, “what is a roc, and +where may one get an egg?”</p> + +<p>“Princess,” replied the pretended Fatima, “it is a bird of +prodigious size, which inhabits the summit of Mount Caucasus; +the architect who built your palace can get you one.”</p> + +<p>The princess consulted Aladdin, and, retiring to his apartment, +he rubbed the lamp; when a genie appeared, he bade +him procure the roc’s egg. Whereupon the hall shook as if +about to fall, and the genie exclaimed in a loud and terrible +voice, “Is it not enough that I and the other slaves of the lamp +have done everything for you, but you, by an unheard-of ingratitude, +must command me to bring my master and hang him +up in the midst of this dome? The attempt deserves that you, +the princess, and the palace should be immediately reduced<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span> +to ashes; but you are spared because this request does not come +from yourself.” Then he told of the presence of a conspirator +in the household. Aladdin’s killing of the latter is the final +episode of the tale, the fortunate adventurer and his spouse +soon mounting the throne of China.</p> + +<p>Sindbad encountered the parent bird on his second voyage, +after he had been abandoned on an island; and first he saw +its egg. He mistook the egg for a white dome of prodigious +height and extent and found it fifty paces around and too smooth +to climb to the top. All of a sudden the sky became dark as by +a thick cloud and a huge bird came flying toward him. It +alighted on the egg, and Sindbad, creeping close to the shell, +tied himself by his turban to one of its legs, which was as big +as the trunk of a tree. The next morning he hoped the roc +would carry him away. Nor was his hope disappointed, and +after an immense journey in the air—quite from Madagascar to +India—the bird alighted in the Valley of Diamonds. There +Sindbad disengaged himself, only to fall into other adventures.</p> + +<p>Marco Polo was the first veracious traveler to bring to the +west a report of the roc, and he was careful to state that he +did not see the bird; he only heard of it. The roc, he said, +comes to Madagascar from the south. It resembles the eagle, +but is so much larger that it can carry away an elephant. “Persons +who have seen the bird,” he continues, “assert that when +the wings are spread they measure sixteen paces [forty feet] +from point to point, and that the feathers are eight paces [twenty +feet] long and thick in proportion.” Messer Marco guessed +that these creatures might be griffins, half birds and half lions, +and particularly questioned those who claimed to have seen +them. No, was the reply, they were fowls altogether. Kublai +Khan sent messengers to Madagascar to confirm the story. They +brought back, as Marco heard, “a feather of the roc positively +affirmed to have measured ninety spans, and the quill part to +have been two palms in circumference.” The delighted khan +sent valuable gifts.</p> + +<p>Two centuries afterward the roc reappears in the narrative +of Father Joano dos Santos, a Portuguese Dominican friar +traveling in eastern Ethiopia. He tells of a fellow Portuguese +faring inland in Madagascar to purchase ivory, and leading a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span> +large monkey on a chain. This he fastened to the trunk of a +tree and lay down to rest; a monstrous bird snatched up both the +monkey and the tree and flew away. The Shoshones have a +story of an owl which carries men away to its island larder. +Mewan legend speaks of the cannibal bird Yel-lo-kin with wings +like pine trees which snatched children by the top of the head +and bore them through the hole in the middle of the sky to its +nest on the other side.</p> + +<p>While the roc belongs to nature myth, matter-of-fact has a +word to say. The extinct dodo is recalled, which, however, +could not fly. The feather brought to Kublai, and the monstrous +stump of a roc’s quill which it is said was brought to Spain by +a merchant from the China seas, may have been taken from a +species of palm growing in Madagascar which has quill-like +fronds. Southern Madagascar is frequented by very large +birds—the albatross with a wing-spread of fifteen feet, and the +condor, which may measure more than ten from tip to tip.</p> + +<p>Everybody in the east believed that the roc, or more correctly +the rukh, really existed. When the utmost depths of Arabic +credulity are sounded, one reaches the probable basis of a +legend into the superstructure of which exaggerated details of +natural history have been built. One Arab writer says the +length of the roc’s wings is ten thousand fathoms, or nearly +twelve miles, and these dimensions would make a fair-sized +storm cloud. A Chinese tale describes the bird as a fowl which +in its flight obscures the sun, and of whose quills “water-tuns” +are made. One of the riders of the roc in another tale from the +<i>Thousand and One Nights</i> is admonished to stop his ears from +the wind, “lest thou be dazed by the noise of the revolving +sphere and the roaring of the seas.” It is shrewdly surmised +that the roc is the storm cloud and the egg it covers is the sun—true +master of the slaves of Aladdin’s lamp.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Rhinoceros of the Air</i></p> + +<p>Another monstrous fowl, the rhinoceros of the air, was +reported in mediæval travel and still commands the faith of the +Samoyeds. Purchas abstracts the description given by Andrea +Corsali in his Abyssinian travels. The bird is much bigger than +an eagle and has a bow-fashioned bill or beak four feet long,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span> +with a horn between the eyes streaked with black. “It is a cruel +fowle and attends on battels and campes.” The Siberian myth +gives this winged rhinoceros gigantic dimensions. The tusks +and bones of the great pachyderms, found in the tundras, are +thought by native hunters to be the beaks and talons of monster +birds. The nearest approach of fact to the Abyssinian prodigy +is perhaps the horned screamer, or unicorn bird, whose cries +“resembling the bray of a jackass, but shriller,” unpleasantly +disturbed for the naturalist Bates the solitude of the Brazilian +forest.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Harpies</i></p> + +<p>Those forbidding sister groups, the gorgons, the sirens, and +the harpies, are perhaps different aspects of the storm clouds +and the storm wind—the baleful lightning, the shrieking sea +gales, the violent gusts that snatch (<i>harpazo</i>) away soul and +body. Of the three, the gorgons and sirens will be left within +the domain of nature myths. The harpies may be migrants +from the religions of Egypt, in which Nekhbet, the vulture-goddess, +is sometimes represented as a woman with a vulture’s head, +and the soul is depicted as a human-headed bird fluttering from +the mouths of the dying. Yet they have that savor of the soil, +that touch of the grotesque, that suggestion of coarse reality that +belong rather to travel tale. Though with woman faces, their +attributes are animal.</p> + +<p>Hesiod describes them as maidens, winged and golden-haired, +who harassed the blind King Phineus at his banquets. The myth +is retold in grosser form in the story of the Argonauts, whence +these sisters, driven away by the comrades of Jason, make their +flight to the Æneid and find roost in an isle where the Trojans +cast anchor. The picture Virgil drew of them superseded the +more flattering accounts of poets before him, and the immense +vogue of this poet in later ages led the romancers of the Charlemagne +cycle to adopt his report without abatement.</p> + +<p>The harpies of Virgil are, as the poet Morris pictures them, +“dreadful snatchers,” like women down to the breast, with +scanty, coarse black hair, dim eyes ringed with red, bestial +mouths, gnarled necks, and birds’ claws. Their faces are pale +with hunger. When the Trojans slay the island cattle and prepare<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span> +meat for a feast, the birds swoop down with a horrible +clamor, seize part of the meat, and defile the rest. Nimbly they +dodge the Trojan swords, and their feathers are like steel mail. +From a cliff they reproach the visitors for slaying their cattle +and warring upon them, and as Æneas departs they shriek direful +predictions after him.</p> + +<p>In the legends of Charlemagne the bird-sisters reappear when +Astolpho, cousin of Orlando, reaches Abyssinia riding the hippogrif. +Here is another blind king, like Phineus, “prey to a +flock of obscene birds called harpies, which attacked him whenever +he sat at meat, and with their claws snatched, tore, and scattered +everything, overturning the vessels, devouring the food, +and infecting what they left with their filthy touch.” They are +put to flight with one blast of Astolpho’s horn and driven by him +and his hippogrif into a cavern, the entrance of which he blocked +up so that they are seen no more.</p> + +<p>That is, so far as the romancer of that time knew. They +reappeared in the New World on the Isthmus of Darien, where +Balboa was pursuing, amid the fens of a haunted land, the adventure +of the mines of Dobayba and the elusive golden temple. +The Indians told him there had been a horrible tempest, and +when they ventured forth again they found that two monstrous +creatures had come in with the storm. They were apparently a +mother and her daughter. They had woman faces and eagle +claws and wings; the branches of the trees where they perched +broke with their weight. Swooping down, they would seize a +man and carry him away to the hilltops to devour him. At last +the natives killed the older bird by a stratagem, and, suspending +her body from their spears, bore it from town to town to appease +the alarm of their people. The younger harpy disappeared.</p> + +<p>Natural history has given the name of harpy to a buzzard, an +eagle, a fly, and two species of bats. Neither of the last named, +however, is the vampire bat of which Bates has left a portentous +portrait. Its spread of wing is nearly two and a half feet. +“Nothing in animal physiognomy can be more hideous than the +countenance of this creature when viewed from the front; the +large, leathery ears standing out from the sides and top of the +head, the erect, spear-shaped appendage on the top of the nose, +the grin and the glistening black eye, all combining to make up<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span> +a figure that reminds one of some mocking imp of fable.” It +seems to be fact that villages in Central America have been +abandoned because of the nocturnal attacks of this animal. +Dampier professes to have seen on an island near Sebo bats +“with bodies as big as ducks and with a wing spread of eight +feet.” The custom of nailing up dead bats as witch-or-devil +forms is common. “An animal,” says Buffon, “which, like the +bat, is half quadruped and half bird, and which, in fact, is +neither the one nor the other, is a kind of monster.” He suggests +that “the wings, the teeth, the claws, the voracity; the nastiness, +and all the destructive qualities and noxious faculties of +the harpies bear no small resemblance to those of the Ternat +bat.”</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Stymphalian Birds</i></p> + +<p>The Stymphalian birds, according to Greek legend, frequented +a lake in the northeast of Arcadia, which lay on the +main route from Argolis and Corinth westward. To disperse +or destroy them was the sixth labor of Hercules. These birds +were anthropophagous, used their feathers as arrows, and were +equipped with brazen claws, wings, and feet. Diodorus has a +milder account in which they figure merely as voracious poachers +of the fruits of the neighborhood. With a brazen pan the +hero made such an uproar that they flew away, appearing again, +in the story of the Argonauts, as tenants of the island of Aretias.</p> + +<p>Pausanias visited the township of Stymphalus in his tour of +Greece. He describes a temple to Artemis Stymphalia standing +there, and the figures of the birds Stymphalides under its roof; +behind the temple were marble statues of young women with the +legs of fowls. The birds, he says, are as large as cranes, but +resemble the ibis save that they have stronger beaks and less +curved; so, indeed, they are represented on coins of Stymphalus. +Herodotus rationalizes the legend by intimating that their feathery +arrows were, in truth, hail or snow.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Cockatrice</i></p> + +<p>“The weaned child,” said Isaiah, prophesying the good time +coming, “shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.” The cockatrice +was a monster with the head and plumage of a cock and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span> +a barbed serpent’s tail, and so it is represented in heraldry. The +word is an old French corruption of the Latin for crocodile, but +popular etymology attributed the name to the fact that the prodigy +was hatched from an aged cock’s egg by a serpent. Because +of the crest crowning its head it is also called a basilisk, from +the Greek <i>basilikos</i>, or “little king.”</p> + +<p>Its habitat was Africa. It was horrid to look upon and its +glance and breath were alike fatal, while its voice struck terror +to other serpents. Its own image, reflected in a mirror, would +kill it. The basilisk of Cyrene, Pliny said, was not more than +twelve fingers in length, but it destroyed all shrubs save the rue, +and consumed grasses and shattered stones merely by breathing +upon them. “He infecteth the water that he cometh neare,” +according to Leigh. It was believed that if a horseman killed +a basilisk with a spear-thrust, its poison would ascend the +weapon and destroy not only the rider, but his mount. Even +its dead body hung in a temple kept swallows from building and +spiders from spinning there. However, if a man saw the basilisk +first, he went scatheless and the creature itself might die, +while women could seize it without suffering harm. The effluvium +of the weasel and the crow of the cock were alike fatal to +it. Travelers passing near its haunts sometimes took a cock +along.</p> + +<p>While its deadly nature has persisted, the shape of the cockatrice +has changed. To the ancients it was merely a baleful +lizard. Its confusion in the Middle Ages with the cock gave it +feathers and a beak. As soon as hatched by a toad or snake +from a cock’s egg laid in a stable it hid itself in crevice, cistern, +or rafter, for to be seen was to die. Later the heralds and painters +represented it with the head of a hawk, sometimes even with +the head of a man. Its ashes would turn base metals into gold. +People thought that cock’s eggs were used in the devil’s chrism +whereby his anointed hags could assume beast form or ride the +clouds. In Browne’s time there was traffic in counterfeited cockatrices +made by joining the dead bodies of pheasants and serpents, +or out of the skins of thornbacks. The basilisk of natural +history, which may have been the original of the fable, is a +harmless creature, although of frightful aspect.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c7">Chapter VII. The Dragon</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">The</span> dragon of pagan and early Christian legend was a +winged crocodile with a serpent’s tail. As the word is used by +travelers, often a crocodile or a snake rather than a fabulous +composite animal is intended. There are three animals listed +in natural history which somewhat resemble this creature. The +dragon-fly is a frightful-looking but entirely harmless insect; +how the supersession of myth by science has shifted values is +illustrated by the fact that the ninth edition of the <i>Encyclopædia +Britannica</i> gives nearly four pages to the insect and only a +dozen lines to the fabulous monster, the destruction of which in +another age was the crowning exploit of gods and men. There +is also a small flying lizard, native to the East Indies, which is +called a dragon and which in miniature is a fair copy of fable. +The primeval world knew a veritable dragon in the pterodactyl, +a flying lizard with a wing span of seventeen feet.</p> + +<p>In the Far East the dragon was a four-legged serpent with +rugged head and spiked ears, and, though without wings, it flew. +There was more of the crocodile in the dragon of the Near East. +It had four short paws, a forked tongue, and bat wings, and fire +came from its mouth. The dragon of heraldry had a squat, +scaly body, a head with horny projections, long clawed legs, a +barbed tongue, and bat wings.</p> + +<p>There were four noteworthy things about the dragon. It was +watchful, it spat fire and smoke, it ejected poison, and it had +control of water. The dragon watched the golden apples in the +garden of Hesperides where Hercules found and slew it. It +guarded the Valkyrie Brynhild in a castle on the Glistening +Heath. Although ecclesiastics of the Middle Ages used the +word to symbolize sin and particularly pagan worship, yet until +very recent times the world accepted the dragon. The elder +naturalists, such as Gesner and Aldrovandi, picture it in their +works. A mediæval writer says that at the midsummer celebration<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span> +lads burned bones and filth to generate a noxious smoke, +and so to drive away dragons, which, excited by the summer +heat, copulated in midair, poisoning the wells and springs by +dropping their seed in them.</p> + +<p>For what it is worth there is documentary evidence of dragons +in the Alps, all of it attested by oath. The depositions were +gathered early in the eighteenth century by Prof. Johann Jacob +Scheuchzer and are thus summarized in Francis Gribble’s <i>Early +Mountaineers</i>: “There are dragons with and without wings, +with and without legs, with and without crests; dragons with cat +faces, with human faces, and with nondescript faces; dragons +that breathe fire and dragons that do not breathe fire.”</p> + +<p>Scheuchzer was impelled to this inquiry when he found there +were graven images of dragons on Swiss public buildings and a +“dragon-stone” in a Lucerne museum. The latter item he says +is a jewel cut out of a dragon’s head in its sleep. If the monster +awakes before the operation is complete, it will die and the +stone will vanish. To forestall awakening, drowsy herbs are +scattered about, and sometimes incantations are muttered. The +dragon-stone is a remedy against plague, poison, dysentery, and +nosebleed. Scheuchzer concludes that the Lucerne dragon-stone +is no imposture because it does effect cures, because the Alps +afford many caves for dragon haunts and because of the testimony +of eye-witnesses as above.</p> + +<p>In June, 1673, Joliet and Marquette saw two dragon forms +carved and painted along a bluff that overlooks the Mississippi +at Alton, Illinois. Says Père Marquette: “As we +coasted along rocks, frightful for their height and length, we +saw two monsters painted on one of these rocks, which startled +us at first, and on which the boldest Indian dare not gaze long. +They are as large as a calf, with horns on the head like a deer, +a fearful look, red eyes, bearded like a tiger, the face somewhat +like a man’s, the body covered with scales, and the tail so +long that it twice makes a turn of the body, passing over the +head and down between the legs, and ending at last in a fish’s +tail. Green, red, and a kind of black are the colors employed.”</p> + +<p>These outlines, which have been called the highest attainment +of early Indian pictorial art, and which Marquette said the best +painters of France could scarcely equal, became known as the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span> +Piasa petroglyph. Quarrymen destroyed them shortly before +the Civil War, but drawings were made of them by artists who +followed descriptions. One surmise is that they represented the +Algonquin thunder bird.</p> + +<p>A copious and curious literature treats of the dragon as a +veritable creature of natural history. According to Ælian, +although the Ethiopians call it the slayer of elephants, it conceals +itself when it hears the noise of the eagle’s wings. When +it lies in wait for man or beast, it consumes deadly roots and +herbs. At Lanuvium naked virgins paid it the annual tribute +of a barley cake to insure a fruitful year. Passing the cave of +a sacred Indian dragon, the army of Alexander was affrighted +by hissing and blowing and the apparition of a head with eyes +“of the size of a Macedonian shield.” Artemidorus adds the +detail that the Indian and African dragons have grass growing +on their backs. “You burst asunder vast bulls” is Lucan’s apostrophe. +Ignatius reports that the library of Constantinople had +the intestine of a dragon 120 feet long on which the Iliad and +Odyssey were inscribed.</p> + +<p>Chinese reports are very detailed. In the great Materia +Medica of the early seventeenth century it is said that the dragon +has nine resemblances—its head like a camel’s, its horns like a +deer’s, its eyes like a hare’s, its ears like a bull’s, its neck like +a snake’s, its belly like an iguanodon’s, its scales like a carp’s, +its claws like an eagle’s and its paws like a tiger’s. It is whiskered +and its voice resembles the beating of a gong. The +dragon, however, cannot hear itself, for it is deaf. It is fond +of gems and jade and excessively fond of swallow’s flesh; but +it dreads iron, beeswax, the mong plant, the centipede, the leaves +of the Pride of India, and silk dyed in the five colors. It passes +the winter in muddy water contemned by the fish and turtle, and +in summer the moles, crickets, and ants annoy it. At five hundred +years it grows horns. “If you do not ride on a dragon,” +says one writer, “you cannot reach the weak waters of Kwan-lun +hill.” Another suggests that if you eat dragon’s flesh soaked +in acid “you can write essays.”</p> + +<p>It was a belief among Chinese that dragons did not die, but +merely sloughed off their bones as a snake its skin. These were +used to cure a variety of diseases and are still sold in apothecaries’<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span> +shops. The records speak of a bone-covered dragon +plain east of the hills of Fang-chang, and of isles where the +dragons shed their bodies; “teeth, horns, spines, feet, it seems +as though they are everywhere.” The identification is perhaps +with those deposits of dinosaur and other paleontological +remains which modern exploration has uncovered.</p> + +<p>The naturalistic side of Chinese dragon lore is not far +removed from the position taken by Charles Gould, the stoutest +defender of the literal basis of wonder stories (<i>Mythical Monsters</i>, +1886). He finds nothing impossible in the dragon of tradition +and thinks it more likely that it once lived than that fancy +engendered it: “It was a long, terrestrial lizard, hibernating and +carnivorous, which dragged its ponderous coils and perhaps +flew; which devastated herds and on occasions swallowed their +shepherd; which, establishing its lair in some cavern overlooking +the fertile plain, spread terror and destruction around, and, +protected from assault by dread or superstitious feeling, may +even have been subsidized by the terror-stricken peasantry, who, +failing the power to destroy it, may have preferred tethered +offerings of cattle adjacent to its cavern, to having it come down +to seek supplies.”</p> + +<p>But the dragon reached a place in the political and spiritual +life of China such as a mere saurian hardly could attain. The +empire was called “the dragon empire”; the imperial throne, +“the dragon throne”; the emperor’s countenance, “the dragon’s +face”; his beard, “the dragon’s beard.” In pictured effigy, the +dragon rears itself upon house fronts and draws its scaly folds +over garments and utensils as well as across the imperial +flag; and there are annual processions of dragon images, regattas +of dragon boats, and sacrificial ceremonies in dragon temples. +To a third of mankind, for five thousand years or more, the +dragon has been the bestower of rain and the great giver of +good, and the emperor its earthly representative.</p> + +<p>As in other matters, China has merely preserved and exaggerated +beliefs which were world-wide. Nearly all of the +thrones of earth were once dragon thrones. On the shield of +Agamemnon, king of kings, was “the unspeakable horror of a +dragon glancing backward.” Persians, Parthians and Scythians +had dragon flags and Rome borrowed them for its cohorts. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span> +dragon flew on the battle standards of German, Celt, and Saxon, +and breasted the foam of the seas as the figurehead of Norse +longboats. In the older Europe, as in the China of to-day, it +was carved on house gables, bells, musical instruments, goblets, +weapons, chairs, and tables.</p> + +<p>Under these world-wide customs, was there only a giant reptile +not long extinct, an inference from fossil remains, some +frightful-seeming but diminutive lizard contemporary with man +and magnified a thousand times by the aberrations of fancy? +All of these things there may have been, for the myth is so complex +that its development has been called the history of civilization. +But inevitably speculation had to rise higher than a +saurian to account for phenomena of such consequence; it was +conceived that the dragon was the storm-cloud and he who slew +it the sun. So, it may be, ingenious minds surmised thousands +of years before modern conjecture first spoke of solar myths +and found in forgotten texts not the heart of the thing, but allegories +in which ancient solar mythologists had wrapped it. Or, +it was guessed, the dragon typified the spirit of evil, a power to +be placated by sacrifice and politic devil-worship, but destroyed +as opportunity offered. So the world long thought, and so far +as it thinks at all of the dragon, that is what it thinks now.</p> + +<p>To assume that the myth is an allegory of satanic forces is to +explain much, but does it explain all? Powerful as is the motive +of fear, it is negative. Was it potent enough to coil a +dragon at the roots of all the world’s religions; and when these +arose, were men able to speculate on so abstract a thing as evil +and symbolize it as a composite beast? The Bible narrative +begins with the dragon of Genesis in the Garden of Eden and +ends with the dragon of Revelation, “that old serpent which is +the Devil and Satan,” in the bottomless pit. The slaying of the +dragon is the central point of Norse and Saxon epic, the great +deed of the heroes. The water monster of Navaho legend is a +dragon; the elephant-headed thunder god of the Mayan inscriptions +is a dragon deity; the legendary founders of both Athens +and Mexico were dragon-tailed. Snake worship is dragon worship +and, like the Midgard serpent, it encircles the earth. Everywhere +the myth is a thing of thrones and temples.</p> + +<p>Perhaps its secret is to be found, as later in this study it will<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span> +be seen that the secret of the Amazon myth is to be found, in +the time when thrones and temples were one. Clues that lead +to it are: (1) the world has still a dragon throne, or rather a +recent memory of one; (2) always in the lore of dragon or +serpent, whether as victim, votary, or mate, appears the figure +of a daughter of Eve; (3) the snake is the badge of Æsculapius +and the symbol of healing; (4) the dragon, whether haunting +cloud or pool, is associated with water.</p> + +<p>Woman is the physical source of human life. Water is healing, +fertilizing, and regenerating. Use the Scriptural figure, +“the water of life,” and it relates itself to woman and to the +serpent symbol of the art that lengthens life. When the throne +and temple were one, the creation and continuation of life was +the function of the priest-king, though only in China has his +tradition come down to the modern time. The Chinese emperor +was himself the dragon. In the spring festivals of his people +he supplicated heaven for rains that would revive the land, and +in the autumn festivals he rendered thanks for nature’s bounty +or took upon himself the blame for dearth.</p> + +<p>The dragon myth is not a myth of fear, nor was the dragon +in the beginning a personification of evil. It was an expression +of the deepest desire of man, the desire to defeat chance +and change, to repeal “the sad laws of time” and to live forever. +Of all myths, that of the dragon is the fundamental, for +the forces with which it deals are the forces which have impelled +man, in a long grapple with destiny, to construct societies, build +religions, and create an art and a literature. In China both the +significance and the origin of the legend lie almost on the surface. +In most other places and at most other times its meaning +has been distorted, inverted, weighted down with fancies and +guesses. As it stands, it is like the fabric of a vision in which +tatters of experience are woven on the looms of sleep by the +master weavers of hope and fear; and in this faded grotesque +one may decipher the eternal dream of mankind.</p> + +<p>The theory which will be interpreted here is that of Grafton +Elliot Smith (<i>The Evolution of the Dragon</i>: 1919). It is too +sweeping in its implications and too revolutionary yet to have +received the general sanction of writers upon mythology; but +among all dragon theories it must take precedence because<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span> +alone it has the elemental breadth demanded by the phenomena +to be accounted for. A difficult thing about it is that the author +rejects the doctrine accepted of the time, that the same beliefs +and practices can arise independently in two or more places. +Unless there is in any case definite evidence to the contrary, he +assumes that “no ethnologically significant innovation in customs +or beliefs has ever been made twice.” It is his contention +that the dragon myth was born in Egypt, developed in Babylonia, +and in a time remote carried to China, India, and the +Americas, and to all other parts of the earth. Granting this, +it becomes not merely the one world-epic, but the proof that, +before history began even as now, all races of men were in +effectual contact.</p> + +<p>The primitive custom at the basis of the myth is well established. +The post of priest-king was enviable but dangerous. +With each recurring spring he was expected to bring fertility +to his land; but sometimes he was killed and a successor +appointed each year, in imitation of the death of vegetation that +preceded the resurrection of spring; and always when age overtook +him he was slain, for what vital magic over nature was +there left in his aging frame? To avoid this fate a mock king +was erected to suffer in his stead; or a virgin was sacrificed; +or in elaborate mummery a ritual murder was merely simulated.</p> + +<p>Here in their simplest form appear all the elements of the +dragon myth—a king who was thought to control the sources +of water and the fertility of which it was the symbol; a slaying +to be accomplished, and a woman who was at once a fertility +symbol and a vicarious sacrifice. The king himself was the +dragon, in its original form just a serpent symbol of his reputed +control over water.</p> + +<p>Thus stated the story is understandable, but it becomes confused +and infinitely complex when it is dramatized in the mythology +of ancient Egypt. A king who through his beneficent +irrigation works is identified with the river Nile is translated +by legend into the skies and becomes the water god Osiris, a +member of the earliest Trinity. The second member of the +Trinity, but the first in point of time, is Hathor, the Great +Mother,—at one time identified with the cowry shell, the earliest +form of fertility emblem, and then identified with the moon<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span> +and translated into the sky when primitive minds saw the lunar +rhythm repeated in the sex life of woman. The third member +of the Trinity is Horus, the Warrior Sun God, a son of Osiris. +How an aging king, not yet a god, resolved that he would not +be slain to make way for a younger man and called upon the +Great Mother, already a goddess, to provide him with an elixir +of life, which was blood, and how, in compliance with his +entreaty, she nearly wiped out mankind before a substitute was +provided—in reality the red waters of the Nile inundation—is +allegorically recited in the ancient Egyptian narrative called +the Destruction of Mankind.</p> + +<p>In this and its companion legends, the Story of the Winged +Disk and the Conflict between Horus and Set, are all the elements +of the dragon saga. It would be futile to recite them in +detail, for the thing has become so confused that in the words +of Doctor Smith it amounts to this: “The early Trinity as the +hero, armed with the Trinity as a weapon, slays the dragon, +which is the same Trinity.” But the confusion has produced a +concrete and comprehensible result, a composite wonder-beast +in which are blended parts of real animals that symbolize both +regeneration and destruction and that are the attributes of the +several members of the early Trinity, and of Set, enemy of +Horus and lord of chaos.</p> + +<p>An archaic conception this may seem now, but what is there +of the human or the cosmic that does not lie in it? The desire +for unfading youth and continuing life on one side of the grave +or the other is in it, and that is the heart history of humanity. +The conflict between order and chaos is in it, and that is the +story of nature. The theme of vicarious sacrifice is in it, and +that is the deep mystery of religion. There is that in the tale +which impelled the story-tellers of five millenniums to repeat it, +to enrich its incidents and to weave the tissues of new meanings +through it until it was at once a treatise on astronomy, a theory +of meteorology and a philosophy of destiny; a record of the +strife between winter and summer, night and day, justice and +injustice, and good and evil fates, which is the world as men +have found it.</p> + +<p>Unquestionably the dragon of classic story and mediæval +blazonry is the devil of Scripture; the biblical identification is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span> +complete, and the bird-like features, leathern wings, and forked +tail of this elemental creature of fable all are reproduced in +familiar portraits of the enemy of mankind. This and the +inner meaning of the dragon myth may be accepted, while its +origin in Egypt and dissemination from one place throughout +the world is probable. Doctor Smith, whose contentions are all-embracing, +makes other inferences which here will be outlined +without comment:</p> + +<p>The serpent in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life and Eve +herself are all one. The deluge of Sumerian, Babylonian, and +Hebrew legend is a disastrous Nile inundation dramatized. The +ark is the moon-boat of Hathor. The pig owes its evil name to +its identification with Set, who represents the evil side of the +dragon’s nature. The cowry shell, suspended from the girdle +as a fertility emblem and not from any motives of modesty, +became the origin of all clothing. Inland tribes which had no +access to the shore copied the cowry in a plastic yellow metal, +and this was the origin of the world-old quest for gold and the +occasion of its use as money. The object of mummification was +the continuance of life beyond the grave, the purpose in burning +gums and spices was to restore to the mummy the odor and +warmth of life; and these customs, related to each other and to +the theme of the dragon saga, are also related to the development +of architecture, sea trade, and medicine. Jade reached +its mystic estate in China and other lands, because the men who +sought gold for cowry amulets in Turkestan sought jade at the +same time for seals, and in popular thought the two substances +became confused. Through a similar confusion, diamonds +attained in India the value they have since had everywhere. +Pearls ranked beside both because they were thought to be particles +of moon substances, emanations of the moon goddess herself. +The precious metals and precious stones became so not +because of their rarity or beauty, but because of their magical +power as symbols of the divine actors in the dragon story. The +griffin of legend is merely a tentative dragon. The mandrake +of legend is merely a stranded pearl shell, and the dog used to +extract it from the earth is a terrestrial version of the Mediterranean +dogfish to which had been transferred the demoniac powers +of the sharks that guarded the pearl treasures of the east.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span> +With the dragon began the unending search for the elixir of life.</p> + +<p>These conclusions, some of which offer novel explanations +for enigmatical things noted in this study, are at least a testimony +that the dragon myth has traveled far, and in its travels +has become related to many things. It is the most vital of all +growths that have found root in the fecund soil of the imagination. +It is a richly pictorial history of the groping sublimities +of human thought. The dragon is one of two portraits which +man has painted of himself.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c8">Chapter VIII. Denizens of the Deep</h2> +</div> + +<p> +<span class="smcap large">Belief</span> that the sea was in every respect like the land, and that +its very waves were only a thicker atmosphere, was the main +source of marine fable. In Celtic story, for example, Manannan +sings to Bran that what he is sailing across is not the sea +but a flowery plain, and the speckled salmon are lambs and +calves. Mældune, voyaging over the ocean, descries beneath +him a country with castles, people, and cattle. In the <i>Pih T’an</i> +it is said that in the midst of the waters off Shantung there is +sometimes the misty semblance of a palace, with towered walls +about it, and the appearance of men and carriages and horses +busily engaged; and this is called the Market of the Sea.</p> + +<p>It was long held that every land animal had its counterpart +in the ocean. So there had to be mermen to match the men of +the land. Such names as sea-mice, sea-spiders, sea-kites, sea-hares, +sea-dragons, sea-lions, sea-oxen, and sea-horses, “the +grisly wasserman” and “the horrible sea-satyr,” are the records +of old belief. Pliny tells of a number of strange marine creatures, +including elephants and rams, stranded on a Mediterranean +beach, and of others with the heads of horses, asses, and +bulls, which despoiled grain fields beside the Indian Ocean. +The Chinese believed that all domestic animals in the Roman +Orient came out of the sea. Proclaiming that the atmosphere +was only diluted water, De Maillet, a French naturalist of the +eighteenth century, contended that in the ocean was the original +type of everything; that dogs descended from seals and men +from tritons, while parroquets had their brilliant colors from +gold, green, and violet fishes in the sea. There were fierce +tribes of men in the north who seemed to him only lately +emerged.</p> + +<p>In classic legend, danger and marvel met mariners upon the +strands along which they sailed in coasting voyages, and there +was no need to go inland for adventure. The sirens sang their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span> +shrieking songs by the water’s edge, the Polyphemus-folk flung +masses of rock into the breakers, and from their island palaces +enchantresses kept watch for passing ships. The voyages of +fable were thus a sort of parade between shores thronged with +perilous romance. A writing on the Catalan map of 1375 is +in this spirit. In the Spice Islands, it recites, are “three kinds +of sirens—one is half woman, half fish; another is half woman, +half bird; and the third is half woman, half horse.”</p> + +<p>Elder fancy peopled the deep itself with tritons riding sea-horses +and stilling the waves with blasts from their shell trumpets, +and with divine nymphs of great beauty and often of +engaging nature, as well as with singular animals. The legate +of Gaul wrote Augustus that a number of nereids had been +found dead on its shore, and men from Olisipo (Lisbon) +brought word to Tiberius that a triton had been heard blowing +a conch shell in a cavern retreat. Sea marvels multiply, but +somehow take on a coarser texture, in the mediæval time.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Sailors’ Favorite</i></p> + +<p>Among the marine populations the dolphin has always been +a favorite with sailors, as Greek and Roman bas-reliefs and the +coins, medals, and coats of arms of Mediterranean countries +bear witness. It was supposed to be the swiftest of animals; it +was fond of men and of music, particularly that of the water +organ; it had a turned-up nose, and according to Pliny recognized +in a surprising manner the name of Simo (flat-nose) and +“preferred to be called by that name rather than any other.” +Ajasson thought it was attracted merely by the hissing sound of +the word. Pliny has a tale of its friendship with mankind which +should have a better ending:</p> + +<p>“A dolphin at Hippo Diarrhytus on the coast of Africa used +to receive his food from the hands of various persons, present +himself for their caresses, sport about among the swimmers, and +carry them on his back. Proconsul Flavianus rubbed him with +unguents whose odor rendered him as if dead, and he kept aloof +for months afterward, as though affronted. But he returned to +familiar intercourse later. At last the vexations that were +caused them by having to entertain so many influential men who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span> +came to see this sight, compelled the people of Hippo to put the +animal to death.”</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Monster Whales</i></p> + +<p>The ancients held the great cetaceans in terror. The Talmud +declares that it would take a ship three days to sail from the +head to the tail of Leviathan. Pliny speaks of whales in the +Indian Ocean nine hundred feet long, and of others which +would cover two acres of ground. The traditional fear of them +is in the account by Nearchus of his battle—his own word—with +a school of whales when he was taking Alexander’s fleet +back from the mouth of the Indus to the Persian Gulf. The +sailors saw columns of foam shooting up from the sea and at +first mistook them for waterspouts. When they learned that +these came from whales, “they were so terrified that the oars +fell from their hands.” But Nearchus rallied them, drew up +his ships in order of battle, and at a given signal dashed toward +the monsters. Oars splashed loudly, rowers shouted, trumpets +sang defiance. The astonished whales plunged out of sight, and +his men hailed Nearchus as savior of the fleet.</p> + +<p>Sailors in the Indian Ocean of a later time told of the head +of a fish “that might be compared to a hill; its eyes were like +two doors, so that people could go in at one eye and out at the +other.” In these waters Sindbad’s companions mistook a whale +for a green meadow. The whales of Norse lore carry witches, +while the monster that bore Glooskap, the Algonquin culture +hero, could hear the song of clams as they lay under the sand.</p> + +<p>St. Brendan and his seventeen monkish brethren repeated the +Sindbad adventure when they sailed into the western seas in +search of the Isle of the Blessed. Bearing a lamb without blemish, +they landed on a low island to celebrate the Easter festival. +But when a fire was lighted and the pot set over it, the island +began to move, and they fled to their osier ship. What they had +taken for an islet was “the beast Jasconius, greatest of things +that swim, which laboureth night and day to put his tail in his +mouth, but for greatness he may not.” In stories of this kind +in the <i>Physiologus</i> the whale was supposed to represent the +devil, the sea the world, and the ship the human race.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span></p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Kraken</i></p> + +<p>“Oh, silly mariners,” exclaimed Arngrim, “that in digging +cannot discern whale’s flesh from earth!” Bishop Pontoppidan +pondered these accounts and in his <i>Natural History of Norway</i>, +published in 1752, he concluded that the whale, large as it +was—and science knows no extinct monster of equal bulk—was +not large enough to explain them. These are not floating +islands, but a vast sea-monster called kraken, kraxen, or krabben. +“What the credulous Olaus Magnus writes,” says he, “of +the whale being so large that his back is looked upon as an +island, and that people might land, light fires, and do various +kinds of work upon it, is a notoriously fabulous and ridiculous +romance.” No, this is the kraken, the back of which “seems to +be about an English mile and a half in circumference.”</p> + +<p>People, thinks the bishop, had some imperfect idea of the +kraken for ages back. Pliny heard an obscure account of it in +the Gaditanian sea; he likens it both to a wheel with spokes and +to a tree with such large branches that it could not get through +a ship channel. The Kors Trold or Soe-Drawl which sailors +deemed an evil spirit, and which they said could stop a ship +under full sail, must be the kraken, concludes the Norwegian.</p> + +<p>Pontoppidan draws a spirited picture of this prodigious creature +showing itself among a fleet of fishermen. They are several +miles out at sea on a hot summer day. Their lines should show +from eighty to one hundred fathoms of water under them, but +show only twenty or thirty. Fish are plentiful, above all cod +and ling. As fast as the sailors cast in they draw out their finny +prey. They are angling right over the monster, and his back +is the bottom the lines have sounded. Then they see the water +shallowing still further; the kraken is raising himself. So they +hasten out of danger and lie on their oars.</p> + +<p>“In a few minutes,” says the historian, “they see this enormous +monster come up to the surface of the water; he there +shows himself sufficiently, though his whole body does not +appear, which in all likelihood no human eye ever beheld. His +back looks at first like a number of small islands, surrounded +with something that floats and fluctuates like seaweeds; and several +bright points or horns appear, which grow thicker and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span> +thicker the higher they rise above the water. Sometimes they +stand up as high and as large as the masts of middle-sized vessels. +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. After this monster has been on the surface a +short time, it begins slowly to sink again, causing a whirlpool +that draws down everything with it.”</p> + +<p>Pontoppidan believes the kraken is a polypus, one of the starfish +kind. It has a strong and peculiar scent by means of which +it attracts other fish. Those islands, among the Faroes, that suddenly +appear and as suddenly disappear and that people deem +inhabited by evil spirits are krakens.</p> + +<p>All of which is set down in the famous eighth chapter of the +<i>Natural History</i> which, as its author says, “treats of the Norwegian +Sea-Monsters, or those animals of enormous size and +uncommon form which are sometimes seen in the ocean.” In +this chapter the Norse cleric seeks seemingly to outmatch in the +colder seas of Scandinavia the marvels of the Mediterranean. +He makes himself chief sponsor for the sea-serpent. He +describes the trold-fish, or unlucky-fish, that sailors hasten to +throw overboard. He has much to say of mermaids. He tells +of the Maelstrom in the Lofoden district of Nordland—an abyss +which penetrates the globe and issues in the Gulf of Bothnia; +“within a Norway mile of it, boats, ships, and yachts have been +carried away.” Whales are sometimes swept into it, “and then +it is impossible to describe their howlings and bellowings.”</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Sea Serpent</i></p> + +<p>The sea serpent of Pontoppidan has a venerable past and a +present of conjecture and recurrent report. Insensibly a legend +has been built up in the modern time as strange as any in the +whole range of fable. Men say, not “a sea serpent,” but “the +sea serpent.” It is assumed that there is but one, and that for +ages it has haunted the deep, appearing sometimes in the +Atlantic, sometimes in the Indian Ocean, sometimes in the South +Pacific—a plesiosaurus, perhaps, wandering the seas, the lonely +survivor of a vanished age.</p> + +<p>Olaus Magnus described the great marine snake—the Soe-Ormen<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span> +of old lays—as two hundred feet long and twenty feet +around, and as rising up like a mast before ships and snapping +men off their decks. Hans Egede, the Greenland missionary, +saw it in July, 1734. When it reared itself, its head was higher +than the ship’s maintop. When it flattened itself upon the +water, its tail was a ship’s length behind its head. “The following +evening,” says Mr. Egede, “we had very bad weather.”</p> + +<p>From all accounts, Pontoppidan concludes that this monster +is of about the length of a cable, or six hundred English feet. +The body is as big around as two hogsheads. “The head has +a high and broad forehead, but in some a pointed snout, though +in others that is flat, like that of a cow or horse; with large blue +eyes like a couple of bright pewter plates, large nostrils, and +several stiff hairs standing out on each side like whiskers.” Its +skin is smooth, except for a mane, like seaweed.</p> + +<p>These great snakes, the Norse writer declares, haunt the floor +of the North Sea, rising in July and August, their spawning +time. The wind is destructive to them, and they appear only +in calms. They cannot face the sun, and the fisherman may +escape them by rowing toward it. Nor can they endure the +smell of castor or asafœtida, and anglers who go out on Stor +Eggen in the summer provide themselves with one or the other. +Sometimes, however, the monster rises under small boats and +upsets them, or throws its heavy folds across vessels even of +some hundred tons burthen, and sinks them.</p> + +<p>The appearances of the sea serpent are well enough documented. +It was reported off the Norway coast in 1819, 1822 +and 1837, off the New England coast in 1815, 1817, 1819, +1833, and 1869, and off the American coast farther south in +1895. It was seen in the South Atlantic in 1841 by the frigate +<i>Dœdalus</i>, and in 1875 by the bark <i>Pauline</i>, when seemingly it +was dragging under a large whale. A few years ago it was seen +by the bark <i>Harvard</i> near Borneo. In the nineteenth century it +was sighted so often near Boston that it became known as the +American sea serpent. The accounts were circumstantial and +so well vouched for that there could be no reasonable doubt +that a strange marine monster was abroad. A committee of the +Boston Linnaean Society, for example, drew up a report signed +by eye-witnesses in 1819. The serpent, they said, was from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span> +eighty to ninety feet long, with buoy-like protuberances on its +back and was swimming at twenty miles or more an hour, and +driving frightened mackerel before it.</p> + +<p>These reports have been variously explained—that a low-ranging +flight of sea fowl could produce the semblance of a +snake upon the water; that a mass of seaweed had created this +effect; that a pair of gigantic basking sharks, swimming in a +line, had seemed to be one creature; that twenty-foot ribbon fish +were the basis of the legend, and that a monster squid had been +mistaken for a snake. The preponderance of scientific opinion +inclines to the last named view. Cephalopods more than sixty +feet long have been seen off Newfoundland and the coasts of +northern Europe, and it may be that what the <i>Pauline</i> saw was +not a serpent crushing a whale, but a whale killing a giant cuttle +fish. But it is not at all certain that a monster of some +species unknown, or too hastily assumed to be extinct, a stray +from the Mesozoic or Eocene seas, does not haunt the ocean.</p> + +<p>Cousins of this prodigy, of vaguer outline, rove the deeps of +myth and romance. The sea serpent of Arab story is the waterspout. +The spotted snake of Navajo story caused the flood. +The bunyip of Van Diemen’s Land carried off women to his +water abode. The yacu-mama, or mother of waters, of Brazilian +story—fifty paces long and twelve yards in girth—drew +anything within a hundred yards into its jaws, but could be placated +by bugle music. The orc of the Charlemagne cycle, a +horrible mass of tossing and twisting body with nothing of the +animal but head, eyes, and tusked mouth, haunted an island off +the Irish coast and menaced the manacled and beauteous Angelica. +Rogero with his hippogrif and magic buckler released her, +and Orlando slew the monster afterward. The killing by a Moslem +of a like creature that had been devouring beautiful virgins +led to the conversion of the Maldive islanders, according +to Ibn Batuta; at times it reappears in the offing in the seeming +of a ship with lighted candles. The orc of science is no +serpent, but a large dolphin, and when it pursues the whale, +says an old writer, the latter makes “a hideous bellowing, like +a bull when bitten by a dog.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</span></p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Tortoises</i></p> + +<p>A quaint humor animates much of tortoise tradition. By +stringing cords across a tortoise shell the infant Hermes invented +the lyre. According to the Sicilians a tortoise executed the +decree of fate that Æschylus should die of a blow from heaven; +an eagle mistook the tragic poet’s bald head for a stone and +dropped a tortoise upon it to break the shell. Pliny says that +tortoises betray themselves to fishermen by overeating at night +on land and snoring loudly after they return to the water. +“Some persons are of opinion,” he reports, “that the female +refuses to have any intercourse with the male until he has placed +a wisp of straw on her back, and that she hatches her eggs +merely by looking at them.” From the tortoise the Romans +obtained no less than sixty-six remedies for bodily ills.</p> + +<p>Sea turtles may attain a weight of a thousand pounds, and +legend has enlarged this figure. In their shells, says Diodorus, +the Chelonophagi (turtle-eaters) of the East African islands, +sailed to the mainland for fresh water. They used them also +as roofs, nature’s bounty providing them “by one gift food, +vessels, shipping, and habitations.” Ælian speaks of tortoise +shell houses fifteen cubits long: “nor does the rain beating +against them sound otherwise than if it were falling on tiles.” +Odoric overtops this. In Cochin-China he saw a tortoise “bigger +in compass than the dome of St. Anthony’s Church in +Padua.”</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Eels</i></p> + +<p>The Romans thought that the murænas, or sea eels, had a +language of their own, and that their voices were “low and +sweet, with an intimation so fascinating that few could resist +its influence.” The Emperor Augustus, it was believed, could +understand the language. How eels were generated was long a +puzzle, their origin being imputed to May dew, horse hairs, +rocks, mud, the carcasses of animals, and even to Jove and the +goddess Anguilla; hence their scientific name of <i>Anguillina</i>. +A cod of the German coast and a Sardinian water beetle have +each been called the “eel-mother.” It has lately been ascertained +that the eggs are spawned in Bermuda waters, and the +young reach Europe after a two years’ journey.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</span></p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Three Traditions</i></p> + +<p>A German folk-tale has it that when Christ was crucified all +the fishes were terror-stricken and dived under water, save the +pike, which thrust forth its head and witnessed the scene. Hence +the pike’s head shows some of the parts of the crucifixion—the +cross, three nails, and a sword. Another fish, the remora, +decided the fate of the world by attaching itself to Antony’s +galley and keeping it out of the battle line at Actium; or so +says Pliny. There are monstrous crabs on the beaches of +Japan, some of them seven feet across, which bear what seems +to be a human mask on their backs. The natives say they appeared +after a pirate fleet had been destroyed and its leaders +beheaded on the shore.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Water Horses</i></p> + +<p>The water gods of northern Europe usually had the horse +form, and their memory survives in Shetlandic tales of the +njogel and tangi. The former appeared as a sleek pony or +decrepit gray horse; its hair grew forward instead of backward; +its fetlocks pointed upward instead of downward; its +hoofs were reversed. At dusk it would stand beside a trail, +and seemed to invite the benighted traveler to mount it. Then +it galloped over a waterfall, or dashed into a lake, leaving him +to drown while it vanished on the other bank in a blue light. +The tangi was like it, but had its ranging ground on the seashore. +People became insensible for days when it ran around +them.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Sharks</i></p> + +<p>Human attributes among the sea’s inhabitants are divided +between sharks and the merfolk. The latter are the graceful +creatures of an imagination at play with itself. The former +are always things of terror, not only because they attack man, +but because they seem to have some special and sinister relation +to him. They have been thought to be enchanted men. +Savages tell of their taking human form and human mates. +The West African sacrificed children to a shark god. In the shark +temples of the Sandwich Islands priests rubbed their own<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</span> +bodies with salt water so as to seem to have scaly skins. Offerings +of coins were made to the basking shark in northern +Europe. In New Calabar it was a capital offense to kill a shark. +Sailors still think that this fish will follow vessels on which +some one is to die, and in the days of the slave ships it was +said to have a special fondness for the flesh of blacks. In +former times its teeth, set in gold, were used as amulets and +its powdered brains had a place in medicine; shark’s oil is still +in the pharmacopœias, shark fins are a Chinese dainty, and +shark skins an article of commerce. The source of these beliefs +and practices may be in the world-wide dragon myth, wherein +pearls were thought to be emanations of the moon goddess and +were sought as givers of life. The sharks that harassed the +pearl fisheries came to be looked upon as demons guarding the +treasure houses of the sea floor, and embodiments of evil like +the dragon itself.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Merfolk</i></p> + +<p>Under mermaid legend is the old notion that because there +are men and women on the land there must be men and women +in the sea. The texture of the legend has become about as complex +as human nature itself, and, like it, shows the divine, the +semi-divine and the coarsely animal subsisting together. In +turn the mermaid has been goddess, enchantress, and fresh meat +at sea.</p> + +<p>The oldest known form of the myth may be glimpsed on tavern +signs, where the mermaid is depicted with a circular mirror +in her hand and a fish tail. She is Chaldean and Phœnician. +Derceto, the moon goddess, was represented as half woman and +half fish because it was conceived that she divided her time +between the earth and the waters under the earth, plunging into +the sea with every moonset. Baring Gould thinks that the mirror +she holds may be the moon disk.</p> + +<p>Other shapes of poetry were merged in the legend before it +entered the prose period of maritime discovery. Among them +were the tritons and the nereids, “half-naked, natural, loving, +and antique”—lesser divinities of classic fable. At some time +the sirens, who had been pictured as half human and half bird, +were immersed, and thereafter were pictured as half human<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</span> +and half fish. Browne protests this representation, but the mermaid +myth does carry siren features, song included. The song +of the Rhine maidens is mermaid song, their prophecy mermaid +prophecy. Of the same family are the nixies who love music +and foretell the future.</p> + +<p>The legend has become further entangled—with tales of banshees +whose wailing portends death, of gull-befriended seal people +who could take human form, of swan maidens who wed mortals, +of forward sea fairies who leave their red caps on the +shore of Ireland for young men to pick up, even of the female +demon or nightmare. There are both foam and cloud-flock in +mermaid story, and they meet in the gentle Phæacian, Nausicaa, +whom Ulysses discovers bathing on the shore.</p> + +<p>In Fouqué’s <i>Undine</i> the legend achieves its purest poetry. It +is the story of a nymph who lives with her foster parents on +the edge of an enchanted forest where a knight of the old German +Empire finds and woos her. Riding thither through the +wood, a bear mocks him with human voice from the branches +of an oak, a troll shows him the goblins at play with their gold +beneath the earth, and what seems at one moment a tall white +man and at the next a foaming brook guides him to the cottage. +These were Undine’s familiars, and when the knight meets the +water maiden the brook rises and for days roars about the cottage, +secluding him there until he has won the nymph’s heart, +and she his hand and with it an immortal soul. Through the +remainder of the story until its inevitable disaster in the unwitting +breaking of a vow—the end of all unions between nymphs +and mortals—water foams and flashes and strange shapes dissolve +in spray.</p> + +<p>This is the type of a hundred mediæval tales, of which the +best known is that of Melusina, a fountain nymph wedded to +the head of the house of Lusignan, but lost to him because he +did not keep his pledge to respect her Saturday privacy. He +discovered her in the bath, a serpent from the waist downward. +According to report her blood flowed in the veins of the Luxembourg +and Rohan families and in Henry VII, sovereign of the +Holy Roman Empire. Her spirit was seen whenever the death +of a Lusignan impended. The tale has an extensive bibliography.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span></p> + +<p>Other accounts of water maidens are of a wilder cast. The +judy of Slavic folk tales lived in the lakes and rivers of the +Rhodope Mountains and danced in meadows, and him whom +they coaxed to dance with them they destroyed. When they +saw a man in the water they entangled him in their long hair +and drowned him. The pariks of Armenian story are erotic +female demons of the river banks. In a Celtic tale Rath saw +mermaids as “grown-up girls, the fairest of shape and make +above the waters; but huger than one of the hills was the hairy-clawed, +bestial lower part which they had beneath.” They sang +the hero to sleep and tore him to pieces. The ships of another +Celtic adventurer, Ruad, were stopped, and when he went over +the side he saw “three of the loveliest of the world’s women” +holding to the keels; the rest of the story is dalliance. Pacific +coast Indians have legends of beautiful, long-haired women +who lived in a round house under the ocean and made trouble +for people above. An Arab traveler tells of joyous water maidens +caught and caressed by sailors in the bright straits of +Greece, and then returned to the sea.</p> + +<p>The prose of the legend was reached when men began to +capture what they conceived to be mermaids and mermen, and +failed in most cases to find kindred beings. There is a considerable +list of these creatures captured or sighted on the beaches +of the Old and the New World. Only one of these talked, and +Pontoppidan mentions the story but to discredit it. Two senators +of Norway caught a merman, but let him go on his threatening +them in Danish to sink the ship with all its crew. Of the +so-called bishop-fish or sea bishop, said to have been netted for +the King of Poland in the Baltic in 1453, a similar tale is told. +It wore a dalmatic and mitre and carried a crosier. With gestures +of entreaty it besought the intercession of its brother +prelates of the court. When it was released into the sea the +grateful creature made the sign of the cross and gave the episcopal +benediction with its fin before it submerged. In one other +instance there were points of human contact. Milkmaids of +Edam in West Friesland in 1430 found a mermaid which had +been swept over the dykes by a storm. They brought it home, +as the story goes, and dressed it in female attire; it learned how +to spin, to eat with them, to adore the crucifix, but it never spoke.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</span></p> + +<p>Through many other accounts runs the belief that merfolk +were weather-breeders. The <i>Speculum Regale</i>, an Icelandic +work of the twelfth century, describes a mermaid with a “very +horrible face” that haunts the deep near Greenland and before +heavy storms is seen with fish in its hands. If it casts the fish +toward the ship, it is an omen of death in the coming storm; +if it casts the fish away from the ship it is a good omen. Hakluyt’s +<i>Voyages</i> tell of a monster, from the middle upward proportioned +like a man and with a tawny skin, which was discovered +near Bermuda in the sixteenth century. The clerks +of the expedition put the account in writing, to be certified to +the English king. “Presently after this,” it is recited, “for +the space of sixteen days we had wonderful foule weather.” +Knud Leems in his account of Danish Lapland asserted that +horrible tempests followed the appearance of a merman and +merwoman in those seas. The male, or hav-manden, was like +a robust man with brown skin and long hair and beard; the +female, or hav-fruen, had the human shape and hair and a +ghastly visage.</p> + +<p>It appears that a merman, captured in the Baltic in 1531, +lived for three days at the court of Sigismund, King of Poland, +and there is a story that to determine ownership of another +the King of Portugal and the Grand Master of the Order of +St. James had a suit at law.</p> + +<p>Merolla tells of a ship’s crew in a South African port who +saw at a distance “a sort of sea monsters like unto men” gathering +herbs, with which they plunged into the sea. The sailors +gathered herbs for them, and the grateful creatures “forthwith +drew from the bottom of the sea a quantity of coral” and laid it +in the place where the sailors had piled the herbs. Human +perfidy ends a pretty story. The sailors spread a net to catch the +mermen, who lifted it and fled.</p> + +<p>The purely animal quality predominates in other of the circumstantial +accounts repeated of the mer people. A merman +was captured off the coast of Suffolk in 1187, but escaped. +Hendryk Hudson reports that his crew saw a mermaid near +Nova Zembla, and “from the navel upward her back and breasts +were like a woman’s,” while the tail was like the tail of a porpoise. +In 1560 fishermen netted seven mermen and mermaids<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</span> +in the seas west of Ceylon; several Jesuit priests were witness +thereto. Captain Weddell, the Antarctic explorer, records the +sworn testimony of one of his crew that he had seen a creature +with human form and the tail of a seal, and with red face and +green hair. In the sea of Angola, says Pontoppidan, mermaids +are heard to shriek and cry like women; negroes net and eat +them, and their flesh is considered much like pork. Sigismundus +ab Herbenstein had it from Muscovite sources that in +the river Tachnin there was “a certain fish with head, eyes, +nose, mouth, hands, feete and other members utterly of humane +shape, and yet without any voyce, and pleasant to be eaten.” In +Pinkerton’s <i>Voyages</i> there is an account of the woman fish found +“among the islands Boccias,” the flesh of which is “of excellent +savour when eaten boiled like other meat, and which also +serves to make highly savoury sausages.”</p> + +<p>The dugong, manatee, or sea cow has been called the Old +Man of the Sea as well as the mermaid. It has figured in +legends with a biblical background; the people about the Red +Sea took these creatures for survivors or descendants of the +army of Pharaoh that was drowned in pursuing the Israelitish +host. The three mermaids that Columbus saw on his first voyage +to the New World are supposed to have been of this species. +When white men first came to America the manatees thronged +the waters of Florida, but have since become nearly extinct +there, although there is a protected herd in the Miami River.</p> + +<p>Reports of actual captures present the rationalization and +degradation of the mermaid legend. The divine daughters of +the deep with their lovely bodies and flowing hair become strange +animals of the seal or cetacean species with ugly faces and +bodies that may be converted into pork—sea apes, as the credulous +and yet cautious Pontoppidan calls them. They grow so +common that the <i>Aberdeen Almanac</i> of 1688 predicts the periods +when mermaids may be expected near the mouth of the Dee.</p> + +<p>Sir Humphrey Davy argued that if God had created the +mermaid, her deficient means of locomotion and of self-defense +would have left her a prey to the fish. Yet the seas would have +been poorer of romance if the logic and poetry of men had not +led them to correct, in ages more naïve, what seemed to them +an oversight of their Maker.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c9">Chapter IX. The Peoples of Prodigy</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">In</span> his <i>True History</i> Lucian relates what he is at pains to +point out is a fictitious voyage to the moon and to various isles +of the outer seas. Grotesque half-human beings people his +narrative. There are grape vines, the upper parts of which +have the shape of women, and these entwine themselves about +his men. There are Hippogypi, or men carried upon vultures; +Onoscileas, or ass-legged women, with long robes and a free +manner of harlotry; Bucephali, or men with bulls’ heads and +horns and lowing voices; Schorodomachi, or garlic-fighters; +Psyllotoxotæ, or flea-archers; Acroconopes, or gnat-riders; +cloud-centaurs, nut-eaters, pirates riding dolphins that neigh like +horses, and a variety of other fantastic creatures. The Samosatan +wrote, he says, “about such things as neither are nor +ever can be.”</p> + +<p>Yet races of men very much like these were long supposed to +live upon earth. Their descriptions are in the ancient histories, +their habitats are defined in the classic geographies, their effigies +are upon mediæval maps. As late as the century after +Columbus, travelers were still coming upon them, and repeating +the interrogatory of <i>The Tempest</i>, “What have we here, a +man or a fish?” Perhaps twoscore of these imaginary tribes +are better documented, and not so long ago were better known, +than most of the tribes of real men and women upon the earth; +the documents are on dusty shelves of the larger libraries.</p> + +<p>Some of the singular folk entered literature by the double +gates of mistaken etymology and literal acceptance of figurative +language. In the lineaments of others one discerns races that +are still upon earth, but divested of the masks of fable. In +the rest one sees the creative fancy of man following its natural +bent—cartooning humanity by exaggerating a limb or feature +or by eliminating it; borrowing something from the brute; +making men taller or shorter, or longer-lived or shorter-lived,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</span> +than reality; fashioning the moon calves, the Calibans; setting +up a realm in which paradox is law. Thus mankind gave itself +new and interesting neighbors.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Singular Speech</i></p> + +<p>Men judge one another by the testimony of the ear as well +as of the eye; and the speech of all these peoples, no less than +their anatomy, proclaimed the law of paradox. Sometimes +the surprise was in hearing Indian or Greek or Arab words from +lips that seemed bestial rather than human. Often no words +came at all, but only unintelligible animal sounds. This, indeed, +was to be expected from races whose bodies varied from +the normal; but the list of prodigious folk is lengthened by the +addition of other men who, while looking like ordinary mortals, +were not quite human in their speech.</p> + +<p>There were nations which used dumb-barter because they +had no language. There were tribes in Ethiopia which, as Pliny +says, “have to employ gesture by nodding the head and moving +the limbs instead of speech.” On the Atlantic seaboard were +troglodytes that “have no articulate voice, but only utter a kind +of squeaking noise.” “Like the screeching of bats,” says +Herodotus of the same people. Another tribe of troglodytes, +according to John Lok, “have no speech, but rather a grinning +and chattering.” The Arabians dwell in caves and have shrill, +boyish voices, declares Jordanus. In the eastern mountains of +Ind, says Tauron, are the Choromandæ, a forest folk with hairy +bodies, canine teeth, and sea-green eyes who “screech in a +frightful manner.” Kazwini speaks of hairy little men in +Ramni with a speech like the chirping of birds. Carpini names +among the peoples of Ind the dog-faced men who speak two +words in human wise and bark for the third. There were people +with a small hole in place of the mouth, whose conversation was +a whistling. Among the isles of Maundeville is one “clept +Traconda, where the Folk be as Beasts and unreasonable, and +dwell in Caves; and they eat Flesh of Serpents, and they eat +but little; and they speak Nought, but they hiss as Serpents do.” +In a desert beyond paradise this authority says there are wild +men “that be hideous to look on, for they be horned and they +speak Nought, but they grunt as Pigs.” However, there was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</span> +speech in that country, for “Popinjays speak of their own +Nature and say ‘Salve’ to Men that go through the Deserts.”</p> + +<p>Neither classical nor mediæval relators mention the device +which has given a South African tribe its name, and rumors of +which may have provided a basis for fable. Merolla, who +went to the Congo in 1682, heard that the Hottentots “have not +the gift of human voice, but understand each other by a sort +of hissing tone and motion of the lips.” This is the Hottentot +“click” which the Portuguese called a kind of stammering and +the Dutch likened to the turkey’s gobble. It is made by applying +the tongue to the roof of the mouth, the teeth, or the gums, +and suddenly drawing it back. There are four of these clicks—the +dental, like the smack of a kiss; the palatal, like the tap of +a woodpecker; the cerebral, like the pop of a cork; and the +lateral, like the quack of a duck.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Dog-headed People</i></p> + +<p>The Amazon and pygmy, and certain tribes of the satyrs, had +speech entirely human. Because in them credulity has won +unlooked-for triumphs over skepticism, these three peoples, best +known of the races of legend, are reserved for separate treatment +later. The men of another race vie with the Amazons as +figures in plastic art, although only in its more grotesque manifestations. +The Cynocephali, or dog-headed people, writes +Ctesias, are a swarthy and extremely just people living in the +mountains of northern India at the sources of the Hyparkhos. +The tribe numbers about one hundred and twenty thousand persons +and pays tribute to the King of the Indians.</p> + +<p>These people have the heads of dogs, but with larger teeth, +and the bodies of men; and they have dog claws. They cannot +use human speech, although they understand it. They converse +with one another by barking, and with other people by +barking and the sign language. They practice no arts but live +by the chase, using the bow and spear; and they can outrun wild +animals. Their staple food is raw flesh, which, however, they +roast in the sun. They rear numbers of sheep, goats, and asses +and drink the milk and whey of the ewes. They are fond of the +fruit of the siptakhora, the tree that produces amber. The +surplus fruit they dry and pack in hampers as the Greeks pack<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</span> +raisins. Every year they freight rafts with the hampers and +with two hundred and sixty talents weight of amber, and a like +weight of a pigment which they make from a purple flower. +This they convey as tribute to the Indian king. They ship +other raft-loads of the same commodities to their neighbors, receiving +bread and flour in return and a cloth made from a stuff +grown on trees (cotton). They also sell arms to other peoples.</p> + +<p>The dog-headed people are troglodytes, sleeping on a litter +of straw or leaves spread in caves. The women bathe once a +month, the men not at all, merely washing their hands; but +thrice a month they anoint themselves with butter. They are +clad in skins and the richest have cotton raiment. Some of +them live to be two hundred years old.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, says Marco Polo, +are a savage race “having heads, eyes and teeth resembling those +of the canine species”; and they kill and eat strangers. Odoric +is equally uncomplimentary, but Ibn Batuta, always sensitive +to female charm, says their naked wives are of exquisite beauty. +Carpini speaks of India’s dog-faced men. Even Greenland has +a similar legend as to an older race of barbarians who had +magic, but not the bow and arrow. These were men with dog +paws. They disappeared in battle with the Eskimos, or from +natural causes, since “the world was too small to hold both +races.” Myths of dog descent are found among the Aleuts, Dog-ribs, +and Ojibwas in North America, as well as in Madagascar, +Java, the Nicobars, New Guinea, Indo-China, and even Europe. +In North America the wild dog (coyote) frequently figures as +the creator of mankind.</p> + +<p>Sunamukha is the Indian name of the Cynocephali, and a +manuscript of the Prabhâsakhanda recites that this people lives +on the Indus. What Ctesias has set down seems to be an account +of an actual race, a tribe of black aborigines.</p> + +<p>When Hayton, the intrepid traveler-king of Armenia, paid a +visit in the thirteenth century to Batu, the Mongol prince, he +brought back a related and still stranger story. Beyond Cathay, +a journey of two years and two months from Nakin, was a country +where the women had the human shape and speech, but the +men were like hairy dogs and had no speech. These dog-men +repelled all strangers from their land, and supported themselves<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</span> +and their wives by the chase, the men eating flesh raw, the women +cooking it. When children were born, the males had the shape +of dogs, the females that of women. The <i>Chinese Encyclopedia</i> +also has a tale of the Kingdom of Dogs, and it was a Chinese +traveler who broke up this curious commonwealth. The women +wished to escape from it and gave him little sticks, asking him, +when he went back to his native land, to drop one of these every +ten li. They got away by the trail he marked.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The One-Eyed Arimaspians</i></p> + +<p>Lying between the gold-guarding griffins and the cannibal +Issedones was the country of the one-eyed Arimaspians. They +first appear in a poem of Aristeas of Proconesus, a semi-mythical +person who made a northward journey, as his verses declare, +in a mood of “bacchic fury.” Herodotus bases his account +on these, but cannot persuade himself that there is a race +of men born with one eye who in all else resemble the rest of +mankind. Arimaspi, he says, is a word of Scythic origin, a +compound of <i>arima</i> (one) and <i>spou</i> (eye).</p> + +<p>There Herodotus drops the legend, and after it has thriven +in the tales of the fabulists for some thousands of years, modern +criticism takes it up again from the same angle. It is suggested +that, after all, Arimaspi never meant one-eyed, and that the +race, the tradition of whose deformed aspect arose from a mistaken +translation of its name, is still in existence in the Russian +tribe known as the Tsheremis, which occupies the left bank of the +Middle Volga. This is near enough to the Ural gold districts +to meet the general topography of the legend.</p> + +<p>Strabo also describes a one-eyed nation, the Monomatti, with +the ears of dogs, bristling hair, and shaggy breasts.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Folk That Live on Odors</i></p> + +<p>The folk that live on odors dwell, says Megasthenes, near +the sources of the Ganges. They have no mouths, hence their +name of Astomi. Their bodies are rough and hairy and they +clothe themselves with a down plucked from trees—silk or +cotton. They use neither meat nor drink and subsist only by +breathing and by inhaling scents. When they start on a long +journey they lay in a supply of odoriferous roots, flowers, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</span> +apples. But, says Pliny, “an odor which is a little more powerful +than usual easily destroys them.” Pope’s “die of a rose in +aromatic pain” may define such a fate.</p> + +<p>According to other ancient writers the Astomi also supported +life by sniffing at raw meat, and their susceptibility to rank +smells made it hard to keep them alive in camp. In Ethiopia +Pliny places a people that “have the mouth grown together, and +being destitute of nostrils, breathe through one passage only, +imbibing their drink through it by means of a hollow stalk of +the oat, which there grows spontaneously and supplies them with +its grain for food.” Maundeville removes the Astomi to an +island and gives them the stature of pygmies and a hissing +speech.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Noseless Nations</i></p> + +<p>There were several noseless nations. The flexible-footed +Scyritae, says Megasthenes, had only two breathing orifices +above the mouth; and he sketches pygmies similarly made. +Maundeville improves on the sketch: “And in another Ile be Folk +that have the Face all flat, all plain, without Nose and without +Mouth.” In contrast still another island had “Folk of foul +Fashion and Shape that have the lip above the Mouth so great +that when they sleep in the Sun they cover all the Face with that +lip.” Megasthenes had named and described these seventeen +centuries before. They were the Amycteres, with upper lips +projecting far beyond the lower—an omnivorous people, fond +of raw meat, and short lived. Tudela tells of desert-ranging, +infidel Turks who worship the wind, eschew bread and cooked +meats, and, lacking noses, breathe through two small holes. +The Noseless People of the Eskimo shore are evil spirits that +drag fishermen to gloomy abodes under the sea.</p> + +<p>To men with the bold Roman profile, the Levantine contour, +or the scimitar-shaped visage of the Sephardic Jew, Tartary’s +small-nosed, flat-faced peoples would indeed present a countenance +very like a plane surface. The scanty hair of the same +peoples may be responsible for the ancient notion of bald northern +nations. The Eskimo legend suggests a skeleton tenanted +by a demon.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</span></p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Large-eared Races</i></p> + +<p>An Indian race called the Enotocoitæ had ears hanging down +to their feet—“great Ears and long that hang down to their +Knees” is for once the more restrained phrase of Maundeville. +The philosophers who had told Megasthenes of so many interesting +folk told him also of these. They could sleep upon their +ears as upon a rug, or under them as under a canopy, or inside +them as in a sleeping bag. These appendages were like +winnowing fans, Tzetzes puts it. Their owners were so strong +they could pluck up trees. So could the elephant, which also +has flapping ears and a prolonged upper lip—the pattern, it +would seem, for at least two fables.</p> + +<p>Ctesias describes a people who could blanket the upper parts +of their bodies with their ears. These were the Pandore, a +mountain race who lived to be two hundred years old, yet were +destined evidently to become extinct, for they numbered only +thirty thousand persons and the women bore children but once. +The infants were hoary-headed at birth, but at thirty the hair +began to turn black, and at sixty no white hairs were left. Five +thousand bowmen and spearmen of the tribe followed the Indian +king. There was even a Scandinavian tribe with all-enveloping +ears, if Pliny had it right.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Headless Peoples</i></p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Do grow beneath their shoulders.</div> + <div class="verse indent16">—<span class="smcap">Shakespeare</span>: <i>Othello</i>.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>To the west of the Troglodytes in distant mountains of Ind, +says Ctesias, live tribesmen who are without necks and have +eyes in their shoulders. In the north of Africa, says Pliny, are +the Blemmyes who “are said to have no heads, their mouths +and eyes being seated in their breasts.” These were also +called the Acephalites. Maundeville shifts their habitat. They +occupy one of fifty-four great isles under the jurisdiction of the +king of Dondun. This island is somewhere toward the south of +Asia. In it dwell “Folk of foul Stature and of cursed Nature +that have no Heads. And their Eyes be in their Shoulders, and +their Mouths be round shapen, like an Horse-shoe amidst their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</span> +Breasts.” The <i>Arabian Nights</i> locates these same people in the +City of Brass. Abu Mohammed, hight Lazybones, in quest of +his wife, who has been carried thither by a Marid, “heard a noise +of cries and found himself in the midst of a multitude of folk +whose eyes were in their breasts.” They gave him the news he +sought and volunteered, “Now we be brethren of the white +serpent.” The Eskimos speak of a headless people living in +the moon and in remote regions of the earth.</p> + +<p>Here is a story of a curious race domiciled by various writers +in various parts of the Old World, and yet lacking details to +give it verisimilitude. These are supplied by Sir Walter Raleigh +in his report on the wonders of Guiana. The headless people +are Indians of the tribe of Ewaipanoma living in a district near +the Orinoco. He has seen none of them, but “every childe in the +provinces” affirms the story. Their eyes are in their shoulders, +their mouths in the middle of their breasts, “and a long traine of +haire groweth backward between their shoulders.” A chief’s +son whom they had made a prisoner told Raleigh they were +“the most mighty men of all the land, and use bowes, arrowes, +and clubbes thrice as big as any of Guiana.” This confirms, +concludes Raleigh, what was written of them by “Mandevile, +whose reports were holden for fables many yeeres.”</p> + +<p>In the interior of Guiana Sir Walter had a trading transaction +with a nation of kindred appearance. He bartered jew’s-harps +for fowls at a town of five hundred houses, where he found +Indians plentifully provisioned with venison, fowls, and wine. +He asked their chief “whence hee had those Hennes.” The +answer was that they were brought from a mountain less than +a mile away, “where were many Indians, yea so many as grasse +on the ground, and that these men had the points of their +shoulders higher than the Crownes of their heads, and had so +many Hennes as was wonderful; and if wee would have any +wee should send them Jewes harpes, for they would give for +every one two Hennes. Wee tooke an Indian, and gave him +five hundred Harpes; the Hennes were so many that hee brought +us, as were not to be numbered.” Raleigh wanted to visit these +mountain Acephali, but was warned that they were in their +drunken feasts and would kill him.</p> + +<p>One may explain the headless peoples about as one will. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</span> +Tartar tribes north of India certainly have short necks. Thus +Pliny on the African Acephalites: “On the invasion of the Persians +the Blemmyes were in the habit of falling on one knee +and bowing the head to the breast, by which means, without injury +to themselves, they afforded a passage to the horses of the +enemy.” Buffon accepts and interprets the Raleigh tale. “This +monstrous deformity cannot be natural,” he says. “It is probable +that savages, who are so pleased in disfiguring nature by +flattening, rounding, and lengthening the head, might likewise +contrive to sink it into the shoulders. These fantasies might +arise from an idea that, by rendering themselves deformed, they +became more dreadful to their enemies.” This passage would +have interested Sir Walter.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Half-men</i></p> + +<p>There were people in the Philippines whose bodies suffered +temporary subtraction at the other extremity. These were the +asuangs—men who had acquired powers of sorcery by eating +human livers. When they willed it their persons divided at +the waist line, the lower part remaining behind and the upper +growing wings and long nails and a horrible black tongue, and +flying away on vampire errands. An orifice in the armpit contained +an oil which rendered this human bat invisible. If salt +was cast on his abandoned half he could not assemble himself +on his return. Wak-wak was one of his names. The reality +behind this grim fiction was the learned counselor, called the +asuang, whom each datto had at his court before the Spaniards +came. His evil repute is a Spanish slander.</p> + +<p>If there were men whose stature had been reduced as by a +transverse sweep of the knife, there were others whose appearance +was as if they had been sliced. These were the half-men +of Moslem legend called the Shikh and the Nesnas, each +with a single arm, leg, and eye, as though one man had been +split in twain. The Zulus had the same story, perhaps from +Moslem sources. They tell of half-men discovering a Zulu girl +in a cave and thinking her two persons. When they discovered +their error they exclaimed: “The thing is pretty! But, oh, +the two legs!” The fable may have sprung from figurative<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</span> +speech, in which men of backward culture are described as +only half-men.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Diminutive Husbands</i></p> + +<p>American Eskimo legends tell of a tribe called Ardnainiq +living far to the northwest, whereof the men, small as children +and covered with hair, were carried around in the hoods of their +wives, who were of normal size. The detail oddly parallels +Darwin’s statement that he had found a female crustacean of +the common cirripedial character, “and in two valves of her +shell she had two little pockets, in each of which she kept a +little husband.”</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Eel-like Men</i></p> + +<p>A race of eel-like men, says Julius Scaliger, dwell in Malabar. +They have the serpent’s form, are eight feet long, and, +while of horrible aspect, are harmless unless provoked. They +will “stand bolt upright for hours together, gazing on the boyes +at their sportes, never offring to hurte any of them.” In the +upright posture they lose the likeness of serpents and “spread +themselves into such a corpulent breadthe, that had they feet +they would seeme to be men.” This is a tale brought to Europe +by the Portuguese; and at a time when it was debated whether +the serpent assumed a human form in tempting Eve, it was +thought this might be the creature whose body Satan borrowed.</p> + +<p>The tale is based in part on the cobra’s power to dilate its +neck into a broad hood. Back of it are Buddhist traditions of +the Nagas, a race of serpents that lived in dragon palaces under +the earth. There were naga-kings, and naga-maidens who assumed +human form, had their mortal lovers, and became the +founders of dynasties. The original inhabitants of the Andamans +were reputed to have been of this race, and according +to a popular belief their descendants were oviparous. The +interpretation of this legend is complicated by the surmise that +the Nagas were actually an ancient, non-Aryan people whose +emblem was the cobra.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Strangely Footed Folk</i></p> + +<p>Certain races the ancients classified and named according to +their means of getting over the ground. With his instinct for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</span> +balanced statement Pliny unearths a passage from Eudoxus +which says that “in the southern parts of India” the men have +feet a cubit in length, “while those of the women are so remarkably +small that they are called Struthopodes.” The word +may mean either “sparrow-footed” or “ostrich-footed.” In the +context it probably means the former; the dames with diminutive +feet hopped around as sparrows do. It may be they were +Chinese women.</p> + +<p>Near the Indian troglodytes, according to Ctesias, dwelt the +Monocoli, who had only one leg, but were able to leap with +surprising agility. These people were also called the Sciapodes, +which means “making a shadow with the foot.” It was their +custom in the time of extreme heat to lie on their backs and +shield themselves from the sun, each under the shade of his +own foot. A later century knew the shadow-footed folk as the +men with parasol feet. Maundeville places them in Ethiopia. +In Armenia, or bordering upon it, the Mongols found another +one-legged nation, but with different structure. Its citizens had +only one arm also, which was attached to the middle of the +breast, but they had two gaits. Hopping, they covered ground +with remarkable speed, and when tired of hopping the men and +women whirled themselves around like cartwheels.</p> + +<p>When the Norsemen were exploring America, they encountered +a Uniped, or one-legged man, who launched a lethal arrow +at Thorwald Ericson, as he sat at the boat helm. The dying +leader drew it out and exclaimed, “There is fat around my +paunch; we have hit upon a faithful country, and yet we are +not like to get much profit by it.”</p> + +<p>The stiff-legged men, Carpini heard, lived south of the country +of the Kara-Khitai, upon a great desert. They had no speech +and no joints in their limbs, and when they fell down somebody +had to help them up. They wore felt of camel’s hair and +made wind shelters thereof. When wounded in battle they +stanched the blood with grass and fled swiftly away.</p> + +<p>A related tale is told by Rubruquis, who had it from “a certain +priest of Cathaya who sat with me clothed in a red-coloured +cloth.” When the friar asked him whence he had such a color, +“he told me that in the east part of Cathaya there were high +craggy rocks, wherein certain creatures dwell, having in all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</span> +parts the shape of men, but that they bow not the knees, but +leap instead of walking; which are not above one cubit long, +and their whole body is covered with hair, who have their abode +in caves, which no man can come unto; and they who hunt them, +go to them, and carry strong drink with them, and make pits +in the rocks like wells, which they fill with that strong drink. +The hunters hide themselves, and then these creatures come out +of their holes and taste the drink, and cry ‘chin-chin’ and drink +till they are made drunk, so that they sleep there. Then the +hunters come and bind them hand and foot, while they are +sleeping, and afterwards open the veins in their neck and draw +forth three or four drops of blood from every one, and let them +go free; and that blood, as he told me, is the most precious +purple.”</p> + +<p>Megasthenes describes a race of Indians living upon a mountain +called Nulo, who had their feet turned backward with the +heel in front and with eight toes on each foot. Pliny places +this race “beyond the other Scythian Anthropophagi in a country +called Abarimon situate in a certain great valley of Mount +Imaus” (Himalayas). They had great rapidity of movement +and wandered about indiscriminately with the wild beasts. The +fable may have originated in the Caucasus, where there is still +a tradition that dæmons take the shapes of armed men, and have +their feet reverted. Farther north dwelt an ox-footed race.</p> + +<p>Classic note is made of two writhing nations. The Scyritæ +of India who “have merely holes in their faces instead of +nostrils” have “flexible feet like the body of the serpent,” says +Megasthenes. There was also the thong-footed people or Himantopodes, +residents of northern Africa, who moved with a +serpentine, crawling gait. This may be a traveler’s impression +of some sinuous dance of the desert.</p> + +<p>Under the hand of Maundeville the centaurs pass out of mythology +into history. The “Folk that have Horses’ Feet” are in +his collection of marvelous islanders: “And they be strong and +mighty and swift Runners, for they take wild Beasts with Running +and eat them.” These are the Hippopodes of Pliny, tenants +of a Baltic island. A related folk are the islanders permanently +mounted on ostriches, with which they seem to form one body. +Kazwini, who records this Arab legend, says they devour the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</span> +bodies of drowned persons cast up by the sea. On another isle +Sir John seems for the once to have invented a people rather +than revived a legend. Here be “Folk that go always upon +their Knees full marvellously. And at every Pace that they +go, it seemeth that they would fall.”</p> + +<p>In Ethiopia, “on that side of the Nile which extends along +the borders of the Southern Ocean,” Pliny domiciles the Artabatitæ, +who have four feet and wander about after the manner +of wild beasts. Maundeville is more detailed: “And they be +all skinned and feathered, and they would leap lightly from +Tree to Tree.” Farther south were the Aigamuxa, theme of a +Hottentot story cycle, whose eyes were in the back of their feet. +Regarding human beings as zebras, they hunted them down and +tore them to pieces.</p> + +<p>Chinese marvel tales describe a race of people living somewhere +in the west. They have a hole right through their bodies +at the breast. When their mandarins would take the air, they +thrust a stick through the aperture, and two domestics carry them +so. “If the bearers are strong enough,” says Huc, “they often +string on several gentlemen at once.”</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>In the Russian East</i></p> + +<p>There was an east other than the sun-bathed lands whose +fabulous peoples are in literature. It lay just beyond northern +Europe, on the farther flanks of the Urals and beside the +Obi. To the Russians of the Middle Ages it was a land of +strange races and weird happenings. About these a body of +legends grew up which in a measure parallel the classic stories, +but give them backgrounds of ice and snow and add new +actors and enriching details. A Russian manuscript of the fifteenth +century, found at Novgorod a few years ago and entitled +“The Unknown Peoples of the East,” pictures these forgotten +folk. Nine different races, all called Samoyeds, are described, +and six are races of marvel.</p> + +<p>There were Samoyeds who shed their skins like snakes. For +a month each year they stayed in the water, avoiding dry land, +lest their bodies crack open. The Russian anthropologist, Professor +Anutschin, whose interpretation of the narrative is followed +here, says that these are natives who fish and hunt in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</span> +the watery domain of the tundras, where the summer attacks of +mosquitoes and horse flies give their skins a rough and bloody +aspect, as if cracking before sloughing off. There were also +Samoyeds like other people from the navel up, but all shaggy-haired +from the navel down—in reality wearing trousers of +reindeer skins with the hair outside. There were other and +speechless Samoyeds with their mouths on the top of their +heads. When they would eat, says the Novgorod manuscript, +“they crumble the meat or fish, stick it under their fur caps and +then move their shoulders up and down.” This is the account +of a people whose speech the Russians did not understand, who +wore the head skin of the reindeer, ears and all, for a cap, and +whose sack-like garments had collars so high as to conceal their +mouths.</p> + +<p>There were also headless Samoyeds with eyes in their breasts +and the mouth between the shoulders, and their diet was raw +reindeer heads and bones; in warfare and the chase their weapon +was an iron tube through which they drove an iron arrow by +hitting it with a hammer. This, it is thought, was an early race +of ironworkers who wore peaked head-caps which concealed the +shoulder line and made the face of the wearer seem to be in +the breast. Another explanation is that several Siberian tribes +had faces painted on the leathern fronts of their garments. The +descriptive phrase, “with the face upon the breast,” might easily +become “headless” when translated into Russian.</p> + +<p>Then there was a strange Samoyed race—an independent +creation of Russian fantasy—the members of which died every +winter and revived two months afterward, if let alone. When +the fatal hour had come, they sat down and a stream of water +gushed from their nostrils and froze to the ground. If a stranger +came from another land and broke this icicle or removed it, +the Samoyed never woke up. If he merely jarred it, the refrigerated +native would open his eyes and ask, “Why, little +friend, have you disfigured me?” Others were brought to life +by the warmth of the spring sun. According to a German writer +the day of death was November twenty-seven and revival came +on the twenty-third day of the following April. It is supposed +that the wooden idols scattered over the Obi country, three +hundred of them on a single river island, were the basis of this +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</span>curious story. Covered with ice and drifted snow, they looked +human enough, and there were native reports that these were +ancestral Samoyeds.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f10"> +<img src="images/fig10.jpg" alt="cosmic"> +<p class="caption"><i>The First People Engaged in Such Cosmic Adventures as Warfare<br> +Against Stone Giants</i></p> +</div> + +<p>One race of Samoyeds, says the Novgorod manuscript, +travels day and night with torches by underground ways and +comes out upon a sea over which a strange light falls and beside +which is a great fortress and a deserted city. When the +stranger approaches he hears a tumult in the streets, but, entering, +he sees no one and the clamor dies away. In each house, +however, there are things for him to eat and drink, and other +commodities. He takes what he needs, lays down money in its +stead, and goes his way. Should he fail to make payment, +the wares he takes with him vanish and return to the silent +town. And when the stranger leaves, “then he hears again a +tumult as in other inhabited cities.”</p> + +<p>This story has the Celtic magic and might be a chapter from +Malory. It is thought that the mysterious sea is Lake Koliwan +in the western Altais. Granite rocks in the semblance of towers, +terraces, and dismantled fortifications rise from its shores, and +in the hills are the pits and galleries of a copper camp long +abandoned by the Tchudi. These are the underground Samoyed +ways of legend. Perhaps dumb barter was once carried on here. +The radiance across the lake, if not the northern lights, may +have glanced from some Russian tale, like that in which Bishop +Theodor saw the earthly paradise on a mountain side with an +azure light upon it.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>New World Prodigies</i></p> + +<p>The New World, it has been seen, had its own prodigious +peoples. In Spanish America their legends are overlaid with +imported material, but elsewhere there is little alien alloy. +North America has traditions of stone giants, pygmies, one-eyed +cannibals, hermaphrodites, flint-armored warriors, double-headed +men, dog-headed tribes. There are also storm-raising +mermen, phantom boatmen, underwater folk, otter-men, seal-men, +pug-nosed people, skeletons that resume human shape +at night, talking skulls. Many stories tell of the marriage of +mortals with unearthly beings, of the living with the dead, and +of the union of women with animals. The best known Indian<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</span> +myth has two versions, in one of which the people of the First +Age had human forms but an animal nature, and took the animal +guise before the real men appeared; in the other, which is of +the southwest, the first people had bestial forms but a human +nature, and presently laid aside their animal masks. In the +latter version there was an Amazonian phase in the ascent of +the primitive people. Their women seceded from society and +lived with a water monster. Hunger drove them back, but they +brought into the world a number of prodigious beings whom +their lords had to destroy.</p> + +<p>In the First People who had the human form but became animals +the Eastern Algonquins and the Pacific tribes have a myth +which ranks beside the Greek myth of the Titans that were before +Zeus, and the myths of the Golden Age. Its quality is at once +haunting and challenging, the more so because these dawn-folk +are nowhere described. “In old times,” a Micmac Indian told +Leland, “men were as animals and animals as men; how this +was no one knows. But it is told that all were at first men, and +as they gave themselves up to this and that desire, and to naught +else, they became beasts. But before this came to pass, they +could change to one or the other form; yet even as men there +was always something which showed what they were.”</p> + +<p>The story cycle of the Mewan Indians of California pictured +the First People as living in great ceremonial houses and engaging +in such cosmic adventures as sun-capture, fire-theft, and +warfare against stone giants. How nearly human and how +much animal they were the Western Indians left in doubt. When +they became animals and went forth from the ceremonial house, +they carried to their future haunts not only their old names, but +their distinctive traits, such as Grizzly Bear’s appetite for acorns, +Frog’s aptitude at water jumps and the clamorous voice of Sandhill +Crane. After the transformation was effected—and only +casual reasons for it are suggested—man was created. Coyote +made him out of feathers, or sticks, or clay, and Lizard gave +him five fingers because he had five himself and knew their +value. In Popol Vuh, the Guatemalan saga, the First People +were manikins that the gods carved out of wood and endowed +with life; but so frivolous and irreverent were these that a flood<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</span> +was invoked to destroy them; “the little monkeys that live in the +woods” are descended from survivors.</p> + +<p>All over North America were stories of stone giants, and +crudely archaic as are these stalking figures of legend, the myth +has the elemental vigor of Norse epic. According to the +Iroquois, a cannibal race—“stonish giants,” Schoolcraft calls +them—who made their bodies hard by rolling in sand, overran +America seventeen centuries ago, and nearly exterminated +the natives. The Holder of the Heavens took giant form in +order to destroy them. These are the icy-hearted Chenoos of +Algonquin story who lived in northern Canada; in summer they +rubbed themselves with fir balsam and rolled on the ground +so that moss, leaves, and twigs adhered to them. The California +Indians have tales of a cannibal rock-giant who went abroad +with a rock basket on his back into which he tossed people. +There was another stony Titan, tall as a pine tree but vulnerable +under the heel. Only after the First People had killed him by +planting sharp sticks in his path did they elect to become animals. +The theory that these clanking folk typify mountains is +not convincing.</p> + +<p>Maundeville has a tale of a bodiless head, but North America +is the true home of this weird legend. Glooskap, culture hero +of the Eastern Algonquins, played at ball with a snapping skull. +There were Indians who went all to pieces leaving only the head, +which ate the other members. Everywhere stories were told +of heads that pursued people and devoured them. The skull +of a mother chased her children over hill and plain. In nightmare +flight the heroes of Indian epic cast obstacles or attractive +things behind them to delay or divert the rolling skull. Reading +a new meaning into the legend, the Arapahoes used it to explain +the railroad.</p> + +<p>A Sioux story describes a duel between the Monster and the +Bladder, twin sons of the Turtle. They kept striking off each +other’s heads, and these flew into the sky and, falling back, adhered +again to their necks. But at length Bladder pushed +Monster’s body aside, and the head rebounded, and to this +day it rebounds, for it is the sun, and Bladder is the sky; but +only to old men or wise is this part of the story told. It may +be that these tales derive from the conception of the sun and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</span> +moon as traveling heads, or from the use of a skull as tribal +medicine, or from the war custom of decapitation later supplanted +by scalping, or even from the appearance of the tumbleweed +of the western prairies, which wanders like a ball before +the autumn wind.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c10">Chapter X. The Satyrs</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">The</span> tail is a symbol of the animal nature. Stories of tailed +humans are found all over the world. They signify a belief that +certain races of men are descended from the apes, or that the +apes are descended from certain races of men. Both beliefs +have been stressed in the modern debate on evolution; yet +neither is new. They are almost the oldest of the philosophical +myths. They trace back to primitive animism—to the notion +that animals are endowed with human intelligence, can understand +the speech of men, and may well be propitiated with worship. +Early man accepted them as cousins. He could change +natures with them, and sometimes it seemed to him he did. Père +Lafitau said of his American flock, “These men are living in +Ovid’s Metamorphoses.”</p> + +<p>Sometimes men were content enough with this kinship, erecting +it into totemism, wearing the tail of the buffalo or horse as an +emblem of power. Sometimes they were ashamed of it. They +plucked off all hair from their bodies, because animals were +hairy, and resented it when their women bore them twins, because +the young of animals came in litters instead of singly. +Constantly they confused brute and human nature, using identical +terms of neighbor folk, whether these were apes or men. +The confusion was carried over into literature. One African +tribe was said to have an ape king. There are passages in which +travelers seem to themselves to be speaking of men while to their +readers it is evident they are speaking of monkeys. There are +other passages in which they set out to describe monkeys, +yet draw pictures of men like themselves, but of more primitive +cast. The creatures called satyrs embody this confusion and the +sense of kinship behind it.</p> + +<p>According to Isidore, the satyrs have done something to make +their own nature clear. One of them, he says, appearing to St. +Anthony in the desert, explained, “I am mortal, one of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</span> +inhabitants of the waste, whom the heathen, misled by error, +worship as the Fauns and Satyrs.” He pictures them as manikins +with upturned noses, horns on their foreheads, and goat +feet.</p> + +<p>The heathen world, however, never was quite sure what it +meant by the satyrs. If it be true that the fable began with ritual +mummers who donned the nature of fertility dæmons when they +put on the heads of asses, horses, or goats, and danced in them—as +men still do—the memory of this was forgotten. The satyrs +were supposed to be spirits, half human, half bestial, that +haunted woodland and mountain side and fellowshipped with +Pan and Dionysus. They had bristly hair, flat noses, and +pointed ears, with two small horns, and a tail like that of a horse +or goat. Earlier Greek art represented them as ugly, withered, +and ape-like. But Attic sculpture in the time of Praxiteles shows +them with the beast nature well-nigh submerged—graceful figures +instinct with poetry. They took over the attributes of the +kindred sileni, and as Roman influence grew they were confounded +with the fauns and were depicted as half men and half +goats. In Scripture they are the “hairy ones” of Hebrew folklore, +a sort of demon of waste places. So is the word intended +in the prophecy of Isaiah as to Babylon: “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.”</p> + +<p>Satyrs, as the ancients conceived them, were a wanton, music-loving, +merry-hearted and yet timid folk, their symbol the hare. +They roved about, drinking, dancing to the pipe and cymbal, +pursuing the nymphs, killing the cattle of men and making love +to their women. Men feared them, as embodying the loneliness +of waste places, feared them with the sudden panic fear, which +the apparition of their leader, the leering goat-god, always excited. +Equally, the shy creatures feared men, but not women. +Gradually these timid spirits moved out of mythology into +geography. There were satyr isles, and there were satyr tribes +in distant mountains and deserts, alike in Africa, India, and the +spaces of the sea. Always they were described as avoiding contact +with men, screening themselves in the thickets and seen only +from afar. The satyrs of western Africa, says Pliny, “beyond +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</span>their figure have nothing in common with the manners of the +human race.” Ælian speaks of Indian satyrs that have human +features, that go sometimes on four feet and sometimes on two +and are too swift to be caught.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f11"> +<img src="images/fig11.jpg" alt="satyr"> +<p class="caption">A SATYR<br> <i>By</i> Jacob Jordaens</p> +</div> + +<p>Thus the classic conception of this creature passes from +spirits of the waste to tailed men, to apes, retracing the path +which Greek art followed from simian beings to spirits of the +waste. These were the wild men and wild women whom Herodotus +locates in western Africa. Hanno, the Carthaginian explorer, +had been before him. His narrative tells of finding an +island full of wild people on the west coast of Africa: “For the +greater proportion were women, whose bodies were covered with +hair, and whom our interpreters called Gorillæ. Though we +pursued the men, we could not catch any of them, since all fled +from us, escaping over the precipices and defending themselves +with stones. However, we took three women, but they attacked +their conductors with their hands and teeth, and could not be +prevailed on to accompany us. We therefore killed and flayed +them and brought their skins with us to Carthage,” where they +were hung up in the temple of Juno.</p> + +<p>This narrative betrays the ancient confusion as to the satyrs’ +real nature. They are described as wild men and women, and +it would even seem that the Carthaginians undertook to reason +with their captives; but their captors killed and skinned them, +as they certainly would not have done to creatures they deemed +to be of their species. The terms gorilla and orang-utan both +mean men-of-the-woods. They are borne by large apes, but +when the Malays speak of the orang-utan they mean a savage +and not a simian.</p> + +<p>The Hindu term for man-of-the-woods is bunmanus, and here +is a Hindu sketch of him. “The bunmanus is an animal of the +monkey kind. His face has a near resemblance to the human; +he has no tail and walks erect. The skin of his body is black, +and slightly covered with hair.” Then the account proceeds to +enumerate the dialects of the peninsula and includes among +them “the jargon of the bunmanus.” These animals of the +monkey kind are really the dark-skinned, non-Aryan aborigines.</p> + +<p>A Portuguese manuscript cited by Tylor tells of an Indian +tribe in Brazil called the Cuatas. “This populous nation,” it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</span> +says, “dwells east of the Juruena, in the neighborhood of the +rivers San Joao and San Thome. It is a very remarkable fact +that the Indians composing it walk naturally like the quadrupeds, +with their hands on the ground; they have the belly, breast, +arms, and legs covered with hair, and are of small stature; they +are fierce, and use their teeth as weapons; they sleep on the +ground, or among the branches of trees; they have no industry, +nor agriculture, and live only on fruits, wild roots, and fish.” +The author of this account seemed not to know that the coata +he was describing was an ape and not a man.</p> + +<p>Customs of speech and sometimes motives of self-interest have +shaded the differences between the two species. The belief is +widely held, both in Africa and in South America, that apes +know how to talk, but hold their peace lest they be put to work, +as it seems they were put to work in gathering the fig harvest +in ancient Egypt and perhaps in ceremonial processions as +torch-bearers. On the other hand, sailors, pioneer colonists, +and slave dealers betray a tendency to rate the savages among +whom they are thrown, and whom they may wish to exploit, as +little, if any, above the brutes.</p> + +<p>It has become almost a principle of ethnology, wherever a +story of a neighboring race of tailed men is current, to look +for a tribe of aborigines who have been dispossessed by men of +a higher culture. Thus the conqueror asserts his contempt, and +justifies his treatment, of the conquered. The latter may accept +it in good part and admit a monkey descent. The Marawars of +South India trace their lineage back to Rama’s monkeys, and the +Kathkuri avow an ape ancestry. Even the Jaitwas of Rajputana, +although classed as Rajputs, derive, they say, from the monkey-god, +Hanuman, and allege that their princes have still a vestige +of tails. There are tribes in Tibet and in the mountains of the +Malay peninsula whose traditions tell of ape progenitors.</p> + +<p>By a sort of poetic justice, savages sometimes tell a like story +about civilized men. Why should these wear so much clothing +if there were not something they wanted to conceal? In the +Land of Lamary, says Maundeville, men and women go all +naked, “and they scorn when they see any strange Folk going +clothed,” hinting that these are not formed as are other men. +Captain Cook was not the only explorer to tell of natives demanding<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</span> +that the white men strip so that it might be seen if they +were everywhere of the human kind. Buchanan gives this +account in his Indian travels:</p> + +<p>“When I passed through among the gardens near houses, I +have observed the women squatting down behind the mud walls, +in order to satisfy their curiosity by viewing a stranger. When +they thought that I observed them, they ran away in a fright. +This does not arise from the rules of caste in Malabar requiring +the Hindu women to be confined, for that is by no means the +case; but in the interior parts of North Malabar the Nairs, being +at enmity with Europeans, have persuaded the women that we +are a kind of hobgoblins who have long tails, in order to conceal +which we wear breeches. The women and children are +therefore afraid of Europeans.”</p> + +<p>Stories of man’s descent to the ape match stories of the ape’s +ascent into man. One of these is recited in the Metamorphoses +of Ovid, where for their treachery Jove degrades the Cercopes. +A Moslem legend tells of Solomon passing through the Valley +of Apes, between Jerusalem and Mareb, and finding monkeys +dwelling in the houses, wearing the clothes, and using the speech +of men. The river which flowed by their city had been full of +fish, they said, and these showed themselves freely on the +Sabbath day, trusting to the Jewish fishermen to keep the Commandments. +The temptation proved too strong, and for their +offense of Sabbath-breaking Jehovah turned all the citizens into +apes.</p> + +<p>There is a Zulu story of a lazy tribe of negroes who would +not dig the soil. Their chief led them into the wilderness, where +the pick handles which had hung useless at their backs became +tails, and they themselves baboons.</p> + +<p>In both hemispheres there are legends of cross-breeding between +the human and the simian species. The Quoyas Morrov, +or wood-man of Angola, which was sent to Frederick Henry, +Prince of Orange, was supposed by his age to have an ape father +or an ape mother. The First People of Central American myth +were manikins who became monkeys, and Count Castelnau repeats +a story by Father Ribeiro, a Carmelite missionary, of a +tribe of tailed Indians in the Amazonian region, whose descent +was from both apes and men. In British Central Africa, says<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</span> +Sir Harry H. Johnston, the negro women profess to go in terror +of the large male baboons, and it is a fact that these animals will +descend upon parties of unarmed women, but only if they are +carrying well-filled market baskets.</p> + +<p>The forests of South America are haunted by two legendary +creatures of related natures, in whom the myths of tailed men +return to their Greek originals. One of these is the salvaje, or +hairy man-of-the-woods, of whom Humboldt first heard among +the cataracts of the Amazon. This creature, the natives, planters, +and missionaries were agreed, carried off women, constructed +huts, and sometimes ate human flesh. For five years, everywhere +the explorer traveled in the Americas, the story followed him, +and he was censured for doubting it. He surmises that the +legend is decked out with features taken from African ape-lore, +but adds that it may be that the man-of-the-woods, if not some +rare ape, is one of the large bears, the footsteps of which resemble +a man’s, and which are believed in every country to +attack women.</p> + +<p>“Father Gili,” says Humboldt, “gravely relates the history +of a lady in the Llanos of Venezuela, who so much praised the +gentle character and attentions of the man-of-the-woods. She +is stated to have lived several years with one in great domestic +harmony, and only requested some hunters to take her back because +she and her children (a little hairy, also) were weary of +living far from the church and sacraments.” A Spanish author +wonders, however, if the fable of the man-of-the-woods has not +sprung from the artifice of Indian women who pretended to have +been carried off in default of a better excuse for long absences +from their husbands.</p> + +<p>The other legendary creature is the Curupira, or Diable Boiteux. +Among the noises of the Brazilian forest that used to +startle Bates was “a sound like the clang of an iron bar against +a hard, hollow tree, or a piercing cry.” This was never repeated, +and the silence that followed tended to deepen the unpleasant +impression. With the natives it was always the Curupira, the +wild man or spirit of the forest, that made these inexplicable +sounds. “Sometimes,” says Bates, “he is described as a kind of +orang-otang, covered with long, shaggy hair, and living in trees. +At others he is said to have cloven feet and a bright red face. He<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</span> +has a wife and children, and sometimes comes down to the rocas +to steal the mandioca.”</p> + +<p>All accounts agree that the Curupira is not footed like +normal men. He is lame, with one foot larger than the other, +or his feet turn backward so that his trail deceives. He is bald +and dwarfish, with hairy person, huge ears, and blue-green +teeth, and he rides a deer, a rabbit, or a pig. The spirit of the +wood, the guardian of all wild things, he is beneficent or mischievous, +as occasion or mood offers. He insists that game shall +be killed, not maimed, merely, and for a gift of tobacco he will +return lost cattle. Where the forest is darkest, sometimes he +will appear in friendly but treacherous human guise, luring +hunters from the path and at last vanishing in mocking laughter. +When the hunter sees footprints of unequal size on the woodland +trail ahead, if he is well advised he will hasten back, and avoid +the forest for weeks afterward.</p> + +<p>Farther north one finds again the tracks of this strange old +man, or of beings like him. The Maidu Indians of California +tell of the Chamlakhu, a bearded ancient with clawlike hands +and feet who lived in trees; running on the ground, his gait was +shambling and his arms fanned the air like wings. The Indians +of Costa Rica tell of a king of the tapirs, a man of stately bearing, +who rebukes hunters that kill out of wantonness. Among +the Indians of Guatemala there are stories of a forest sovereign +and protector of game whom the ladinos call the Sombreron, +from the enormous hat which he wears. Short and sturdy of +figure, he rides his domain astride a deer. He has a rustic +stronghold, and a hunter following a wounded deer once came +upon it. The Sombreron was swinging in a hammock in the +courtyard. He led the hunter to an inclosure in which were +many deer. Pointing out the wounded animal, he said, “Kill it, +but another time shoot better and do not torture my subjects.”</p> + +<p>This creature is Arcadian Pan, master of the satyrs, generative +dæmon of the flocks and herds, somehow an emigrant to the +New World. The Filipinos call him the Tig-balang, picture him +with long ears, legs of grasshopper slenderness, and goat hoofs, +and know him for a treacherous jungle guide. The Russians +call him the Lesiy. He guards their forests, misleads wanderers, +removes boundary stones and sign-posts. It is he that makes the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</span> +echo. Shouting and whistling in his domain he cannot abide. A +bearded, shaggy, green-eyed old man, he yet entices girls into +his thickets, whence after a long time they may escape, but with +honor forfeited; and he substitutes his stupid changelings for +the children of men. The same or a like figure is Tapio, “the +golden king of the forest” in Finnish magic songs. Wild animals +are his flocks and herds, his queen is the charcoal wife, the +bear is his bastard son, and he lives in Brushwood Town.</p> + +<p>Satyr geography covers a good many countries and centuries +and specifically includes at least one civilized race. It was long +the vulgar belief upon the Continent that Englishmen had tails. +This was first the story that the people of one shire told about +another, and its birthplace was Kent. Kentishmen, according to +their neighbors, were tailed, as a punishment for one or the other +of two acts of sacrilege. Their first offense was committed, says +Bailey, when they were still pagans. They abused “Austin the +monk and his associates, by beating them and opprobriously +tying fish tails to their backsides; in revenge of which such appendants +grew to the hind parts of all that generation.” The second +offense was against Thomas À Becket when it was noised +abroad that he was out of favor with Henry II. The inhabitants +of Strood cut off the tail of his horse, and by the will of God, +says Polydore Vergil, “all their offspring were born with tails +like brute animals”; not until their race was extinct did tailed +men pass from Kent.</p> + +<p>Pliny numbers among the nations of India “men born with +long hairy tails, and of remarkable swiftness of foot. In Indo-China, +southwest of Yunnan, were the Tailed Pu mentioned in +the <i>Sung Geography</i>. Ma Tuan-Lin allows them tails from +three to four inches long and classes them among anthropophagi +who eat their aged relatives. The Yao, a subtribe of the +Miaotze, have tails like monkeys, their neighbors say. They +live in leaf lodges or caves in the Lipo district south of the +Nanling range, and access to their habitations is by bamboo +ladders. Yet they are skillful weavers and musicians.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f12"> +<img src="images/fig12.jpg" alt="waste"> +<p class="caption"><i>Men Feared Them, as Embodying the Loneliness of Waste Places</i></p> +</div> + +<p>There are numerous reports of tailed tribes in the large +islands of the East. Marco Polo speaks of “a kind of wild men” +in Sumatra, in the kingdom of Lambri, with hairless tails a palm +in length. The <i>Merveilles de L’Inde</i> tells of tailed cannibals on +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</span>the west coast of Sumatra, and Galvano has an account of Sumatrans +with tails like a sheep’s. The fifteenth century <i>History +of the Ming Dynasty</i> pictures the Borneo village of Wu-lung-li-tan +and its tailed citizens. When they see other men approaching +they flee with their hands over their faces. The resemblance of +the name to orang-utan, or “wild men,” will not escape notice. +Colonel Yule tells of a trader who had examined the tails of a +tribe on the northeast coast of Borneo. These appendages were +long and so stiff that the natives had to use perforated seats; +Arab, Malay, and native travelers report having seen them +squatting on these little stools. John Struys, a Dutch traveler +in Formosa, saw there in 1677 a man with a tail “more than a +foot long, covered with red hair, and very like a cow’s.” The +man said the tail was the effect of climate and all the natives on +the southern side of the island had them.</p> + +<p>There were two archipelagoes known as the Satyr Islands. +Ptolemy mentions one of them, and Gerini identifies it with the +Northern Anambas lying off the Indo-Chinese mainland. Hsi-tung, +supposed to be a transcript of Syatan, was their name of +old; the resemblance of Syatan to the Greek Satyron may have +led Levantine sailors to make this jest at the expense of ill-favored +little people living then in the Anamba group. To reach +the other archipelago one must steer through the Pillars of +Hercules in company with a Carian sailor of the second century. +Him Pausanias asked what he knew about the satyrs. The +Carian replied that in a voyage to Italy he was driven from his +course to a distant sea whither people no longer sail. Here were +many islands which the crew did not care to touch, and these +they called the Satyr Islands. Their inhabitants were red-haired +and had tails not much smaller than a horse’s.</p> + +<p>Many African tribes wore animal tails for ornament, and explorers +were sometimes misled by the custom. The Duir of the +northeast attached two antelope tails to their girdles. The Wa-Kavorondo, +east of the Nyanza, go naked or wear only a waist-cloth, +and the women attach to it a tail of bark. In the same +quarter of Africa the Bongo women, with their large hips and +lubricious gait, have had a share in propagating fable, for they, +too, ornament themselves with tails; and as they stride along they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</span> +swing these about in conscious emulation of the flocks and herds. +Schweinfurth likens them to “dancing baboons.”</p> + +<p>Other African satyr stories do not yield their secret so easily. +The Ba-Kwambas of the northwest, report said, had tails which +they inserted in holes in the ground when they sat down. In his +<i>Travels and Adventures</i> (1861) Doctor Wolf asserted that in +Abyssinia were men and women “with tails like dogs and +horses,” some of these so large that they were able to knock +down a horse with them. About the Niam-Niams, a cannibal +people with filed teeth that live in French Equatorial Africa, +legends have multiplied, and these Baring Gould has assembled.</p> + +<p>Horneman was the first to describe them as tailed anthropophagi. +In 1849 M. Descouret reported that this was the common +belief among the Arabs. In 1851 M. de Castelnau told of a +Houssa expedition in which a band of Niam-Niams was slaughtered +to a man. All, including the women, had hairless tails +about fifteen inches long. These people were otherwise a handsome +race, of a deep black, using clubs and javelins in war, and +in peace cultivating rice, maize, and other grains. An Abyssinian +priest, seemingly speaking of the same tribe, told M. d’Abbadie +in 1852 that only the men had tails, and these were covered +with hair and the length of a palm. Doctor Hubsch, physician +to the hospitals of Constantinople, examined in 1852 a +tailed negress of the Niam-Niams who was offered for sale in +the slave market. She was black as ebony, with frizzled hair, +bloodshot eyes, large white teeth, and a smooth, hairless, pointed +tail two inches long. Her clothes fidgeted her, she ate meat raw, +and was an avowed cannibal. The slave dealer said all her +tribe was as herself.</p> + +<p>In Cuba Columbus heard of a province called Mangou, lying +farther west, and it sounded like Mangi, the rich maritime province +of the Grand Khan. Its inhabitants had tails, and wore garments +to conceal them. Columbus recalled the Maundeville +story, related above, of the scorn of certain naked Asiatics for +clothing, and their belief that garments hid bodily defects. So +he pressed onward in the thought that Mangi and the robed +peoples of Tartary lay just below the horizon.</p> + +<p>Despite witness from Asia, Africa, and the eastern and western +Indies, there are no tailed races of men. But there have been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</span> +tailed individuals. Hottentot women come nearest meeting the +requirements of legend. Without a tail, they yet have a development +of the posteriors that amounts to a natural shelf, on which, +as on a pillion, their infants may ride. The mandril and certain +other monkeys living in the same latitudes show a like enlargement.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c11">Chapter XI. The Pygmies</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">It</span> was left to the pygmy to revenge all of the creatures of +fable upon incredulous mankind. He was doubted, yet he is. Not +until some fifty years ago would the learned doubters admit that +Homer and Herodotus were right, and themselves wrong. Now +it is in the books that half a hundred groups of pygmies are +living on the earth, to say nothing of others that have become +extinct. Every race has had such groups, and every continent +has known their tread.</p> + +<p>There is palliation for ancient and modern doubts as to these +dwarfish nations. The pygmies of reality are not so small as +the pygmies of tradition. Their name is from the Greek word +for fist, or the distance between the elbow joint and the knuckles +of the average man—a little more than thirteen inches. The +ancient geographers, however, allowed the smallest pygmies at +least double that stature. There were two species of little men—the +one averaging three spans, or two feet three inches high, +the other averaging five spans, or three feet nine inches. These +measurements recur again and again for fifteen centuries in the +writings of the east and west.</p> + +<p>No race has a mean stature as short even as the pygmies of +five spans, but among the dwarf tribes there are many women +who do not greatly exceed it; and there are women, not so small +according to the standards of their brothers as to be accounted +deformed, who do not equal it. Stanley saw among the Akkas +of the West African Rain Forest a grown girl of seventeen who +was half an inch short of three feet.</p> + +<p>Poetic license of the old time took liberties with the estimates +of geographers, but these liberties were understood as such. +The dwarf nation on the Upper Nile that was reputed to war with +the cranes used the ax, it was said, to cut down ears of wheat. +When Hercules passed through their country they set up ladders +to climb to the rim of his goblet for a drink. In his slumber two<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</span> +armies swooped down upon his right hand and two on his left; +but, awaking, the hero laughingly gathered them all in his lion +skin.</p> + +<p>The myth of their warfare with the cranes became a theme +of literature and art, but cast doubt over the whole pygmy tradition. +It first appears in Homer. The <i>Iliad</i> likens the shouts +of the onrushing Trojans to the cries of cranes as they fly southward +“with noise and order through the sky,” bringing “wounds +and death to pygmy nations.” Megasthenes elaborates the +theme. It is the three-span pygmies, he says, that war upon the +cranes, as well as on the partridges, which are as large as geese. +The small folk collect and destroy the eggs of the cranes, which +breed in India and nowhere else. Pliny adds that every spring +the little men go in a body to the seashore, astride of rams and +goats, and there destroy the eggs and young of the birds; “otherwise, +it would be impossible for them to withstand the increasing +multitude of the cranes.” The shore booths which they occupy +they build of mud mixed with feathers and egg shells.</p> + +<p>So the story moves from Africa to India, and towards modern +times. Maundeville declares that in the Land of Pygmies, which +he seems to place to the west of, and tributary to, China, the +inhabitants “have oftentimes war with the Birds of that Country +that they take and eat.” There is even a reference to this warfare +in the writing (1563) of a traveler in Greenland. There +Dithmar Blefkens of Hamburg met a blind monk who said that +the pygmies represented the most perfect shape of man, but +were “hairy to the uttermost Joynts of the Fingers,” had no +proper speech, and were “unreasonable Creatures that live in +Perpetual Darkness.”</p> + +<p>India appears to be the home of the tradition that the dwarfish +peoples warred with the cranes. Just a hint of its origin is afforded +by Ctesias. The “swarthy men called Pygmies,” he said, +“hunt hares and foxes not with dogs, but with ravens and kites +and crows and vultures.” Falconry is known to have been practiced +in India as early as B.C. 600 and may be a thousand years +older there. From a people’s using birds of prey in hunting to +themselves fighting against birds of prey is a step of inference +easy to take.</p> + +<p>There is, however, a more direct explanation. According to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</span> +a tradition of the Indians, the Garuda, the bird of Vishnu, was +hostile to the people of the Kirata, and the name of this people +means “dwarfish.” While the sacred bird as pictured by the +poets does not look like the crane, or any other known species, +it may be near enough to account for the legend.</p> + +<p>Herodotus was the first to give the pygmy tradition a historical +quality. He heard of the little people while he was collecting +materials for his books in Africa. His informants were natives +of Cyrene who had been to the shrine of Ammon and talked with +Etearchus the Ammonian king. The latter tells the story of the +adventure of the five Nasamonian youths, which he had received +from their Libyan countrymen and which Herodotus, therefore +transcribes at third hand:</p> + +<p>“The Nasamonians said there had grown up among them some +wild young men, the sons of certain chiefs, who, when they +came to man’s estate, indulged in all manner of extravagances, +and among other things drew lots for five of their number to +go and explore the desert parts of Libya, and try if they could +not penetrate further than any had done previously. The young +men, therefore, dispatched on this errand by their comrades +with a plentiful supply of water and provision, traveled at first +through the inhabited region, passing which they came to the +wild beast tract, whence they finally entered upon the desert, +which they proceeded to cross from east to west. After journeying +for many days over a wide extent of sand, they came at +last to a plain where they observed trees growing; approaching +them, and seeing fruit on them, they proceeded to gather it.</p> + +<p>“While they were thus engaged there came upon them some +dwarfish men, under the middle height, who seized them and +carried them off. The Nasamonians could not understand a +word of their language, nor had they any acquaintance with the +language of the Nasamonians. They were led across extensive +marshes, and finally came to a town where all the men were of +the height of their conductors, and black complexioned. A +great river flowed by the town, running from west to east, and +containing crocodiles.</p> + +<p>“Here let me dismiss Etearchus, the Ammonian, and his story, +only adding that he declared that the Nasamonians got safely +back to their country and that the men whose city they had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</span> +reached were a nation of sorcerers. With respect to the river +which ran by their town, Etearchus conjectured it to be the Nile, +and reason favors that view.”</p> + +<p>Thus ends one of the most valuable records which have come +down from ancient times. The river referred to is now believed +to be the Niger, or perhaps an affluent of Lake Tchad. Herodotus +has another story of a dwarfish people found in the west +when Sataspes, the Carthaginian, undertook to sail around Libya.</p> + +<p>Although Strabo doubted the existence of pygmy races, yet +his keen mind brought him within reach of the truth. He finds +in the wretched mode of life of the people he called the Ethiopians, +an explanation of the reports of their dwarfish stature. +They were naked and wandered from place to place, and their +sheep, goats, oxen, and dogs were undersized like themselves. +“It was perhaps from the diminutive size of these people,” he +concludes, “that the story of the pygmies originated, whom no +person worthy of credit has asserted that he himself has seen.” +The Greek geographer seems to have had reliable information as +to a fact that on its face is as hard to believe as the legends he +discredits—that there was dwarfish live stock as well as a dwarfish +people. Sir Samuel Baker found that the cows and ewes of +the Bari, a tribe living in the same district with the forest pygmies, +“have dimensions truly liliputian.”</p> + +<p>Aristotle speaks with authority of the pygmies of Africa. +“The storks,” he said, “pass from the plains of Scythia to the +marsh of upper Egypt, toward the sources of the Nile. This is +the district which the pygmies inhabit, whose existence is not a +fable. There is really, as men say, a species of men of little +stature, and their horses are little also. They pass their life in +caverns.” Pliny speaks of the pygmies as dwelling in Thrace +near the Black Sea, in the Carian district of Asia Minor, in +India under the shadow of the Himalayas, and at the sources +of the Nile. There is a valuable fact behind this apparently +confused geography: the Roman was right in assuming there +were several such races.</p> + +<p>The pygmy races of Asia and Indonesia are cited in classic, +Arabic, and Chinese geography, and in mediæval travel. “In +the middle of India,” Ctesias says, “are found the swarthy men +called pygmies, who speak the same language as the other Indians.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</span> +They are very diminutive, the tallest but two cubits +high, the majority only one and one-half. They let their hair +grow very long—down to their knees and even lower. They +have the largest beards anywhere to be seen, and when these +have grown sufficiently long and copious, they no longer wear +clothing, but let the hair of the head fall down their backs +far below the knee, while in front are their beards trailing +down to their very feet. When their hair has thus thickly enveloped +their whole body they bind it round them with a zone +and so make it serve for a garment. They are snub-nosed and +otherwise ill-favored. Their sheep are of the size of our lambs, +and their oxen and asses rather smaller than our rams. Three +thousand men attend the king of the Indians on account of their +great skill in archery. They are eminently just and have the +same laws as the other Indians.”</p> + +<p>This may be a description of the Kiratas, whose district is +east of Bengal in the Himalaya foothills.</p> + +<p>There were vague reports in the classic world of other pygmy +peoples far to the southeast in Asia. The Chinese records make +these more definite. The <i>Hill and Sea Classic</i> describes the +Chiau Yau, a tribe of cap-wearing pygmies three cubits (3 feet +3 inches) high whose country was east of the country of the +Three-headed Men. This is perhaps the country now inhabited +by the Yau tribes, who are short of stature and may be this +long-sought-for pygmy race. Individuals of the Chiau Yau +tribe, “diminutive black slaves,” were sent to the Chinese court +from the coasts of Indo-China in the reign of Ming Tu (A.D. 58-76). +There was also a pygmy people whom the Annamese +called the Phong. They were only two cubits, or twenty-six +inches, high, and although they were cave dwellers a fragrant +perfume emanated from their skins. As hunters they paid their +dues to the state in camphor, rhinoceros horns, and elephant +tusks. Both of these races Gerini locates in “the mysterious +country of the pygmies” in French Indo-China, between the +Mekong and the Black rivers, under the twenty-first parallel of +north latitude. North of this district on the Red River dwell the +dark, dwarfish Pu-lu tribes which seem to be the remnants of a +once widely spread pygmy race. The Santom aborigines of +Yun-nan and Laos are also of inferior stature, with flat faces<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</span> +and black skins. In China itself ancient writings speak of the +black dwarfs of Shantung province as early as the twenty-third +century B.C.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the first record of the Aetas, or Philippine negritos, +appears in Chao Fu-Kua, a Chinese author of the early thirteenth +century, who told of a tribe of small black men with frizzly hair, +round yellow eyes, and teeth that showed through their lips, who +lived in remote valleys of the archipelago. A Chinese work on +novelties, published in 1636, has several passages on the black +dwarfs of Cochin-China. Anywhere from Annam to Siam, it +says, “there are pygmies whose stature is not over three feet +seven inches, who are regarded as of animal origin, who sell +themselves for longer or shorter periods to dealers in aloes. +When engaged they are provisioned, supplied with hatchets and +saws, and sent into the mountains. These dwarfs are very submissive +and servile.”</p> + +<p>Ibn Khordadbeh and Idrisi tell of the Rami, a pygmy race of +Sumatra, who go naked, find shelter in thickets, avoid intercourse +with other people, and use a hissing speech. They are +swift runners and adept tree climbers. They have red frizzly hair +and a stature of but three feet. Curled hair of this color had +been ascribed from the seventh century A.D. to the clawed +negrito savages on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula, and a +traveler of the last generation reports hairy dwarfs on the southwest +coast of Sumatra. Dunashki (about A.D. 1300) has this +note: “When ships approach Volcano Island at the beginning of +a squall, tiny black dwarfs, five spans (nearly four feet) or less +in stature, resembling negroes, appear and climb aboard, without +harming anyone.” All three of these travel notes may be +reflected in the incident in the third voyage of Sindbad, when his +ship, driven by a storm amid strange islands, is boarded by “an +innumerable multitude of frightful savages about two feet high, +covered all over with red hair,” who compel the crew to follow +them to the palace of a giant cannibal.</p> + +<p>Accounts of several other travelers bring the pygmy tradition +down to the era of modern disbelief. Odoric, the fourteenth-century +missionary monk, reports that the Yangste Kiang waters +the Country of the Pygmies, whom he describes as an innumerable +folk, three spans high, and foremost of all cotton workers.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</span> +Their city of Chatan is one of the fairest of places. Æthicus of +Istria declares that he sailed northwest from Ceylon and passed, +among other islands in the Northern Sea, Bridinno, the land of +dwarfs. Marco Polo tells how pygmies were fabricated from +monkeys in Sumatra and sold to curio collectors.</p> + +<p>Maundeville makes the pygmies subject to “the great Chan.” +“The River Dalay,” he says, “goeth through the land of Pygmies, +where that the Folk be of little Stature, and be but three Span +long, and they be right fair and gentle. And they marry them +when they be half a Year of Age and get Children. And they +live not but six Year or seven at the most; and he that liveth +eight Year, Men hold him there right passing old. These Men +be workers of Gold, Silver, Cotton, Silk and of all such Things, +the best of any other that be in the World.” Men of larger size +work their lands and mines for them.</p> + +<p>In another passage Sir John populates an isle with “Little +Folk,” who have no mouths and only an adder speech. Pigafetta, +who went with the Magellan expedition around the world +and wrote its story, reports two races of dwarfs in the Philippines, +one with gigantic ears. The latter were shaven, naked, +shrill-voiced troglodytes, whose food was the sago tree.</p> + +<p>Ludovico Varthema, an Italian Mohammedan, a contemporary +of Columbus and a wide-ranging traveler, tells an incident of his +pilgrimage to Mecca, which may or may not shed light on the +moot question of the Middle Ages and since, as to what became +of the lost Ten Tribes. There was a mountain in the Hedjaz, he +said, inhabited by pygmy Jews, color black, who skipped from +crag to crag like goats—he watched them from a distance—and +when they caught a Moslem skinned him alive.</p> + +<p>In Madagascar in 1770 the French naturalist Commerson, +who accompanied Bougainville in his voyage around the world, +found evidences of a pygmy tribe with an average stature of +three and a half feet, all traces of which vanished in the following +century. His report was corroborated by Count de Modave, +governor of Fort Dauphin. The men of this tribe wore long +beards and were workers in iron and steel, of which they made +lances and assagais. They were brave pacifists. When from +their mountain homes they saw a formidable force approaching +on the plains below, they drove down such cattle as they could<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</span> +spare to the entrances of their defiles to purchase immunity +from invasion. If, however, the enemy entered these defiles, +the little folk savagely attacked them.</p> + +<p>Near to the country of the warrior women in South America, +said the Spaniards, was pygmy land. Peru has traditions of a +race not over two cubits high. California Indians tell of a witch-like +little people in the redwood forest. The Arapahoes tell of +dark-skinned, pot-bellied, cannibal dwarfs who were only three +feet high but strongly made, and skillful trackers. They could +carry buffaloes on their backs, so the Crows said of the small +folk that once roved Montana. In the Gila Canyon in New +Mexico there have been exhumed the mummies of a true pygmy +people, some of them scarcely three feet long, with cerements of +woven cloth, sandals of yucca fiber and ornaments of hummingbird +feathers; legend speaks of thievish dwarfs who lived in +underground houses and sometimes came to the cities for supplies. +D’Orbigny described, in 1831, the so-called Chiquitos, or +Little Folk, who inhabit the heights on the divide between the +Mamore and Paraguay rivers. The men he measured averaged +only four feet ten inches, which brings them within strict pygmy +requirements—not over four feet eleven inches. They are a +broad-shouldered, robust Indian people, hospitable, sociable, +musical. D’Orbigny estimated their number at about twenty +thousand. No recent traces have been found of the Ayamanes +whom Friedemann met in the northern Andes regions and who, +he said, were no more than “five empans,” or three feet four +inches, high.</p> + +<p>There is a Chinese legend that in the remote northern mountains +of the old empire there has lived for seventeen centuries +a race of hairy dwarfs. Inscriptions on the Great Wall are said +to recite that whenever one of the millions of laborers who were +building it was found to have made a mistake in his work, he +was imbedded alive in the wall at the place of his error. +About A.D. 210, the story continues, a body of workmen rebelled +at the custom, and with their families fled to distant +forests where their descendants still live. The hardships of their +journey and their rude surroundings brought these people down +to the pygmy level.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</span></p> + +<p>It is asserted that there is a race of dwarfs in Morocco in +the Atlas Mountains whose existence the Moors have kept secret +for three thousand years because they are regarded as holy men, +and great saints who bring good luck to towns. “Our Blessed +Lord,” the people call a dwarf. “It is a sin to speak about them +to you,” one Moor said to a traveler. The Moorish silence is +declared to be the remnant of a superstition older than the +Mohammedan religion.</p> + +<p>These pygmy stories, of perhaps twenty-seven centuries so +far as the record goes, of at least double that period if unwritten +tradition be included, have been brought together here in order +to assess the scientific reaction to them. Some of them on their +face are completely fabulous, some have an admixture of truth, +some are good enough history. To all except the very latest +of them the scientific reaction was unfavorable until a deluge +of facts made this attitude impossible.</p> + +<p>Strabo among the ancients was in his rights when he complained +that nobody had seen any pygmies, but his facts were +incomplete, for long before his day civilized peoples had seen +them. Browne summarizes in his stiff but elegant English the +unbelief of the scholars of the Renaissance: “Julius Scaliger, a +diligent enquirer, accounts thereof, but as a poetical fiction. +Ulysses Aldrovandus, a most exact geographer, in an express +discourse hereon, concludes the story fabulous and a poetical +account of Homer. Albertus Magnus, a man ofttimes too +credulous, herein was more than dubious; for he affirmeth if any +such dwarfs were ever extant, they were surely some kind +of apes; which is a conceit allowed by Cardan and not esteemed +improbable by many others.” “There is as much reality,” concludes +Browne, “in the pygmies of Paracelsus, that is, his non-adamical +men, or middle natures betwixt men and spirits.”</p> + +<p>Two towering names in natural history, Buffon and Cuvier, +are ranged against the pygmy tradition. Here is Buffon’s conclusion: +“Deceived by some optical illusion, the ancient historians +gravely mention whole nations of pygmies as existing in +remote quarters of the world. The more accurate observation +of the moderns, however, convinces us that these accounts are +entirely fabulous. The existence, therefore, of a pygmy race of +mankind, being founded in error or in fable, we can expect<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</span> +to find men of diminutive stature only by accident, among men +of the ordinary size.”</p> + +<p>Buffon’s explanation of the fable that the pygmies war with +the cranes is so plausible that men would accept it, as his own +generation did, if they did not know that these little folk are +human and not simian. Even so, there may be truth in the +theory advanced. “One knows,” says Buffon, “that the monkeys, +which go in large bands in Africa and India, carry on +continual warfare against birds; they seek to surprise their +nests, and without ceasing prepare ambushes for them. The +storks defend themselves vigorously. But the monkeys, anxious +to carry off the eggs and the young birds, return constantly, and +in bands, to the combat; and as by their tricks, their feints and +movements they seem to imitate human actions, they would +appear to ignorant people to be a band of little men. Behold +the origin and the history of these fables!”</p> + +<p>Roulin was equally ingenious in his explanation of the pygmy +populations and their campaigns against the birds. He noted +the squat frames of the Lapps and Eskimos who dwell within, +or not far from, the Arctic Circle. The pygmies, he decided, +were a circumpolar population. Homer placed their home and +their battles at the southern end of the crane path; Roulin placed +them at the northern terminus, in that Scythia of misty boundaries +one of which was supposed to be the boreal ocean. Pliny had +told that every year the pygmies rode down to the seashore to +destroy the eggs and young of the cranes. Very well, here was +the story explained, for every year the Lapps and Eskimos come +down to the sea and return to the interior, and these people +partly subsist on the eggs of aquatic birds.</p> + +<p>Cuvier is reproachful of Pliny. “I am not surprised,” he +says, “at finding the pygmies in the works of Homer; but to +find them in Pliny I am surprised indeed.” The great French +naturalist has contributed more, perhaps, than any other man to +find the basis of truth or the source of error in classic fables. +His explanation of the pygmy legend, like that of Buffon, is +more convincing almost than truth itself, but its teaching is +error. He finds the source of a fable in a flattering convention +of ancient sculpture: “The custom of exhibiting in the same +sculpture, in bas-relief, men of very different heights—of making<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</span> +kings and conquerors gigantic while their subjects and +vassals are represented as only one-fourth or one-fifth of their +size—must have given rise to the fable of the pygmies.”</p> + +<p>Cuvier died in 1832. Chambers’ <i>Journal</i> in 1844 voiced with +less reserve the unbelief of that period. In a scoffing article it +declares that “the world has long been haunted with the idea that +somewhere in Africa there is a nation of Tom Thumbs”; but +“the grand difficulty about the African nation of dwarfs is the +fact that not a single specimen has been seen either in Abyssinia +or Egypt.” “The pygmy dream, one of the last lingering superstitions +of travel, has been puffed away,” confidently asserts this +periodical. These so-called pygmies were monkeys, not men.</p> + +<p>In 1863 Paul du Chaillu explored the coast lands of West +Africa and in 1871 published the results in <i>The Country of the +Dwarfs</i>. The scientific skepticism of the ages delivered its last +stroke in the attacks that met this book, for already, although the +world did not know it, Schweinfurth, farther east in the equatorial +region, had reviewed an entire pygmy army. The <i>London +Graphic</i> wonders whether or not “Mr. du Chaillu means us to +accept the book as a bona-fide narrative of what he has himself +seen.” Thus cautiously this periodical registers its doubts: +“The first part of the book reads very much like other descriptions +of African exploration; but further on Mr. du Chaillu +represents himself as having arrived at the country of the +dwarfs, whom he considers to be identical with the supposed +fabulous pygmies. This strange race, who average only from +four feet to four feet seven inches high, live a perfectly wild +life in the forests of equatorial Africa, feeding on snakes, rats, +mice, and berries. They go entirely naked, and inhabit huts +made by bending branches of trees in the shape of a bow. The +height of the huts is just enough to keep the head of a man from +touching the roof when he is seated. These dwarfs are very shy +of being seen and hold no communion with the negro tribes +about them, by whom they are called Obongos. Truly we have +here a strange tale.”</p> + +<p>Truly, there are not only lost arts, but lost records, forgotten +histories. Forty-four centuries before du Chaillu was scoffed +at for a true tale, an authentic pygmy testimony was set down +in a letter which a king of Egypt wrote to a vassal chief, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</span>which is still in existence. The world believed in pygmies then +because sometimes it saw them; and their descendants still hunt +the elephant in the forests of equatorial Africa.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f13"> +<img src="images/fig13.jpg" alt="pygmies"> +<p class="caption">“THE SWARTHY MEN CALLED PYGMIES”</p> +</div> + +<p>To the Egyptians of that time the country beyond the Second +Cataract of the Nile was the Land of Ghosts, whence the negroes +brought to the markets of Assuan strange stories of shadowy folk +who dwelt there. Into this land a prince of Elephantine named +Herkhuf marched with a little force. An account of his journey +has been written by Arthur E. P. Weigall, of the Department of +Antiquities of Egypt.</p> + +<p>In the country which Herkhuf penetrated he found pygmies +dwelling, and one he secured. He sent word back to the boy +Pharaoh, Pepy II, and had from him a letter believed to be the +earliest example of a private communication. Yet life still +throbs through its lines and the colors glow in the picture of +an excited royal lad awaiting the coming of this wonder of the +south, directing that his meals shall be ample, that his slumbers +shall be guarded, and that on taking ship at Memphis there +shall be men to see he does not fall into the water. The Pharaoh’s +letter follows:</p> + +<p>“You say in your letter that you have brought a dancing +pygmy of the god from the Land of Ghosts, like the pygmy which +the Treasurer Baurded brought from the Land of Pount in the +time of Asesa. You say to my majesty, ‘Never before has one +like him been brought by anyone who has visited Aam.’ Come +northward, therefore, to the court immediately, and bring this +pygmy with you, which you must bring living, prosperous, and +healthy, from the Land of Ghosts, to dance for the King and to +rejoice and gladden the heart of the King. When he goes down +with you into the vessel, appoint trustworthy people to be beside +him at either side of the vessel: take care that he does not fall +into the water. When he sleeps at night, appoint trustworthy +people who shall sleep beside him in his cabin; and make an +inspection ten times each night. My majesty desires to see +this pygmy more than the gifts of Sinai and of Pount. If you +arrive at court, the pygmy being with you, alive, prosperous, and +healthy, my majesty will do for you a greater thing than that +which was done for the Treasurer Baurded in the time of Asesa, +according to the heart’s desire of my majesty to see this pygmy.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</span> +Orders have been sent to the chief of the New Towns to arrange +that food shall be taken from every store-city and every temple +(on the road) without stinting.”</p> + +<p>A Nubian Highway, so Weigall calls the ancient road down +which the dancing pygmy came to civilization about B.C. 2500. +In A. D. 1878 a little farther south, Stanley followed what he +calls a Pygmy Highway, “along which quite a tribe must have +passed. It was lined with amoma fruit skins, and shells of nuts, +and the crimson rinds of phrynia berries. Our elephant and +game track had brought us across another track leading easterly +from Andari, and both joined presently, developing to a highway +much patronized by the pygmy tribes. We could tell where they +had stopped to light their pipes, and to crack nuts, and trap +game, and halted to gossip. The twigs were broken three feet +from the ground, showing that they were snapped by dwarfs. +Where it was a little muddy the path showed high, delicate +insteps, proving their ancient ancestry and aristocratic descent, +and small feet not larger than those of young English misses +of eight years old.” Later Stanley met individuals of this +tribe.</p> + +<p>These were the Akkas, or Mambuti, the same pygmy tribe, it +would appear, whose sculptured reliefs on monuments of Egypt +going back as far as B.C. 3366 were dwarfed, so Cuvier had +thought, merely to make a conqueror seem larger than life and +indicate their own inferior estate. When a regiment of several +hundred of these little warriors marched behind Moummeri in +1870 to do homage to Munza, the East African negro monarch, +the pygmy tradition marched with them out of the mists of fable +across the border of geographical knowledge. For Schweinfurth, +a European explorer, was there to behold these “grasshopper +warriors,” as he called them.</p> + +<p>The revolution in scientific opinion since that day appears in +the statement that the ninth edition of the <i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i> +prints one paragraph about the pygmies, nearly all of which +is an exposition of myths and a statement of doubts, while the +eleventh edition prints two full pages of ascertained facts.</p> + +<p>Although science always balked at the name of pygmy and +refused as long as it could to admit that the African forests +concealed a race of tiny men, yet the world had long known<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</span> +something of the little peoples. The Spaniards rightly reported +that pygmy Indians had lived in Peru, and they found negritos +in the Philippines. Although Arab traders gave the Andamans +a wide berth because, as they believed, these islands contained +cannibals and no cocoanuts, yet they knew even before the +Middle Ages that a dwarfish people dwelt there. The Dutch +found the Bushmen when they settled South Africa, and hunted +them for sport as if they were jackals; they found also the still +smaller Vaalpens, or “dusty-bellies.” The Lapps of Russia +and Scandinavia were known to mediæval travelers, who were +terrified by their diminutive stature and witch repute. These +mongoloid people, whose mean stature is only five feet, and +their kinsmen, the Eskimos, who are a little taller, are, however, +not classified among the true pygmies, a term which an arbitrary +convention restricts to Little Black Men.</p> + +<p>The pygmies of Asia and Oceania are called negritos, the +pygmies of equatorial Africa negrillos. They vary by tribes in +average height from four feet eight inches to five feet two inches, +with the women smaller and many individuals only a little above +four feet. A full-grown Akka adult, says Stanley, may weigh +ninety pounds. Another explorer estimated the average weight +of six of these adults at seventy-seven pounds and found that +two of them weighed but fifty-three pounds apiece.</p> + +<p>Wherever seen, the tribes of little people have certain things +in common beside their stature. One of these is their discontinuous +distribution. They do not adjoin each other in a continuous +zone of population as the taller races do, but are dotted +here and there across the earth like islands in a sea of alien +populations. Always they occupy the less desirable districts. +The Spaniards called the Philippine pygmies Negritos del +Monte, for they had retired before the Malays to the mountain +gorges. The Lapps rove the tundras of northern Europe. The +Bushmen dwell in the deserts of South Africa. The Akkas inhabit +the steaming forests of equatorial Africa, in parallels of +latitude deadly to the white man. The Batwas live on volcanic +uplands in the Tanganyika country. In the Malay Peninsula +and New Guinea, one seeks in vain for littoral-dwelling +negritos; they have been driven inland and to the mountain +recesses.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</span></p> + +<p>Almost everywhere the little people somewhat resemble in +feature the races that surround them. This is due to unions, +temporary or otherwise, between the pygmy women and the +men of the neighbor tribes, by which various streams of strange +blood have poured into the veins of the lesser stock. Among +the Lapps of earlier generations it almost seemed as if it were +conscious tribal policy to promote a taller stature by encouraging +women and girls to form irregular connections with men of +other European races. There is Bushman blood in the Hottentots, +or Hottentot blood in the Bushmen. In the so-called +Bastards of the Kalahari Desert—a term whereof the wearers +are proud because it concedes to them a Caucasian strain—the +blood of the Bushmen meets the blood of the Boers in the halfway +house of the Hottentot.</p> + +<p>Herbert Long, who spent six years in Central Africa with +an expedition from the American Museum of Natural History, +notes in its <i>Journal</i> for 1919 the fact that the pygmy men he +saw were often much taller than their mates, and gives a reason, +that may explain the same phenomenon in related tribes. +Comely pygmy girls enter the harems of the chiefs of the tall +negro tribes. Their half-breed sons are sent back to their own +people. Since women are valuable chattels, the daughters are +retained by the father’s tribe. The custom increases pygmy +prestige; but the little men must not wed the women of their +tall friends.</p> + +<p>The small black folk of the forest have thus won a right to +the marked regional resemblance they bear to the larger black +folk of the yam and breadfruit clearings, whom they serve as +scouts against the approach of an enemy and as allies in forest +warfare. “In western Africa, as in the Philippines and in the +two Gangetic peninsulas,” asserts Quatrefages, “the pygmies +have played an ethnological rôle, at times important, in crossing +with superior races and in giving birth to half-breed populations.” +The Pandavas, or heroes of the oldest Indian times, +set the example of these unions with lower races.</p> + +<p>The Dravidians of southern India, Quatrefages declares, occupy +the territory formerly populated by the negritos—and +carry their blood. He also thinks that the blood of these little +blacks shows itself in the skin and stature of natives in parts<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</span> +of Japan. Relics of a pygmy race are supposed to exist in +Sicily and Sardinia, “along the highroad between Pleistocene +Africa and Europe”; fifteen per cent of the men of South Italy +and Sardinia are rejected for military service because less than +sixty-one and one half inches high. South of Salamanca in western +Spain, the valley called Las Jurdes is peopled by men and +women said to be little more than three feet high, whose shrunken +stature is attributed to unwholesome surroundings.</p> + +<p>No true pygmy race has developed a pronounced nose bridge, +and only the lozenge-faced Bushmen have salient chins. Among +nearly all of the tribes there is a deficiency in the fatty tissues +which affect the skin, so that, even before old age comes, they +present a wrinkled appearance as if the skin fitted too loosely. +This is true even of the Lapps. The countenances of these +northern dwarfs are mongoloid, but without the slanting eyes of +the Chinese and Tartars, and their heads are the roundest of +any race of men. The negrito and negrillo tribes have rounder +heads than the tall negroes. The bodies of many of the little +people in Central Africa and New Guinea are covered with a +downy growth. Pygmy complexions show olive in the Lapps, +light yellow in the Bushmen, yellow brown in the Indonesians, +dark brown in the negritos of the Andamans and Philippines, +and among the Akkas, as Schweinfurth puts it, the color of +coffee slightly roasted.</p> + +<p>Small hands and in some cases small feet characterize these +tribes, and grown girls of the Bushmen show, under measurement, +feet but little more than four inches long. Their bodies +are long in proportion to their legs, and the legs are slim. +The mid-point of the body is above the navel instead of below, +as it is in the tall races. The pygmies of Africa are pot-bellied; +this is due to diet, and is corrected by regular and wholesome +food.</p> + +<p>In other respects the pygmies differ from the rest of mankind +chiefly in what they lack. Save in the case of the Semangs +of the Malay Peninsula they may have no separate language; +and they use always the speech of their taller neighbors. There +is no pygmy state, or king, and often no tribal organization; +even among the Lapps there was a nomad tribe called the “twice +and thrice tributary Lapps,” because its members paid tribute<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</span> +to two, sometimes to three states—Russia, Denmark, and Sweden. +The Andaman negritos and the Akkas of the West African +Rain Forest are the only races that never devised a means of +making fire, though both know its use. The Andamanese are also +the only people that never made a musical instrument and +the only people that never domesticated a food animal or cultivated +a plant.</p> + +<p>One or two things, however, may be said for the culture of +the little folk. There are no pygmy cannibals. Although the +Bushman houses, mere mats suspended on stakes, are the most +primitive known, yet these are the most skilled artists in South +Africa, and some of their figures suggest that they may have +known hieroglyphic writing. All the little peoples treat their +women kindly, and reverence gray hairs. The Andamanese +are monogamous and believe in an omniscient deity. On the +other hand, the highest religious concept among the polygamous +Akkas is of a pygmy devil. The Bushmen live in a state approaching +sexual promiscuity; it used to be the custom, when +a man wished a temporary mate, to kidnap a small child, and +the mother would follow the child into his home. The Andamanese +have the peculiar custom of manifesting joy by weeping, +and it is said the Veddahs never laugh.</p> + +<p>No certain statements may be made as to the aggregate numbers +of the dwarf nations. There are about 50,000 Bushmen, +27,000 Lapps, 20,000 Aetas, 2,000 Mincoupies, 2,000 Veddahs. +It may be that the equatorial pygmies are half as numerous as +the Aetas. Everywhere the number of these people is diminishing.</p> + +<p>As to their origin and the cause of their shrunken stature, +there is no agreement among ethnologists. The small blacks +may have come into existence in South India and spread thence +east and west, peopling Melanesia and Africa. Once they +formed a belt of population clear across equatorial Africa. On +the evidences of crania which he examined, Professor Kollman +believes that, about b.c. 5000, they dwelt as far down the Nile +Valley as the Thebaid. The Oriental branch of the race, pure or +mixed, extends, says Quatrefages, from the extreme southeast +of New Guinea to the archipelago of the Andamans and from +the Sunda Islands to Japan, and on the Asiatic continent from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</span> +Annam and the peninsula of Malacca to the western Ghauts, and +from Cape Comorin to the Himalayas. This grandiose geography +is challenged by later scholarship.</p> + +<p>Yet over all these wide spaces, and over the Dark Continent, +pygmies may have been the first settlers. Once it was surmised +that the tall negritoes sprang from them; but this is a moot +point. To accept it would be to assert that short stature is a +primitive trait, and that all the tall races are in this respect +abnormal. British anthropologists hold that the Bushmen are +a distinct people, but that the Congo pygmies, though of livelier +intelligence than the tall blacks, are yet special groups of the +Nilotic or Bantu negroes, arrested or degenerated by the inhospitable +forest. Their diminished stature, Stanley urges, is +the result of “three thousand years of isolation, intermarriage, +and a precarious diet of fungi, wild fruit, lean fibrous meat of +animals, and dried insects; in a word, of the utter absence of +sunshine and the lack of gluten and saccharine bodies in their +food.”</p> + +<p>Handicapping conditions may have produced the Lapps of +the Arctic Circle, the vanished Indian dwarfs of the Andes, the +enigmatic Bushmen, and the little black men of Africa, the +Malay Peninsula, and various isles of the eastern sea. But in +old fables pygmyland is hard by the country of the giants. It +happens that the diminutive Lapp is neighbor to the tall +Karelian, the Bushman and Akka to the stalwart Bantu. There +are little people of the frigid zone, the tropics, and the south +temperate. There were dwarfs of rich ocean littorals as well as +of the tundra, the mountain glen, the desert, and the equatorial +forest.</p> + +<p>“I believe mankind was originally a dwarf,” says Leland. +Churchward, in his <i>Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man</i>, +holds that paleolithic man was a pygmy, “the first little earth +man or red man,” and that he was evolved near the Nile springs, +and thence overspread the earth. Sign language and articulate +sounds, the Masonic writer thinks, were worked out by these +little folk. After talking with representatives of their race, he +concludes that they have a monosyllabic speech, and words with +the same sounds as the Egyptian hieroglyphs. The resemblance +of living pygmies to the long-armed, short-legged, paunchy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</span> +dwarf-gods of Egypt and Phœnicia, and notably to Bes, has been +remarked. These squat divinities may have owed their being +to ancient fear of small men, the elder brothers of historic +man. Sir Harry Johnston thinks it possible that the little blacks +once overspread Europe and, by their prankish good nature and +curious power of becoming invisible in herbage and behind +rocks, gave rise to folk-tales of gnomes, kobolds, and fairies. +Kollman, the Basle anatomist, contends that the pygmies were +the child race of mankind, and that each tall race was preceded +by a small one. The common opinion, that healthy dwarf +tribes have been produced by degeneration from men of larger +mold, is not fully satisfying. Yet the oldest human skeletons +found thus far are of men of normal size.</p> + +<p>There are pygmies, but why? The one riddle succeeds the +other.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c12">Chapter XII. The Amazons of Legend</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">Men</span> gave up with regret, and not so long ago, and not until +they had ransacked all the horizons of geography, the belief +that somewhere in the world there is a state of warrior women. +They are reluctant to admit, nor have they quite admitted, that +there never was such a state; and still they ransack the horizons +of history and folk-lore for proof that at one time Amazons +were.</p> + +<p>Myth has mapped the woman’s commonwealth in western +Africa, in Armenia on the Black Sea, in the Caucasus, in Russia +along the lower Don, in islands of the Baltic, the Indian Ocean, +and the Caribbean, and upon the River of the Amazons. There +is report of it in Greek, Turanian, Arab, Negro, and American +legend. It figures in the poetry of Arctinus, the history of +Herodotus, the mendacities of Maundeville, the narrative of +Marco Milioni, the visions of Columbus, the journal of Orellana +and the Guiana prospectus of Raleigh.</p> + +<p>Unlike other ancient tales, the Amazon story, instead of +slowly fading, has grown in definiteness of outline as it approached +to-day. The men who discarded utterly the belief that +there is a woman state lived not long after the men who thought +the state had at last been found.</p> + +<p>The Amazons—so runs tradition everywhere substantially +the same—were a tribe of women ruled by a queen and subsisting +by the chase and by wars of pillage. They fought both +on foot and on horseback, using the bow, the spear, the javelin, +and the double-headed ax. Their garb consisted of a short tunic +clearing the knee and fastened over the left shoulder, leaving +the right breast bare. Their outlines were powerful and beautiful. +There was a dispute, never composed, between art and +etymology, as to their bosoms. The word Amazon, though of +barbarian origin, was thought to derive from <i>alpha</i>, privative, +and <i>mazos</i>, the Greek for breast. On this derivation the grammarians<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</span> +built up the legend that the right breast of the women +militant was either amputated, or seared, or compressed in +youth, so as not to interfere with the recoil of the bow string. +But the sculptors would not accept this deformation, and statues +and bas-reliefs represent the women with bosoms entirely +womanly. There are recent etymologies wherein “Amazon” is +supposed to mean “full busted,” “moon daughter,” “vestal,” +“girdle-bearer,” or “game-eater.”</p> + +<p>One feature of the myth shows the working of inference. +The woman state must sustain its numbers. There must be children +even if there were no men, or the tribe would become extinct. +In place of husbands, therefore, there were what Sir +Walter Raleigh called “Valentines.” Once a year the women +paid a visit to the men of neighbor tribes, or once a year these +men called on them. The women retained the girl children born +of these excursions. As to the boy children, customs differed. +In some cases the mothers nurtured them until they were weaned, +and returned them to their fathers when these came back the +following year, as always they did. In other cases the mothers +put the male infants to death, or maimed them and raised them +as slaves of the state.</p> + +<p>The Greek treatment of the myth had a certain other-worldliness. +The Amazons figured in epic events; their struggles were +with demigods. They came to the relief of Troy, and their +subjugation was one of the dozen labors of Hercules. With +him they fought, and with Achilles, and with Theseus, slayer of +the Minotaur, and with Bellerophon, rider of the winged +Pegasus, and with the griffins which guarded Scythia’s fabled +gold; and they invaded Attica to attempt another <i>Iliad</i> in +revenge for the capture of a queen. Greek sculptures and +decorative pottery show the national feeling that these were a +people far removed in time and space. The figures are beautiful, +but something of barbarian wildness animates the features. +Earlier art had represented them as bloodthirsty mænads, raiders +of the borders, but the Greek humanizing spirit wrought +itself upon the legend until the story the sculptors tell is of +men’s regret that they need smite these beautiful savages.</p> + +<p>This spirit is in the <i>Æthiopis</i> of Arctinus of Miletus, wherein +Amazons appear on the side of beleaguered Troy. Their queen,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</span> +Penthesilea, spreads death among the large-limbed Argives +and overwhelms Achilles with abusive words. The angered +hero slays her, but when he removes her helmet the charm of +her strikes him to the heart and he grieves over his victim.</p> + +<p>The story, with its fine human touch, recedes into the mists in +a tale which in effect is its epilogue. After his own death and +the ruin of Troy, Achilles reigns over the isle of Leuke, an +Avalon of the East in the Black Sea at the Danube’s mouth. +Thither, even to the land of shades, the rage of the Amazons +for the death of their queen follows him. At their capital on +the river Thermodon in Pontus they seize on ships and compel +the sailors to steer them to the enchanted isle. But as they +approach a temple in the grove their horses take fright and +bolt over a cliff into the sea. A terrible storm shatters the +fleet and few of the vengeful women escape.</p> + +<p>In classic legend, there were three woman states—the countries +of the Gorgons and Amazons in the west of Libya, and an +Amazon state in the northeast of Asia Minor near the modern +Trebizond; the capital of the latter was the mythical Themiscyra +on the banks of the river Thermodon, now called the Termeh. +The African Amazons subjugated the Gorgons, and under their +queen, Myrina, marched in triumph through Egypt, Arabia, and +Asia Minor into Thrace, where they were defeated and turned +back by Mopsus. Ephesus, Smyrna, Cyme, and Myrina claimed +them as their founders. This horde was wiped out by Hercules +at the time when he erected the pillar in Africa, for, says +Diodorus Siculus, “it was a thing intolerable to him, who made +it his business to be renowned all the world over, to suffer any +nation to be governed any longer by women.”</p> + +<p>It was the Black Sea Amazons whom the Greeks mainly +limned in art and legend. These women, whose earlier home +had been the Caucasus, raided the coasts of Asia Minor and +came to the relief of Troy. The ninth labor of Hercules was +to bring back the girdle of their queen, Hippolyte, a task equivalent +to the subjugation of the state. Theseus carried off another +queen, Antiope, and this led to the Amazonian invasion of Attica; +the fierce women were not halted until they had penetrated +Athens.</p> + +<p>This expedition and that of their African sisters were interpreted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</span> +by the Greeks as allegories of barbarian menace. In +the tread of Amazonian horse they may have had a presage of +the hoofs of Hunnish, Turkish, and Tartar cavalry that in after +ages was to ride across their world. Literally taken, the tales +seemed to Strabo incredible. “For who can believe,” he asks, +“that an army of women, or a city, or a nation, could ever subsist +without men, and even dispatch an expedition across the +sea to Attica? This is as much as to say that the men of those +days were women, and the women men.”</p> + +<p>Twice, however, in the field of legend over which Strabo cast +an unbelieving backward glance, the note of reality, or perhaps +of realism, had been sounded. When Alexander the Great was +in Parthia, Thalestris, the Amazon queen, paid him a Sheba-like +visit at the head of a hundred women carrying double-headed +axes and the traditional half-moon shield. He was the +bravest of men, said the lady, and she the bravest of women. +They owed a duty to posterity to raise offspring in whom the +two strains should conjoin. The appeal flattered the vanity of +the Macedonian, nor was he averse to meeting its conditions. +So runs a Greek story like unto others with which the Alexander +legend was embroidered. But Arrian explains that the +so-called queen and her followers had been sent as a present +by the governor of the next province—a time-honored Asiatic +gift.</p> + +<p>There was a battalion of death perhaps three thousand years +before the young women of Russia took the field in the World +War, and those of Poland in the war that followed it. The +story is told by Herodotus in a chapter which begins in myth +and seems to pass into history. In the opening scene three +shiploads of Amazons, captured in the Attic campaign already +noted, overpower the Greek sailors and slay them all. They let +the ships drift across the Black Sea and beach on the shores of +the Palus Mæotis (Sea of Azov), where the women seize a herd +of horses. Mounting them, they fall to plundering the land of +the free Scythians. Herodotus continues:</p> + +<p>“The Scyths could not tell what to make of the attack upon +them—the dress, the language, the nation itself were alike unknown; +whence the enemy had come, even, was a marvel. +Imagining, however, that they were all men of about the same<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</span> +age, they went out against them and fought a battle. Some of +the bodies of the slain fell into their hands, whereby they discovered +the truth. Hereupon they deliberated, and made a +resolve to kill no more of them, but to send against them a +detachment of their youngest men, as near as they could guess +equal to the women in number, with orders to encamp in their +neighbourhood and do as they saw them do. When the +Amazons advanced against them, they were to retire and avoid +a fight. When they halted, the young men were to approach and +pitch their camp near the camp of the enemy. All this they +did on account of their strong desire to obtain children from +so notable a race.”</p> + +<p>The Scythian youths were sent out. The Amazons saw that +no harm was meditated against them and desisted from further +attack; and slowly the romance unfolded. Day after day the +camps were pitched nearer each other, and both parties, having +naught but arms and horses, supported themselves by the chase. +“At last,” says Herodotus, “an incident brought two of them +together. The man easily gained the good graces of the woman, +who bade him by signs to bring a friend the next day, promising +on her part to bring with her another woman. He did so, and +the woman kept her word. When the rest of the youths heard +what had taken place they also sought and gained the favor of +the other Amazons.</p> + +<p>“The two camps were then joined in one, the Amazons living +with the Scythians as their wives; and the men were unable to +learn the tongue of the women, but the women soon caught the +tongue of the men. Then the Scyths said: ‘We have parents and +properties; let us therefore give up this mode of life, and return +to our nation, and live with them; you shall be our wives there +no less than here, and we promise you to have no others.’”</p> + +<p>But the young women would not go home with their husbands +to live with their mothers-in-law. “Of womanly employments +we know nothing,” they said. “To draw the bow, to hurl the +javelin, to bestride the horse, these are our arts. Your women +stay at home in their wagons engaged in womanish tasks and +never go out to hunt or to do anything. We should never agree.” +So they bade the bridegrooms go back to their parents, ask for +their inheritances, and return. This the youths did, and then<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</span> +the Amazons told them they could no more get along with their +fathers than with their mothers. They had stolen horses and +wasted the ancestral lands. “As you like us for wives,” they +pleaded, “grant the request that we leave the country together, +and go and dwell beyond the Tanais” (the river Don).</p> + +<p>Again the Scythian youths consented, and all fared to a region +three days’ journey east and three north of the Sea of Azov. +Thus was founded the race of Sarmatians. From that day +to this, concludes Herodotus, the Sarmatian women ride with +their husbands in the chase, and in war take the field with +them. Nor does a girl marry until she has killed a man in +battle, so that among them are women of advanced years, +celibates because they have never struck down a foe. Also, the +Sarmatians do not speak the tongue of Scythia correctly, because +the Amazons learned it incorrectly at the first.</p> + +<p>At least the topography of the tale has been confirmed. +Sarmatia is the ancient name of Poland and Niebuhr has traced +the westward drift of the tribes from the Don steppes to the +great Hungarian plain, whence they overspread Poland and Russia. +One could wish to believe that Maria Botchkareva, commander +of the Battalion of Death that took the field against +Germany when the manhood of Soviet Russia faltered and +grounded arms, is of the high Amazonian strain.</p> + +<p>The Indian epic of the <i>Mahabharata</i> has a similar tale, although +in less realistic vein. There was a religious rite known +as the Aswamedha, in which a leader would loose a horse, and +follow it for a twelvemonth into whatever adventures and countries +it might go—a quest entailing wanderings and warrings. +Rajah Arjuna of the Gangetic city of Hatusapur took the pledge, +and in the fifth stage of his adventure followed the ranging horse +into the Country of Women. He entered it with heavy heart, +knowing its danger.</p> + +<p>These were not like other women, but rakshasis, or goblin +women. Their queen, the Rani Paranunta, was a beautiful +young creature, and so were all her women. But their customs +were worse than Circean. When men entered the land they were +kindly entreated and beguiled into remaining for a month or +more; and, indeed, there were guards to prevent their escape. +After thirty days they were killed, and such of the women as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</span> +had entertained them, but were not expectant mothers, took their +own lives—the suttee. Thus was it assured that the Country of +Women should always be also the Country of Young Women.</p> + +<p>The roving rajah and his train were gloomily pondering these +customs when they saw a troop of Amazons appear, and lead +away the Aswamedha horse to the stables of their queen. These +were young girls, all between the ages of fifteen and sixteen, +arrayed in pearls and rich stuffs, with bows in their hands and +quivers at their waists and proud horses under them. Among +them rode their queen on an elephant. And she bade Arjuna to +cease his quest. “Become my slave, drink with me, and pass +your time in pleasure,” said the young Rani.</p> + +<p>Arjuna reminded her that this was an invitation to die thirty +days later. To which the Rani replied that really it should make +little difference to him: “If you resist me you fall by my arrows; +if you remain you have to face the light of my eyes.” Already +her beauty had overcome his heart, but his mind made a last +appeal. Let her permit him to fulfill his vow and he would +come back to wed her and would find noble husbands for all +her women. The young queen liked the speech and sped him on +his way to other adventures, and the tale itself to its ultimate +happy ending.</p> + +<p>In a fortified palace in an iron city of Ceylon—Hiouen +Thsang tells the story—dwelt other goblin women to the number +of five hundred. On their towers flags flew to attract passing +ships. When merchants were sighted, the rakshasis took the +form of beautiful maidens holding flowers and strewing scents, +and with music welcomed them to the iron city. There was a +prelude of wanton pleasure and then the strangers were shut up +in an iron prison and devoured at leisure.</p> + +<p>Hither came Simhala, prince of the merchants, and five hundred +of the trader-folk, while the lucky signals waved on the +towers of the siren host. Simhala mated with their queen, and +each of the men found a companion, and of each union a son +was born. But an evil dream came to the prince, and he went +in the night to the iron stronghold, whence a captive’s voice told +him who the women were and what he might expect. If he would +escape, there was a divine horse on the seaboard that would +carry him away.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</span></p> + +<p>The next scene shows the goblin women, each with her child, +questing the air in search of their fugitive husbands and by +blandishments persuading them to return. Simhala alone stands +out. But his deserted queen, hastening before him to his father’s +house, wins the elder man for her husband, and then brings on +the demon women for a carnival of death. In the morning the +royal ministers find in the palace hall no living thing, but only +gnawed bones. The remainder of the story tells of the vengeance +of the son in a second expedition to the Isle of Gems.</p> + +<p>“Then,” says the narrative, “the rakshasis were driven back, +and fled precipitately to rocky isles of the sea.” There for a +while we must seek the warrior women.</p> + +<p>Marco Polo found them “about five hundred miles toward +the south in the ocean” from Sind. Here were two islands thirty +miles apart, supposed by modern geographers to be the Two +Sisters lying near Socotra. One, inhabited solely by men, was +called the Island of Males; the other, inhabited solely by women, +was called the Island of Females. In March, April, and May the +men lived with the women, and at the same time sowed grain +in the fields. The rest of the year, because of the climate, the +men lived in their own island, knowing that if they stayed with +the women it would be “at the risk of falling a sacrifice.”</p> + +<p>In Siamese folk-lore the Amazon island is farther to the east, +in the Mergui archipelago, where lies the Country of Widows, +or See-Saw Country of Widows—a vanishing city where are +women only, and nothing can float on water. Still farther east, +legend—Arabic, mediæval, and modern—tells of women commonwealths +in Engano; in the “Sea of Malatu,” identified as +a bay of North Borneo; and in an island not far from Samar +in the eastern Philippines. Even in the Ladrones and the Carolines +the Jesuits heard of female islands. Pigafetta was told by +a pilot of an island called Acoloro, which lies below Java Major, +where are found no persons but women, and these become pregnant +from the wind. They kill their male offspring and any +men who visit their island.</p> + +<p>The name of California, borne by an American state, was +given by mediæval legend to an Amazon island “on the right +hand of the Indies very near to the terrestrial paradise.” Although +troglodytes, the pirate women who inhabited it lived<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</span> +luxuriously. Their arms and armor were of gold and their +caves were richly tapestried and adorned with gems and feather-work, +won by plunder of passing ships.</p> + +<p>In the <i>Arabian Nights</i> the Amazon legend becomes entangled +in other myths. Hassan el Bassorah loves and weds a strange +and beautiful woman, but she flies away to the farthest of an +archipelago of seven islands ruled by her father. He has an +army of twenty-five thousand women, “smiters with swords and +lungers with lances.” The daughter queens it over the island +of Wak-wak. Here there is a forest the trees of which bear +fruit with the faces of the sons of Adam. When the sun arises, +these exclaim, “Wak-wak, Glory to the Creating King,” and +when it sets, “Wak-wak, Glory to God.”</p> + +<p>Lane, translator of the <i>Thousand and One Nights</i>, adds a +note that the island of Wak-wak, familiar to Arab legend, lay +near Borneo. A queen swayed it and her warriors were beautiful +women. Even the trees bore women who hung by their hair +from the branches and syllabled, “Wak-wak”; if their hair was +severed, they died. Another editor, Burton, holds that there +were two Wak-waks. One was the peninsula of Guardafui +where the pagan Gallas cried “Wak” as the Moslems cried +“Allah”; the vocal fruit tree was the calabash tree, “a vegetable +elephant,” the gourds of which hang by slender filaments. The +other Wak-wak was an island identified as Madagascar, as +Malacca, and as Sumatra. Sometimes the Cantonese speak of +Japan as Wo-kwok, and in New Guinea birds of paradise, +settling on trees, are supposed to cry out “Wak-wak.” This is +also the name of the Falcon-man among the First People of +American myth, and of Philippine sorcerers who could disconnect +their legs and fly about like bats.</p> + +<p>The narrative of Maundeville brings legend west again. Beside +the Land of Chaldea is the Land of Amazonia. The woman +state emerged when the king and all his nobles were slain in +war. The high-born relicts slew all the men left, “for they +would that all the Women were Widows as they were.” Thereafter, +“they never would suffer Man to dwell amongst them +longer than seven Days and seven Nights,” and when they met +their lovers in neighboring realms they lived with them only +“an eight Days or ten.” These “wise noble and worthy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</span> +Women” fought valiantly as mercenary soldiers for neighbor +states.</p> + +<p>There was an island of women in the Baltic, according to +Adam of Bremen, but he perhaps confused Gwenland, or Fenland, +with the land of gwens—that is to say, the land of women.</p> + +<p>That there was an Amazon nation in America the Chinese +were first to report. Buddhist travelers of the sixth century +told of a Land of Women beyond the Pacific in what may have +been Mexico. Of this report the Spaniards knew nothing when +they gave the legend a home in the Caribbean Sea, in islands +that were halfway houses in time and space to its wild but +splendid domicile on the mainland of South America.</p> + +<p>The maps which Columbus knew had drawn into their contours +of the Orient the outlines of various islands of women. +In the Catalan map of 1375 the <i>regio feminarum</i> was placed in +Ceylon. The fifteenth-century Catalan map placed the <i>insula +de bene faminill</i> in the west of the Indian Ocean and off the +African coast. A map of 1489 now in the British Museum had +the <i>insula mulierum</i> and the <i>insula virorum</i> not far from +Zanzibar. These were islands of the east, and Columbus +thought he was sailing into the east, and he had with him the +<i>Travels</i> of Marco Polo with their account of the isles of men +and women. It was confirmation of his hopes that shortly after +his landfall in the Bahamas the natives spoke, or seemed to +speak, of the island of women.</p> + +<p>Through January and February of 1493 the journal of +Columbus has much to say of the <i>Isla de Mugeres</i>, of which +many Indians had told him. Its name was Madanino, the modern +island of Montserrat. There was a companion island of men +called Carib, a dozen leagues away. Columbus wanted to visit +both, although the men were cannibals, and to carry away a few +of the Amazons as a present to his sovereigns. But somehow +he never made this expedition.</p> + +<p>On the second voyage Columbus unwittingly touched at another +island of women. It was Guadeloupe, where “abundance +of women [his son Ferdinand is the narrator] came out of +a wood, with bows and arrows and feathers, as if they would +defend their island.” They were naked, with long hair falling +over their shoulders. The admiral sent two Haytian women<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</span> +swimming ashore to barter for food. The armed women bade +them go to the north side of the island “where their husbands +were.” But a landing party of Spaniards brought back ten +women and three boys—and report of an adventure. One of +the captives, wife of a cacique, had been pursued by a swift-footed +Canaryman, and him she threw down and had nearly +throttled before his companions pulled her off. Although +nimble, the women were excessively fat, “and there were some +thicker than a man could grasp.”</p> + +<p>The cacique’s wife told the Spaniards that the island was inhabited +only by women, and that four men they had seen were +there by chance from another island; “for at a certain time in +the year they come to sport with them.” There was another +Amazon island called “Matrimonio.” Having seen the prowess +of these women, the admiral readily believed their stories. He +dismissed them with presents, but the Amazonian wrestler had +conceived a passion for a Haytian prince whom he held captive, +and remained with the Spaniards.</p> + +<p>Other explorers after Columbus mistook for Amazons various +island women who fought them when their husbands were away. +The conquistadors even imagined that the convents of Mexican +virgins, who followed the austere rule of Quetzalcoatl, were +Amazon barracks in which, at seasons, men were made welcome. +Thus by a succession of reports the stage was prepared for +the revelation made by Orellana, when in 1542 he slipped away +with a party of men from the spice-hunter, Gonzalo Pizarro, +who was encamped near the headwaters of the great river—from +that time forth called the River of the Amazons—and +descended its broadening bosom to the sea.</p> + +<p>At the mouth of its affluent, the Rio Negro, Orellana had a +spirited fight with a band led by a number of women. An Indian +captured farther downstream told him that this was a district of +women. Their five Houses of the Sun were plated with gold, +their dwellings were of gold, and strong walls encompassed their +cities; and their country was neighbor to El Dorado. This +story, brought back to Europe with much corroborative detail, +inflamed it, and Spain gave its author a commission to conquer +and colonize the lands he had skirted afloat. But he died on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</span> +his outward passage, and these lands, falling within the territories +of Portugal, Spain had no profit of them.</p> + +<p>Thenceforth the legend of the American Amazons followed +its curious course for three centuries, while the credulity and +cupidity of men wove for it a background bizarre in its colors +and stiff with fabled gold.</p> + +<p>Raleigh’s is the best account—such a recital as must interest +his sovereign, the Virgin Queen. The nations of these warlike +women, he said, were on the south side of a northern affluent of +the Amazon in the province of Topago, “and their chiefest +strengths and retracts are in the Islands situated on the South +side of the entrance some sixty leagues within the mouth of the +sayd river. They accompany with men but once in a yere, +and for the time of one moneth, which I gather by their relation +to be in April; and that time all kings of the borders assemble, +and queenes of the Amazones; and after the queenes have +chosen, the rest cast lots for their Valentines. This one moneth, +they feed, dance, and drinke of their wines in abundance; and +the Moone being done, they all depart to their owne provinces.</p> + +<p>“It was farther tolde me, that if in the warres they took any +prisoners, that they used to accompany with those also at what +time soever, but in the end for certeine they put them to death; +for they are sayd to be very cruell and bloodthirsty, especially +to such as offer to invade their territories. These Amazones +have likewise great store of these plates of golde, which they +recover by exchange chiefly for a kinde of greene stones which +the Spaniards call Piedras hijades, and we use for spleene +stones.”</p> + +<p>Even without the imported wealth of Old World legend—the +tales of pygmies and vampires and headless folk with which +adventurers decorated their narrative—it was a singular backdrop +of tradition before which the female warriors of America +were paraded. Through its colors ran the primitive lusts of +men—for gold and women. The English sought gold, the Indians +sought women, and the Spaniards, so Raleigh said, sought +both gold and women. The natives were fighting over women +a succession of Trojan wars, in which copper-hued Helens passed +back and forth as the booty of the victors. Indian nobles +with a dozen wives envied the polity of other tribes where the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</span> +caciques had half a hundred apiece. When Raleigh asked +Topiawara’s people what he should wrest from the Epuremi, +they replied “their women for us, and their gold for you.”</p> + +<p>Of such a world anything might be true, and Amazon proof +kept coming. The soldiers of de Agira, as Lopez Vaz records, +“did finde that to be true which Orellana had reported, that there +were Amazons, but these women fight to aide their husbands.” +Father de Acunha, who went with Teixera on his great journey +of exploration, asserted (1698) that the large ladies of fable +had “treasures enough to enrich the entire world.” Their +realm was the summits of the Cordilleras of Guiana. The +males of the neighboring Guacaris were “the happy tribe +which enjoys the favor of the valiant Amazons,” and these dwelt +well up the sides of the mountains where the women throned it. +When the men made their yearly call, their hostesses met them +on the frontier with arms in their hands, which, however, they +soon put aside. Each Amazon chose a hammock at random +from the canoes of the men, and its owner followed her to her +lodge.</p> + +<p>Brazilian folk-lore fitted into the legend. The devil-mask of +the Jurupary is supposed to represent the mythical hero who +came from the Antilles and overthrew the Amazons. All along +their great river bands of women attacked him, but, like another +Hercules, he destroyed them utterly. The cuirass of the conqueror +became a sacred mask, and it was said that Indian +women would hide in the forests rather than look upon it, so +poignant was its reminder of their overthrow.</p> + +<p>In another story, found upon the middle Amazon, the Indian +women abandoned their lords and retired to the hills, taking +one old man with them. The oldster became the father of all +children born to them, and only girl babies were reared. One +mother, however, had a crippled son, and in pity she secreted +and reared him, and cured his deformity. When his retreat was +discovered there began, says Rothery, a long and tender persecution +from the women, though the boy remained unmoved. To +escape this he agreed that his mother should throw him into a +lake, where he became a fish. Whenever the mother called him +he swam ashore, changed to his beautiful human form and took +food from her hands. This secret, also, was discovered, and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</span> +other women would imitate the call and inveigle the deceived +youth into their arms. The old man, sole tribal husband of +record, noted the neglect of the women, divined the reason, and +went fishing. Other nets failed to hold his prey, but a net of +woman’s hair caught the boy-fish, and youth was no longer +served; the old man killed him.</p> + +<p>Navaho myth tells a related story of the secession of the +women, their cohabitation with a water-monster, and their return +to their natural mates. Fragmentary tales of the woman state +come also from Colombia, Nicaragua, Sinaloa, and the two +Californias.</p> + +<p>The Amazon exodus is related in a third story of Brazil, +told by Barboza Rodriguez. When the women abandoned their +husbands, flood and fell barred the way of the pursuers and the +very monkeys pelted them from the trees. After a while the +female republic relented so far as to admit the men once a +year. At length it disappeared into the land of shadows, the +women going down into a hole in the earth, led by an armadillo.</p> + +<p>La Condamine, the French geographer and mathematician, +went to Peru in 1735 to determine the length of a degree of the +meridian at the equator, and on his homeward journey made +the first scientific exploration of the river Amazon. He returned +with one certainty and two doubts. He was sure there +had been a woman state, but he did not know whether there +still was, nor where it could then be found, for the Amazons +were nomads who shifted their camps.</p> + +<p>The distinguished scientist arrays his evidence: testimony of +an Indian whose grandfather had seen an Amazon band pass by +at the entrance of the Cuchura River and spoken with four of +them; like testimony from other natives; statement of the +Topayos that the green stones called Amazon stones which they +wore were inherited from forefathers who had them from a +tribe of women; statement of an old soldier that he had seen +necklaces of Amazon stones among a tribe of long-eared Indians +and learned they had procured them from the women without +husbands, whose territories were seven marches west; native +name of these women, Cougnantainsecouima, meaning “the independent +women who receive men into their society only in +the month of April”; offer of a native of Mortigua to guide La<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</span> +Condamine up the river Irijo which flows hard by the woman +state; passages in the Jesuit <i>Relations</i> of 1726 and reports of +two Spanish governors of Venezuela, Don Diego Portales and +Don Francisco Torralva.</p> + +<p>Where are the Amazons now? asks La Condamine. He notes +that while different accounts designate the point of their retreat, +some toward the east, others the north, and others again +the west, these several routes converge in one common center, +the mountains in the midst of Guiana. But without further +proof he will not credit the existence of the woman state there +in his time. The tribe may have moved again. “Or, what to +me appears a more probable event than any other, it will have +forsaken its ancient habits, either in consequence of being overpowered +by some other nation, or of the maidens’ having at +length lost the aversion of their mothers to the company of men. +Thus, though no remaining vestige should be found of this +feminine republic, this would not yet prove that none such had +ever existed.”</p> + +<p>The majority of the natives of South America, La Condamine +declares, are liars, credulous, and prone to the marvelous. But +none of them, he urges, could have heard of the Amazons of +Diodorus Siculus, and Justin previous to the arrival of the +Spaniards; yet even then Amazons were spoken of as existing +in the center of the country, and later reports come from tribes +that never had held commerce with Europeans.</p> + +<p>If ever there was such a nation, concludes La Condamine, it +must have been in America. The Indians were constantly +wandering. Their wives often went with them to war. They +had plenty of chances to get away from the men, and provocation +enough in the hard estate of slavery in which they were +held. Why could not these aboriginal women do what even +imported slaves had done? Negroes in Latin America had fled +from their taskmasters into the tropical forests, and there had +reared a dozen Cimarron republics. Thus, weighing evidence, +common report and probabilities, La Condamine casts the weight +of his name in favor of the Amazons.</p> + +<p>Two generations later the woman state received the allegiance +of Alexander von Humboldt, founder of the science of physical +geography and largest name among the savants of the nineteenth<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</span> +century. He had spent five years in tropical America at the +opening of the century, and in his <i>Personal Narrative</i> of travel +there he records affirmative answer to the question: Did he +accept the conclusions of La Condamine? There was exaggeration, +he thinks, in the stories of Raleigh and Oviedo; but +nevertheless he cannot entirely reject “a tradition which is +spread among various nations having no communication with +each other.”</p> + +<p>Ribeiro, the Portuguese astronomer who had traversed the +Amazon basin, entering it a disbeliever of the story, had found +the same traditions of the woman state among the Indians, and +confirmed all that La Condamine reported a generation before, +Humboldt notes. He is impressed with the contemporary testimony +of Father Gili. The friar had asked a Quaqua Indian +what tribes inhabited the Rio Cuchiviro and the Indian named +three, one of them the Aikeambenanos. The missionary knew +the Tamanac tongue, and in that tongue the word signified +“women living alone.” The Indian confirmed his translation, +and explained that these were a community of women who made +blow-tubes and other weapons of war. After the familiar +Amazon custom they had seasonal amatory relations with the +neighboring nation of Vokearos and sent their men visitors +back with presents, but killed their male offspring. This tale, +says Humboldt, seems framed on the traditions which are rife +among the Indians of the Maranon and among the Caribs; yet +the Quaqua who told it knew no Castilian, had never before +talked to a white man and certainly did not know that below +the Orinoco was the river of the Amazons.</p> + +<p>“What must we conclude?” asks Humboldt. “Not that there +are Amazons on the banks of the Cuchivero, but that women in +different parts of America, wearied of the state of slavery in +which they were held by the men, united themselves together; +that the desire of preserving their independence rendered them +warriors; and that they received visits from a neighboring and +friendly horde. This society of women may have acquired some +power in one part of Guiana. The Caribs of the continent held +intercourse with those of the islands; and no doubt in this +way the traditions of the Maranon and the Orinoco were propagated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</span> +toward the north,” so that Columbus and other +navigators who followed him heard of them repeatedly before +reaching the mainland of America.</p> + +<p>A generation later the woman state is spoken of by Schomburgk, +who traversed Guiana in 1835-43. Everywhere the +Caribs told him of the Woruisamocos, a tribe of warlike women +who lived near the sources of the Corentyne in a district where +no white man had been. They shot with the bow and arrow +and used the blow-pipe. Their own fields they cultivated, and +men came thither only as their lovers, and but once a year. +Schomburgk pushed on to the district where the women should +have been; they were not there.</p> + +<p>In the remote regions of the River Amazon’s northern affluents, +says a recent geographer, the women warriors are still +vainly sought.</p> + +<p>Thus this world-wide, world-old story has been followed +through perhaps thirty centuries of tradition on four continents +and in five seas; and the end is a doubt. Men have fought with +parties of armed women, but none has found the City of Women. +Stories of male and female islands may have arisen from the +custom of naming companion islets “brother” isles and “sister” +isles, like North Brother and South Brother islands in New +York’s East River. It is contended that Orellana concocted his +tale to divert attention from his desertion of Pizarro; that +Spaniards mistook young Indian braves, with topknots and +berry-bracelets on their arms, for women; and that the prose +behind the poetry of the American Amazons is the tribe of +Naupes, which still wears green stones for amulets. It is even +suggested that the New World legend grew out of the coast +Indian word, <i>Amazuni</i>, to denote a tidal bore upon the great +waterway of Brazil.</p> + +<p>It has happened that the vivid imagination of the conquistadors +projected stories among the Indians which came back +later with such a wealth of detail as to seem native stuff. Is the +New World Amazon tradition merely Book III, Chapter XXXIV +of the <i>Travels of Marco Polo</i>, writ large upon the wax-like minds +of savages by the curiosity of Columbus and his great companions?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</span></p> + +<p>Before answering, it will be well to turn from stories of a +woman state to authentic records of women who were less than +the Amazons of fable, but more, or rather other, than women of +the hearth. Perhaps the answer is there.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c13">Chapter XIII. The Amazons of History</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">Whether</span> there have been Amazon states or no, there have +been Amazon queens—warrior women who knew how to lead +and whom men were willing to follow. The portrait gallery of +history has set aside its more spacious halls for women of another +kind, for Helen, Cleopatra, Messalina, Theodora, and +their sisters of blandishment. But women militant have also a +place. Tomyris, queen of the Massagetæ, defeated and slew +Cyrus the Great. Semiramis, legendary queen of Assyria, +matched her adulteries with her victories in arms, won all her +campaigns except the Indian, and, in the words of Strabo, left +her monuments in “earthworks, walls, and strongholds, +aqueducts, bridges, and stair-like roads over mountains.” +Boadicea led the Britons in momentarily successful revolt +against Nero. Zenobia, Arab queen, established the Palmyrene +power over the trade routes of the east and swayed Egypt, Syria, +Mesopotamia, and part of Asia Minor, until the arms and gold +of Aurelian encompassed her downfall. Under the poetess +Telesilla the women of Argos repelled a Spartan attack. Joan +of Arc led the armies of France as a girl of nineteen.</p> + +<p>Women have gone to war as single soldiers or in troops, in +disguise, or with husbands, brothers, and lovers. When the +Goths crossed the Roman frontiers their families came with +them in ponderous wagons, and their yellow-haired wives figured +in the Roman triumphs. American Indian women, as the +Spaniards found, were able to use the bow, and defended their +homes when their husbands were away, and sometimes went with +them in battle. The aftermath of a victory among various tribes +of North American Indians—the scalping of the dead, the torture +of the living—was intrusted to the women. They bear +their part in the Mexican revolutions. Thus Ibanez puts it: +“The army is composed of men and women. No one has ever +decided which of the sexes makes the better soldier.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</span></p> + +<p>To count the women, the Spanish author says, is to count the +Mexican soldiers, for every one has a wife along, and more +often than not a string of children. The woman is called a +“soldierette” or a “hard-tack,” and if her man is tiring of her, +“the Indian”; and generals have their “generalettes.” Women +constitute the commissary of the army. Each carries bedding +for herself and man, a basket, and perhaps a parrot. With +her sisters she forms an advance guard several miles ahead of +the main force when the troops are on the march. When the +latter reach camp they find the fires burning and a stew in the +pot. The stew comes out of the basket and the basket is filled +by foraging along the way. The Mexican hard-tack does this +thoroughly, Ibanez thinks: “She passes over the country like +a scourge of God. Along her path not a tree remains with a +piece of fruit, not a garden with a turnip, not a coop with a +chicken, not a barnyard with a pig.” When a soldier dies his +companion passes to another through the swift courtship of +circumstance; and sometimes she seizes the rifle of her fallen +mate and uses it in his stead.</p> + +<p>Among nomad peoples women have always shared the activities +of the men; the seclusion of the harem is for settled folk. +The chronicles and legends of High Asia have their instances +of feminine prowess in arms. Marco Polo devotes a chapter +to Aigiarm, daughter of Kaidu, king of Great Turkey and +nephew to the Grand Khan. She would marry no man, she +said, who could not overcome her by force. Suitors came from +other lands and wrestled with her before the court. Her hand +was the prize of success and a hundred horses were the forfeit +of failure. “In this manner,” says Marco, “the damsel gained +more than ten thousand horses, which was no wonder, for she +was so well made in all her limbs, and so tall and strongly +built, that she might almost be taken for a giantess.” In war she +fought beside her father.</p> + +<p>From Usbeck ambassadors at Delhi François Bernier heard +vaunts of the Amazonian ferocity of the Tartar women. One of +their stories was of the campaign of Aurungzebe against the +Khan of Samarcand. A score of Mogul horsemen had plundered +a village and were binding its people to sell them as +slaves, when an old woman said: “My children, be not so cruel.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</span> +My daughter, who is not greatly addicted to mercy, will be here +presently. Should she meet with you, you are undone.” With +a laugh the horsemen tied her up also, and started with their +captives across the plain. The old woman kept looking behind +her, and at last uttered a scream of joy.</p> + +<p>The raiders turned and beheld a cloud of dust, and in the +midst of it a young woman furiously riding. Raising her great +voice, like the heroines of Russian epic, she bade them loose their +captives and she would spare them. The horsemen heeding +not, her bowstring twanged and twanged again. Four men +tumbled from the saddle, shot at a range beyond their own +arrows. The young Amazon galloped in among the others, slew +the greater part with her unerring bow, and with her saber cut +down the rest.</p> + +<p>There may be an element of romantic exaggeration in each of +these stories. But they make the point that the women of the +Asiatic highlands knew the bow as well as the distaff, and they +bring the tradition of female warriors into the region where +Greek fable placed the Amazons. There are continued references +to women bearing arms in Armenia, in Kurdistan, and in +the early wars of Islam in Arabia. Women in armor fought +with Miltiades of Pontus against the Romans. The seventeenth-century +traveler, Sir John Chardin, had adventure with a ragamuffin +and lewd-tongued queen of the Mingrelians. The Prince +of Georgia said the women of the Caucasus rode as well as the +men, and he accepted the Amazon legend. When Father Angelo +Lamberti was in Mingrelia in 1654, word came that among the +dead in a raiding force from the Caucasus were a large number +of women. They wore complete coats of armor over bright-red +woolen skirts. Their half-boots were adorned with brass +disks and their gilded arrow-shafts bore heads shaped like +the new moon.</p> + +<p>As late as the Crimean war “the Black Virgin,” a Kurdish +woman, paraded at the head of a thousand horsemen before the +palace of the Sultan in Constantinople, and led them away to the +campaign on the Danube.</p> + +<p>The outlines of a veritable woman’s state almost take shape in +Bohemian chronicle and legend of the eighth century. There +was a Slavic queen named Libussa who is supposed to have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</span> +founded Prague and built its imperial palace. She exercised +her sovereign will by marrying a peasant, instituting a Council +of Virgins, and giving women preference in the posts of state. +When she died in 838 and affairs returned to the old footing, +Valasca, her chief woman counselor, undertook to found a +female commonwealth. Thus far more or less authentic history; +legend adds that for a while the commonwealth really was, and +that under it girls were trained to arms, while boys lost their +right eyes and thumbs.</p> + +<p>St. Bernard organized the Female Crusade in 1147, in which +bodies of armed women marched. The tradition of fighting +women was kept alive in western Europe in the Middle Ages by +girls who accompanied their knightly lovers as pages, and with +them entered the chants of balladry. It was nurtured by the +romances of chivalry, in which disguised female warriors like +Bradamante, “in prowess equal to the best of knights,” figured. +But when, for the first time in the modern era, the Amazonian +impulse seized upon masses of women, there was needed, not the +modulated voice of the <i>trouvères</i>, but the Gothic accent of a +Carlyle to tell of it. The phenomenon is known as the Insurrection +of Women, the march on Versailles of October, 1789.</p> + +<p>This was the sudden inspiration of perhaps ten thousand +women drawn from the Central Markets and other rallying +places—“robust dames of the Halle, slim mantua-makers, +ancient virginity tripping to matins, the housemaid with early +broom.” The mob, continues Carlyle, storms tumultuous, wild-shrilling, +toward the Hôtel de Ville. There Theroigne de Mericourt +leaps astride a cannon, her chariot on to Versailles. +Mænads clamor behind. It is the cause of all Eve’s daughters, +mothers that are or that ought to be. “Paris is marching on +us,” exclaims Mirabeau in the National Assembly as the sinister +murmurs come from afar. Soon the esplanade is covered with +“groups of squalid, dripping women, of lank-haired male +rascality.” They break into the assembly, they compel the king +and queen to show themselves, and they bring them back to +Paris, leaving the monarchy in ruins behind them. The return, +says Carlyle, is “one boundless, inarticulate ha-ha—transcendent +world-laughter, comparable to the saturnalia of the +ancients.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f14"> +<img src="images/fig14.jpg" alt="rome"> +<p class="caption">THUSNELDA AT THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY OF GERMANICUS INTO ROME<br> +<i>By</i> C. T. von Piloty</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</span></p> +<p>Not as idealized figures of the Greek friezes, but as turbulent, +blood-hungry corybantes of earlier Greek story the Amazons +of France emerged, almost on the threshold of the nineteenth +century—vanguard of the Revolution. Later the market women +were enrolled in a brigade which wore the Phrygian cap, the +tricolor, a baldric, a short skirt of red, white, and blue, and +sabots. With pike and cutlass, it was their task to escort the +carts which bore condemned royalists to the guillotine. There +were also armed battalions of women and girls in the provinces. +In the external wars of the Revolution about half a hundred +women are known to have fought, young girls in the infantry, +middle-aged women in the cavalry.</p> + +<p>French Amazonism was partly portrayed, partly parodied in +the person of Theroigne de Mericourt. She was a popular +actress, in Carlyle’s phrase “brown-locked, light-behaved, fire-hearted,” +who had “only the limited earnings of her profession +of unfortunate female.” At Versailles she cajoled the guard, +“crushing down musketoons with soft arms.” This woman rose +high, and fell far. Suspected of being a Girondist, “the extreme +she-patriots” seized, stripped, and chastised her on the terrace +of the Tuileries, with Paris looking on agrin. Theroigne lost +her wits from brooding over it, and passed out of the Revolution +into a mad-house.</p> + +<p>Olympe de Gonges, widow at sixteen, blue stocking, pretended +natural daughter of Louis XV, entered the Revolution at middle +age and countervailed the declaration of the Rights of Man +with a declaration of the Rights of Woman. She tried the +patience of Robespierre and he sent her to the guillotine, after +a jury of matrons had found against her plea that she was “about +to give the Republic a citizen.”</p> + +<p>Younger women aped men’s attire and men’s ways. <i>Les +Merveilleuses</i> indecently imitated Roman costumes, going about +in sandals with rings on their bare toes. When a man clad +only in a loin-cloth paraded between two stark-naked women, +the lurking sense of propriety, or of humor, was affronted, and +the group was mobbed. La Maillard, the opera-singer, who was +Goddess of Liberty at the Feast of Reason, wore trousers, fought +duels, and with her female followers went about the streets +to compel other women to dress as she did. This provoked reaction<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</span> +and the Committee of Safety decreed that women’s political +clubs should disband and no woman henceforth have part +in government. Thus disappear the Amazons of France.</p> + +<p>In domestic insurrections and in the defense of besieged +cities, women, as might be expected, figure more largely than +in field operations. Plutarch had told of the women of Argos +who defended their city with such courage that a public decree +gave to them the right to dedicate a statue to Mars, and to their +daughters henceforth the singular privilege of wearing false +beards on their wedding day. The Feast of the Valiant Women +is celebrated in Majorca to commemorate the part taken by +two women in repelling a pirate attack upon an island town. +Spanish women manned the walls of Barcelona during the War +of Succession and provided most of the soldiers that held Saragossa +against the lieutenants of Napoleon. On the maid +Agostina was conferred the honor of bearing the name and arms +of Saragossa.</p> + +<p>The most remarkable woman in the Amazon story and, save +Joan of Arc, perhaps the most dramatic figure in the whole +story of her sex, was born in July, 1889, in the Russian province +of Novgorod. The attempt of Maria Botchkareva to prevent the +suicide of her country in 1917, by taking the field with a force of +women soldiers—the Battalion of Death—who were pledged to +obey and not to debate, to shoot the foe and not to embrace him, +has the romance of a lost cause and more. It is related in +<i>Yashka</i>, her utterly frank autobiography, transcribed for her +by Isaac Don Levine.</p> + +<p>Out of her old life as misused peasant girl and misused wife +this daughter of Russia marched away into another world where +she could strike as well as be stricken. In the Tsar’s uniform +she seemed just a tall, powerfully built, round-cheeked young +soldier. But under the hoyden of the surface there were commanding +qualities; and it would almost seem that Yashka, as the +soldiers nicknamed her, could see straighter than any man in the +empire.</p> + +<p>Her early experiences as a woman soldier in a men’s regiment +were such as perhaps might have been anticipated. She +describes her first night’s slumber in barracks and the blows +and kicks she had to administer to the men on either side. “All<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</span> +night long,” she says, “my nerves were taut and my fists busy.” +Soon, however, she won the respect and then the affection of her +comrades, and a corner of the regimental bathhouse was reserved +for her ablutions. She joined in trench raids, herself +bayoneted a German, killed several more with handgrenades, +was captured and escaped, was wounded and shell-shocked, repeatedly +was commended for acts of bravery or mercy; and +kisses greeted her when she returned from hospital.</p> + +<p>Then came the revolution, committee rule in the army, incessant +soldiers’ meetings, refusal to attack. With Russia dying +before her eyes, Yashka proposed to Rodzianko, president of the +Duma, a desperate expedient—the formation of the Battalion +of Death. Let the women organize a small command free from +committees and subject to full military discipline. The men +would neither fight nor take orders, but perhaps if their women +attacked the enemy, the men might be shamed into moving +forward behind them.</p> + +<p>Rodzianko saw a gleam of hope in the project; Brusilov, +commander-in-chief, approved; Kerensky set his seal on it; and +Maria Botchkareva found herself at the head of two thousand +women of all classes from princesses to peasant girls and +domestic servants. “Who will guarantee,” asked a delegate +at the meeting that authorized this step, “that the presence of +women soldiers at the front will not yield little soldiers there?” +“I will hold myself responsible for every member of the command,” +was Yashka’s spirited reply. “Only discipline can save +the Russian army. In my battalion I shall have it.” And she +did, although the securing it reduced the command she led to +the front to three hundred girls.</p> + +<p>“I had a vision,” she said. “I saw millions of Russian +soldiers rise in an invincible advance, after I and my women +had disappeared in No Man’s Land on the way to the German +trenches.”</p> + +<p>There was a day in July, 1917, when it looked as if the vision +was to become fact. Artillery had prepared the way for a +general attack. Then the committees began to debate, precious +hours passed, the day declined. Into the Battalion of Death +came nearly a hundred men officers, followed by soldiers who +would rather fight behind a woman than not at all.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</span></p> + +<p>Rifles were placed in the officers’ hands, and, a thousand +strong, the detachment formed its battle line, every girl flanked +by two men. Coarse jests rose around them, but the laughter +died in men’s throats when the little command leaped the +trenches and went swiftly forward, alone, as it seemed. “Suddenly,” +says Yashka, “we caught the sound of a great commotion +in the rear. In a few moments the front to the right and left +of us became a swaying mass of soldiers. First our regiment +poured out, and then, on both sides, the contagion spread, so +that almost the entire corps was on the move.”</p> + +<p>The German first line was overwhelmed and the second, and +the third, Yashka’s regiment alone taking two thousand prisoners. +Then word came that the Ninth Corps, which was to +relieve the attacking troops and continue pursuit, was debating +instead of advancing!</p> + +<p>They must needs run for it, for the German counter-attack +was forming. Back over all the trenches they had won at such +cost fled the Russians, the enemy reoccupying them without a +fight. Yashka, shell-shocked, was carried in on the shoulders +of her adjutant.</p> + +<p>Thus the great moment of the Battalion of Death came—and +went. Russian manhood was still capable of a heroic thing. +But the chaos which it had made its world could not resolve +into order even at the poignant drama of Russian women marching +alone.</p> + +<p>What went before and was to come after was all in keeping. +The tread of the little battalion resounds through scene after +scene of delirium. Behind the lines one hears agitators haranguing +the women. One beholds Kerensky banging his table and, +forgetful he has just abolished capital punishment, threatening +to have Yashka shot because she will not tolerate committee rule +in her command. One glimpses snipers in Petrograd firing on +her women as they leave for the front. Her own angry scorn +flashes out in a violent scene when she reviews the Moscow +Woman’s Battalion—committee ruled—and notes the rouge, the +slippers, the fancy stockings, the evidences of a dubious +familiarity with the men.</p> + +<p>There was worse at the front—the men killing their officers +and embracing the enemy; No Man’s Land “a boulevard for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</span> +promenading agitators and drunkards.” Resolved that there +should be some real fighting, Yashka shot a German in the leg +as nonchalantly he approached the lines. Real fighting did +follow; the Russian soldiers turned their machine guns on +their own women. The latter were sent to another sector, and +when the men heard that Lenin and Trotzky had seized control +they celebrated; they tried to lynch the little command. Twenty +girls were killed, the rest fled into the woods.</p> + +<p>It was the end. The Battalion of Death disbanded and Yashka +was seized and brought before the duumvirs. They bade her +join them in “bringing happiness to Russia,” and laughed at her +fierce scorn. But they let her go, and she follows her command +out of these pages. One salutes with pride and pain.</p> + +<p>About four hundred other Russian women, most of them +Siberians, served in men’s regiments, and the colonel of the +Sixth Ural Cossack Regiment was a woman. There was a +smaller number of female fighters in the Austrian armies, a +few in the German. Women figured also in the conflicts that +followed the World War. The Vilna unit of girl soldiers, about +a thousand strong, suffered heavy losses in the defense of Poland +against Soviet Russia. “Their heads thrown back, they seemed +the very spirit of Poland,” said one who saw them in action.</p> + +<p>These were Amazon volunteers. Until yesterday there were +professional Amazons at many of the courts of Asia. The +Celestial King of the Tae-Pings had a regiment of fighting +women. For centuries Indian princes, notably of Hyderabad +and the Deccan, had female guards called Urdu-begani, or +“camp-followers,” on whose loyalty they could rely utterly. A +body-guard of one hundred and fifty girl archers, the loveliest +that could be found in Cashmere, Persia, and the Punjab, rode +milk-white steeds in the service of Ranjeet Singh of Lahore. +There were female sepoys in the palace at Lucknow, female +guards at Bangkok and in Bantam. With their slender bodies +incased in tunics and trousers of rich Eastern colors, with +plumed caps on their small dark heads, and with their erect +and slightly swaggering carriage, these palace troops gave an +added effect of theatricalism to the lesser courts of the Orient. +The Amazon march of the modern stage mimics a reality of Ind.</p> + +<p>The <i>Chronicle of the Cid</i> may provide a prologue for the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</span> +motley spectacle of Africa’s warrior women which follows here. +Six-and-thirty kings of the Moors and one Moorish queen attacked +Valencia. The queen was a negress, and two hundred +mounted negresses rode behind her, all with hair shorn save a +tuft on the top. They wore coats of mail and wielded Turkish +bows, and their queen drew hers so skillfully that they called +her the Star of the Archers. The Christians centered their attack +on this female cavalry, slew the leader, and dispersed her +force.</p> + +<p>Through legend and doubtful chronicle of enterprises Amazonian, +one moves in Africa to a basis of fact as completely +documented as the recent deeds of warrior women in Russia +and Poland. Father Alvares, who went with the Portuguese +ambassador to the Abyssinian court (1520-27), gives it on +hearsay that to the south of the kingdom is a country where +the women have husbands but dispense them from fighting. +Their queen has “no special husband, but withal does not omit +having sons and daughters.” “They say,” says this traveler, +“that they are women of a very warlike disposition and they +fight riding on certain animals, light, strong, and agile, like +cows, and are great archers.”</p> + +<p>In his history of Ethiopia, Father Giovanni Cavazzi has two +stories of negro Amazons in the Congo country of the seventeenth +century. One is of the Princess Lliuga, who refused to submit +to the Portuguese and fought until she won a favorable peace. +Her garb was skins; her weapons were the bow, the ax, and the +sword; her battle custom was to sacrifice a man—cutting off his +head and drinking his blood—before attacking the enemy. The +other story is of Tembandumba, a royal negress who must have +known the Amazonian tradition and who sought to establish the +Amazon state. Like Semiramis, she had a procession of lovers, +and slew them as she tired of them. She ruled her state through +women. All male infants, all twins, and all village-born babies +were killed by her orders, and a magic ointment was made from +their macerated bodies mingled with herbs. The queen set the +example by destroying her own boy baby. She told the young +girls that their temporary matrimonial alliances should be +marriages by capture, they to do the capturing in war. The +turbulent career of this one-eyed queen of a cannibal tribe was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</span> +ended by a husband who poisoned her before she had quite +reached the point of doing for him.</p> + +<p>Until, in some instances, less than a generation ago, the courts +of Negroland maintained palace troops and other fighting forces +of women. Burton and Rothery have collected their stories. In +the Congo empire of Monomotapa, Lopez found in 1680 +battalions of women, armed members of the royal harem. A +generation before, Jinga, queen of Angola, maintained a harem +of half a hundred young men. The monarch of Yoruba boasted +that if the members of his female bodyguard clasped hands, they +could span his kingdom. In the time of the traveler Bosman +the king of Whydah on the Slave Coast had four thousand armed +wives. On the Gle’ lagoon of the Ivory Coast rumor placed a +community of fetish women ruled by a queen who was able with +herbs to develop artificial elephantiasis. These women put +their male infants to death. Dahomey, which lies back of +Whydah, and which became a French protectorate in 1894, was +the best known of African kingdoms—and known for two related +things, its annual Customs of blood sacrifice and its army +of Amazons.</p> + +<p>Sir Richard Burton, who went on mission to King Gélélé in +1863, bearing Queen Victoria’s urgent request that he abolish +the slave trade and human sacrifice in his dominions, has written +the account of this nearest modern approach to the Amazon +state. It is a veracious report and it reads like an evil dream. +The <i>Thousand and One Nights</i> has been called a blend of blood, +musk, and hasheesh. The Dahomey story is an African <i>Arabian +Nights</i>, with native beer and trader’s rum in place of hasheesh, +with blood flowing in more turbid torrents than at Bagdad, and +with a ranker musk—and under the musk the overpowering reek +of the body odors of Negroland.</p> + +<p>In this nightmare state, half hid behind the swamps and +forests of the coast, one senses the controlling and corrupting +presence of some primitive and abominable religion. Africans, +says Burton, worship everything except their Creator. Those +of Dahomey worshiped, among other things, their ancestors. +The Dahoman sovereign must enter Deadland in royal state, +with a ghostly retinue of leopard wives, head wives, birthday +wives, eunuchs, singers, drummers, bards, soldiers. The retinue<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</span> +was swollen yearly at Customs time when criminals and prisoners +of war, publicly sacrificed under the king’s eye, went +drunken and giggling to their doom, while at the same hour +the palace Amazons dispatched female victims to the land of +shades. Throughout the year, whenever the king would send a +message to his deceased father, he killed a subject and forwarded +his soul with it. If he had invented a new drum, or +received a visit from a white man, or even removed from one +palace to another, the soul of some man or woman, slain for the +purpose, must carry the news to the paternal ghost.</p> + +<p>It was impossible, says Lady Burton, to venture from one’s +hut without seeing something appalling—skulls on posts, living +victims impaled, evidences of cannibal feasts, animals tied in +every agonizing position and left to die. Burton himself figured +that there was an annual slaughter of at least five hundred +persons, and during the year of the Grand Customs perhaps a +thousand. The institution was strenuously upheld by a powerful +and interested priesthood; “to abolish human sacrifice was to +abolish Dahomey.”</p> + +<p>This was the woman’s state, somewhat as early Greek legend +pictured the Amazon commonwealth of the Black Sea, before +art and song refined the fable. Women in Dahomey took precedence +over men and the warrior women called themselves +men. When one of the king’s Amazons walked abroad, a slave +girl with a bell went ahead, and men had to get out of the way. +It seemed to Burton, when he went up from the coast to the +capital city of Abomey, that the older and uglier the slave girl +the louder she rang the bell, and the more she enjoyed the +ignoble scamper of his interpreters and hammock men. The +popular name of these women was Our Mothers. Their official +name was The King’s Wives, a title of courtesy only, for the +monarch had his own harem and these other women were supposed +to be a kind of fighting nuns.</p> + +<p>The Amazon army consisted of the Fanto company of the +king’s bodyguard, and the right and left wings, comprising five +arms. The former were distinguished by a headdress in the +form of a narrow white fillet on which was the figure of a crocodile +in blue, and their hair was cropped instead of shaven. +The body of the force was composed of blunderbus women,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</span> +elephant hunters, razor women carrying eighteen-inch blades +attached to a two-foot handle, archers with poisoned arrows, and +infantry with tower muskets. The archers were little more than +heavily tattooed, lightly clad camp followers with knives lashed +to their wrists. The elephant hunters were the élite. They +wore knickers under short skirts, their breasts were bound with +linen strips, and antlers were attached to their caps. Other +Amazons had the same uniform, but wore on their shaven heads +small caps on which were blue tortoise figures.</p> + +<p>Travelers of two centuries ago computed the female army as +about ten thousand strong. The court may have deceived them +by having the women march like a stage army across the parade +ground, slip around, and come back again; or the kingdom may +have been depopulated by its incessant wars, its blood sacrifices, +the slave trade, and the dedication of a fourth of the females +to the celibacy of arms. When Burton was there in 1863 he +figured the total number of Amazons at about twenty-five hundred, +of whom one-third were unarmed.</p> + +<p>The nature of this force seems to have varied from generation +to generation. Travelers report in turn that the Amazons are +cadets of the leading families; that they are slaves made in +war; that they are criminals, common scolds, and women taken +in adultery; that they are loose in morals and that they are +celibates; and that the custom of permitting those no longer +young enough to bear arms to marry was a thrifty substitute for +a state pension. Burton recites the common belief that two-thirds +of them are maidens, the remainder unfaithful wives +condemned to soldiering. He thinks pretty well of their morals, +which were protected by tabu, although while he was in Dahomey +the king had to judge the cases of more than a hundred Amazons +about to become mothers. The crime was lèse majesté, for in +theory these were royal brides, but the punishment was moderate—a +few beheadings, and imprisonment, banishment, or +pardon for the rest.</p> + +<p>Dahomans themselves supposed that their peculiar institution +was of their own time, had forgotten, what Europe knew, that +women guarded their court two centuries before, did not dream +that back to an unfathomed antiquity, it may be, theirs had +been a woman state.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</span></p> + +<p>Burton was present at the annual saturnalia of the Customs, +and to his sometimes sardonic vision all was invested in African +grotesqueness. He noted the immense thighs of the women +officers and found it hard to reconcile celibacy and corpulency. +He described their dances, for also they danced before the king, +“clapping palms on thighs, or on something fleshier.” The +women stamped, wriggled, kicked the dust, and ended with a +violent movement of the shoulders, hips, and loins—an anticipation +of the most modern of popular terpsichorean contortions. +One captain is pictured in terms that approach admiration—a +fine, tall woman with glittering teeth and a gait that was partly +a military swagger and partly a sensuous dance. But the +costumes of all had a phantasmagoric quality—Amazons with +beards of monkey skin, with men’s nightcaps, with red liberty +caps, with fools’ caps, with human skulls, or the lower jaw of +a skull, dangling at the waist.</p> + +<p>These women paraded past the king while Burton looked on. +It may be he tried to take notes and tired at the task. His +narrative reads as if his own head whirled with the dancers, +until he could no longer frame complete sentences. He concludes +that it was something like a pawnshop, for the King’s +Valuables went by with his women.</p> + +<p>About in his own words and manner, but condensed, this is +the picture:</p> + +<p>“Sixteen brilliant banners held horizontally, preceding a +wheelbarrow with a fancy red-and-blue flag. Five huge fans, +followed by razor women. Eight images, of which three were +apparently ships’ figureheads whitewashed, and the rest very +hideous efforts of native art. Sixty-seven women with brown +faces and bead mittens. Twenty-one girls carrying cylinders of +red and white beads. Seventeen women with silver plates +fastened to the sides of their skulls, habited in red clothes and +handling bead cat-ó-nine tails. Twelve women, also in red. +Seventeen fetish pots, three jars, one silver plated urn, attended +by singing women. Twenty casque women with red tunics and +plumes and black horse tails. Eight helmet girls with red +plumes, dark coats, and white loin cloths. Six pieces of plate, +a tree, a crane, a monkey. After singers and dancers, a huge +drum carried by a woman porter. Three large chairs, preceding<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</span> +about fifty heavily armed elephant huntresses, clad in chocolate +and dark blue, with bustles of talismans behind and strings of +cowries before. Four pots. A bullock trunk. Fourteen fetish +women in white caps and tunics and bright yellow grass cloth. +Five black girls dressed in blue. A line of 703 women and +girls with country pots of native beer and bottles of trade rum +and gin. A motley group surrounding two women in big felt +hats. A band and a troop of bardesses. Two girls with serpent +flags. Seven troubadour women dancing. Two warming pans. +An escort of bayonet women. Royal equipages hauled by men +harnessed with ropes. A body of armed women preceding +seven umbrellas and drinking rum. A troop of girls with jugs, +ewers, and jars. Twenty blunderbus women in red caps. Six +kettledrum girls in scarlet caps and bodices and blue skirts. +A calabash with a pyramid of four skulls. Two dancing women +with long switching tails. Fifty captive female dancers. An +old cut-glass chandelier. Living representatives of the mothers +of the Dahoman dynasty. A company of singers commanded by +an old woman in a broad-brimmed hat. A stunning salute of +blunderbuses. Good night after seven mortal hours.”</p> + +<p>Yet there was no doubt that these fantastic women could fight. +Their frames were as powerful as those of the men, whose military +organization their own paralleled; and their hearts were +higher. They were the king’s own troops with his favor to +vindicate and a tradition to sustain. They had greater ferocity +as well as greater courage than the men—“savage as wounded +gorillas,” Burton called them, and he laid this to their enforced +chastity. With them, two centuries ago, Dahomey conquered +the joint forces of Whydah and Popos, and the women fought +bravely against the French. Travelers who saw them in +maneuver at the annual Customs tell how they charged barefoot +and half naked through barriers of thorny acacia, and emerging, +torn and bleeding, but with impassive faces, passed in review +before their sovereign.</p> + +<p>Out of one passage in the history of Dahomey a ray of light +streams. When a king died at Abomey a wild orgy began among +the Amazons of the palace. They took their own lives and they +slew one another. When Sinmenkpen passed to his fathers, +five hundred and ninety-five Amazons died with him; only by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</span> +extorting a solemn fetish oath did Gezo end this custom. There +were similar practices elsewhere. Among the Behrs of the +White Nile, Rawlinson reports, a woman’s guard prevented any +man from approaching the king, except the ministers who came +to strangle him when his end was near. Megasthenes, Greek +ambassador to the court of Sandrokotos at about <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> 300, says +that the Indian king was surrounded by armed women who +guarded his chamber and attended his hunts in chariots or upon +horses and elephants. Sometimes it was their right to kill their +lord, and the slayer married his successor. In Bantam half a +century ago the king was escorted by a girlish cavalry that rode +astride and carried muskets and lances; it was said that if he +died without issue the custom was for them to meet and elect a +new sovereign.</p> + +<p>When kings died, their women guards functioned. It was +the function of priestesses of death. This is the secret of the +Amazon legend and the key to practises of human sacrifice and +periodic and indiscriminate sexual intercourse with which, alike +in Asia, Africa and America, the legend is associated.</p> + +<p>Before fitting the key into the lock of legend it will be well +to let the rule of reason say its word. That large bodies of +women should withdraw themselves from the state, abjure the +society of men altogether or except at stated intervals, live their +own lives and develop their own social tradition, has seemed +to skeptical opinion in all ages a thing not to be believed because +against nature. Yet in all ages women have done before the +eyes of men something very like this. Thousands of them have +gathered in great convents, or as temple harlots have served at +the vast shrines of the Farther East, or as armed priestesses of +the Nearer East have loosed the leash of fable. Their periodic +withdrawals from society for the performance of the Eleusinian +and other mysteries were a routine of the classic civilizations.</p> + +<p>There have been times when the woman state was a fact of a +season, or of a year, or more—as when the men of an island +were fishing elsewhere, or the able-bodied members of a tribe +were away on the annual hunt, or the warriors were on a long +campaign; and the traveler, seeing none but women, might misread +what he saw. Doubtless there have been instances where +the men of a tribe were exterminated in war, and their women,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</span> +retiring to inaccessible retreats, maintained their independence +for a while. Time was when everywhere the women commanded +and the men obeyed. It is not beyond imagination that, sometimes +and in some places, with the memory of the matriarchate +to inspire them, women have revolted against the cruel lot which +was theirs in primitive society, and set up for themselves; for +they were the daughters as well as the wives of the hard-headed +men of the caves. This is perhaps as plausible as the conjecture +that savage man merely concocted the story to dramatize the +natural antipathy of the sexes, to account for the deep groove +of division which this sentiment had run through primitive +society and to justify the fact that society gave men so much +the better of it.</p> + +<p>The roots of the Amazon tradition, however, lie deeper than +what may be called the politics of sex. The truth underlying +the several legends is to be found where, according to report, +the fighting women had their commonwealth. The descendants +of the Cappadocian Amazons who came to the aid of Troy are +to be found in the Armenian highlands. The descendants of +the West African Amazons, on whom, as Diodorus fables, the +vengeance of Hercules fell, are to be found in Dahomey and +near-by negro states. The secret of the Brazilian Amazons is +to be sought, among other places, in Mexico.</p> + +<p>With a single word out of the Old Testament the door of +legend opens. Of the Hittites the Hebrew writers seemed to +know only that they occupied mountainous districts in the land +flowing with milk and honey; that for a space the Jews dwelt +with them and “served Baalim and the groves”; and that +Solomon put a tribute upon them. From the rock carvings of +Asia Minor and from Assyrian and Egyptian inscriptions the +present age has learned more. The discovery by Sayce and +other modern scholars of the important place once held by the +Hittites has been called the romance of ancient history.</p> + +<p>That place may be likened to the place held by the Ottoman +Empire in its strength. Like the Turks, the Hittites were a +Turanian people who planted themselves across the great roads +of Asia Minor and absorbed and crudely reproduced the culture +of more civilized neighbor peoples. Their capitals were at +Carchemish, where they commanded the fords of the Euphrates,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</span> +and at Kadesh on the Orontes, whence they ruled Syria and the +cities of the Ægean. They were mountaineers from the Taurus, +with olive skins, mongoloid features, and the Chinese cue. Their +double-headed eagle passed through the Turkomans and the +Crusaders into the imperial arms of Russia, Austria, and Germany; +the Phrygian cap of their successors has become the +headgear of revolutionary woman, and the Turks still wear +their peaked shoes.</p> + +<p>The Hittite Empire flourished in the Bronze Age, when it +met Egypt, Babylon and afterward Assyria on equal terms. +It began to loom in the sixteenth century B.C. and it was a +power to be reckoned with until well into the first millennium +before Christ. On its ruins arose Cappadocia, Phrygia, Lydia, +and later Pontus. The rock carvings that proclaimed its sway, +and that Herodotus described but misread, still look down on +the Pass of Karabel along an old road of empire.</p> + +<p>The Amazons of Greek legend, according to the convincing +scholarship of Sayce, were the armed priestesses of the Hittites. +Their fabled capital of Themiscyra is the ruined city of Boghaz +Keui in Asiatic Turkey not far from the Black Sea. The authentic +likenesses of the warrior women are to be found, not in +the temple friezes of Attica, but in the rock carvings on the hills +that overlook this ancient ruin. Yet Greek art reflects correct +observation or trustworthy report, for its warrior maidens wear +the kilt of the mountain-dwelling Hittites and carry the same +double-headed ax that is seen in their crude sculptures.</p> + +<p>In the service of the Asiatic goddess, known variously as +Astarte, Derceto, Cybele, the Great Mother, and Diana of the +Ephesians, was a multitude of armed priestesses so numerous +that to the Greeks they seemed not a cult but a nation. Whole +cities were in effect mere temple precincts populated by these +women and by eunuch priests; the high priestess of the temple +ruled the city and the surrounding country, and had some claim, +therefore, to the title of Amazon queen. At Komana were +six thousand of these armed maidens of the shrine. At Ephesus +vast throngs of them served a high priestess who called herself +the Queen Bee.</p> + +<p>These Hittite women worshiped the Asiatic goddess with orgiastic +frenzies that simulated, or literally repeated, the primal<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</span> +processes of dissolution and reproduction. It was easy for the +Greek mariners who saw them dancing to the goddess and flourishing +their weapons on the shores of the Black Sea to infer that +a woman’s capital lay a short distance inland. It was natural, +also, to attribute to them the actual feats of the Hittite armies, +and fable that the cities founded or subjugated by that empire +on the Ægean—Ephesus, Smyrna, Cyme, Myrina—were colonies +of Amazonian origin.</p> + +<p>The Amazon legends of Africa and South America and the +customs of the female palace troops of Africa and Asia are +made clear if one goes behind the cult of the Asiatic goddess +to the domain of primitive magic whence it arose. There one +finds beliefs that belt the earth and are reflected not only in +ancient tradition, but in modern practises associated with May +day and Midsummer Eve, with sowing and harvest, with the +summer and winter solstices. Frazer’s examination of these in +the <i>Golden Bough</i> is deeply illuminating.</p> + +<p>Following the laws of sympathetic magic, men believed that +in order to make the grain flourish and the grass renew itself +in the annual death and resurrection of nature, it was necessary +by some drama of their own to repeat the phenomena of decay +and of new life. There must be a noteworthy human death +and a resurrection. Sometimes men killed a scapegoat, sometimes +a divine animal, sometimes a divine man—a god-king, as +he was called—such an impersonation of divinity, for example, +as the Grand Lama of Tibet. The killing of the god-king was +preferred as a magic more constraining than any other upon +the forces of nature.</p> + +<p>There were several means of simulating the phenomena of +resurrection. This might be done by having two couples appear +in the annual drama—two sets of divine and royal mates. +Frazer suggests that the book of <i>Esther</i>, names and all, is based +on a Babylonian religious festival of this kind—that the gentle +Esther is none other than the lustful Astarte, that Mordecai is the +god Merodach, that Haman is Hannum the Aramite god, and +Vashti a goddess unidentified. The triumph of one set of characters +and the humiliation and death of the other are supposed +to represent the bourgeoning of spring after the long death of +winter.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</span></p> + +<p>The common means of symbolizing and constraining the +reproduction of new life in nature was through a period of +promiscuous sexual intercourse in which designated persons or +whole populations took part. It was deemed necessary to set +an example to the woods and fields, and in the woods and +fields it was set. The saturnalia, the carnivals, the May Days +and St. John’s Eves of old time were not, in intent, excursions +into debauchery; they were exercises in sympathetic magic. So +it befell that in savage vision the withered leaf and the green +shoot, winter and spring, death and resurrection, came to mean +two things—periodic murder and lust.</p> + +<p>After a while the priest-kings sought escape from the custom +that gave them only a year of life upon their throne of grace. +They chose substitutes—a son, a slave, a malefactor—who for +a few days reigned in their stead, and as a sign of kingship +were made free of their harems, as Absalom went in unto King +David’s concubines in the sight of Israel. The king, or the +mock-king, devoted to death but attended by beautiful women, +crowned with flowers and worshiped as a god—this spectacle, as +profoundly ironical as life itself, was staged in Mexico when +Cortez came; and when Huc visited Lhasa in 1846 he found the +Tibetans electing a monarch of misrule to carouse and suffer +in place of the pope of Buddhism, God’s vicar for Asia.</p> + +<p>The bacchic procession of the doomed king and his women, +this dance of death that went around the world, was the real +Amazon march. It was the part of the warrior women to kill +the man-god whose last days they had beguiled. It was their +part, also, to co-operate with a multitude of men in a lustful +drama, so that every acorn and grass root and grain of corn +might heed the command to bring forth and multiply; back of +the myth of annual Amazon matings with neighbor tribes was +this reality of the saturnalia. In places the legend has suffered +confusing changes, as in the Dahoman Customs, where the king +kills instead of being killed. But the same meaning underlies +the Phrygian worship of the Great Mother, the lethal privileges +of the female palace guards in Hindostan, the self-slaughter +of the warrior women when a king died at Abomey, the going of +women into the hills of Brazil with one old man as companion, +and the recurrent tragedy of the god-man of Mexico, who dismissed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</span> +the fair partners of his revelry, snapped the strings of +his harp, flung away his chaplet of flowers, and ascended the +altar where an Aztec with a knife awaited him.</p> + +<p>The meaning is death and life in nature, and the Amazon as +priestess of both.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c14">Chapter XIV. The Folk of Tradition</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">Among</span> the peoples of prodigy there were races without +deformity and yet set apart from other men by their peculiar +habits or habitat, or, as in the case of the giants of geography, +by their unusual stature. Men who dwelt in caves or whose diet +was too much unlike their fellows’ were themes of marvel. +Under fables told about them the outlines of historical peoples +may often be discerned.</p> + +<p>While the tall men merge on the one side into the colossal +creatures of mythology, on the other they approach mortal size +and the human quality. Their tradition has been shaped by +nature myths growing out of volcanic eruptions, the phenomena +of frost and darkness, and storms in the desert. But popular +beliefs rest mainly on more tangible things—on the argument +that since there are giant individuals there may well be giant +races; on the actual existence of tall races; on the presumption +that men of old time were taller than those of to-day; on dim +memories of tall vanished races such as the Cromagnous, and +on an ancient notion that the fossil remains of extinct animals +were the bones of giants. Travelers have done much to build +the legend. Almost always they underestimate the mean stature +of a people with many small individuals and overestimate that +of a people with many tall individuals, the usual margin of +error running from two to four inches.</p> + +<p>Above all, there has been the witness of geological strata +uncovered to eyes that misread their record. On the basis of +a five-pound tooth and an eleven-foot thigh bone, found in +New England in 1712 and supposed to have been a mastodon’s, +Increase Mather reported to the Royal Society of London that +men of prodigious stature had inhabited the New World. Other +fossil bones found in Switzerland in 1577 became the basis of +a legend, which is commemorated in the colossal statues of +Basle and in the figures supporting the arms of Lucerne, that a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</span> +race of giants from sixteen to nineteen feet high lived in the +Alps.</p> + +<p>Ctesias reported that the Seres, whom he located in upper +India, reached a stature of fourteen feet and an age of two +hundred years. Onesicritus declared that in those parts of India +where the sun cast no shadow the men were eight feet high. But +ancient writers were neither so specific nor so insistent upon the +existence of a colossal race as later writers have been. Near +the Vale Perilous, says Maundeville, are two islands occupied +by giants. The tenants of the first of these are of comparatively +modest stature, from twenty-eight to thirty feet. Those of the +farther isle are from forty-five to fifty feet.</p> + +<p>“I saw none of these,” admits Sir John, “for I had no Lust to +go to those Parts. But men have seen many times those Giants +take Men in the Sea out of their Ships, and bring them to Land, +two in one Hand and two in another, eating them going, all raw +and all alive.”</p> + +<p>Amerigo Vespucci found a prodigious people in the island of +Curaçoa off the coast of Venezuela, “every woman appearing as +a Penthesilea, and every man an Antæus.” Pigafetta, writing +of Magellan’s cruise, is responsible for the belief, long held in +Europe, that the tall Patagonians were true Titans. One of them +he pictures as advancing to greet the white men, dancing and +singing and putting dust on his head, as if in token of peace. +The savage towered above the Spaniards, who came only to his +waist. Dismissed with gifts, he returned at length with other +men of a like stature, and two of these the mariners decoyed on +shipboard. Leg irons were placed on them on the pretext that +they were ornaments, but when the Spanish purpose was disclosed +they broke in pieces as easily as if they were the baubles +they were represented to be.</p> + +<p>Herrera, Van Noort, Le Maire and other travelers confirmed +the account of the size of the antipodal Indians. Lopez Vaz +described them as “very mightie men of bodie of ten or eleven +foot high, and good bow-men, but no man-eaters.” It remained +for Drake to correct report when he made his own circumnavigation +of the globe. This was one of the “notorious lies” which +the Spaniards disseminated; the Patagonians were “but of the +height of Englishmen”; they are, however, somewhat above it.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</span> +Five feet eleven inches is the average among them and individuals +reach the height of six feet seven.</p> + +<p>At the other extremity of South America the natives of the +northern Andes have a legend of a monstrous race that arrived +in huge boats at Cape Santa Elena about the beginning of the +Christian era. Their knees stood as high as the heads of other +men and their eyes were like small plates. They abused the +Indians, their habits were abominable, and fire from heaven +destroyed them. This is perhaps a reminiscence of an extinct +civilization, the grotesque art of which has been brought to +light by recent excavations. There is an Oregon tradition of an +underground village of gigantic Indians on Coos Bay. They +bashed each other over the head with heavy bone knives without +being hurt. When the smaller Indians attacked them they fled +down the river and out to sea on two rafts and never came back.</p> + +<p>Buffon, who would not credit the pygmies, believed there had +been giants of from ten to perhaps fifteen feet in height. The +Bible narrative giving Goliath, the Philistine bravo, the stature +of six cubits and a span, or three inches above seven feet, is +conservatively phrased. Buffon to the contrary notwithstanding, +it is generally thought that no man ever lived who reached the +stature of ten feet, and no race that reached the mean stature of +seven. A very few individuals have exceeded the height of eight +feet and there is record of one or two who have passed nine +feet. According to the principles governing the distribution +of the overlarge individuals of a race, as worked out by +Quetelet, the appearance of a twenty-foot giant would imply +the existence of a race with a mean stature of from twelve +to fourteen feet.</p> + +<p>If there was once a race a foot or so above the stature of +modern man, it may be that the tall individuals who appear in +each generation are not the product of a favorable environment +and fortunate combination of elemental forces, but represent +remote ancestors of unusual size. Zell in his <i>Polyphem ein +Gorilla</i> argues that if races of average height are the normal, +and if there are dwarf races, then there must have been giant +ones to strike the balance. At any rate, tales of such races are +world-wide and a tang as of reality is in some of them. The +Celt, for example, said that giants had a strong body odor.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</span> +“Giants,” says Grimm in his summary of their tradition, “consider +themselves the old masters of the land, live up in the +castle, and look down upon the peasant;” the picture might be +of something fabled, or of something vanished.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Macrobians</i></p> + +<p>As report gave certain races a great stature, so it gave others +a great age. These were known as the Macrobians. Herodotus +mentions such a people in Ethiopia; “the venerable and harmless +men of Ethiopia,” Walt Whitman calls them. Such also +were the Hyperboreans, on the other side of the north wind. +The tall Seres lived to be two hundred years old. In tropical +India another tall race lived to the age of one hundred and +thirty years, and died just as if they were in the middle period +of life. Some writers called the elderly Indians Gymnetæ, +or Naked Folk. Another Indian people, the Cyrni, were reported +to attain four hundred years. Holding that the Indians +were exceedingly just, and that the just are long lived, the +ancients credited the general statement of Ctesias that the nations +of the Indus live to one hundred twenty, one hundred thirty, +and one hundred fifty years, and the very old to two hundred +years. Pliny adds that they never expectorate and are subject +to no pains in the head, teeth, or eyes. There were Macrobians +in Brazil. A German woodcut of 1505 pictures them at +a cannibal feast, and the accompanying legend says, “They +become a hundred and fifty years old, and have no government.”</p> + +<p>There was a reason, named by Isogonus, for the longevity of +the inhabitants of Mount Athos in the Balkans. They used the +flesh of vipers for food, and hence were “free from all noxious +animals both in their hair and their garments.”</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Albinos</i></p> + +<p>The Albania of the ancients was a country of Asia in the +eastern part of the Caucasus. Somehow the early writers confused +its inhabitants, the Alani, with Albinos. Beeton says that +there is in Albania “a certain race of men whose eyes are of +a sea-green color, who have white hair from childhood, and who +see better by night than by day.” In the kingdom that men call +Mancy in “Ind the More,” says Maundeville, “they be full fair<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</span> +Folk, but they be all pale. And the Men have thin Beards and +few Hairs, but they be long. In that Land be many fairer +Women than in any other Country beyond the Sea, and therefore +Men call that Land Albany.” Also, the hens are white.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Sun-hating Folk</i></p> + +<p>There were sun-haters as well as sun-worshipers in the sun-smitten +lands of the older day. Carpini tells of the troglodytes +of the Caucasus who “lived in terror of the mysterious and fatal +sound which accompanied the rising of the sun.” Herodotus +and Pliny describe the Moroccan peoples called the Atlantes. +When they look upon the rising and the setting sun they “utter +direful imprecations against it as being fatal to themselves and +their lands.” If one believes what is said of these tribes beside +the western sea, says Pliny, they have lost all characteristics of +humanity. They do not distinguish one another by names, “nor +are they visited with dreams, like the rest of mortals.”</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>A Poisonous Nation</i></p> + +<p>The Psylli were a nation dwelling near the Great Syrtis on +the North African coast. Pliny, who sponsors them and says +they were exterminated by the Nasamonians, tells a story which +reveals the two great obsessions of the ancients—a curious +credulity as to poisons, and an incredulous curiosity as to the +continence of women. In the bodies of the Psylli, there was by +nature a certain kind of poison that was fatal to serpents and +the odor of which rendered them instantly torpid. It was the +custom to expose newly born infants to the fiercest serpents “and +in this manner to make proof of the fidelity of their wives, the +serpents not being repelled by such children as were the offspring +of adultery.”</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Troglodytes</i></p> + +<p>What the moderns call cave-men the ancients called troglodytes. +In the phrase of Æschylus they knew not how to build a +house against the sun, but “lived like silly ants, beneath the +ground, in hollow caves unsunned.” Because they shared the +habitations of bats and snakes, their voices were bat-like in their +shrillness, and with hissing tones; and they ate reptiles and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</span> +crickets. They were fleet-footed like the creatures of the rocks, +the troglodyte Ethiopians being, says Herodotus, the swiftest +of men. The inhabitants of the country of the Robbers (Lestai) +in Farther Asia, says Ptolemy, were savages, living in +caves, and “having skins like the hide of the hippopotamus +which darts cannot pierce.” Artemidorus speaks of naked night-traveling +troglodytes of Arabia who put away their dead amid +laughter. There are cave-dwellers to this day in southern Cambodia, +and a Chinese account of the thirteenth century tells of +the skin breastplates which they wore.</p> + +<p>The ancients knew of various races of troglodytes, notably +those along both shores of the Red Sea. Others were in Syria, +and upon the Nile, and in Fezzan, and in the Caucasus. The +voiceless troglodytes of Pliny are supposed to be the Rock Tibboos +on whose whistling speech their neighbors still comment. +The best account of the elder cave-dwellers happens to be +authentic history. When Xenophon was retreating with the Ten +Thousand to the Black Sea he found upon the Armenian frontier +a people who lived in underground burrows with vertical +entrances like wells, up and down which they passed on ladders. +Their beasts used a sloping path and lived with them underground, +cattle, goats, and sheep thriving there on green fodder +gathered above. These subterranean habitations were also +granaries and wine-cellars.</p> + +<p>With all their lively interest in the ways of troglodytes, the +ancients knew less than the moderns about them, and were perhaps +farther in spirit from the cave-man. In the caverns of +western Europe men of to-day have studied his household +economy, his art, and the animals he tamed or hunted. Travelers +in various lands have come upon underground chambers, +many of them still occupied. In the Berber rock-towns these +subterranean dwellings number thousands, and the ravines which +furrow the plateaus serve as their streets. On the Cappadocian +plain deserted subterranean villages, called <i>kataphugia</i>, or +places of refuge, underlie occupied villages of the surface, and +thither the cattle descend in severe weather, as in Xenophon’s +time twenty-three centuries ago. The peoples of the surface are +supposed to be descendants of true troglodytes.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</span></p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Anthropophagi</i></p> + +<p>It never occurred to the early writers to classify men according +to the color of their skins, or the breadth of their skulls, +or fundamental differences in their languages; and the Greeks +and Romans were ignorant of the Noachian genealogy and heedless +of the apportionment of the earth among the sons of Shem, +Ham and Japheth. But they had a rough-and-ready method of +cataloguing savage races according to what they ate, in the +thought that whatsoever a man ate, that in some degree he became. +After naming the races of fable from the size of their +feet or ears or other bodily peculiarity, they grouped and +named, according to their supposed diet, various races of reality +that dwelt at a distance.</p> + +<p>Classic writers took passing note of the Anthropophagi, or +tribes that ate human flesh. There were such peoples in Africa +and in Asia. The best known account is the description in +Herodotus of the Issedones. These Scythians of Central Asia +ate the flesh of their deceased relatives prepared with other +meat, and made gold-rimmed drinking cups of their skulls—a +rite of honor to the dead. A tribe in northern Tibet is supposed +to be descended from them.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Ichthyophagi</i></p> + +<p>The races that subsisted on fish, the Ichthyophagi, were described +by the ancients with unusual detail. One of the first +accounts is by Herodotus, who tells of the folk that lived on +platforms above Lake Prasias. They drew their fish through +trap-doors from the water beneath, and the custom was that for +every woman a man took to wife he drove three piles into the +lake.</p> + +<p>All along the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea there were tribes +of Ichthyophagi. Their very cattle ate dried fish and the beef +had a fishy flavor; Ibn Batuta remarked this in Yemen, and it +is still true of the Coromandel Coast. Arrian’s account of the +voyage of Nearchus describes the Ichthyophagi as occupying for +four hundred miles the barren shores of the Mekran; they had +few boats and were indifferent fishermen, but by intercepting +the ebb tide with palm-bark nets they obtained their food.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</span></p> + +<p>Arrian repeats a legend of the origin of these tribes in whose +lines one hears faintly the wild music of the Sirens. The island +of Nosala, off the Mekran coast, was the residence of a Nereid +“whose practice was to seduce such mariners as landed there to +her embraces, and then, after transforming them into fish, to +throw them into the sea.” But the sun ordered the nymph to +quit the island and himself changed the fish back into men. +These were the first Ichthyophagi.</p> + +<p>Farther west, in Ariana, were fish-eating tribes who made +their dwellings, Strabo says, of shells and of the bones of large +whales, the ribs furnishing the beams and supports, and the +jawbones the doorways. Sections of the backbones of whales +were used as mortars wherein sun-dried fish were pounded.</p> + +<p>Diodorus Siculus has a spirited account of the Ichthyophagi +along the Red Sea. This people, he says, do not use nets, but +so wall the caverns and gullies of their rocky shore that the receding +tide leaves the fish imprisoned there. Whereupon, with +a shout, the tribe assembles on the beach. Women and children +gather the little fish next the shore; with sharp goats’ horns the +men dispatch the larger ones, throwing all upon the land. The +booty is put into stone pots tilted toward the south and the fish +are fried by the sun until the flesh drops off. The bones are cast +into a pile and the meat boiled with fruit seeds. Then everybody +falls to and gorges. The heap of bones is a dietary reserve +which the tribe pulverizes and devours when storms shut +off the shore.</p> + +<p>The life of these Ichthyophagi is thrown into a sort of rhythm +by the need, every fifth day, of going inland on an extended +journey for fresh water. For four days they fish continually +and make merry in great throngs, “congratulating one another +with harsh and discordant songs; then they fall promiscuously, +as every man’s lot chances, to company with their women for +procreation sake.” On the fifth day the tribe goes in a body to +a district lying under the foot of the mountains where there are +springs of sweet water. Hither, also, the shepherds drive the +flocks. Nor do the shore folk differ much from the herds, for +“they go making a horrid noise and without articulate voice.” +Arrived at the springs, they throw themselves on their faces and +“drink as beasts until their stomachs are distended like a drum.”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</span> +Slowly they wend their way back to salt water, and for a day +recline without tasting food. The following day they begin anew +their fishing and feeding. Such is the round of their lives.</p> + +<p>Diodorus remarks, apparently to commend, that these fish-eaters +“far exceed all other men in freedom from boisterous +passions.” They give no heed to a stranger, nor even look at +one when he addresses them: “Nay, if they be assaulted with +drawn swords they will not stir; and though they are hurt and +wounded, yet they are not in the least provoked. Even though +their wives and children be killed before their eyes, they show +no sign of anger.”</p> + +<p>These accounts are not fables. But there is fabulous admixture, +most of it arising from the primitive belief that a fish diet +makes men as cool-blooded as the creatures upon which they +live.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Other Dietary Nations</i></p> + +<p>Akin to these nations were the Chelonophagi, or turtle-eaters, +concerning whom Strabo recites facts entirely in keeping. This +tribe lives under the cover of turtle shells, which also it uses as +boats. Some of its members, however, collect seaweed in heaps, +hollow the heaps, and dwell under them. Their dead are cast +into the sea, and carried away by the tide to become food in +turn for the fish and turtles.</p> + +<p>The Acridophagi were grasshopper-eaters—insectivorous, ornithologists +would call them. The locust was, and is, a favorite +diet of desert peoples, a staple food of the Arab, as well as of +the pygmy folk and other singular breeds. Niebuhr likens its +taste to that of “a small sardine of the Baltic, which is dried in +some towns of Holstein.” What Dampier has to say of customs +he found in two Pacific islands in 1687 may stand without essential +change for the ways of earlier acridophagi: “They had another +dish made of a sort of locusts, whose bodies are about +one and one-half inches long, and as thick as the top of one’s +little finger; with large thin wings, and long and small legs. +These came in great swarms to devour their potato leaves and +other herbs; and the natives would go out with small nets and +take a quart at one sweep. When they had enough they would +parch them in an earthen pan; and then their wings and legs<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</span> +would fall off, and their heads and backs would turn red like +boiled shrimp. Their bodies, being full, would eat very moist, +their heads would crackle in one’s teeth. I did once eat of this +dish, and like it well enough.”</p> + +<p>Certain other races living in Africa the ancients knew chiefly +as specialists in diet. Pomponius places the Ophiophagi, or +snake-eaters, on the Red Sea. Homer gives the Lotophagi, or +lotus-eaters, a habitat on the Mediterranean coast. Agatharcides +names the Rhizophagi or root-eaters who dwell on the banks +of the Atbara and subsist on reed roots; and the Elephantophagi, +farther inland, who hunt and eat the elephant. Also in the interior +Diodorus places the ostrich-eating Struthophagi, and there +Pliny places the Agriophagi “who live principally on the flesh +of panthers and lions,” and the Pamphagi “who will eat anything.”</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Geographical Glimpses</i></p> + +<p>The citations below, from classical, mediæval and modern +writers, are reproduced because of their flavor and for whatever +they are worth:</p> + +<p>The Gamphasantes, who go naked, are unacquainted with war +and hold no intercourse with strangers.</p> + +<p>In the African deserts “men are frequently seen to all appearance +and then vanish in an instant,” says Pliny—perhaps +the mirage.</p> + +<p>“On the one side of the Senegal,” says John Lok, “the inhabitants +are of high stature and black, and on the other side of +browne or tawnie colour.” The latter are the “tawny Moors” +of Prince Henry’s ship captains.</p> + +<p>The Annamese of pure stock have a peculiar formation of +the great toe whereby they are able to pick up small objects +with their prehensile feet, says Keane. Their ancient Chinese +name was Giao-chi, which signifies “with the big toe.”</p> + +<p>“Many of Canton and Quansi Provinces,” says a Jesuit missionary +in Purchas, “on their little toes have two nailes, as they +have generally in Cochin-China.”</p> + +<p>On the west coast of the Malay Peninsula, says the seventh-century +<i>History of the T’ang Dynasty</i>, is a naked swarthy race<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</span> +with red frizzled hair, bestial teeth, and hawk claws who hold +their markets at night with veiled faces.</p> + +<p>The Korwars of India, according to a local legend, “derive +from scarecrows animated by a prowling demon.”</p> + +<p class="gtb">******</p> + +<p>Because they are recognizable peoples with representatives +who may still be studied, the folk of tradition are useful exhibits +in the museum of history.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c15">Chapter XV. The Horizon Lands</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">Not</span> until yesterday did men encompass the earth. But their +minds were always more adventurous than their feet, and from +the beginning, almost, the sense of remote horizons was in them. +Fantastic though its form might be, there was a divine breadth +in their speculation as to the earth and its peoples. The peasant +of antiquity, who knew only his township in Europe or his mountain +canton in high Asia, had yet a vision of continents and distant +seas. His imagination explored the waste places, ascended +the high places, descended into the earth. Its product was the +geography of legend, which gave ground but slowly to the geography +of reality.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Beyond the North Wind</i></p> + +<p>One of the earliest countries to find a place in the geography +of legend was that of the Hyperboreans. It lay on the other +side of the north wind. These people lived so far toward the +pole that they were beyond the icy blasts, and beyond all contacts +of war or commerce with the peoples of the south. Only +the priests and the poets knew of them.</p> + +<p>The priests knew of them because of the yearly offerings sent +in to the temples of Tempe, Delphi, and Delos. These were +gifts of amber, and virgins bore them from nation to nation +across the whole of Europe. For many years the holy maidens +had honor and hospitality from all the countries along their +path. When violence was done them the journeys ceased. Not, +however, the offerings. The Hyperboreans deposited these upon +the boundary of the people who adjoined them. The latter carried +them to their neighbors; and so by successive stages the +tribute came to the shrines of Apollo, whom the distant nation +held in especial honor. At last the custom fell into disuse.</p> + +<p>No return visits were made from the south, for the way was +hard. Yet the poets had, as always, their own means of information.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</span> +Homer has nothing to say of the Hyperboreans, but +Hesiod speaks of them, and Pindar, and Æschylus, and a host +of later and lesser voices. From these authorities it appeared +that the Riphæan Rocks, an imaginary prolongation of the Ural +group westward across Europe, shut the Hyperboreans off from +the south. Out of the rocks the north wind came sweeping down +over the lower latitudes, but on the farther side of the range was +summer. It was a favored land, and this a favored people. +“The muse is no stranger to their manners,” says Pindar. “The +dances of girls and the sweet melody of the lyre and pipe resound +on every side, and twining their hair with the glittering +bay, they dance joyously. There is no doom of sickness or disease +for this sacred race; but they live apart from toil and +battles, undisturbed by exacting Nemesis.” Isidore adds that +when the cithara players smite their instruments the swans fly +up and sing very harmoniously.</p> + +<p>Rightly discerning that this was no region of the earth, Herodotus +assigns its inhabitants to the realms of fable. But Hecatæus, +Damastes, Diodorus, Pliny and others credit the legend, +though sometimes with a note of doubt, as when Pliny begins, +“Beyond the region of the northern winds, there dwells, if we +choose to believe it, a happy race known as the Hyperboreans.” +From their country Hercules brought the olive. They were a +pious folk, loving justice, dwelling in woods and fields, living +on the fruits of the earth and abstaining from taking even animal +life. No rude winds agitated this delicious land. Here +were “the hinges upon which the world revolves, and the extreme +limits of the revolutions of the stars.” There was but one rising +of the sun for the year, and that at the summer solstice, and but +one setting, and that at the winter solstice; and the day and night +each lasted six months. In the morning of the long day the +people sowed, at midday they reaped, at sunset they gathered +the fruits of their trees; and the long night they spent in caverns; +and so their lives were passed.</p> + +<p>They lived to be very old in the country beyond the north +wind, sometimes as much as one thousand years. But a fateful +note runs through all accounts of them. The happy Hyperboreans +were wont to tire at last of their felicity. They ended a +career of feasting and an old age sated with every luxury by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</span> +leaping from a rock into the sea. At the close of each life lay +the rock and the sea.</p> + +<p>Just where was this worshipful nation? The answers are +vague and conflicting. On the left bank of the Danube, it was +first thought; on the very verge of Asia, others said. Later its +home was fixed “midway between the two suns, at the spot where +it sets to the antipodes and rises toward us.” There were Greek +writers who confused the Riphæan Rocks with the Alps and Pyrenees, +and confounded the Hyperboreans with the Etruscans +and the Gauls. Hecatæus gives them an island home as large as +Sicily, lying under the arctic pole, over against Gaul. Here +Apollo has a stately grove and a renowned temple in a city where +all the residents are harpers. This is the Britain of the bards and +druids, of whose people it was said in later time that they take +their pleasures sadly.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>At the Cardinal Points</i></p> + +<p>While the ancients peopled the rim of the earth with deformed +races and monstrous animals, their pictures of the nations +that dwelt at the cardinal points show mainly the ideal +treatment. In the far east, in the far west, in the far south, there +were men like unto the Hyperboreans of the far north. Of the +Indians, the Ethiopians, and the Iberians of early story the same +report was had. They were “just” and “blameless”—these +words recur again and again—and they were long-lived and +fortunate. Thus real races took on some quality of myth. The +classic sense of equilibrium demanded this equal reverence to +the four quarters of heaven, just as it was fancied that, to balance +the Pillars of Hercules in the west, Bacchus had set up +two columns “by the farthest shore of the Ocean stream, on +the remotest mountains of India, where the Ganges pours down +its white waters to the Nysæan shore.”</p> + +<p>This cast of thought did not die with the ancients. The epithets, +“just” and “blameless,” reappear in the writings of +eighteenth-century philosophers when they speak of the Chinese. +A little later the beautiful and artless natives of the South Seas +laid upon the thought of more sophisticated lands a spell that +endures. Now, as always, the four points of the compass are +points of fable, and the primitive worship that was paid them<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</span> +lurks in the magic with which the number four is invested. The +rising and setting of the sun fixed two of these points and the +course of the Nile northward through Egypt may have fixed +the other two.</p> + +<p>“All evil comes from the northeast,” say the Japanese. +Thoreau usually walked southwest. “Eastward,” he said, “I go +only by force; but westward I go free.” Tartar tent doors, as +Marco Polo notes, face south. The mythical Irish voyages were +toward the west. In the thought of many races witchcraft is of +the north. In Norse mythology hell-way is always downward +and northward. When cutting black hellebore the hedge doctors +of Greece faced eastward and cursed. “Altars should regard +the east,” said Vitruvius. Thither the Mohammedan turns +in prayer. The manifestations of God are in the west, says the +Talmud. The Babylonian temples lay due east and west so that +the rising sun would illumine their altars at the equinoxes. +Some of the Egyptian temples were so planned that this would +happen only on Midsummer Day. The older Christian churches +lie east and west, although some of them are oriented to permit +the rising sun to gild their altars on the day of the saint whose +name they bear. The west was the seat of darkness and hence +the rose-window was placed high in the cathedral’s western wall +to illumine the benighted, with the bell-towers flanking it to summon +them to Christ. The eastern side with its altar and the +southern with walls and windows consecrated to saints and +martyrs were both sacred. But the northern, or Black Side, was +Satan’s, and effigies of unclean beasts and sculptured allegories +of lascivious deeds proclaimed it.</p> + +<p>The cities of ancient Yucatan had gates toward each of the +cardinal points. With the Aztecs all the world directions were +significant—the north standing for emptiness, the east for sterility, +the west for fertility, the south for good fortune. In the +symbolism of the Navahos, white, the dawn color, stands for +the east; blue, the sky color, for the south; yellow, the sunset +color, for the west; and black, the curtain of night, for the north. +The Pueblo Indians assigned the north to the air, the west to +water, the south to fire, and the east to earth and the seeds of +life. In old Chinese writings the men of the north are called +brave, the men of the south wise, the men of the east kind and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</span> +friendly, the men of the west upright and honest. Over the +four cardinal points the old Brahman gods presided.</p> + +<p>Thus by a primitive law of the mind illusion lurks in every +corner of the heaven. It lies deepest in the track of the sun. +From east to west go the great wanderers—Hercules, Ulysses, +and the rest—and solar myths thicken along their path through +legendary lands. The east and west dominate the thoughts of +men with their eternal spectacles of sunrise and sunset. Whatever +commerce, geography, or political history may teach them, +the east is still the region of the morning sunlight and the west +of the evening shadow. Though their steps turn westward, men’s +thoughts drift eastward. Though the east be hunger-bitten and +poverty-stricken and its subjugated millions seem to count but +little, it is still the gorgeous east, “the dancing-place of the +dawn.”</p> + +<p>Beyond the curtains of the west lie the realms of repose: “If +sunrise,” says Max Müller, “inspired the first prayers, called +forth the first sacrificial flames, sunset was the other time when +again the whole frame of man would tremble. The shadows of +night approach, the irresistible power of sleep grasps man in +the midst of his pleasures, his friends depart, and in his loneliness +his thoughts turn again to higher powers. When the day +departs the poet bewails the untimely death of his bright friend; +nay, he sees in its short career the likeness of his own life. Perhaps, +when he has fallen asleep, his sun may never rise again, +and thus the place to which the setting sun withdraws in the far +west rises before his mind as the abode where he himself would +go after death.”</p> + +<p>Though the westward journeys of the sun are but a seeming, +their trail lies broad across the spiritual life of mankind.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>On the Mountains</i></p> + +<p>Half of history has been written in the passes of the mountains. +What lies above these deep saddles of the ranges belongs +in the main to legend. Not much, even now, is known of +the mountain tops, for men do not dwell there. Antiquity seldom +went up to see. The high places of old sacrifice were hilltops, +not mountain peaks.</p> + +<p>Men have been content to travel the valleys and, where necessity<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</span> +impelled, to cross the passes. The steeps overhead +seemed fit abode for the elder gods, for giants and dwarfs and +griffins, for dragons whose breath was the avalanche, for ghosts +whose voice was the echo, for the carnal revels of Satan and his +witches; sometimes, also—since legend is its own law—for +cities of enchantment, invisible and beautiful.</p> + +<p>Most famous mountain of classic story was the Atlas; the most +fabulous locality, even in Africa, is the superlative of Pliny. +Its summit reached beyond the clouds and well nigh approached +the very orb of the moon. Rugged and precipitous on the side +of the ocean to which it gave a name, it fell by a gentler slope +on the side toward Africa, and dense groves covered its flanks +where streams flashed and fruits abounded. But in the daytime +men were never seen there. All was silent like the dreadful +stillness of the desert. A religious horror stole over those who +drew near. At night, fires innumerable gleamed upon its sides. +“It is then,” says Pliny, “the scene of the gambols of the +Ægipans and the Satyr crew, while it re-echoes with the notes +of the flute and the pipe, and the clash of drums and cymbals.”</p> + +<p>The legend of a mountain of nightly tumult and illumination +recurs in Arab and Christian chronicle. Solinus repeats +it. The mountain is Felfel in the Sahara, says an Arab +author of the twelfth century, and genii hold court in towns on +its slopes whence the people have fled. Ibn Khordadbeh places +the realm of nocturnal revel in the Southern Ocean. Argensola, +writing of the Moluccas in the sixteenth century, reports +that for ages “cries, whistles, and roarings” had been heard +from a mountain in Banda. The spot is inhabited by devils, +he concludes. Sindbad tells of an island, called Kasil, where +nightly resounds the drumbeat of rebellious djinns. So was +Prospero’s isle full of noises, but these were “sound, and sweet +airs that give delight and hurt not.”</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f15"> +<img src="images/fig15.jpg" alt="steeps"> +<p class="caption"><i>The Steeps Overhead Seemed Fit Abode for Giants and Dwarfs and<br> +Griffins—for Cities of Enchantment</i></p> +</div> + +<p>It may be that the Atlas story grew out of the habits of the +Kabyles who tenant the mountain’s recesses. During the heat +of the day they would retire to their dwellings, coming out at +night to dance about the village fires to the music of drums. +Similar legends among the Indians of South America of strange +lights seen upon the mountains appear to have a basis of fact. +Sir Martin Conway tells of a village where the bells were rung +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</span>and the people flocked to church in dreadful fear because, after +sunset, the peak of Illampu glowed red like fire and the end of +the world seemed at hand. In Venezuela Im Thurn beheld a +mountain strangely luminous at night. Humboldt saw a similar +spectacle in Venezuela and guessed it might be the burning +of hydrogen gases. In Colombia, Zahm saw brilliant lights +along the crest of the Cordilleras, and judged it was an electric +phenomenon, the summits acting as a vast condenser from which +electricity escaped by a silent glow or brush discharge—St. +Elmo’s fire. Here, perhaps, is the key to the Old World story.</p> + +<p>The Mountains of the Moon, which lift their snowy peaks on +the line of the equator in East Africa not far from the springs +of the Nile, bear a myth-engendering name. It was given them +by Ptolemy, who perhaps translated it from native words of +the same meaning. Lying within the sphere of Arabic mediæval +geography, Eastern fable enveloped them. One story was that +whoever looked upon them was drawn to them as by a magnetic +influence and only death would release him. According to an +Arab compiler, “a certain king sent an expedition to discover +the Nile sources, and they reached the copper mountains, and +when the sun rose, the rays reflected were so strong that they +were burnt.”</p> + +<p>To the early Greeks the Caucasus was the end of the world; +beyond it was naught but the Ocean Stream. Æschylus describes +it in his <i>Prometheus Bound</i> as the loftiest of mountains and +speaks of its “star-neighboring summits.” Here he pictures the +fire-stealing Titan as chained to a rock with a vulture at his +vitals. Herodotus repeats that these peaks are higher than any +other. No Roman general ever passed them. And they stood +for things dreaded and unknown—the sanguinary Amazons, +fugitive and barbaric tribes of Israel, and the sinister nations +of Gog and Magog. These are perhaps the mountains of Aaf of +Malay tradition, which run their ramparts of green chrysolite +clear about the earth and the encompassing sea.</p> + +<p>The high places of American Indian tradition lay in the west. +The plains savages and some of the forest tribes looked upon the +Rocky Mountains as the boundary of the known world. These +peaks held up the sky; the spirits of the storm haunted them, +and stone giants, and huge-bellied anthropophagi. Into this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</span> +west ran the underground trail to the land of the dead. In +South Dakota was the Hill of Little Devils, malignant pygmies +with unduly large heads, of whose arrows the prairie tribes stood +in awe.</p> + +<p>There were seven sacred mountains in the land of the Navahos—four +at the cardinal points, and three at the center; and +legend gave each its own color, jewels, birds, and plants. One +mountain was fastened to the earth with a lightning flash, another +with a stone knife, another with a sunbeam, a fourth with +a rainbow. Almost in the Greek spirit the Indians of Guiana +chanted the glories of “Roraima of the red rocks, wrapped in +clouds, ever-fertile source of streams.” White jaguars and +white eagles were upon it, a magic circle surrounded it, and +demons guarded its sanctuary.</p> + +<p>Whenever the Kirghiz pass by Mustaghata, loftiest of the +Pamirs, they fall upon their knees in prayer, for threescore and +ten saints live there. Sven Hedin, who made four attempts to +ascend it, repeats its legends. One story tells of a holy man +who, climbing it, found on its slopes a garden with plum trees +where old men in white garments were walking. He plucked +and ate the fruit. One of the graybeards told him it was well he +had done so, for had he despised the fruit, as they had done, it +would have been his fate to stay, as they must, walking up and +down the garden till time was no more. Then a rider on a white +horse dashed into the garden, and seizing the holy man, galloped +with him down the mountain side, leaving him in the valley, +dazed and with only a confused memory of what he had seen. +Another story tells of forty giant horsemen who swept down +the mountain and routed a Chinese army.</p> + +<p>On the summit of Mustaghata, to which neither Sven Hedin, +nor the holy man, nor the graybeards could climb, the Kirghiz +say is the ancient city of Janaidar, built in a golden age when +everyone was happy and men were at peace. Its inhabitants had +no intercourse afterward with the peoples below, and all the ills +and woes of life are stranger to them. Their groves bear fruit +the year around, their flowers are unfading, their women never +grow old. Cold, darkness, and death are alike unknown to them. +The ramparts of Mustaghata are one of the seats of the realm +of eternal youth.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</span></p> + +<p>Though its name is but the Latin word for “bald,” a grim +Swiss legend has it that Mount Pilatus is the burial place of the +Roman viceroy who surrendered Jesus to the mob. When he +took his own life, neither the Tiber nor the Rhone, into which +in succession his body was flung, would contain it. Evil and +sordid spirits raised such storms that it was carried farther. An +uncanonical book of the thirteenth century recites that it was +dropped at last “into a well surrounded by mountains, where, +according to some accounts, certain diabolic machinations and +ebullitions are still seen.” This spot was identified with a +marshy pool near the summit of Pilatus.</p> + +<p>Throughout the Middle Ages it was believed that if anyone +threw a stone in this little lake, a tempest would follow. Once +a year Pilate left it and sat on a rock arrayed in scarlet. Whoever +beheld him died in a twelvemonth. The fearful burghers of +Lucerne made an ordinance that no one should approach the +pool unless one of their number went with him to see that he +cast no stone. At length, in 1585, Johann Mueller, state pastor +of Lucerne, climbed the mountain with a party of friends, flung +stones into the water, and derisively challenged the evil spirit +to come forth. Nothing happened, and the legend lapsed.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>In the Desert</i></p> + +<p>The desert holds the green surprise of the oases, the promise +of mysteries beyond its veil, and, as men have thought, the memory +of wonderful things that were. Tradition broods over it, +legends of caravans that never came back, of armies swallowed +up in its silences, of vast cities buried in the sand. Where there +is so little for the eye to see, the most haunting things are those +the ear has heard—music that steals from the under edges of the +dunes; voices, mocking or beguiling, which call to caravan +stragglers; the crash of ghostly drums and the clash of arms +heard afar.</p> + +<p>Any survey of the deserts of history reveals the stuff of wonder. +There each man’s hand is turned against his brother, and +yet in every tent all are safe; masked tribesmen roam the waste; +stealthy slave columns cross it by abandoned routes; hereditary +clans of dancing girls supply the streets of women in the environing +lands; hermits wither in rocky cells and militant<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</span> +fanatics range the plateaus; the bustard and the wild camel show +along the uncertain skyline, and remnants of forgotten peoples +rove below it. These are momentous details; legend has done +much with less to work upon. It needs only that thirsty wayfarers +shall have, as sometimes they do, the sudden vision of +lakes of water shimmering in the distance, with palms fringing +them and temples mirrored in them. Realities of an instant +only, their passing leaves a sense of wonder that expects, and +invents.</p> + +<p>Much of the tradition of the waste places has been set down +by Marco the Venetian in his account of the passage of the desert +of Lop. It is asserted as a well-known fact, he recites, that here +is the abode of evil spirits “which amuse travelers to their +destruction with most extraordinary illusions.” During the daytime, +if men fall behind the caravan, or are overtaken by sleep +so that the column has passed a hill and is out of sight, they hear +voices calling their names in tones to which they are accustomed. +Following these, they are lured from the direct road and perish +alone. At night men seem to hear the march of a large cavalcade +on one side or the other of the road. Again they follow, +in the belief that the camel bells are of their own party; the daybreak +finds them pursuing strange paths alone. Day or night, +evil spirits take the shape of their companions and seek to decoy +them from the proper route. Ghostly bodies of armed men +seem to rush upon them, and in the terror of flight they lose +the way.</p> + +<p>“Marvelous indeed,” concludes Marco, “and almost passing +belief are the stories related of these spirits of the desert, which +are said at times to fill the air with the sounds of all kinds of +musical instruments, and also of drums and the clash of arms, +obliging the travelers to close their line of march and to proceed +in more compact order.”</p> + +<p>This is such a recital as one would rather have expected concerning +the desert of ancient Egypt. There were the graves of +the dead, and report had it that their spirits, doomed to a miserable +existence in an inhospitable land, developed into predatory +demons who meant no good to the traveler.</p> + +<p>Stories still current in Asia, however, have the flavor of +Marco’s report of seven centuries ago. Doughty tells of the fantasy +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</span>they have at Teyma of a neighboring spectral oasis, often +beheld by the Bedouins. Slaves and horses issue from the enchanted +appearance of palms; “but all fadeth soon if a man +approach them.”</p> + +<p>In the little desert of Reig Rawan at the foot of the heights +of Kohistan the wind-blown sands sweep through the rocky fissures +with a sound that is like the music of an æolian harp +accompanied by the distant beating of drums. These wild harmonies +of the wind in open spaces are the source of many +strange tales. In Reig Rawan they are fabled to be the martial +strains of armies which have been swallowed up in the sands, +but march on to unknown destinies.</p> + +<p>The kingdom of Prester John has been mapped in Asia, in +Africa, and in the imagination of men. In the latter domain +lies the Gravelly Sea, a desert phenomenon which Maundeville +describes: “It is all Gravel and Sand, without any Drop of +Water, and it ebbeth and floweth in great waves as other Seas do, +and it is never still nor at Peace, in any Manner of Season. And +no Man may pass that Sea by Ship, nor by any Manner of Craft, +and therefore may no Man know what Land is beyond that Sea. +And albeit that it have no Water, yet Men find therein and on +the Banks full good Fishes of other Manner of Nature and +Shape, than Men find in any other Sea, and they be of right +good Taste and delicious for Man’s Meat.”</p> + +<p>What lies beyond it? Mezzoramia, it may be, if it is accepted +that Prester John was an Abyssinian. This is an earthly paradise, +situated somewhere in Africa. Only one road leads to it, +and the road is hard to find and easy to lose again. No man +ever found this secret highway save Gaudentio di Lucca. He +traveled it to its end, and for twenty years lived behind the desert’s +curtains in a country of every felicity.</p> + +<p>Fables of the waste tell of cities on which some sudden curse +has fallen and turned their people into stone. The sand has not +covered them with the decent pity of its mantle. They lie open +to the air. The sunshine falls on their silent market places and +only the wind wanders in their streets. The stony figures of the +men and women that once lived there stand where the curse had +found them, disquieting things in their semblance to statuary +and their ancient caricature of humanity.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</span></p> + +<p>The map on which Anthony Jenkinson recorded his travels in +Tartary makes note of a petrified city in the plains of Central +Asia. Garcilasso de la Vega, Inca historian, tells a like tale +of petrification based on a numerous group of stone images. +The Museum Metallicum of Aldrovandi pictures an assemblage +of men, sheep, and camels converted into stone. The Arabs +have a story of a petrified camp at Hamam Meskouteen in Numidia, +where they assert that stony tents are pitched and stony +sheep dot the plain. Most circumstantial of all such legends is +that of Ras Sem, an extensive petrified village in the Cyrenaica. +It was surmised that this might be the region of the Gorgons +of classic story, whose frightful glance turned everything into +stone.</p> + +<p>This village figures in old travel books, one of them dating +as far back as 1594, and Sir Kenelm Digby may have had +access to these when he printed in the <i>Mercurius Politicus</i> his +travel tale of a petrified city in northern Africa. The Tripolitan +ambassador in London asserted that a thousand persons +had seen the wonders of Ras Sem. It was a large town of +circular outline, with streets and shops and a central palace.</p> + +<p>The olive and the palm stood in the courtyards, but the trees +had been turned into a cinder-colored stone. There were men +also in different postures. Some were plying their trade and +occupations in the bazaars or holding fabrics and breadstuffs in +their hands, as if to attract the passer-by. There were women +suckling their children or kneeling at the kneading trough. In +the palace a man was lying on a bed of state, and guards armed +with pike and spear stood at the door. The tenants of the palace, +and the men and women without—they, too, were of the +same bluish stone. The heads of some were wanting and others +of the Silent People had lost a leg or an arm.</p> + +<p>There were camels, oxen, asses, horses, and sheep in the market +place, there were large birds perched on the walls, and in +the houses there were dogs, cats, and even mice—and all these, +like their masters and hosts, were petrified. The pieces of +money which had been brought thence were “of the bigness of +an English shilling, charged with a horse’s head on one side +and with some unknown characters on the other.”</p> + +<p>The quotation is from Shaw’s <i>Travels in Barbary</i>. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</span> +writer tells of an inquiry into these stories by order of the French +court made some time before by M. Le Maire, consul at Tripoli. +The Turkish janizaries who gathered the tribute would not bring +him the body of an adult person from Ras Sem, alleging it +would be cumbersome to carry. But for a thousand dollars they +did bring the body of a little child. They declared they had run +the risk of being strangled by their companions for having delivered +to an infidel the mortal remains of one of their unfortunate +Mohammedan brethren, as they deemed these people to be. +What they brought was the statue of a small Cupid taken from +the ruins of Leptus.</p> + +<p>The consul sent other persons, but none could find a trace of +walls, buildings, animals, or utensils where Ras Sem was said +to be. They did find one thing he could not explain. This was +what seemed to be tiny loaves of petrified bread; but Shaw declares +these were fossil echinites of the discoid kind. Little +pools of “heavy and ponderous water” were also come upon, +which the wind had uncovered. This, continues Shaw, “may be +the petrifying fluid which has contributed to the conversion of +the palm trees into stone.” He thinks the country of the Gorgons +was farther west.</p> + +<p>From any one of several causes the fable of stony cities might +arise. While sand does not petrify, it does preserve; and sometimes, +with the winds for its artisans, it has wrought its own +architecture and sculpture in the living rock, repeating in the +infinite chances of its labors the outlines of minarets and templed +columns, and other contours in which fantasy may find the +forms of bygone worshipers. There seem to have been cases +where peoples of a higher culture have built their cities in the +desert, and have passed; and a ruder race, coming later upon the +scene, mistook their statuary for the breathing handiwork of +nature stricken into stillness and stone.</p> + +<p>The typical desert legends are of splendid cities that the sands +have covered. There is truth under them, as there are ruins +under the sand; how much truth and how many ruins is a secret +the desert yields but grudgingly. In a series of striking passages +the Jewish Scriptures have sketched these dead capitals of the +waste with their jackal tenants. The Arab deems them the home +of evil spirits and hastens by. The nomads of Central Asia<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</span> +speak of opulent cities which sandstorms have blotted out in a +night and of treasure to be found in them if one digs for it under +a fortunate star. But there are unearthly chances to be faced, +and treasure-seekers will not invite them by venturing many +days’ march from the desert’s rim. One legend tells of the vanished +city of Ho-lao-lo-kia and the princes who came from many +lands to excavate the site. “But every time they try to dig the +sand away a violent wind arises, setting up whirlwinds of smoke +and a thick mist, which sweeps away the path and leads the +workmen astray into the desert.”</p> + +<p>A passage from an antique Indian script, describing a city +which perished two thousand years ago, may stand for a silhouette +of the buried cities of Iran and of Turkestan, as legend +has pictured them: “The temples and the palaces of Anuradhapura +are numberless, and their golden cupolas and pavilions +shimmer in the sun. In the streets are crowds of soldiers armed +with bows and arrows. Elephants, horses, chariots, and countless +multitudes pass in a continual turmoil. There are jugglers, +dancers, and musicians from many lands, whose timbals gleam +with golden ornaments.”</p> + +<p>It is more than conjecture that in these ancient lands not only +cities but states have disappeared under the sand. Gradually +they have yielded to their fate, as the desert has moved upon +them through periodic cycles of deficient rainfall. It may be +that sometimes destruction came with almost its fabled swiftness. +MacGregor saw the sands in the very act of billowing +over the walls and rolling through the streets of the Persian +town of Yazd. Much may have happened, must have happened, +in forgotten times in the great space of fifteen hundred miles +of longitude and four hundred miles of latitude comprised in +the Lop basin; and many and circumstantial are the legends +thereof.</p> + +<p>In the Gobi Desert Sven Hedin discovered one of these buried +cities—God-accursed he calls it—over which the wind had flung +the sands, only to sweep them away and leave the site bare to +the sun after uncounted centuries had passed. Its walls had +once been washed by a powerful stream along which millstones +turned under the shade of luxuriant groves. There were apricot +trees in the gardens, and mulberry trees where the silkworm fed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</span> +and spun its cocoon. There were bazaars loud with the tumult +of craftsmen. This was the city of Takla-makan.</p> + +<p>What the explorer found was a dead forest, and ruins several +miles across. The timbers of hundreds of houses were still +standing, chalk-white poplar wood brittle as glass. Among them +were fragments of images in gypsum, showing the Buddha and +praying women with faces of the Aryan type, all executed with +refinement of taste; and there were even figures of boats rocking +on the waves of vanished seas.</p> + +<p>“At what period,” asks its discoverer, “was this mysterious +city inhabited? When did its last crop of russet apricots ripen +in the sun? When did the sour green leaves of its poplars yellow +for their last fall? When was the trickling hum of its millwheels +silenced forever? When did its despairing people finally +abandon their dwellings to the ravenous maw of the desert king? +Who were the people who lived here? What was the tongue +they spoke? Whence came the unknown inhabitants of this +Tadmor in the wilderness? How long did their city flourish, +and whither did they go when they saw that within its walls they +could no longer have a safe abiding place?”</p> + +<p>Passing the ruins of other cities, the nomad has asked himself +these and stranger questions. And out of the answers which his +superstition and fancy have suggested has been woven the myth +of the desert.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>In the Forest</i></p> + +<p>Men can lose their way in the deep forest, easily become confused +there, and make it a proverb that friends are not to be +met in a wood. There races that have passed out of the primitive +culture do not feel at home. Through successive stages of +their history the forest was held to be sacred, then enchanted, +then ill-omened and haunted.</p> + +<p>In the beginning men worshiped trees and groves. Pan, with +his attendant fauns and satyrs, presided in the forest. The +hamadryads lived in trees, and died with them; and they might +contract marriages with mortal youths. Sometimes the tree had +its own soul, sometimes it was possessed by a spirit which had +entered it, sometimes it was the symbol, sometimes the sanctuary, +of a god. Deity dwelt in the oak of Dodona. Diana in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</span> +Autun was a midday demon of the forests and crossroads. In +the tabooed grove near Marseilles the trees were stained with +sacrificial blood, the flames burned without consuming the boscage, +and even the priests dared not venture there at midnight +or midday. The sacred bo tree is still worshiped in India. The +mistletoe is magical above all other objects. Savages hang offerings +upon trees, and in the same spirit the gypsy spits when +he passes under them.</p> + +<p>The wood spirits of the primitive mythologies became at +length the stuff of folklore and travel tale—degenerate Pans and +dryads that wanderers saw sometimes in the shadows of trees. +The Old Man of the Woods, lame, hairy, green-eyed, ranges +many countries and is most clearly pictured in the tales of the +Brazilian Indians and the eastern Slavs. A mocker, misleader, +and seducer, he cast a spell of terror upon the forest. In the +wild women of Russian story it had still other perturbing tenants. +These were good-looking creatures with shaggy bodies, +square heads, and long hair. Sometimes they came into the +villages to borrow kneading troughs, but it was dangerous to +meet them in their own domain, for they turned the solitary intruder +round and round until he lost his way. They were fond +of music and might invite lads and lasses to dance with them; +whistling, however, they could not endure. Polish tales picture +them as tall, thin-faced, sensual females, with disheveled hair +and garments in constant disarray. When groups of them encountered +human beings they tickled the adults to death and took +the youths with them for their lovers; wherefore young people +never went singly to the woods. In Swedish tradition this was +the terrible Skogfrau, or Woman of the Thicket.</p> + +<p>These beings personified the mystery of forest shadows and +what Ruskin called the mediæval dread of thick foliage. “Forest +in every semicivilized land,” says Belloc, “is ever a word +of fear.” There the knights of old tale had adventure with +giants and dwarfs and spell-weaving witches, and there the +younger sons of folklore followed lonely paths with beasts and +birds to counsel them. As the enchanted woods of romance with +their goblin glooms and talking trees faded from the minds of +men, in their place appeared the real terrors of thickets where +robbers, banished men, and fugitive peoples beset the ways with +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</span>danger. The conception of forests as sanctuaries of peace is +modern.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f16"> +<img src="images/fig16.jpg" alt="trees"> +<p class="caption"><i>The Enchanted Woods of Romance with Their Goblin Glooms and Talking<br> +Trees Faded from the Minds of Men</i></p> +</div> + + +<p class="large"><i>Under the Ground</i></p> + +<p>The cellar strain that is in human nature betrays itself in the +satisfaction men take in roaring songs and drinking bitter +liquors in rat-haunted sunken spaces. If groves were God’s first +temples, grottoes were men’s first dwellings. They came out of +caves, and in flight sometimes they return to them. For their +extremity mother earth has provided a rocky roof, a bedchamber, +a storeroom, and a fireplace. Wherefore they deem no +habitation complete until they have dug a cave under it.</p> + +<p>“Men,” said the Caribs, “should avoid places which are enlightened +neither by the sun nor by the moon.” Yet there are +races whose legends have dug a cellar under the entire earth; +if its surface is the floor of one world, it is the roof of another. +Beneath it are the happy hunting grounds of the Indian. According +to Cherokee myth the living can descend thereto if, after +fasting, they follow back the streams to their springs and have +one of the underground folk to guide them, for the springs are +doorways to the world below. There one finds people, animals, +and plants about as they are above, but the seasons are different, +for are not the springs warmer than the air in winter, and cooler +in summer? Navaho legend makes the surface of the earth the +top story of a structure five stories high. Beginning as ants, +beetles, dragonflies, locusts, and bats, mankind climbed from +one story to another, or rather was expelled from each, usually +for sexual sin.</p> + +<p>The gods’ land, or Elysium, of the Celts was commonly placed +upon far islands of the west, but sometimes in the hollow hills +called Sid. Here were fair meadows and stately palaces and +musical trees and a beautiful people whose berry diet kept them +ever young; in the song of the magic birds of this underworld +there were seven years of joy and oblivion. These people were +the Tuatha Dé Danann. Giraldus Cambrensis describes a like +people, but of fairy stature, dwelling underground, swearing no +oaths, forswearing human ambition and inconstancy, and subsisting +on milk and saffron. Yet the Nagas of Hindoo story and +the gnomes of European folk-tale may be true historical races.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</span></p> + +<p>With his keen sense of an earthly origin primitive man was +deeply interested in burrowing creatures—in the scarab with his +little round ball that symbolized the sun in Egypt; in the beetle +of the South American pampas, which symbolized the Creator; +in the rats and mice which various tribes worshiped; in the runway +of the armadillo which in Brazil was an entrance to the +land of shades; in the tunnel of the mole, and the cities of the +marmot. This underground world of tiny animals figures large +in the folklore of early peoples, shaping their genealogies, influencing +their councils, intervening in their affairs for good and +ill, at times deciding their destinies.</p> + +<p>There was sorcery underground. Life came from it with +each recurring spring. The dead were laid there, and far beneath +were the abodes of their spirits. In the caverns were +witches who had some command over life and death. There +also were the haunts of necromancers, and though their dens +were squalid, all the riches of the world were around them. +Legend became sumptuous and prodigal when it left the surface +of the earth and plunged into the darkness under it.</p> + +<p>The story of Aladdin’s descent into this realm carries nearly +all the elements of subterranean myth. His false uncle, the +African magician, conducted him to a valley between mountains +near a large Chinese town. When he muttered a spell the +earth opened, and the lad went down a stone staircase into a +palace where were brazen cisterns brimming with gold and silver. +Beyond in a terraced garden was a magic lamp. Securing +the latter and starting back, the youth paused to look at the +fruits that hung from trees in the garden. These were of various +hues, and though he did not know it, they were precious stones. +Aladdin would have wished they were figs or grapes or pomegranates; +but he filled his purse with them and crammed them +in his bosom.</p> + +<p>Because the youth was slow in passing up the lamp, the magician +who was waiting without lowered the stone over the staircase, +and Aladdin was left in darkness. But a genie of frightful +aspect appeared when he chanced to rub a ring his false +uncle had given him. The apparition was a slave of the ring, +and with it began the cycle of deeds and gifts that won the Chinese +gamin a princess and a throne.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</span></p> + +<p>One element is missing in this descent, type otherwise of a +thousand others. That is women. There were beautiful enchantresses +as well as foul witches under the ground. They +figure in a characteristic story of India told by Hiouen Thsiang. +A good-natured fellow, versed in magic formulas, entered a +cavern with thirteen companions. They came to a walled city +with towers and lookouts of gold, silver, and lapis-lazuli. +Young, laughing maidens greeted them at the outer gates, and +at the inner gates were two slave girls each holding a golden vessel +full of flowers and scents. Before the men went farther, these +told them they must bathe in the tank that stood there, anoint +themselves with perfumes, and crown themselves with flowers. +But they must wait awhile before they bathed; only the master +of magic could immerse at once. Of course the thirteen ignored +the warning, and when they entered the tank they became confused. +They were found afterward, says the Chinese author, +“sitting in the middle of a rice-field distant from this due north, +over a level country, about thirty or forty li,” with no recollection +of how they got there.</p> + +<p>The sorceress and enchantress motives are developed into +drama in the great myth of Tannhäuser. This minnesinger of +the Middle Ages was riding through the dusk toward Wartburg, +where minstrels were to compete for a prize, when he saw a +glimmering figure on the slopes of the mountain called the +Hörselberg. White arms were stretched to him in the gesture +that is always more eloquent than words, and, leaving his +charger, he followed the woman. Flowers bloomed in her footsteps, +nymphs attended her, and a rosy light lay on the path as +she led the knight to a cavern’s mouth and thence to her palace +in the heart of the mountain. There for seven years he was +the willing slave of the pagan Goddess of Love, and partner +in the revels of her court.</p> + +<p>Satiety and an awakened conscience came together. The minstrel +longed for a breath of pure mountain air, for the tinkle +of sheep bells, for the sky of night and its stars. When Venus +would not release her thrall, he spoke the Virgin’s name—and +the mountain-side opened. He found himself again aboveground +and heard the chime of church bells.</p> + +<p>To one priest after another Tannhäuser made confession of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</span> +his great sin, but the shocked clerics dared not give him absolution, +and at length he stood before the Pope.</p> + +<p>“Sooner shall this staff in my hand grow green and blossom,” +said the stern vicar of Heaven, “than that God should pardon +thee.” With darkness in his soul, Tannhäuser turned away. +Three days afterward the papal staff put forth buds and blossoms, +and messengers were sent in haste from Rome. They +reached the Hörselberg only to learn that a haggard wayfarer +had just entered the mountain. The minstrel was never seen +again.</p> + +<p>The golden age will issue from underground, according to a +noble legend of the mediæval time which concerns Frederick +Barbarossa, head of the Holy Roman Empire. He was not +drowned in Cilicia while on crusade, as report had it. He is +sleeping in a cavernous chamber in the Kyffhäuser Berg which +rises from the emerald meadows of Thuringia. His long red +beard has grown quite through the stone table where he sits in +slumber. The good knights surround him, and once in a hundred +years he rouses himself and asks if the ravens still fly +around the mountain. When the birds of omen no longer call +about the steeps he shall awake and sally forth with his horsemen, +and the peace of all men shall follow.</p> + +<p>Thus at times has legend walked the earth, as men might cross +the flat housetops of an Eastern city, with the thought that what +counted most was just beneath its immense roof.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Darkness</i></p> + +<p>The dark has other creatures besides the bat and owl, other +spectacles than those that pass in dreams. Sometimes in Celtic +legend a mist descended on a man, and until it lifted the towers +and orchards of elysium were all about him. There is a class of +Eastern legends which tell of men around whom a sudden +shadow fell, so that they were seen no more, or next were seen +in another place. Maundeville has a tale of a cloud which settled +down upon a land and did not lift again. This was a +province called Hanyson in the kingdom of Abchaz which is +next to the kingdom of Georgia. One must travel three days to +ride around the province, and one dare not ride through it, for +thick twilight covers it. Out of the gloom the people of neighboring<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</span> +lands hear voices of folk, and horses neighing, and cocks +crowing.</p> + +<p>The story is that a cursed emperor of Persia that was hight +Saures overtook a Christian host in the plain that was hight +Megon and would have destroyed it. “But anon a thick Cloud +came and covered the Emperor and all his Host. And so they +endure in that Manner that they must not go out on any Side; +and so shall they evermore abide in Darkness till the Day of +Doom, by the Miracle of God. And then the Christian Men +went where liked them best. Also ye shall understand that out +of that Land of Darkness goeth out a great River that sheweth +well that there be Folk dwelling there by many Tokens; but no +Man dare enter into it.”</p> + +<p>Some report of the long Arctic night reached the Asiatic countries +of lower latitudes, and Marco Polo when he traversed them. +He gives a hearsay account of what he calls the Region of Darkness. +It is distant fourteen journeys by dog-sled across the tundras +from the country of the Tartars. The atmosphere in this +twilight land is “as we find it just about the dawn of day, when +we may be said to see and not to see.” Its people are tall and +well made, but pale, stupid, and brutish, and without prince or +other governance. They have great stores of furs of ermines, +martins, and foxes. Under cover of the prevailing darkness +the Tartars raid them, plundering them of their furs and driving +off their cattle. That they may not become lost forever in +the gloom, the raiders ride mares that have young foals, and +these are left on the frontiers. When the Tartars would return, +they lay the bridles on the necks of the dams, and maternal instinct +finds the homeward track.</p> + +<p>Fable and fact ride abreast through this narrative, as horsemen +through the chill obscurity of dawn, and a great thing has +come of it. Marco’s account of the peltry of the north had more +to do than aught else, tradition says, with the founding of the +Hudson Bay Company and the opening of the northern half of +the American continent.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Distance</i></p> + +<p>The haze on all these horizon lands is the haze of distance. +There are two phrases which come to the ear with the sound of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</span> +unlocking doors. One is Once upon a Time, which children +hear; it is distance measured in years. The other is Beyond +the Mountains, which plainsmen use; it is distance measured in +miles and difficulties. For either distance, fetters fall.</p> + +<p>Three tales may declare this as well as a thousand, and a +thousand might be told. Russian peasants speak of a land which +they call Bielovodye, and which lies, as they think, somewhere +on the borders of Mongolia in the distant east. It is a country +of peace and plenty, and nobody lives there.</p> + +<p>Rubruquis gives just a glimpse, as of something seen afar +through a narrow window. “A Chinese priest,” he says, “told +me also for truth (which neverthelesse, I doe not believe) that +there is a province beyond Cataia, into the which, at whatsoever +age a man enters, he continueth in the same age wherein he +entred.”</p> + +<p>The widest horizons of time and space are reached in a single +artless sentence in a gypsy folk tale: “They went then further +than I can remember, till they reached the knoll of the country +at the back of the wind and the face of the sun, that was in +the realm of Big Women.” The men who made this journey +skirted all the coasts of illusion.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c16">Chapter XVI. Lands of Legend</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">There</span> are countries whose boundaries have not been fixed +by armies or treaties, nor their ways marked out by trade. The +dreams of men have made them. Their substance is reality, yet +their effect is vision. By a sort of conspiracy of wish, to which +men of imaginative mind have been parties and all others have +yielded assent, these countries have been supposed to be different +from what any was or could be. It has been easy enough +to create the illusion, for one’s view of another land is always +more or less a symbolic drawing.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Ophir</i></p> + +<p>The geographical table in the tenth chapter of Genesis tells +a straight tale which men debated for something more than two +thousand years and only in the present century have accepted +at its face value. In one phrase the Scriptures link Ophir and +Havilah, and then add that “their dwelling was from Mesha, as +thou goest unto Sephar, a mount of the East.” Where was +Ophir? Perhaps the learned men of Alexandria were the first +to ask the question. What was Ophir? This question nobody +thought of putting, and it was vital.</p> + +<p>Ophir was a magic word which let no man rest once he had +heard it. The spell of gold was in it. Even as they wrote, it +seemed to intoxicate the Jewish prophets, poets, and chroniclers. +Isaiah speaks of the “golden wedge of Ophir.” It is said of wisdom +in the Book of Job that it cannot be valued with the gold +of Ophir, with the precious onyx or the sapphire. “Then shalt +thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones +of the brooks,” says another passage Oriental in its opulence +of suggestion.</p> + +<p>From Ophir came the fleet of Solomon and Hiram of Tyre, +fetching gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and sandalwood. +The arrival of the treasure fleet is associated in the narrative,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</span> +for some reason one may only guess, with the coming to Jerusalem +of the Queen of Sheba. The two incidents constitute the +most gorgeous episode in Jewish history.</p> + +<p>Sheba’s queen comes to visit Solomon with a very great train, +with camels that bear spices, and very much gold and precious +stones. She sees the meat of his table, the sitting of his servants, +and the attendance of his ministers. She proves him with +hard questions, and pride dies in her. The report she has heard +in her own land of his wealth and wisdom was a true report, she +declares, but the half had not been told. Then she goes back, +and her camels take across the deserts gifts richer than they had +brought. Gold of Ophir travels north, and south again, and +legend follows it.</p> + +<p>Two other place-names appear on this piece of Hebrew brocade. +One is Ezion-geber, Solomon’s port on the Red Sea in +the land of Edom. The other is Tharshish, where the king had +ships. Once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing +gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks. There was nothing +in these imports that one might eat or drink or use for shelter +or raiment. The commodities were typical of ancient commerce +in their magnificence, their vain show, and their uselessness—and +the cargo has freighted the imagination of men ever since. +There was contraband in the ships of Tharshish. Among the +elephants’ teeth and peacocks was stowed away the spirit of the +East.</p> + +<p>Where was Tharshish? Where was Ophir? Where was Havilah, +mentioned rarely, but in a significant context?</p> + +<p>It was long thought that Tharshish was the Carthaginian port +of Tartessus beyond the Pillars, where now is the Spanish port +of Cadiz. But Spain had few apes, little gold, and no ivory. +The text of Genesis seemed to point to the Arabian coast as the +seat of Ophir. But Araby had no elephants and its gold came +from elsewhere. Ophir was sought also in the African spiceland +of Punt, in the Midian country of northern Arabia, and at +the mouth of the Indus in Hindostan. Once in every three years +came the fleet, so said the text; and into this was read the meaning, +not of periodic sailings, but of voyages that covered three +years. Ophir, therefore, must lie in the far East, and men +sought it in the Malay Peninsula, in that Golden Chersonese<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</span> +where were ivory and apes and peacocks, as well as precious +metals.</p> + +<p>For one splendid century it was Portugese instinct to advance +steadily, to see clearly, and to do great things easily—the legacy, +perhaps, of that incomparable spirit, Prince Henry the Navigator. +Within the century after his death, his countrymen had +gone around Africa, opened a sea route to the Indies, and made +the coveted Spice Islands their own. Also, they had discovered +Ophir, or rather almost discovered it. What they found was +the missing port of Tharshish, and Havilah, the land which +scriptural writers linked with Ophir, and dismissed.</p> + +<p>A Portugese squadron, outbound for the Indies in 1505, put +in at the little African port of Sofala on the Mozambique Channel, +looking east toward Madagascar. Learning that the Arabs, +or Moors, as they called them, were trafficking here for gold +brought down to the coast from the interior, its captains said that +this must be Ophir. It has taken four centuries to show how +near this casual judgment was to the truth. The gold of Ophir +reached the Indian Ocean through the African port once named +Tharshish and now called Sofala, and came from the Mashona +and Matabele region between the lower Zambesi and the Limpopo +rivers in what is now Rhodesia. It was Hottentot gold, +not gold of Araby.</p> + +<p>What was Ophir? When at length this question was asked, +the Scripture texts, which pointed eastward toward Arabian regions +where gold was not, slowly yielded their paradox. Ophir +was not a country at all. It was a port, perhaps the greatest of +the ancient world. Here the products of India, of Africa, and +of the Eastern Mediterranean were interchanged. The gold of +ancient Rhodesia (Havilah) became gold of Ophir, just as figs +of the Levant become Smyrna figs and the white grapes of Spain +become Malaga grapes, when freighted on ships outbound from +those ports.</p> + +<p>In the days of its decline Ophir was known to Ptolemy, the +Alexandrian geographer, as the Sapphar Metropolis; to Arrian, +the Greek geographer, as Portus Nobilis, and to the Romans as +Moscha. It lay where Genesis places it: “and their dwelling +was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the +east.” There, under the shadow of Mount Sephar, nearly opposite<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</span> +the island of Socotra and about midway along the southern +coast of Arabia, its ruins lie around a silted inlet of the sea. +Mesha, or Moscha, signifies a wharf or landing place, and was +at the inlet’s mouth. Ophir stood at the head of the inlet. The +name signifies simply The City, The Metropolis, as the Roman +used the single word <i>urbs</i> to designate his capital.</p> + +<p>This was the great mart of Himyaritic civilization. The +Himyarites were the settled folk of southern Arabia—the +Minæans and their successors, the Sabæans. It may be that their +civilization was the earliest in the world, still older than the +Egyptian and Chaldean. There is reason to believe that the +carrying trade of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean was in their +hands for a greater part of the period during which it has been +assumed that the Phœnicians controlled it. The merchants of +Tyre and Sidon were brief interlopers in a sea-borne commerce +which for thousands of years had been the monopoly of the +Sabæan Arabs. That the latter worked the mines of ancient +Rhodesia in the land they called Havilah is the simple and unavoidable +inference from facts which nevertheless required +about a generation of archæological research to establish, and +which the geographer, A. H. Keane, has summarized in his striking +monograph. The Himyaritic inscriptions in southern +Arabia and the inscriptions on the extensive ruins of ancient +gold workings between the Zambesi and the Limpopo were made +by the same people.</p> + +<p>The going of Solomon’s ships and the ships of his Tyrian ally +to Ophir and on to Tharshish, and the coming of Sabæa’s queen +to Jerusalem, were what they are represented to be, brilliant +and exotic incidents in the troubled march of Jewish history. +This traffic covered only about a century, and millenniums of +Arab commerce between Ophir and Tharshish envelop it. After +that century Israel and Phœnicia disappear from the Indian +Ocean, and the South Arab takes up the gold trade anew. At +this task the Portuguese found him.</p> + +<p>The Jew was the prosperous visitor of an hour at the port of +the Sabæans. Perhaps their queen made a return call to learn +why he had come and whence the gold in his wallet. The answer +was not in Solomon himself; truly, indeed, the half was never +told her. It was David whose conquest of Edom had given<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</span> +Israel temporary control of important trade routes. The wealth +of Solomon was in part a transportation charge, and in part a +police tax upon “the traffick of the spice merchants and all the +kings of Arabia.” They paid it rather than have their caravans +plundered on the roads the Jew controlled. The gold that +Israel and Phœnicia brought from Tharshish direct, like the gold +which Spain brought from Peru, was not obtained in trade exchanges. +It was wrung from slave labor, Hottentots and Bushmen—whose +present physiognomy and complexion show an Asiatic +strain—toiling for taskmasters, as since they have toiled, +under the sjambok.</p> + +<p>Ezion-geber, the Jewish port, lay at the head of the Red Sea. +Tharshish lay nearly six thousand miles to the south as coasting +vessels made it, and voyages were probably by way of some +port in the west of Madagascar, where Semitic influences have +been discovered. Midway between Tharshish and Ezion-geber, +and midway between the east and west of antiquity, lay Ophir. +The age-long vision of a golden land lifts from its name. In its +stead loom the shadowy outlines of a mighty port, with strange +ships at anchor, and clinking bags and odorous bales upon the +wharves, and hawk-faced merchants at their traffic, where now +are ruins and the oblivious sea.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Lotus-land</i></p> + +<p>The country of the lotus-eaters was a promontory jutting out +into the Mediterranean Sea from the land of the Gindanes. +Whoso tastes the fruit of the lotus, Homer said, forgets his native +shore, his family, and his friends. In an age that avows +a world-weariness to which the wandering Greeks were strangers, +this brief glimpse of a land released from remembrance +has been an arresting thing.</p> + +<p>Later poets expanded the Odyssey legend, wrote new significances +into it, and sometimes provided it with a different ending, +as in the fine poem of Tennyson. The Victorian gives no +hint that the companions of Ulysses fled from Lotus-land. It +seemed to them better to stay there. They had traveled unto +fatigue, and their island homes were still far beyond the wave. +Dear as were the last embraces of their wives, it was likely that +themselves were now all but forgotten, that their sons had inherited<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</span> +them, and that their deeds before Troy were sung by +minstrels as things of long ago. Why return like ghosts to trouble +joy? So the mariners burst into choric song declaring the +delights of long rest and dreamful ease and mild-minded melancholy +upon a slumbrous shore. Then the rhythm changes to +carry their resolve:</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">We have had enough of action, and of motion we,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rolled to starboard, rolled to larboard, when the surge was seething free,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where the wallowing monster spouted his foam-fountains in the sea.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let us swear an oath, and keep it with an equal mind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the hollow Lotos-land to live and lie reclined</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On the hills like Gods together, careless of mankind.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>In the Homeric story the lotus strand was a halting place for +Ulysses and his men on the way from the Ciconian coast to their +adventure with the giant Polyphemus. Their momentary pause +in the enchanted Libyan land is the slightest episode in the +Odyssey. After nine days of stormy faring they anchor by a +fragrant beach and go ashore for water and a feast. Three of +their number wander farther and hospitable natives bid them +eat the fruit of their trees. Having eaten, a spell of oblivion +falls on them and they would travel no more; but their comrades +bind them and carry them aboard the ships, and hastily +the company sails away.</p> + +<p>Herodotus locates the land of the lotus-eaters in the Syrtic +district of the North African coast, whence a caravan route leads +to Egypt. This people, he says, live entirely on the fruit of the +lotus tree. The fruit is about the size of the lentisk berry, and +in sweetness resembles the date. The lotophagi even succeed in +obtaining from it a sort of wine. Rawlinson, who identifies the +lotus with the rhamnus, asserts, however, that it looks and tastes +“rather like a bad crab apple.”</p> + +<p>There has been controversy as to what the ancients meant by +the lotus. Some writers said it was a kind of clover, the poa of +Strabo. The lotus of Egypt and India is a water lily whose +roots and seeds are eaten by the poor. Pliny says that the lotus +of Homer was a tree “the size of a pear tree, though Cornelius +Nepos calls it low.” The latter describes its fruit as yellow,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</span> +the size of a bean, and sweet and pleasant to the taste. It was +pounded into a paste and stored for food, and a wine like mead +was made from it. In the district where Ulysses anchored, and +which has been identified with the modern Jerba, the tree still +flourishes; Arabs eat its fruit and make a wine of it. Its commercial +name is jujube, and in the Mediterranean countries it +is prized as a winter dessert fruit.</p> + +<p>If there were poppy dreams in the orchards of Africa, the +secret of them passed with the wine the ancients brewed there. +The longing for forgetfulness remains. Those who have come +by it honestly through toil have found, as Ulysses did, that +lotus-land is a port of call upon struggling seas.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Incense Country</i></p> + +<p>The world commerce of ancient times was in four commodities—gold, +amber, precious stones, and incense. With transportation +by pack, caravan, and small coasting craft, nothing +of greater bulk or less intrinsic worth could be carried far at +a profit. The first three of these commodities were come upon +more or less by accident. Incense was the root, bark, gum, +seeds, dried leaves, or flowers of various trees, shrubs, and +plants, and was gathered at stated seasons of the year. The business +had the element of certainty, so far as anything could be +certain in ages when land and water travel were pursuits of +hazard, when there was little law upon the desert and none upon +the sea. The incense trade was therefore the great trade of antiquity. +By it the nations of the east, west and south first came +to know one another.</p> + +<p>How important was this traffic Pliny bears witness in his +<i>Natural History</i>. Page after page, chapter after chapter, book +after book are devoted to the incense, perfumes, and unguents +of the East. It is an impatient, although a faithful, testimony. +The Latin writer groans over the enormous prices the precious +gums command, recites how they are sophisticated in the Alexandrian +warehouses with resin, turpentine, and Cyprian wax, +lists the nine substances with which Indian nard is imitated, and +rails at the superstition which uses scents for sacrifice, the sinful +luxury which drenches the body with them, and even mingles +them in the wines of the table. Consider, he says, the vast<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</span> +number of funerals celebrated every year throughout the world, +the heaps of incense piled up in honor of the dead, the quantities +offered to the gods. Is anybody the better off? It seems +to Pliny that the immortal ones were kinder to men when a +salted cake was the best they could hope to find on their altars. +At the very lowest the Indians, Seres, and Arabians took from +the empire one hundred million sesterces every year—“so +dearly do we pay for our luxury and our women.”</p> + +<p>Not content with the prodigality of nature, Pliny continues, +luxury has seen fit to combine all pleasant odors into a single +whole, and hence have come unguents. The Persians quite +soak themselves in these blended perfumes, to conceal from +themselves that they live in dirt. There are Romans who go +still further, for they plaster themselves with unguents. Some +of them, and Nero of the number, even sprinkle therewith the +soles of their feet. On festival days the very eagles on battle +standards, thick with the dust of the camps, are anointed. +Pearls and jewels have a value that lasts, but scents die as +soon as they are born. To what good is this all, Pliny asks +again.</p> + +<p>Few others put this question. For the living, for the dead, +and for the very gods, there must be a savor of satisfaction. +Gums were burned to purify the air of dwellings, to mask the +odors of burnt sacrifice, to disguise the intimations of mortality +when the bodies of the dead smoked on funeral pyres. Their +use to these ends was the primitive sanitary science of the +East. In the rites of embalming, their fumes reanimated +mummy and mortuary statue and nourished the souls of the +departed on the journey to the spirit-land. The gods above were +fed by the smoke of sacrifice and their favor was flattered +for the projects of men. So it befell in Egypt, and the pages of +Herodotus are in evidence that the whole country had become +a vast drug shop.</p> + +<p>Musk came from the highlands of China, and from India, +gum benzoin from Java, sandalwood from the Golden Chersonese, +cloves from Eastern islands unknown. Balm of Gilead, +the most precious of odoriferous substances, came from Judea, +and according to Pliny battles had been fought over it between +Jews and Romans. There were other spicy roots, leaves, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</span> +petals that grew in desert gardens or mountain parks of the +East; the geography of scents was wide and vague and little +known. But the true incense land of the ancients had definite +bounds. It lay on both sides of the promontory known variously +as the Aromatic Cape and as the Cape of Spices and now +as Cape Guardafui, where the continent of Africa juts farthest +into the Indian Ocean. This land had two provinces—Punt, +which is the modern Somaliland, and Sabæa, which is southern +Arabia.</p> + +<p>Cinnamon and cassia were taken from Punt, and some frankincense, +the “true incense,” as the name signifies and as the +Christian altars of Europe afterward came to know it. From +Sabæa were taken large quantities of frankincense, as well as +myrrh and ladanum. The latter country had credit also in the +ancient world for a long list of balms that came from elsewhere. +The secret, never more than half known, was that +Sabæa imported odorous things as well as grew them. It +brought them in from more eastern countries and sent them +forth on its ships, or on the camels that traveled the incense +route northward to Petra, whence they were dispensed to the +Mediterranean peoples. The incense land was the center of +world commerce, which was above all a traffic in sweet savors, +and the countries commanding the southern approach to the Red +Sea had the same significant relation to it that now belongs to +Suez, the northern approach to that sea.</p> + +<p>The air of incense-land was as heavy with traditions as it +was reported to be with odors. The desert hemmed in both Punt +and Sabæa, and its mysteries stole in with the sands. The rites +of a dim religion were wrapped around the harvest of the +precious gums. Merchant subtleties spread afar the stories of +more than mortal perils to be met by those who entered the +places of fragrance. The effect of these fables was to enhance +prices and confirm the Arab monopoly. To the ancient world +the land of incense was an enchanting, and yet a forbidding +and a forbidden land.</p> + +<p>Its enchantments were felt even at a distance. The whole +country of Arabia, says Herodotus, is scented with spices, and +exhales an odor marvelously sweet. Diodorus declares that even +before the mariner sights this coast its delights come out to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</span> +meet him upon the sea. The breezes of spring waft to him +the fragrant breath of trees and shrubs, and keener satisfactions +than he may have elsewhere, for these are no old and stored +aromatics, but fresh from new-blown flowers. Pliny is skeptical, +yet repeats the story with further detail. Under the rays +of the noonday sun, he says, the entire peninsula gives forth +an indescribable perfume, the blend of many beguiling odors. +Thus it was, while still far out, the fleet of Alexander knew it +was nearing Araby the Happy.</p> + +<p>The languors of incense floated through the towns and villages +of Sabæa and enveloped its lofty capital. Timbers and +floors of the houses were of sweet-scented woods, and fagots of +frankincense and sticks of myrrh, burning in the fireplaces, gave +them a perpetual fragrance of sacrifice. To counteract these +bland but debilitating suavities the Arabians of the south +brought the gum of storax down from Syria. This they burned +in goat skins and found its pungent smell a reviving thing.</p> + +<p>Saba, the country’s capital, was a dream-city of spices and +gold. From a steep which commanded the surrounding lands +its temples and palaces reared their roofs amid delightful +groves. The trade of countless centuries had drawn vast riches +to the incense metropolis. The houses of the merchants were +resplendent with precious metals and precious stones. Reclining +upon couches inlaid with silver, they drank from gem-studded +goblets of gold. The camels padding northward, and +the ships faring north, east, and south, brought back the wherewithal +to sustain a life of sensual magnificence. Chief among +the voluptuaries was the Sabæan king. From his seat of judgment +in a gorgeous palace he determined all disputes with the +authority of an absolute sovereign. Yet his own freedom of +movement was restrained by the priestly class. He was a prisoner +of the palace, and, should he venture outside its scented +courts and shaded gardens, the rabble assailed him with stones +and drove him back to them. So an oracle had prescribed.</p> + +<p>Over the gathering of incense, and its coming and going in +the land of the Sabæans, priestly tradition had flung a mantle +rich in fable and somber with fear. Eight days’ journey to +the northeast from the capital, in a district a hundred miles +long by fifty miles wide, stood the sacred groves in a soil of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</span> +milky white a little inclining to red. Thither at the time of +the rising of the Dog Star, when the heat was most intense, +went the Arabians to make incisions in the trees. The unctuous +foam which gathered on the bark was permitted to remain and +harden; nor was it removed until autumn. The gum which +assumed the form of globular drops was called male incense. +More esteemed were the pieces where two drops had adhered +into the semblance of breasts, which were called female incense.</p> + +<p>By inherited right the harvest was the privilege of three thousand +families. Their persons were deemed to be holy. While +pruning the trees and gathering the gum they must receive no +pollution either by intercourse with women or by coming in +contact with the dead. They carried their produce to the capital +upon camels by an appointed road and were admitted at a single +gate. It was death to deviate from this road.</p> + +<p>Various deductions were made from the camel loads to pay +for carriage, the service of the temples, the expenses of the state, +and the transportation taxes laid by other countries through +which the overland caravans were to pass. The entertainment +of strangers at the capital was provided for out of a tithe taken +from frankincense. In its journey of more than a thousand +miles northward from Saba to Petra in the land of the Nabatheans, +successive peoples, beginning with the Minæans, received +the freight and passed it on. Mecca and Medina, afterward holy +places of Islam, were stations on the incense route. It was a +drowsy traffic that went up and down this ancient road. The +suns of the desert, falling upon the bales, drew from them that +which made the carriers nod upon their beasts in a dream of +delight. They revived themselves, legend continues, by inhaling +the pungent fumes of bitumen and goat’s-beard.</p> + +<p>There were other than ritual terrors in gathering frankincense +and the related substances. Herodotus heard the story +that the groves were infested by small winged serpents of the +same sort that invade Egypt. These clung to every branch, but +if one burned gum storax under the tree they were dislodged; +a like report had it that in Malabar great serpents coiled themselves +about the sandalwood trees.</p> + +<p>The cinnamon and cassia which the Sabæans imported from +Punt, on the African side of the Gulf of Aden, or themselves<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</span> +gathered there, were harvested with difficulty and peril, and only +after the consent of the god had been given. The entrails of +forty-four oxen, goats, and rams were offered up, nothing could +be done before sunrise or after sunset, and when the harvest was +made a priest set aside the god’s portion with the point of a +spear. A third portion was devoted to the sun, and this burst +at once into flame.</p> + +<p>There were great birds which collected sticks of cinnamon for +their nests, which were fastened with mud to a sheer face of +rock that foot of man could not climb. Sometimes these nests +were broken down by means of leaden arrows. Sometimes the +merchants, like the diamond-seekers in the Sindbad tale, placed +large pieces of meat on the ground, and their weight caused the +nests to fall when the mother birds bore the meat aloft to their +young. The Arabians, returning, collected the cinnamon.</p> + +<p>Cassia grew on the marshy shores of a lake where were a +number of winged animals much resembling bats, which +screeched horribly and were very valiant. The Arabians covered +their bodies and faces with the hides of oxen, leaving only +holes for their eyes. While they gathered the bark they were +kept busy shielding their eyes from assault from the air.</p> + +<p>There was still a long journey for these aromatic stuffs before +they reached the marts of Arabia, at least when the people of +Punt themselves made it. They put forth over vast tracts of sea +upon rafts which were neither steered by rudder nor impelled +by oar or sail. At the time of the winter equinox they went to +sea on a wind from the southeast, and when they doubled the +promontory of Arabia the northeast wind met them and took them +from gulf to gulf. They skirted shores where forests, set afire +by the heat of the sun, were blazing. It might be five years +before their rafts, laden with copper, cloths, bracelets, and necklaces, +were hauled up again on the beaches of Somaliland.</p> + +<p>There may have been a memory of musk in stories told about +cassia and about ladanum. The ends of cassia branches of the +length of two fingers were cut off and sewn in fresh skins of +cattle. When the skins putrified, maggots ate away the woody +parts but left the bark, which was too bitter to invite their attack. +As to the ladanum of northern Arabia, Herodotus remarks that, +although found in a most inodorous place, it is the sweetest-scented<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</span> +of all substances. Goats gathered it. These animals +cropped the sprouting shoots of mastic branches when they were +swollen with a juice of remarkable sweetness. Drops thereof +were wiped up by their unlucky beards, and became clotted with +dust and dry from the sun. Men with shears collected it, and +that was why the Romans found goats’ hairs therein.</p> + +<p>Out of such stories were framed the geography, polity, and +ritual of the land of incense. What came of them was a monopoly, +a mystery, a spell that was slow to pass. In the smoke +of altars one may almost glimpse the temples of this dim +domain, and in the tinkle of the censing bell hear the bells of +camels along an ancient path.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Gog and Magog of the North</i></p> + +<p>The pastures of High Asia were the range of Gog and Magog. +The Caucasus was their prison home. Sometimes these formidable +races were pictured as roving the steppes and deserts of +the north, sometimes as swinging back and forth against the +walls of mountain valleys, where the policy of Alexander or +divine compassion for the rest of mankind had confined them. +Always they were seeking a way out, and sometime they would +find it, and the world would shudder down in ruin under their +tread.</p> + +<p>These races were the nightmare vision of two thousand years. +There are words the very sound of which evokes the myths of +fear. Such are Gog and Magog, with their harsh internal echo +and inhuman suggestion. They were associated with the terrors +of Scythia, known and unknown—the incursions of dwarfish, +shrill-voiced nomads upon the civilizations of the south, the +sense of vast desolate spaces where prodigious things had their +beginning. These misgivings, made definite by biblical imagery +and by the literal statements of the Koran, grew into legends +which were enriched by contributions from classic fable and +shared by the Jewish, Christian, and Moslem worlds.</p> + +<p>Magog was a son of Japheth, says Genesis. In the book of +<i>Ezekiel</i> it is declared that the Lord will bring Gog with his horses +and horsemen out of the north, and Persia, Ethiopia and Libya +with them. They shall ascend and come like a storm and like a +cloud shall cover the land. They shall think an evil thought, to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</span> +take a spoil and to take a prey. But the fury of the Lord shall +come up in His face and there shall be a great shaking in the +land of Israel. Gog shall fall upon the open field, and a fire +will be sent upon Magog and among them that dwell carelessly +in the isles. The wreckage of their shields and staves shall burn +for seven years, and Gog shall have a place of graves in Israel, +the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea.</p> + +<p>The burden of prophecy is taken up anew in <i>Revelation</i>. +When the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed +from 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. They shall compass the camp of the saints +about, and fire will come down out of heaven to devour them.</p> + +<p>The Koran buttressed biblical prophecy with a historical narrative. +It concerns the journeys of Doul-Karnain, the Lord of +the Two Horns, a personage variously identified with Alexander, +Julius Cæsar and Augustus, but by the east believed to be Alexander. +When he went forth with his army he marched to the +going down of the sun and found it set in a miry fount. He +marched to the farthest east and found a people oppressed by +the heat. Then he marched north and in a valley between two +mountains he found a people who told him that Gog and Magog +laid waste their land. “Build us, O Doul-Karnain,” they +begged, “a rampart between us and them.” He bade them bring +him blocks of iron, and when he had filled the space between the +mountains, he caused them to blow upon the wall with bellows, +and heated it fiery hot, and poured molten brass upon it. Gog +and Magog could not scale it, nor were they able to dig +through it.</p> + +<p>Ezekiel wrote when the memory of an invasion of Scythian +horsemen was still fresh in Asia the Less, and he drew his imagery +from it; to him, and to John after him, Gog and Magog +were symbols of earthly power opposed to Jehovah. But the +Semitic world, Jew and Arab alike, scanned the vigorous picture +of a nation from the steppes riding over the world, and saw in it +inspired prophecy of a Mongol devastation of civilization. So +Josephus thought: Gog and Magog were Scythian peoples. +Thrice and four times, on the immense canvases of Asia and +eastern Europe, the fading colors of the Ezekiel vision took on +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</span>the freshness of actuality—and the restoring brush was wielded +in turn by Genghis Khan, Othman, Tamerlane and Akbar. Thus +history has been kind to men of literal minds; but it has seen a +misshapen fable grow up in its shadow. The north had been +the home of the monstrous races of classic myth, and all their +bestial and godless traits were merged in the Tartar tradition.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f17"> +<img src="images/fig17.jpg" alt="rampart"> +<p class="caption">“BUILD US, O DOUL-KARNAIN,” THEY BEGGED, “A RAMPART BETWEEN US AND THEM”</p> +</div> + +<p>Bald, deformed anthropophagi mustered behind the barrier +of the Scythian mountains. Gog was the Turkish race, Magog +was the Mongol. The campaigns of Alexander had left legends +that persist to this day in Central Asia, and these were gathered +up in the accumulating myth. Alexander had also left earthworks +and monuments of his marches in those regions, and these +became memorials of the terrible peoples of Ezekiel. At first +the two races were placed a little to the north of Palestine, but +tradition moved them farther to the north and east to bring them +within the Alexander cycle. As Eden was at the end of the east, +so Gog and Magog were in the farther north, “in Scythia beyond +the Caucasus and near the Caspian Sea,” says St. Jerome, writing +in an age when that sea was thought to be a gulf of the +Arctic Ocean.</p> + +<p>Confused reports about the Chinese wall grew into a fable of +Iskander’s wall, which at one time was deemed to be in the Far +East, and again was identified with the fortifications which the +Sassanid kings had built in the passes of the Caucasus, fragments +of which are still to be seen at Derbent. It seemed most +fitting that the Caucasus with its towering peaks, its broken valleys, +and its remnants of diverse peoples should be the mountain +prison of these predestined scourges of mankind. There +also were to be found the Ten Lost Tribes, who had joined them. +Maundeville merges the two traditions and connects them with +a third; Gog and Magog and their Jewish associates all paid +tribute to the queen of Amazonia. According to Ricold of +Monte Croce, they could not with patience hear Alexander’s +name.</p> + +<p>There was a legend that both races escaped, guided by an owl +and a hare over their mountain walls; wherefore the Tartars +wear owl feathers in honor of their deliverance. But Astrakhan +has the story that they are prisoned still in remote valleys of the +Caucasus, where twelve trumpets, blown by the winds, keep them<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</span> +in terror against the day when they shall break forth and destroy +the world.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Prester John’s Kingdom</i></p> + +<p>When the Christian world was hard put to hold its own in its +crusading adventure in the Holy Land, word came to it that it +had an ally in the rear of Islam. Somewhere in the remote east, +on the farther side of Persia and Armenia, there was a king and +priest who ruled over a Christian people. He had taken the field +with a great army, defeated the Moslem kings of Media and +Persia, seized their capital of Ecbatana, and marched to the +relief of Jerusalem. Without boats to cross the Tigris, he had +gone north into colder lands, intending to cross upon the ice and +reach the holy city by a roundabout road. But the winters +proved too mild, and after waiting several years he had gone +home again.</p> + +<p>Thus the Europe of the twelfth century heard the story of +Prester John. In one form or another it was repeated by Otto +of Freisingen, by Maimonides, and by Benjamin of Tudela. +In the travels of the latter, John is a Jewish king reigning in +gorgeous state over a Jewish nation of the deserts. Popular +tradition had it that the royal Christian of Asia had addressed +a letter to the Pope of Rome and to the Greek and Roman emperors. +Its recital of splendors and prodigies was a challenge +to the spirit of wonder.</p> + +<p>“I, Presbyter Joannes, the Lord of Lords, surpass all under +heaven in virtue, in riches and in power,” runs the letter. “In +the three Indies our Magnificence rules, and our land extends +beyond India; it reaches towards the sunrise over the wastes, and +it trends towards deserted Babylon near the tower of Babel. +Seventy-two provinces, of which only a few are Christian, serve +us. Each has its own king but all are tributary to us. Our land +streams with honey, and is overflowing with milk. In one region +grows no poisonous herb, nor does a querulous frog ever quack +in it, no scorpion exists, nor does the serpent glide amongst the +grass, nor can any poisonous animals exist in it or injure any +one. With us no one lies, for he who speaks a lie is thenceforth +regarded as dead.”</p> + +<p>The royal letter writer recites that in his dominions is the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</span> +earthly paradise, claims as his subjects all the peoples of +prodigy, and describes in detail his human menagerie in the +Caucasus. The accursed fifteen nations imprisoned there eat +their foes, only desisting at Prester John’s word. They will +“burst forth at the end of the world, in the time of Antichrist, +and overrun all the abodes of the Saints as well as the great city +Rome, which, by the way, we are prepared to give our son who +will be born, along with all Italy, Germany, the two Gauls, +Britain and Scotland.”</p> + +<p>Whether this letter was ever received or no, Pope Alexander +III did dispatch to Prester John a letter which, between the lines, +reads like the reply to an irritating missive. It asserted the +papal claims to universal dominion and demanded that the +priest-king recognize them. The messenger who bore it eastward +in 1177 was never heard of again. Meanwhile the pagan +Mongols had broken into Europe and it became papal policy to +conciliate their good will and if possible win them over as allies +of the Cross against the Crescent. The monkish envoys who +penetrated the heart of Asia found a power as vast as that +claimed for the Christian monarch, but it was in the hands of +the sons of Genghis Khan; and there was no Prester John.</p> + +<p>This was a Nestorian fable, said Rubruquis; “about nothing +they make a great fuss.” As to their King John, “I traversed his +pastures and no one knew anything about him.” Rubruquis +speaks of Ung-Khan, prince of a province in Mongolia southeast +of Lake Baikal. According to Marco Polo, who entered +Asia in the same generation, this was Prester John. The Christian +chief of a Hunnish tribe, he was defeated and slain by +Genghis Khan. The legend faded out of the consciousness of +the west, only to be revived and domiciled in Abyssinia when +Europe learned of the power of its sovereigns and that they were +Christians of the Coptic faith.</p> + +<p>The tale of this Asiatic priest-king who wanted to put his +armies at the disposal of the hard-beset Christians of the west +has the irony and pathos of allegory. Without purporting to do +so, it tells the story of a great eastern adventure of the church +which the Greek and Roman communions had almost forgotten. +The Nestorians had been cast into outer darkness in one of the +schisms of the Eastern Empire in the unhappy sixth century,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</span> +when, as Gibbon says, Christians were “more solicitous to explore +the nature, than to practice the laws, of their founder.” +The offense of Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople, was that +he called Mary the Mother of Jesus and not the Mother of God, +and contended that in Christ the divine and human natures subsisted +independently of each other. He was excommunicated, +and died in exile.</p> + +<p>His followers, driven from the empire, went forth into Asia +and established an empire of the spirit wide as that afterward +claimed for the Prester John of legend. They founded churches +in Persia, Bokhara, Siam, and Sumatra. They penetrated India +and contended with Buddhism in Tibet. They won millions of +followers in Cathay, where their religion was tolerated under an +imperial edict of the seventh century as “virtuous, mysterious, +and pacific.” From Palestine to China they held the field for +the Christian faith, and their communicants were more numerous +than those of either the Greek or Roman church. There are +places in Asia which have not seen a Christian missionary since +the Nestorians passed, as soon they did. In Kurdistan and +Persia their faith survives in the affections of perhaps three +hundred thousand worshipers.</p> + +<p>It was the weakness of this faith that it nowhere had a country +of its own, and therefore no powerful central hierarchy sleepless +in its cause. For better or worse it was never able to draw the +sword; it spread itself only by persuasion and the tolerance of +pagan countries whose princes followed other cults. It must be +that some dreamy Nestorian monk, familiar with the west and +its ways, and pondering what his church had done in Asia and +might have done had the fates been kinder, wrote in the days +of its decline the letter which gave it the country it lacked and +set forth its spiritual dominion in terms the west would understand.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Witch Realm of Lapland</i></p> + +<p>In the dark ages a tradition arose that there was a witch +nation in the north of Europe. Its citizens were the Lapps, +whose descendants still fish, hunt and pasture their reindeer in +the wilder districts of Norway, Sweden, Russia, and Finland. +They are the most timid and inoffensive of men. They seem<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</span> +never to have had government of their own, but have been overtaxed, +exploited, and at times enslaved by stronger neighbors. +Swarthy, dwarfish, and shrill-spoken, with broad heads, upturned +noses, and bandy legs, they may be the survivors of the +small, dark race that once overspread the continent. Such a +people would need supernatural powers to overcome their manifold +handicaps, and with these legend endowed them.</p> + +<p>Their sinister reputation came to them because of their +gnome-like aspect, because they were still in the stone age of +culture, and perhaps because they were pagans after the remainder +of Europe had become Christian. Their magic drums +were the terror of settled lands. They could make themselves +invisible. They could raise the winds. “They tye three knottes +on a strynge hangying at a whyp,” wrote Richard Eden in 1577. +“When they lose one of these they rayse tollerable wynds. +When they lose another the wynd is more vehement; but by +losing the thyrd they rayse playne tempests as in old time they +were accustomed to rayse thunder and lyghtnyng.” Tales of +ships which went too near to Lapland and were heard of no +more were rife among the seafaring states. Yet Ivan the Terrible +sent for Lapp magicians to read the portent of a comet, +and the Norse princess Gunhild lived in their country to learn +its lore.</p> + +<p>Much of the superstition of the neighbor Finns has entered +into the Lapland tradition. Their magic songs picture their +small cousins as living in almost legendary lands—Lapland +itself, a dark, vague northern country where the people wore +tall hats and spoke in whining, mumbling voices: Turja Fells, +with its wonder-working maidens; and Pohjola, “home of the +north,” where the old woman, Louhiatar, “the blind whore of +Pohjola,” queened it in a realm that had neither sun nor moon. +These songs have much to say of hazy headlands and spells +wrought upon them and on the main. A furious old wife sweeps +the sea, with a cloth of sparks on her head, and on her shoulders +a cloak of foam. Four maidens of the air mow grass on a cloudy +cape in a foggy island. The sharp maiden Terhetar sifts the +mist on a shrouded promontory. A wood spirit shrieks at people +and fills the forest with murk when they wander there.</p> + +<p>In the Orkney and Shetland islands, the Lapps were known<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</span> +as Finn-folk. Sometimes they crossed the North Sea and, hiding +their identity, appeared among the islanders, with whom they intermarried; +skilled persons, however, detected them by their +wrinkled visages and the odd blemishes upon their skins. The +visitors knew the language of birds and beasts, into which, +indeed, they could transform themselves; and with impunity +they rode the tricky water-horse. They could control the +weather, predict the future, cure diseases of men and cattle. It +was a slight task for them to make the passage from the continent. +Most people believed they swam across—for either they +were seals who took human form, or men who could take the +seal form. Sometimes when fisher folk harpooned a large seal +they found a strange little man struggling in the waves.</p> + +<p>These credulous island tales carry the legend of a witch +nation of the north almost into the twentieth century.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Spice Islands</i></p> + +<p>The ninth edition of the <i>Encyclopædia Britannica</i> forgot to +mention the Moluccas. A standard atlas of the world published +in the United States neglects to describe them. A day’s sail to +the southeast from the large Philippine island of Mindanao +brings one to them, but American travelers do not make this +trip. Only a strait, to the right and to the left, separates the +group from New Guinea and Celebes, and narrow are the seas +between it and Java to the south; yet these are names of consequence +in modern geography, while it is a name all but unknown. +There is magic, modern magic, in the tropic islands of +the Pacific. These islands do not share it, though they lie on +both sides of the Line in the fairest of summer seas.</p> + +<p>They have another name, the Spice Islands. For the space +of two centuries men who followed the great waters thought of +them and of little else. It was spices that Columbus sought +when he sailed west from Palos in 1492 and the man who discovered +sassafras in America had honors comparable to his own. +It was an eastern route to the spice regions that engaged Portuguese +endeavor and conducted the ships of da Gama into the +Indian Ocean in 1497. It was a western route to the Spice +Islands that Magellan sought in his voyage around the world a +score of years afterward. The royal grant to del Cano, who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</span> +brought one ship home from that expedition, was conditioned +on the annual payment of two cinnamon sticks, three nutmegs, +and twelve cloves; and the coat of arms which he was licensed +to bear had the effigies of two Malay kings holding spice +branches; to have gone around the world seemed to Spain a +lesser thing than to have discovered a route to these islands. +To reach them was the object of the attempts to open a northeast +passage around Asia and a northwest passage around +America. To determine their ownership was the subject of two +papal bulls and a dynastic agreement between the royalties of +Spain and Portugal; and they fell at last as a prize of war to +Holland.</p> + +<p>In the age of discovery India and China were small words +compared with the Spice Islands. The place this forgotten group +once held in the imagination of men is one of the great illusions +of commercial geography.</p> + +<p>Nor was it all illusion. If the world trade of antiquity was +mainly in incense, the world trade of the Middle Ages was +mainly in spices, and for a similar cause—with the primitive +transportation of the period, less valuable and more bulky things +could not be carried far at a profit. Nowadays the meats, +grains, vegetables, and fruits of all climes travel long distances +to the dinner table, and men’s diet has both variety and quality. +In former times the range of eatables was small, the quality +poor. The service of spices was to improve and diversify the +flavors of viands, to disguise the shortcomings of mediæval +cookery as well as mediæval larders. The salt-fish diet of +European winters created the spice trade with the east.</p> + +<p>When the Turkish seizure of Egypt in 1521 closed the +southern overland route to the east the same year that both the +Portuguese and the Spanish reached the Moluccas, the stage was +set for the romance of spice. Passing from unknown sources +through various hands, it had reached the west at a tenfold price. +Here was opportunity to deal direct in what all Europe wanted.</p> + +<p>It was known that these were not the only spice lands. Cassia +grew in Somaliland and cinnamon in Ceylon, and both were +used in food as well as incense. The ginger root came from a +reed of Cochin-China. Benjamin of Tudela, Ibn Batuta, and +Friar Odoric had described the pepper “forests” of Malabar,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</span> +and Marignolli had even told of pepper wars between Jews and +Christians. Through the Chinese port of Amoy, so Polo thought, +there passed a hundred times as much pepper as came to all +Christendom. But somehow the Moluccas, whence came cloves, +nutmegs, and mace—the husks of nutmegs—seemed to be the +kingdom of spicery.</p> + +<p>They had won this distinction centuries before the first western +ship entered those seas. Although the islands have an area of +only twenty-five thousand square miles and a population of less +than four hundred thousand persons, their two sultanates of +Tidor and Ternate achieved dominion at about the same time +as the Italian republics of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, which in +power they paralleled; and the one group of states, no less than +the other, lived on the spice trade. The colonial empire of the +Moluccas extended over the neighboring archipelagoes and penetrated +the continent; their trading settlements dotted the wide +spaces of Malaysia. Java was their export market, and there +Polo saw the testimonials of their power in a spice trade that +seemed to him to account for the greater part of the world’s +supply of aromatic and pungent vegetable substances. They had +already entered into a political decline when the Europeans +came, and this eastern venture of the Portuguese executed for +them the same decree of fate that it was to do for the maritime +states of the Mediterranean.</p> + +<p>When Serrano reached the Moluccas he wrote to his friend, +Magellan: “I have discovered yet another new world, larger and +richer than that found by Vasco da Gama.” The caravels of +Portugal went no farther, and the nation took such pains as it +could that none others should go so far. It was Portuguese +policy in the spice trade, as it had been Arab policy in the incense +trade, that the sources of supply should remain unknown. +Always the unknown is magnified. Robert Thorne, writing from +the Spanish court in 1527, declared that the islands abounded +not only in cloves, nutmegs, mace, and cinnamon, but in “Golde, +Rubies, Diamondes, Balasses, Garnates, Jacincts, and other +stones and pearles.” The precious commodities he thought the +simple natives would part with on equal terms for the lead, tin, +and iron of the north; and, measure for measure, they would +traffic their spices for corn, their diamonds for pieces of glass.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</span></p> + +<p>In these islands fable found another home. Here, it was said, +were men having spurs on their ankles like cocks, horned hogs, +hens that laid their eggs several feet under ground, oysters so +large that the shells were used as baptismal fonts for children, +crabs with claws so strong that they could break the iron of a +pick-ax, stones which grew like fish and out of which men made +lime, and a river well stored with finny creatures and yet so hot +that it scalded the unwary bather. Drake, refitting here in his +voyage around the world, saw “an infinite swarme of fiery +wormes flying at night making such a shew and light as if every +twigge or tree had been a burning candle.” Also he saw bats as +big as hens and crayfish that dug holes like conies, and one of +which was a meal for four hungry men.</p> + +<p>These decorations of fancy can add but little to the great +theme of forgotten islands once the goal of the world’s desire.</p> + +<p>There was another curious chapter written when Dutch succeeded +Portuguese. It was such a chapter as monopoly writes, +and it comes down into the nineteenth century. The ships of +Holland cruised in the surrounding seas, cutting down spice +groves wherever they found them. Before they were exported, +all nutmegs were treated with fire and lime, so that no plantations +could be started elsewhere—but pigeons carried them to +other islands and mother cloves were taken away in hollow bamboos, +and the produce of home orchards multiplied, and the +world spice trade dwindled in relative importance as the food +of mankind became more varied.</p> + +<p>Dampier tells of an island where the ground under the trees +was carpeted with cloves several inches thick, left there to decay. +Another traveler tells of seeing three heaps of nutmegs burning +at one time, each of which would have filled a church. So the +Dutch East India Company reduced supplies in striving to maintain +prices. The spicy odors that floated over the seas surrounding +the Araby of fable became, on occasion, a fact of the +Molucca group. It was the incense neither of nature nor of +religion, but of a dying commerce.</p> + +<p>The nutmegs of to-day are grown mainly in the island of +Penang in the British East Indies and in the island of Grenada +in the British West Indies, while cloves come from the African +island of Zanzibar.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</span></p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Arcadia</i></p> + +<p>Arcadia is at once a country and a province of the +imagination.</p> + +<p>The real Arcadia is a mountainous plateau some forty miles +square in the central part of the Peloponnessus of Greece. Its +chief exports in the old time were asses. Its inhabitants were—and +are—gruff-spoken herdsmen and peasants, equally scornful +of letters and politics. They seldom went outside their own valleys, +and few strangers came among them. They had no central +government and no relations with the other states of Greece, +and they wanted to be let alone. Yet they were willing to fight—for +pay; and sometimes they had to fight because Sparta was +their neighbor and they were on a war track. When Arcadia +took the field in force as the ally of another state, almost always +it espoused the wrong side. In the quarrels of the Greek republics, +and in the series of wars in which Pompey, Julius Cæsar, +Mark Antony, and Augustus figured, it shared the hard lot of +the vanquished. Although it lay remote and its spirit was aloof, +the plateau had at least its share of the troubles of the world.</p> + +<p>The Arcadia of poetry occupies the same boundaries, but has +had a different history. All that the poets have done has been +to stress certain facts and forget the others. This land, as it +seemed to them, stood like a fortress of rustic innocence above +the turmoil of politics and the bustle of maritime trade that was +ancient Greece. At each of the corners of the plateau, like bastions, +rose a group of mountain peaks, from which, on a fair +morning, one might see the whole of Arcadia, the neighbor +states of the coastal plains, and beyond them the Mediterranean. +Great groves of gnarled oaks grew upon the mountain sides, +there were pine forests, and in the open fields stood the graceful +plane tree, beloved of the classic world. Though the Arcadians +were unlettered, pastoral song had its birth among them, before +the inspiration of Theocritus gave it a home in Sicily. Pan was +their tutelar deity, and it seemed to the rustics sometimes that +they could hear the plaintive music of his pipes as the goat-god +reclined under the plane tree. In this artless land, myth has it, +Hermes strung cords across the shell of a giant tortoise and +made the harp.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</span></p> + +<p>Arcadia was equally skilled at the harp and the flute, and to +these the shepherds sang their simple lays. Aside from their +love of music, they seemed to the Greeks of the towns men of +ignorant rusticity, and they figure as simpletons—“acorn eaters”—in +the Middle Comedy. The Romans copied this as they did +everything else in Greek drama, and the dull Arcadian of the +stage moved Latin audiences to laughter; “Arcades ambo,” both +sweet innocents, is a phrase of the period. But the Romans +caught also the spirit of their rustic song, and the Arkady of +poetry was born in the Virgilian bucolics. Its outlines are disclosed +in the Tenth <i>Eclogue</i>, in passages which tell of browsing +goats, and clover-rifling bees, and bubbling springs where dark-blue +violets blow, and, animating the scene, the vintagers of +mellow grapes and Pan himself, red with elderberries and with +cinnabar. “Arcadians, none but ye can sing!” exclaims the +poet.</p> + +<p>On this delicate outline the Renaissance laid the rich colorings +of its fancy. The rugged, troubled mountain land became +the one land in all the world of simple peace and rustic innocence +and wistful charm of things ideal. Sanazzaro’s Arcadian +pastoral went through sixty editions in a century. France, +Spain, England, and Holland, following Italy, all made their +excursions into Arkady. There was a succession of romantic +sketches wherein lyrics declaring the loves of swains and bewailing +the death of virgins are interspersed with dialogues that +tell in prose the poetry of pastoral life. The classic work of this +school is the <i>Arcadia</i> of Sir Philip Sidney. There, and not in +the Morea, the Arkady that is a province of the imagination may +best be explored.</p> + +<p>It is a tale of knightly youths and dainty maidens and one +sentence will declare its quality. When Pamela disrobed for +the bath and set foot in a stream “the touch of cold water made +a pretty kind of shrugging come over her body, like the twinkling +of the fairest of the fixed stars.”</p> + +<p>Here, says Sidney, the very shepherds have their fancies +lifted to so high conceits as the learned of other nations are +content both to borrow their names and imitate their cunning. +The hills garnish their proud delights with stately trees, the +humble estate of valleys is comforted with the refreshing of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</span> +rivers, and the thickets declare the cheerful disposition of well-tuned +birds. Sheep pasture with sober security and by them +are pretty lambs whose bleating oratory craves the dam’s comfort. +The herd girls sing their lays, while on the uplands pipes +the shepherd boy “as though he shall never be old.”</p> + +<p>This is vision, all of it, sunshine and haze working their spell +upon a rocky hillside. There are wolves in the sheepfolds of +life.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Bohemia</i></p> + +<p>Bohemia is a subtler Arcadia, another province of youth and +love and dreams; but youth passes thence, and love is a brief +madness, and the dream may fail of fulfillment. Like Arcadia, +the Bohemia that is a state of mind has its reality in a mountain-girdled +land, but, unlike Arcadia, it has shifted on the map, +refusing to be confined by any boundaries known to geography.</p> + +<p>Now even the name of it, with its music and implications of +poetry, is lost to geography, and in its stead is the harshly +named Czecho-Slovakia. Wherefore the Bohemians of art and +literature, and unregulated impulse and fantasy, have no homeland +they can call their own. This is a fitting thing. In a sense +there never was a Bohemia, although there was always the +fortress land which nature placed at the headwaters of the Elbe +on the borders of Germany. The Celtic tribe whence it was +named is only a shadow in history, and the Bohemians who +fought with Poles and Germans, who wanted to be Protestant, +who started the Thirty Years’ War, who were a dukedom, and +a kingdom, and a part of the Holy Roman Empire, were Slavs +who called themselves Czechs.</p> + +<p>Their literature is older than the German, their university at +Prague was one of the earliest centers of European culture, their +capital is the westernmost outpost of the east in Europe, their +patriotism is a proverb, and their glass fabrics, their beer, and +their beet sugar are staples of world commerce. Upon this +people and their hill-walled home the name of Bohemia and the +traditions of “the gayest and most melancholy country of the +world” fit but loosely. Whence the Bohemia that is a haunting +word on the lips of youth?</p> + +<p>Shakespeare budded it, and the gypsies, and Frenchmen who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</span> +knew too little, and Frenchmen who may have known too much. +<i>Winter’s Tale</i> gave Bohemia a seacoast and centuries of +critics a chance to say its author nodded. Yet under the puissant +Ottokar the country did have coasts on both the north and +south of Europe. The scene of the play is near the head of the +Adriatic. The Bohemia it pictures, instead of lying inland, is +probably the maritime province of Istria, and historically the +background is correctly named.</p> + +<p>From <i>Winter’s Tale</i> the Bohemians of the studio and pothouse +got themselves a coast, a glamour, and their First Citizen. +“Places remote enough are in Bohemia,” the poet says. Here +again is shepherd’s love, and a prince whose courtship of a +“queen of curds and cream” is timed by the flowers as they pass—“daffodils +that come before the swallow dares, and take the +winds of March with beauty,” and violets dim, pale primroses, +bold ox-lips and the flower de luce. “The fanned snow that’s +bolted by the northern blasts” is far away.</p> + +<p>On this scene of Arkady enters a figure in no wise Arcadian—Autolycus, +earliest Bohemian, citizen of no country and of +all. He is a vagabond, a minstrel, a ballad-monger, a ribbon +peddler, a cut-purse. His is the footpath way, and his revenue, +he explains, is the silly cheat. “Enter Autolycus singing” is the +stage direction. Exit Autolycus also, singing, “A merry heart +goes all the day, your sad tires in a mile-a.”</p> + +<p>Here is a blood-brother of Villon, and Bohemia is already a +province of his song. It becomes a kingdom with the coming of +the gypsies. Mediæval France called them Bohemians, and +thought them such, as other countries thought them Egyptians. +The roadside was their home, the world was their country, they +paid no taxes or rents, and report had it that they had written +the canons of their creed on cabbage leaves which a donkey +found and devoured. They practiced the wandering arts, were +musicians, metal-workers, horse-dealers, bear-leaders, snake-charmers, +herb-venders; their women read palms, and were +“pleasaunt dauncers.”</p> + +<p>The gypsy philosophy found its first devotees in rogues of old +Paris, who called themselves dukes in Bohemia; Hugo has +sketched their lawless commonwealth in his <i>Notre Dame</i>. The +Bohemia of artists and dreamers, like many a country of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</span> +map, had ruffians, cheats, and vagrants for its early colonists. +It was left to Murger to fix its frontiers, write its laws, and treat +for its admission into the league of ideal lands. The results are +spread at large in his <i>Scenes de la Vie de Bohème</i>.</p> + +<p>Much has been written of the whereabouts of this land and +of the conditions by which one becomes a citizen, but the matter +is found entire in Murger’s preface and in Arthur Symons’s introduction +to this preface. “Any man,” says Murger, “who +enters the path of Art, with his art as his sole means of support, +is bound to pass by way of Bohemia.” To Symons, Bohemia is +“the sentiment youth has of itself at the flowering moment of its +existence”; the sadness of it is the consciousness of the flight of +youth.</p> + +<p>The whereabouts of the country that has been mapped as +neighbor both to Germany and Italy? Murger answers that +Bohemia “neither exists nor can exist anywhere save in Paris.” +But that is only Murger’s answer.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c17">Chapter XVII. Islands of Enchantment</h2> +</div> + + +<p>“<span class="smcap large">The</span> thirteenth day of May we passed by the Island of Paris, +and the Island of the bankes of Helicon, and the Island called +Ditter, where are many boares and the women bee witches.” +This glimpse of Mediterranean travel from one of the sixteenth-century +wanderers whose voyages are recorded in Hakluyt +might be paralleled from the outer Atlantic, the Caribbean, the +Indian Ocean, or the South Seas. In the <i>Arabian Nights</i>, for +example, Sayf Al-Muluk and his companions came in turn to +the isle of the old men of the sea; to the isle of ghouls who sleep +under cover of their ears; to the isle of gigantic blackamoors +with protruding eyeteeth; and to the isle of trained apes “bigger +than he-mules.”</p> + +<p>Such folk seem at home in the wilderness of waters. These +distant spaces of the sea are little worlds of their own which +imagination feels free to dower with peculiar institutions and +stock with peculiar peoples. In islands of reality or fantasy +men place their ideal states, their pirate realms, their abodes of +exile, their refuges from the restraints and traditions of life—the +sanctuaries of pursuits and companionships other than those +of which they have tired. In them, also, they place the regions +of repose; to reach felicity one must cross water.</p> + +<p>On journeys thither one might sight the shores of the folk of +prodigy. There were islands of men, and islands of women, +and islands of hermits, and islands of witches, and islands of +satyrs, and islands of giants, and islands of dwarfs, and islands +of dog-headed, ox-worshiping cannibals. The impulse thus to +set aside a maritime domicile for the nondescript nations was +strongest with Arab geographers and Celtic story-tellers. It +culminates in the romancing narrative of Maundeville, who +dotted the eastern seas with the archipelagoes of his fancy and +settled them with the creatures of fable.</p> + +<p>When the spell of terror woven in classic times began to lift<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</span> +from the Atlantic, its islands swam into sight as to the strains +of harp music. They appeared to belong equally to geography +and to poetry. Of Madeira, the discovery of which is associated +with the romance of fugitive English lovers, an old writer +declared that such a delightful land “could only have been discovered +by love.” For reasons as yet unexplained, nearly all +the newly found islands of the eastern Atlantic bore the names +of animals or birds. About them, Sir John Hawkins wrote, “are +certaine flitting Ilands which have been oftentimes seene, and +when men approched neere them, they vanished.” The older +maps show one such island which was called St. Brendan’s. It +is a memory of the Irish sea epics, and the latter are themselves +a review of the entire island story.</p> + +<p>In these five wander-tales the empty spaces of the Atlantic are +filled in with islands which were loaned to the Irish by Homer +from the Odyssey and Plato from his Atlantis; by the Greek, +Lucian, from his Rabelaisian <i>True History</i>; by the Roman, +Seneca, with his vision of a continent in the west; by him who +saw the Sea of Glass from the rock of Patmos; by Arab story-tellers, +and by early Moorish and Spanish chroniclers from their +narratives of the shadowy Antillia, the Isle of the Seven Bishops, +and the legendary journey of the Deluded Folk. Celtic fancy +passed a wand over this jumble of material, and a strange new +world appeared. Headlands of snow and ice and islands of +perpetual summer were within a day’s sail of one another, +pagan fables and monkish marvels were domiciled together, +there was much mist and much sunshine, and around all was +“the mighty and intolerable ocean” which St. Brendan saw at +Sliabh Daidche.</p> + +<p>Tennyson has set one of these tales, <i>The Voyage of Mældune</i>, +to his own music. It was a journey of revenge a chieftain +made with his men to slay the man who has slain his father. +They came to the Silent Isle, where their voices were thinner and +fainter than any flittermouse shriek; to the Isle of Shouting +where wild birds cried from its summit till the steer fell down +at the plow and the harvest died in the field; to the Isle of +Flowers where were blossom and promise of blossom and never +a fruit; to the Isle of Fruits, and in every berry and fruit the +poisonous pleasure of wine; to the Isle of Fire, which shuddered<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</span> +and shook like a man in a mortal affright; to the Bounteous Isle, +where the men began to be weary, to sigh and to stretch and +yawn; to the Isle of Witches, naked as heaven, who bosomed the +burst of the spray; to the Isle of the Double Towers, that shocked +on each other and butted each other with clashing of bells; and +to the Isle of a Saint, who told the men, “Go back to the Isle of +Finn, and suffer the past to be past.”</p> + +<p>This narrative may stand with variations for all of the Irish +sea tales. Under the sway of some overmastering motive the +hero puts forth upon the deep—for revenge, or to save a comrade +condemned, or to seek a woman, or to reach the Land of +Promise, or to find the Lord upon the sea. The voyagers pass +from island to island. Complaisant Circes greet them from one +shore and indignant female virtue repels them from another. +They come to the isle called the Delicious, to the Isle of Sheep, +to the Isle of Laughter, to the Moving Isle which was a whale’s +back, to the isle which is the mouth of hell. They see demons +racing their horses on a magic course, and red-hot swine issuing +from caves, and stinging cats, and Judas on his rock, and ants +the size of foals. A griffin assaults them, the Cyclopes threaten +them, birds sing psalms to them. Repentant, or triumphant, or +prophetic, or stricken in years, they come back at last to an +Ireland that has forgotten them.</p> + +<p>Who fares on from island to island with these Celtic dreamers +may visit the whole realm of fable.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Sunken Lands</i></p> + +<p>Gazing into the ocean depths in warm latitudes one sees the +fronds of tall aquatic plants sway slightly as if a slow breeze +stirred them. Walls of coral rise there with a wavering semblance +to palaces. The purple mullet swims in and out of sunken +grottos. Such sunlight as reaches them is subdued to softness, +like that admitted by cathedral windows when it is late afternoon. +These seem to be groves and gardens and habitations +under the sea. Beings like one’s fellow mortals, but more beautiful +and gentle, might live there and rove in the dim peace of +meadows beneath the foam and tumult of the reefs.</p> + +<p>Such thoughts come without bidding. Always men have +sought the land of heart’s desire, and sometimes they told themselves<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</span> +that it was under the sea; or perhaps that what they saw +there was not the promise of what should be but the wreck of +what had been.</p> + +<p>The sea is a mirror as well as a window. It repeats the +curves of shore and sky and all that is between—cornfields, and +grazing cattle, and the burden of orchards, and cottage smoke, +and the loom of church towers. Here is an underworld, though +it be but the simple magic of light upon smooth water. There is +a subtler magic of mist and water and uncertain sun gleams +when one stands on the west coast of Ireland and looks seaward +through the eyes of a people in whom wonder never flickered +down in doubt.</p> + +<p>Dwelling alone on the outer coast of the world as the ancients +knew it, these folk had beheld strange things in the great waters +that roared along their cliffs. Shadowy islands showed themselves +in thick weather, and, though no trace of them remained +when the cloud bank lifted, these were no tricks of mirage +wrought by fog and muffled sunlight. They were isles of enchantment +that might have floated out of sight, but more likely +had sunk beneath the wave, not to emerge again until another +seven years were gone. The glints of splendor upon the distant +sea were not the track of the sun in broken water. They came +from the golden roofs and spires of a sunken city.</p> + +<p>So out of things seen—as in a glass darkly—upon, above, and +under the billow, and out of things imagined or hoped for, men +have wrought the legend of cities that sleep beneath the ocean. +The tale of Atlantis is the oldest form of the legend. But the +tales of lost cities are not legend altogether and the tale of +Atlantis may not be legend altogether. There are submerged +ruins on which romance bases itself as upon reality, there are +authentic historical happenings, and there are local traditions +which, it may be, retain the memory of cities that were upon +islands or coasts engulfed by the sea.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f18"> +<img src="images/fig18.jpg" alt="islands"> +<p class="caption"><i>In Islands Men Placed Their Ideal States.... To Reach Felicity One Must<br> +Cross Water</i></p> +</div> + +<p>Along the Italian coast the columns of sunken Roman villas +have given rise to stories of drowned cities. The ruins of towns +lie under the Zuyder Zee. Some inroad of the deep may be +preserved in the legend of Vineta, the fabled city beneath the +Baltic near the Holstein coast. There have been subsidences +within historical time in the waters about the British Isles, and +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</span>the ocean has taken toll of the English coast itself. The Channel +shoal called the Goodwin Sands, and Seal Rock, fragment of the +Irish island of Inis Fitæ which was split into three pieces in the +eighth century, are tokens of these subsidences. In the Azores +group, scene of the Atlantis legend, four islands appeared in +the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and sank again. Expedition +Island, northwest of Australia, which Dutch naturalists +visited within a generation, lies under seven fathoms of water. +The populous island of Torca in the Indian Ocean went out of +sight in a sheet of flame in 1693. Tuanaki, an island in South +Polar waters, has not been seen in ninety years. The cloud bank +which Peary called Crocker Land has been removed from maps +of the Arctic region. Three new islands have been born in the +Aleutian group, one of them as late as 1909. The strange +stone images on Easter Island have given rise to conjecture that +it might be the remnant of a continent and a civilization lost +beneath the Pacific.</p> + +<p>Thus there is a broad basis of fact for the legends of sunken +cities. Some of these are of great beauty. Whether the product +of pagan or Christian brooding, the sound of church bells is in +them—peals that come floating solemnly to the surface from +towers through which deep waters are moving. When the sunshine +falls upon calm seas, so fisherman say, they can discern +these towers, and rising about them the peaked roofs of houses +like those of the Middle Ages.</p> + +<p>Beyond all others the Celts are the people of the lost lands. +These seem part of the Celtic heritage of defeat and dreams. +The legends of Wales tell of a fair land sunken by the folly of +a drunken prince. The lost Lyonesse, a great promontory of +Cornwall, was such another land, and the Scilly Islands are the +remnants. Tennyson and Swinburne have rescued its memory +from oblivion and Walter de la Mare pictures a scene “in sea-cold +Lyonesse, when the Sabbath eve shafts down on the roofs, +walls and belfries of the foundered town.” The story of Is, +the vanished Breton capital, has been told in folk-song, in +poetry, in stately music. It is one of the haunting fables of +men, and back of it, as of so many tales of ruin and overthrow, +is the figure of a beautiful and wicked woman.</p> + +<p>The city of Is lay far in the west of France, where the coast<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</span> +of Brittany makes its great thrust into the Atlantic. Peasants +point out the blocks, visible at low tide in the Bay of Douarnenez, +which they say are its foundations. The city was builded +in a wide plain below the level of the sea, and strong walls, controlled +by sluice gates, defended it from the encroaching waves. +It was an habitation of vice and pleasure, and it had a king as +blameless as Arthur, and he a daughter as cruel, as lustful, and +as fair of face as Arthur’s sister, Morgan le Fay. King Gradlon +and Princess Dahut are the central figures in the drama of Is.</p> + +<p>Dahut dwelt in a tower, where she entertained a long train +of lovers, drowning each as she tired of him. To please a paramour +she stole from her father’s neck in his sleep the silver key +which unlocked the sluice gates and let in the sea. Awakened +by the warning tumult of the waters, Gradlon mounted a horse +and fled, bearing his daughter with him. But the floods moved +after him and a voice bade him sacrifice to the sea the beautiful +demon who rode with him. Dahut fell to her death in the +waves, and their course was stayed. At Quimper the king rebuilt +his seat, but Is was lost forever beneath the Atlantic. +Though it happened fifteen centuries ago, there are Bretons who +say that the faint chime of bells still comes to them when wind +and tide move shoreward together.</p> + +<p>Nine is the number of islands under the sea to the west of +Erin. They appear above the surface once in seven years. +Though a man may descry them from the coast, yet might he go +toward them in a currach for two days and not come up with +them. Some of them are larger than Ireland itself. They have +been seen by trustworthy observers,—Otway, for example. In +a paper read before the Royal Irish Society, Westropp describes +O Brasile, the best known of these, as he saw it in 1872: “It was +a clear evening with a fine golden sunset, when, just as the sun +went down, a dark island suddenly appeared far out to sea, but +not on the horizon. It had two hills, one wooded; between these, +from a low plain, rose towers and curls of smoke. My mother, +brother, and several friends saw it at the same time. One cried +out that he could see New York!”</p> + +<p>Illusion, but for thousands of years Irish eyes have beheld +these phantom islands lift and fade in the west, and the Celtic +glamour is in the legends that tell them. “Lost Kilsapheen,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</span> +sighs the poet, “its palaces and towers of pride ... all buried +in the rushing tide and deep sea waters green.” Churches and +convents and castles are in these islands, and those who have +seen them or thought they saw them report more intimate touches—an +old woman coming out of a cabin to cut a cabbage; the +bleating of sheep and lambs heard in a fog on the open sea; the +apparition of “an old Scotch gentleman” wearing the raiment +of another century upon an enchanted shore. Sometimes a +seeming of tumult troubles these realms of shadow. There are +flames and smoke and fugitives. Then the spell passes and there +is naught but the slant of the gull’s wing and the roll of a porpoise +on a distant billow.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants of the islands are people of a vanished time, +and sealmen, and mermen, and giants, and the prisoners of +giants. If you can find the golden key to one of the sunken +lands it will rise to the surface and remain there; but the key +has been hidden under a cairn or is buried in the ruins of a +Druid temple. There are other ways of lifting the spell. +Casting a clod of earth upon an island when it is above water +may disenchant it. Another way is by dropping a coal of fire +upon it, or knocking the glowing ashes from your pipe upon the +shore, or shooting a red-hot arrow from a boat, for “fire is hostile +to anything phantasmal.” So was Inishbofin fixed above the +surface of the sea. Fishermen landed upon it in a fog and lit +a fire. Then the fog cleared and they saw an old woman driving +a white cow to drink. One of them seized the cow’s tail and +found in his hand a spray of seaweed; and the woman and cow +were turned into rocks. This was ages ago.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Where Eden Lies</i></p> + +<p>Eden, Elysium, and the Fortunate Isles are one. They are +upon the earth and yet not of it. They are no part of the realm +of shades and it is not through the gates of death that one enters +them. Mortal men have dwelt in them, or may reach them, and +thither the heroes pass without leaving “the warm precincts of +the cheerful day.” These are the ideal lands of afternoon sunshine +and airs that are at once a sigh and a caress. The poetry +and pity of men created them that there might be some place of +happiness with portals less somber than those of the tomb, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</span> +without the sadness of irrevocable farewells upon the paths that +lead to it.</p> + +<p>So the realms of bliss were placed afar, at the end of difficult +journeys which yet might be attained, or at least attempted. +Eden lay eastward. The Fortunate Isles of the Roman and the +Elysian lands of the Greek and Celt lay westward. In the conception +of men these were islands, Eden almost as much as the +others. The four sacred rivers flowed from it and around it, +and in later times, what men who came near to it particularly +noticed was the sound of falling water.</p> + +<p>It seemed to Columbus that the rushing current of the Orinoco +flowed down from Eden’s steeps. It seemed to men before him +that paradise might lie in the southern hemisphere, deemed “the +noblest and happiest part of the globe,” and perhaps in the +South Seas. There were those who made Eden a coast on the +northern ocean, and others who placed it among the fountains of +Armenia. To most men the island of Ceylon was its seat. +There Carpini heard the plash of its waters, and Maundeville +drank thereof, as he reports, to his bodily betterment.</p> + +<p>The Fortunate Isles, the Elysian abode of the heroes, were +placed by the Greeks in the extreme west, near the river +Oceanus. Their position receded with the advance of world-knowledge +and finally was fixed in the Canary and Madeira +islands, furthest outpost of Roman discovery. Satire though it +is, the <i>True History</i> of Lucian describes the Blessed Islands in +the very term men used when they were glad to believe. As his +party approached these islands, odorous airs came out from +shore, in which one could detect the mingled breath of the rose, +the narcissus, the hyacinth, and the lily. There was music from +harp and lute, and then, as the boat grounded on the beach, “the +guardians of the isle immediately chained us with manacles of +roses, their only fetters.”</p> + +<p>These were the same islands which the Celts called by many +beautiful names and whither the coracles of legend journeyed. +It is hard to tell where the sunken islands of their history give +way to the imaginary islands of their geography, and these to +the ideal lands of their myths. The three groups seem to lie one +behind the other in the outer seas of the <i>Imrama</i>. The farthest +group was the Celtic other-world, and yet so near was it to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</span> +coasts of the New World, that a claim for the discovery of +America is based on St. Brendan’s voyage to the Land of +Promise. The group may best be called an archipelago where +pagan and Christian ideals shared dominion. Therein was not +only the Land of Promise, but “Magh Mell of many flowers,” +the Land of Truth, “whose truth was sung without falsehood.” +There was the Land of the Living, and the sensuous Land of +Fair Women. In all these happy islands music swelled, and +laughter, and there was neither wailing nor treachery, and death +was not; and the magic food was unsalted pork, new milk, and +mead.</p> + +<p>It was the singular fate of this god’s land of the Celt to +become confused with the geographical story of both Europe and +America. The memory of actual Irish voyages to the New +World may be in the legend, and inference from wreckage carried +from afar, along with the stuff of old dreams. Of the +latter is a Spanish story wherein the Celtic paradise masks itself +as the Island of the Seven Cities to which seven bishops had led +their flocks to escape the Moor. Men whose hap it was to sight +this shadowy coast were carried in a barge to the shore and +entertained in a lofty hall by men who spoke their own tongue, +though with the antique accent. Europe credited the tale, nor +guessed that the barge was the same as that which bore the +wounded Arthur unto Avalon.</p> + +<p>These dream isles, at once aspiration and allegory, were +found also, or rather they were sought, in the eastern seas. It +is recited in the Buddhist records that the king of Udyana had +a true report of the silver walls and golden roofs of an island +of the sages in distant waters. The Chinese emperor, Tshe +Huan Ti, of the third century before Christ, heard of a happy +land seven hundred miles to the eastward in the Yellow Sea, +and sent young men out to find it. They saw it on a far horizon +and a roseate light was upon it. But storms drove them back. +The Japanese tell of such a land lying toward the sunrise, and +call it Oraisan.</p> + +<p>Maundeville knew of an island in the eastern ocean. It was +something like the places of eternal bliss in the far west, and +yet was the home of people who were much as other men are +except that they were better. When Alexander would have conquered<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</span> +them, an embassy bore him this message, “Nothing may +thou take from us but our good Peace,” and he let them alone. +In this isle of Bragman was “No Thief, nor Murderer, nor common +Woman, nor poor Beggar, nor ever was Man slain in that +Country. And because they be so true and so righteous, and so +full of all good Conditions, they were never grieved with Tempests, +nor with Thunder, nor with Lightning, nor with Hail, nor +with Pestilence, nor with War, nor with Hunger, nor with any +other Tribulation, as we be, many Times, amongst us, for our +Sins.”</p> + +<p>The island paradises of mankind lie upon many waters and +in every quarter of the earth. Alike for the Indians of Chile +and of the American Northwest, Elysium was in the distant +Pacific. The natives of Haiti believed it was in western valleys +of their own island. The natives of Australia called it “the +gum-tree country.” The Semang of the Malay Peninsula said +it was across the sea in a land of screw pines and thatch palms. +It was their ancient island home, said the people of the Celebes. +It was northwest of Tonga, the Friendly Islanders thought, and +Bulotu was the name they gave it; yams and breadfruit were +plentiful there, hogs abounded, and there were reefs for shark-catching. +Many Kanaka tribes named it Havaika, which is +perhaps Java, or the Samoan island of Savaii, points of dispersion +in their migrations. The natives of Torres Straits called +it the island of Kibu; in its treetops ghosts sat twittering. But +the Solomon Islander could hear their laughter as they bathed +in the surf of his own sea-befriended paradise. “These Marquesas,” +a nun said to Frederick O’Brien, “make no more of +death than of a journey to another island, and much less than +of a journey to Tahiti.”</p> + +<p>Among races of higher culture Elysium takes on a more +ordered beauty, yet remains naïve. Annwfn is its Brythonic +name and it lies at the end of a long voyage; no infirmity is +there, and sweeter than white wine is the drink from its mighty +well. Before men embarked for it, they said in Babylon, there +was a formidable land journey to take, over a high pass guarded +by scorpion men in the mountains of Masu, along a road of +black darkness, through a park of precious stones, across a +bitter river—and then the waters of death; these may have been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</span> +the Atlantic, or the sea of the Arabs. Elysium was far to the +east in some mellow clime beyond the ocean, so the Slavs +thought; and thither the birds and insects went in autumn. It +is a land of lotus lakes in the west, and its name is Sukhavati, +say the Buddhists of Nippon; out of it comes a continual harmony +of flowing rivers, murmuring leaves, and soft bells swung +by softer winds. It is a kingdom in the northern ocean and its +name is Vaikuntha, some Hindus say. Others speak of a paradise +which they call Svetadvipa, “the white island” that is +somewhere in the north beyond the Sea of Milk.</p> + +<p>For inland peoples the thought of a sea to be crossed, as +every day the sun crosses the sea to its rest, gave way at times +to the thought of a river with a difficult bridge, and paradise on +the farther side. Such in the Hindu classics was the land of the +Uttarakarus which lay on the shores of the northern ocean beyond +the radiance of the sun and the moon. A river that petrified +whatever entered it flowed between it and the countries +of the south. Lakes with golden lotuses and tanks of crystal +water shimmered in the light airs of this favored land. In its +odorous orchards birds always sang, and beautiful maidens, +hanging by their long hair, grew among the blossom-burdened +branches—another glimpse of the enigmatic women of Wak-wak. +Amid the sound of music and laughter these Indian +Hyperboreans did their pious deeds, nor shed the god-unlawful +tear, until ten thousand and ten hundred years had passed. +Then they died, and fowls with sharp beaks carried their bodies +to mountain caves.</p> + +<p>An Irish myth of the Middle Ages holds closer to the facts +of existence than any of these stories of terrestrial felicity, and +there is a note of sadness in the beauty of it. In a lake in +Munster were the islands of life and death. There was no port +for death to enter the first island, but age and pain and sickness +were there, and all the wearinesses of years. Its inhabitants +learned at last to look on the opposite island as the place of +repose, and, steering their barks to its shore, they entered upon +eternal rest.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c18">Chapter XVIII. The Terrible Ocean</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">In</span> some of its moods the sea presents itself as a symbol of +eternity. For ages it was more than the symbol; it was eternity +itself. Men shrank from contemplation of it, as they might +shrink from contemplation of the hereafter. A voyage into its +outer spaces was like the voyage of the soul into the shadows +that lie beyond life. Still, this conception shapes the imagery +and colors the faith of the race. Life is a passage down a river +that reaches an immeasurable sea. Death is a journey upon +dark waters. The bark of salvation spreads its sails for the pure +of heart, and favoring winds waft them to the Beautiful Shore. +In the songs of Christendom one hears soft winds blowing over +expanses of peaceful water. The earth geography of Homer is +the heavenly geography of Bunyan. The Ocean Stream that +flowed around the world is the river that flows by the Throne of +God.</p> + +<p>Classic mythology ties up the sea’s infinities with those of +time through the medium of the Styx, which was at once a +branch of the Ocean Stream and the river that encircled the +land of shades. The lake of Avernus which afforded entrance +to the nether world, Charon’s ferry, the rivers Cocytus, Acheron, +and Phlegethon, and the Stygian Pool itself, all gave to a Roman +death the aspect of maritime adventure, although underground. +The freer Greek fancy placed the Elysium of the soul somewhere +in the western ocean, where the sun sank to rest. There +were the Isles of the Blessed, or Fortunate Isles, where there was +neither rain nor snow, but the shrilly-breathing west wind fanned +and watered the land.</p> + +<p>Other isles were there, the abodes of formidable men and +dangerous women and prodigious animals. But one could get +along very well by accepting the fictions of the poets as good +enough geography and ethnography without launching maritime +expeditions to confirm them. The western ocean offered the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</span> +peoples of the Mediterranean no present promise or profit to +match its terrors, and to alloy delights that had too spectral a +cast. Unlike the Indian Ocean, it was not a great highway of +trade. Thick clouds covered it, perpetual darkness reigned +upon it. It was an unnavigable morass and a confusion; so +said Hesiod, Pindar, and Euripides, voicing the beliefs of their +time.</p> + +<p>There was one race that without fear put forth upon the sea. +This was the Phœnicians, and their rich African colony, the +Carthaginians. Their adventures beyond the Pillars of Hercules +brought profit to them, and they saw to it that the tidings +of them should bring dismay to others. A Phœnician fleet sent +out by Necho, a Pharaoh of the XXXVIth dynasty, seems to +have sailed around Africa. About <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> 500 a Carthaginian +fleet under Hanno explored the African west coast as far as the +mouths of the Senegal and Gambia. At nearly the same time +another Carthaginian fleet under Himilco discovered the British +Isles, but it brought back depressing stories. The islands were +four months’ distant from the Straits of Gibraltar, and the +voyage thither was through waters haunted by frightful monsters +and thick with entangling seaweed, where wild storms and +protracted calms succeeded one another.</p> + +<p>These were not true tales, but other nations believed them, +and the seafaring Semites were permitted to build up trading +stations along the coasts of the outer ocean—in western Africa, +in Lusitania, in the Scilly Islands, and in Cornwall. None challenged +their monopoly of the tin trade of the Cassiterides. +They covered their tracks so that whoever had the temerity to +test their fables, or seek to tap their sources of raw material, +would not know whither to go. Strabo tells how the Carthaginians +concealed from everyone the passage to the Tin Islands: +“When the Romans followed a certain shipmaster, that they also +might find the market, the shipmaster of jealousy purposely ran +his vessel upon a shoal, leading on those who followed him into +the same destructive disaster. He himself escaped by means of +a fragment of the ship, and received from the state the value of +the cargo he had lost.”</p> + +<p>According to Eratosthenes, the Carthaginians went further: +“They drown any strangers who sail past on their voyage to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</span> +Sardinia or to the Pillars.” Thus through piracy, stratagem, +and fable they maintained their monopoly on the waters of the +west, and for once Greek curiosity played into a rival’s hands. +Tyrian and Punic marvel tales were elaborated and adorned by +the poets of Attica, until everyone felt that a journey beyond the +Pillars was a thing not to be undertaken. All that the earlier +Greeks knew, even of the western Mediterranean, was that near +it was a mountain called Atlas on which the sky rested, and that +the world ended at the pillars set up by Hercules.</p> + +<p>One Greek was determined to learn more, and see if his countrymen +could not also profit from the tin and amber trades. +The journey of Pytheas of Massilia, at about <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> 333, along +the coasts of northern Europe is one of the noteworthy scientific +expeditions of history. He is the first to speak of Thule. He +found where amber came from. He noted that the cereals +gradually disappeared as one traveled north, that the northern +grain was threshed in barns instead of upon open threshing +floors, and that fermented drinks there were made from corn +and honey. In a peculiar passage he asserted that beyond +Britain there was neither earth, air, nor sea, but a mixture of +all three—something like the element which held the universe +together. This substance, which he compared to the jellyfish, +rendered navigation impossible and led the Romans later to +name those waters the Sluggish Sea. The apparently fabulous +statement, made on hearsay, has been interpreted as referring +to the dense fogs of the northern seas, to the blended effects of +mist and light, and to the broken ice or slush that floats there in +a translucent state. The reference to the jellyfish may be either +to its translucence or its luminosity.</p> + +<p>All that Pytheas reported of northern Europe was discredited. +How, asks Polybius, could a private individual conduct such a +vast expedition with his narrow means? Strabo accuses the +Massilian of having forged his tales, “making use of his acquaintance +with astronomy and mathematics to fabricate his +false narration.” His complete vindication is the work of +modern scholarship.</p> + +<p>The next report of consequence from the outer seas comes +nearly three centuries later and was made to Sertorius, the +Marian general under whom for a time Spain maintained its<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</span> +independence of Rome. A tale of the Fortunate Islands—probably +of the Canaries—drifted in through the Straits and found +the great soldier weary of life in camp and field. Two sailors +had arrived from islands which they described as about twelve +hundred miles west of the coast of Africa. Rains seldom fell +there, they said. The dews watered the earth, which yielded its +fruits in abundance without the labor of man. The seasons were +temperate, the air was serene and pleasant, and soft winds blowing +from the west and south brought days of bright moist +weather. Even the barbarians believed that this was the seat of +the blessed.</p> + +<p>There was that in the jaded commander which lifted to the +thought of new horizons. Sertorius, says Plutarch, was seized +with a wonderful passion for these islands and had an extreme +desire to go and live there in peace and quietness, safe from +oppression and unending wars. But the Cilician pirates, who +were his allies, wanted not peace, but spoils. So the remainder +of his life was spent in wars and government, and the world +was denied an adventure instinct with romance and pregnant +with the potencies of great discovery.</p> + +<p>With the voyage of Polybius in the fleet of Scipio along the +west African coast, the campaigns of Cæsar in Gaul and Britain +and the reduction of both into imperial provinces, even the +incurious Roman became possessed of adequate geographical +knowledge of the western coasts of Europe and the waters near +them. This knowledge, however, was tinctured with the marvelous, +and was not long retained. Strabo, for example, pictures +the men of the Scilly, or Tin, Islands as wearing black +cloaks and tunics reaching to the feet, and as walking with +staves, thus “resembling the Furies we see in tragic representations.” +He must have meant the Druids.</p> + +<p>In the same century in which the legions were withdrawn +from Britain, Procopius, the foremost historian of the Eastern +Roman Empire, was born. Yet in that century of dissolution +most of what the ancient world had learned of the coasts and +waters of the Atlantic was forgotten. The western ocean had +been a domain over which mists of ignorance and superstition +hovered, sometimes rising for a moment of distant vision, sometimes +falling like a blank curtain. In the sixth century <span class="allsmcap">A.D.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</span></span> +they drew so closely to the shores of Europe that even England +was lost behind them. It had ceased to be a Roman province +and was become a land of ghosts.</p> + +<p>Procopius tells his story with due note of its dreamlike quality; +and yet, he says, numberless men vouch for its truth. It +is the story of the English Channel become the ferry of souls. +The fisher folk on the continental side are subject to the Franks, +but pay no tribute, because it is their task in regular turn to +transport the souls of the dead to Britain. Those on duty for +each night keep indoors until a knocking is heard and a mysterious +voice summons them. Arising from sleep, they go down +to the beach, where they find strange boats awaiting them. These +seem to be empty, but when they seize the oars and push off they +find the gunwales only an inch above the water. In silence they +make the journey and in an hour find themselves on the opposite +shore, although their own skiffs could scarcely cross in a night +and a day. When the keels grate on the beach, suddenly the +boats ride high on the waves. There is none to greet them, but +again a voice is heard, announcing the name and station of the +spectral passengers.</p> + +<p>Thus the end of the ancient world found men knowing only +a little more about the western ocean than they did at the beginning. +The chief advance over the Homeric age was that they +knew it was an ocean and not a circumfluent river. The old +idea was not dead that it was a morass made unnavigable by +seaweed and mud, too thick and too shallow for sailing ships +to venture upon. This notion was fostered by observing the +unfamiliar phenomena of ebb tides, with the long windrows of +weed and the wide expanses of muddy flats they laid bare upon +the coasts. Plato had deepened the belief and provided a reason +for it in his story of Atlantis. “That is the reason,” he concludes, +“why the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable, +because there is such a quantity of shallow mud in the +way.”</p> + +<p>Men had no such notions, or fears of the open seas to the +east, although they were careful not to get too far from their +shores. They knew that inhabited lands were beyond them, and +that by not impossible shores and islands they could reach these. +The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea had full accounts of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</span> +coasts from Aden clear to the mouth of the Ganges, and reports +also on Indo-China and China itself. There were pirate-haunted +archipelagoes and islands tenanted by the monsters of Oriental +fancy. But these were Eastern waters and it behooved men to +know something about them and to take a chance upon them, for +a great traffic moved across them—silken fabrics, spices, pepper, +gold and silver and precious stones from the hidden storehouses +of Asia. Wherefore men faced the seas of sunrise with no such +fears as invaded them when they looked out upon the empty and +spectral Atlantic.</p> + +<p>Another race beside the Phœnician was unafraid of the western +sea. This was the Northmen, of whom it was said that they +never slept under a smoke-blackened roof, nor ate and drank at +any hearth. Their tradition looked outward, where that of the +Mediterranean races looked inward. The ocean was the whale +path of their skalds, and their hearts sang along it. Its waters +carried the challenge and promise of the present, not the glooms +or pallors of the hereafter. When their long boats drove +through the Straits of Gibraltar into the old Roman world to +pillage and rule there, it was the return visit of the men of the +outer spaces, ferocious and blithe sea-rovers who thus requited +the trafficking and timid excursions of Phœnician and Roman +into the seas that washed the continent.</p> + +<p>The very names of Viking chieftains—Sigurd Snake-eye, +Thord the Yeller, Ottar the Swart, Harold Blue-tooth, Eric +Blood-ax, Thorfinn Skull-cleaver, Sweyn Split-beard—sketched +a hardihood that made light of supernatural terrors upon the sea +and knew none other. These men of the viks or fjords rid the +coasts of Europe in the eighth and ninth centuries of every fear +except of themselves. Then they went westward to America.</p> + +<p>There is a bolder note in their geographical tradition than in +aught that had been before. One catches the swing of the Atlantic +surges and the pulses of people at home there in the chapter, +“On the Situation of Countries,” which begins the chronicle +of the <i>Heimskring’la</i>: “It is said that the earth circle which the +human race inhabits is much cut asunder with bights and bays, +and that great seas run into the land from the outer ocean. Of +a certainty, it is known that a sea goes in at the Norva Sound +(Gibraltar) right up to the land of Jerusalem; and from that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</span> +sea, again, a long bay, which is called the Black Sea, goes off +to the northeast, and it divides the two World-Ridings, that is +to say, Asia on the east from Europe on the west. To the north +of the Black Sea lies Sweden the Great, or the Cold (Russia); +and this is reckoned by some as not less in size than the Great +Saracen Land, or even the Great Land of the Bluemen (the +Moors). And the northern parts of this Sweden are unpeopled, +by reason of the frost and the cold, just as the southern parts +of Blue-Land are waste because of the sun’s burning. Mighty +lordships are there in this Sweden, and people of manifold kind +and speech; there are giants and there are dwarfs—aye, and +Bluemen, and folk of many kinds and marvellous, and wild +beasts, and dragons wondrous great.”</p> + +<p>When the pagan Northmen became Christians their ferocity +was moderated, and their spirit of enterprise, as it seemed, almost +extinguished. Their old contempt of the sea did not pass +into the veins of the peoples over whom for a time they had +dominion. Rather the confused and credulous views of the +churchmen became their own, henceforth occupying the entire +field of European thought. Adam of Bremen, eleventh-century +churchman, pictures the sea as his time conceived it—the old +forbidding canvas of classic legend framed with the icicles of +Gothic discovery.</p> + +<p>Terra Firma, says Adam, is entirely surrounded by the infinite +and terrible ocean. The northern spaces of the deep are +covered with ice and darkness and this expanse is called the +frozen, glutinous, or darkling sea. It is stiff with salt and covered +with black ice, formed long before and so dry that it will +burn like peat.</p> + +<p>The German bishop even borrows a tale from the Northmen +to engender terrors to which they had been stranger. Their +king, Harald Hardrada, the most daring of men, had reports +from Frisian mariners which caused him to set sail for the limits +of the earth. In the darkness he arrived at the North Pole—a +profound vortex into which the ebb tides were sucked and out +of which the flood tides were disgorged. His ship plunged +down into the boiling chaos, but the sea which took could also +give, and the outward heave of its vast bosom flung the vessel +back again beyond the clutch of the whirlpool.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f19"> +<img src="images/fig19.jpg" alt="roaring"> +<p class="caption">ROARING FORTIES<br> <i>By</i> F. J. Waugh</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</span></p> + +<p>As late as 1406 a chronicler tells of English ships, bound for +Bordeaux, which penetrated an unfrequented sea where four +vessels from Lynn were swallowed up in a whirlpool, which +thrice a day drew in and cast out the flood. When fishermen of +that time went a few miles from land they used only haaf-words—a +sea speech in which persons, animals, and things had +other names than what they bore ashore; so might they avoid +offense to whatever was astir in the deep.</p> + +<p>It is refreshing to turn from the gloomy imaginings of the +West to Indian and Chinese legends of the Seven Seas. In the +quainter fancy that animates them, at least the note of fear is +missing. From the Puranas, Gerini has made these identifications: +The Sea of Salt Water surrounds India. The Sea of +Sugar Cane Juice surrounds Burma. The Sea of Wine surrounds +the Malay Peninsula. The Sea of Clarified Butter surrounds +the Sunda Archipelago. The Sea of Milk surrounds +Siam and Cambodia. The Sea of Curds or Whey surrounds +South China. The Sea of Fresh Water surrounds North China +and Mongolia.</p> + +<p>Fear of the ocean, and above all of the Atlantic, is, however, +the distinctive note in mediæval Arab geography. This was +perhaps a native growth of the desert, and its spirit is in the +Koran passage which speaks of “black night upon the deep, +which wave on wave doth cover, cloud upon cloud, gloom upon +gloom.” Arab merchants and pilgrims ranged to the ends of +the Moslem world. Save Marco Polo, Ibn Batuta was the earth’s +greatest and most curious traveler. To the Arab port of Bassorah, +sailors from the Nile, the Mediterranean, and even the +China Sea brought the gossip of mankind. Yet a dread of the +deep sounds through the works of Arab geographers, as through +the saga of Sindbad, with the effect of a refrain.</p> + +<p>Around the fair meadows of the world swung the terrible +ocean, the Sea of Darkness as the Arabs called it. To Massoudy +the Atlantic was the Green Sea of Gloom. None dwelt +there, none could sail there, none knew to what infinite distances +it reached. Ibn Khaldun described it as the boundless, impenetrable +limit of the west. Other lights of Islam spoke of the +whirlpools into which vessels were drawn, and argued that even +if sailors knew the direction of the winds they did not know<span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</span> +whither the winds would carry them; nor could they carry them +anywhere, for there was nowhere to go, and in the realms of +mist no prospect of getting back. Sane men would not attempt +a venture out of sight of land, said certain of the doctors. To +plan such a journey, it was asserted, was evidence of an unsound +mind; to embark upon it was ground for depriving a man +of his civil rights.</p> + +<p>Idrisi, Mohammedan savant in the service of King Roger of +Sicily in the twelfth century and the greatest of Arab geographers, +utters the authoritative Arab word upon the sea: “The +ocean encircles the ultimate bounds of the inhabited earth, and +all beyond it is unknown. No one has been able to verify anything +concerning it, on account of its difficult and perilous navigation, +its great obscurity, its profound depth and frequent +tempests; through fear of its mighty fishes and its haughty +winds; yet there are many islands in it, some peopled, others +uninhabited. There is no mariner who dares to enter its deep +waters; or if any have done so, they have merely kept along its +coasts, fearful of departing from them.”</p> + +<p>Whether this was in some part a literary convention—a gesture +of geography—or the expression of an unshakable dread, +the sentiment limited the service of Islam to mankind. The +Arab coasting trade had reached as far as China and as far +down the eastern side of Africa as Zanzibar. But this people, +so resourceful on land, never pushed their coasting adventures +around the Cape of Good Hope, as Prince Henry and his Portuguese +successors did from a farther north on the other side of +Africa. Nor did they attempt, as Columbus did, the crossing +of a great sea. Nor did they essay, as Magellan did, to prove +by a circumnavigation the rotundity of the earth on which their +own geographers had spoken with the clearest voices of the +Middle Ages.</p> + +<p>A group of remarkable legends illustrates the later annals of +the western ocean and carries them on to the Columbian adventure. +Idrisi tells a story of the eight Deluded Folk, or Lisbon +Wanderers, who went out to sea when the wind blew from the +east and for more than a month were carried before it. They +reached an island supposed to be one of the Canaries, where +they found a people who spoke Arabic and who sent them back<span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</span> +when a wind arose from the west. St. Brendan voyaged for +seven years among seven islands of the west, according to a +story widely circulated in the eleventh century. The tenth-century +tale of the island of the Seven Spanish Bishops who had left +Spain to escape Moslem rule was revived by a Portuguese ship +captain who claimed to have reached the island; but when Prince +Henry bade him go back for proofs, the romancer took refuge +in flight.</p> + +<p>It may have been that the Phœnicians made atonement at last +for the fables of paralyzing fear which they had spread abroad, +and on the outer verge of the Old World in the days of their +decline left their secret as a legacy for the bold to profit from. +The scene is Corvo, westernmost of the Islands of the Sun, as the +Azores were called; and the passage, though from a Portuguese +writer of the seventeenth century, refers to events a generation +before the Columbian discovery. Says Manoel de Faria y +Souza: “On the summit of a mountain called the Crow was found +the statue of a man on horseback, without saddle, bareheaded, +the left hand on the horse’s mane, the right pointing to the west. +It stood on a slab of the same stone as itself; beneath it, on a +rock, were engraved some letters in an unknown language.”</p> + +<p>One explanation of the legend is given by a traveler of the +last century, who said that the superstitious folk of the island +fancied they saw in a promontory which reaches far into the sea +the semblance of a person with his hand stretched out toward +the New World. This, they declared, was the work of Providence, +and Columbus read the sign aright. But the tale may +not so easily be interpreted and dismissed. A hoard of Carthaginian +coins, so runs a report which Humboldt accepts, was discovered +in Corvo in 1749; and there are other stories of equestrian +statues of Carthaginian design erected upon Atlantic +islands. Against the utter drama of the legend—the parting +gesture of good will of a bold and subtle race of ancient time—may +be set another legend, more in keeping with the superstition +and fears of the Middle Ages. This was no equestrian +statue pointing westward, if the Pizzani map of 1367 was to be +believed. It was the figure of a saint with his back to the sunset +and his outstretched hand warning mariners away from the unnavigable +seas behind him.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</span></p> + +<p>The monkish monument was the parable of a twilight time. +To the fifteenth century the deep was an eerie domain where the +creatures of pagan and Christian story couched upon the ocean +floor, showed their unholy shapes among the waves, chattered on +desert island strands, and wove their enchantments in the mists. +In the north the witches of Lapland raised storms and wrecked +the ships that passed their shores. To the south none might sail +beyond Cape Bojador on the African Gold Coast. Who did so +was turned from white to black, and never came back. There +the flaming sword of the sun was laid across the paths of the sea. +What was beyond it was boiling brine and air heated into a flame—a +landless firmament of water and a starless firmament of sky.</p> + +<p>Looking westward, men cowered before visions of the Hand +of Satan, thrust upward from far horizons to drag ships into +the depths. Or “the wind that blows between the worlds” might +carry mariners away on a journey from which was no returning. +Or currents, setting always in one direction, might sweep them +into illimitable space. If the world was flat, one might sail off +its edge. If it was round, its very rotundity would present a +sort of mountain up which no ship could climb on the backward +voyage. As to the Atlantic races, the mediæval maps told one +what to expect. What chance of succor, or agreeable converse, +or a profitable traffic from spouting monsters, satyrs, sirens and +conch-blowing tritons? Could one warm his hands at the witch-fires +of the sea?</p> + +<p>Out of these gray forebodings the ships of Columbus, with +one stout heart and many questioning ones aboard, sailed into +the unknown, as vessels move through the sluggish dark before +the dawn breeze springs up and the sky reddens toward sunrise. +Ere long the caravels were steering among isles fanned by soft +breezes and bathed in tropical sunshine, and naked, kindly peoples +were hailing the mariners as visitors from the skies. Morning +had broken at last upon the western ocean, and in its level +rays a path lay sparkling clear across the sea—the path of enterprise, +of conquest, of gold, the path of victorious dreams. +Along that highway hardy spirits soon would press on great +adventures. In the stead of ghost-ridden hearth-keepers, mumblers +of old fable, shrinkers from the outer surges, there were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</span> +men who dared go round the earth in flimsy barks and lead a +handful of followers against the haughty empires of the +Cordilleras.</p> + +<p>Terror was dead upon the deep. Somewhat of fable remained.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c19">Chapter XIX. The Sargasso Sea</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">If</span> there were no Sargasso Sea there would still have been a +legend of one to satisfy the demand of the mind, in a world of +change and motion, for a place where there was neither. Conscious +of the flight of time, noting the flow of rivers, the wind’s +wandering, and the climbing and falling of the waves of the +ocean, the mind has created realms where time stands still, +countries of morning calm and afternoon sunshine, and spaces +where the pulse of the sea is asleep. Peace there was in the +grave, but what was sought was a paradox—something alive and +yet motionless in time and space. There were stagnant pools +in the imagination, grotesqueries, junk heaps, a sense of silences +and of slow decay that was no decay at all but the serenity of +noon in a swamp. The outward symbol of these moods men +would have in the world about them.</p> + +<p>For uncounted ages that symbol had been a fact of the mid-Atlantic. +People must have known of the Sargasso thousands of +years ago, though the memory of the voyages in which they +learned of it is no more, and the tales that seem to speak of it +are not accepted as facts. Plato had told of the thick waters +that rolled over the sunken Atlantis, preventing the passage of +ships. When Columbus entered this sea and saw tunny fish +playing about his caravels, he remembered a story of Aristotle +that certain ships of the Semites, coasting beyond the Pillars of +Hercules, were driven before a gale from the east until they +reached a weedy sea, resembling sunken islands, among which +were tunny fish. On his voyage to Britain Himilco reported that +he found vast fields of floating weeds which retarded his vessels +and brought them to danger.</p> + +<p>The ancient view of the Atlantic was that it was a region of +baffling calms and shallow water and mud and seaweed. This +was based on Punic reports, and the Carthaginians told such +tales of the open seas as would frighten other nations from them.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</span> +Yet their distorted statements had so much of truth intermixed +with error that it is hard to believe they intended altogether +falsely, and were vindicated only by coincidence when a grassy +sea, greater than their dominions at their widest, was found west +of the Azores. With flagrant exaggeration, however, they had +spoken of sea grasses with needle-like tops, a sort of marine +wheat with stalks as close together as in sheaves of grain. In +<span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> 300 Theophrastus had written of wide-leaved weeds that +drifted from the Atlantic into the Mediterranean. In his poetic +account of the African west coast Festus Avienus described in +detail the weedy impediments to navigation, using, so he says, +the journals of Punic ships. Scylax recited that the sea beyond +Cerne on the coast of Mauretania could not be navigated “in +consequence of its shallowness, its muddiness, and its sea grass.” +With easy exuberance of fancy Lucian had told in his <i>True History</i> +of encountering a floating forest in the sea and of sailing +right over the tops of the trees toward “that continent which we +supposed lies opposite our own”—a reference which gains in +significance from its casual character.</p> + +<p>Though most of them have been lost, there were strange Sargasso +legends in the ancient world, based on reports of floating +seaweed and the claims of captains that this had put them in +hazard. What weedy growths could do in restless water men +knew by observing their effects in rivers, notably on the upper +Nile. The envoys of Nero had been halted there by a sea of +floating vegetation; a long line of travelers thereafter had a like +experience, and a tragedy of this floating greenery is of our +own time. By the blocking of the Nile channel in 1880 Gessi +was held prisoner for three months with five companies of soldiers +and a multitude of freed slaves, and most of them died +before help came.</p> + +<p>The burden of these old fables was of a stagnant death in +silent spaces of the sea where nothing ever happened. The +weedy continent was a trap which closed in upon ships and +suffered no escape, even though with double banks of oars the +rowers strove. Death claimed the crew, and slowly the sea +claimed the galleys. Marine plants crept over bow and stern +and writhed into the cabins and climbed the masts and swathed +all in a green decay; and silently, as the timbers parted below<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</span> +and the weight of vegetation massed above, the vessel sank, +perhaps into some harbor of the lost Atlantis.</p> + +<p>A prison for lost souls, the St. Brendan legend calls the +grassy sea of the west. The ferment was working in men’s +imaginations. There must be a spectral haven in the sea, a place +into which vessels might come, out of which they could not go. +For a while in the waters of the east this was the Island of Lodestone, +which drew and held to itself all craft that had iron +in their timbers. In Maundeville the legend of the Sargasso Sea +is full blown, though with him it is truth—travel truth—of a +magnetic rock.</p> + +<p>“I myself,” he said, “have seen afar off in that Sea as though +it had been a great Isle full of Trees and Bush, full of Thorns +and Briars, great Plenty. And the Shipmen told us, that all that +was of Ships that were drawn thither by the Adamants, for the +Iron that was in them. And from the Rottenness and other +Things that were within the Ships, grew such Bush, and Thorns +and Briars and green Grass and such manner of Things, and +from the Masts and the Sail-yards it seemed a great Wood or +a Grove. And such Rocks be in many Places thereabouts. And +therefore dare not the Merchants pass there, but if they know +well the Passages, or else that they have good Pilots. And also +they dread the long Way more far by many dreadful Days’ +journeys than Cathay.”</p> + +<p>Thus the Port of Missing Ships came into view as the creation +of classic and mediæval legend, to which modern exploration +had given a sure place in the sea. It fulfilled a stagnant something +in the souls of men. It offered harbor to certain of their +dreams. It yielded a last resting place to derelicts that had +wandered far, among them the derelicts of fancy. It gave reply +to questions that arose whenever the argosies went out and did +not come back. Against the eternal restlessness and fated journeyings +of the Flying Dutchman it summoned up the picture of +a fated and eternal calm. It added to the terrors of the sea a +horror that was half poetry. This became poetry altogether +when men had ceased to believe and yet wanted to believe, and +in their art evoked the vision of ruinous hulks of Tyrian, Roman, +and Spanish ships side by side upon a spectral main, silent +witnesses of all the maritime adventures of mankind.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</span></p> + +<p>The actuality behind the mask of legend, a vast expanse of +sea in the Atlantic, in many places resembling an inundated +meadow, Columbus discovered on his first voyage, when for +three weeks he traversed it. But instead of having misgivings, +he rejoiced at what he conceived to be evidence that land was +not far distant. On one of the floating weed masses he saw a +white tropical bird of a kind that does not sleep upon the sea. +His journal speaks little of the apprehensions of the sailors, +but his son Fernando recites these—their fears that the weeds, +which plainly retarded the ships, would halt them altogether; +that the marine growths might conceal the lurking rocks, shoals +and quicksands of a shallowing ocean; and that, run aground +or fatally entangled in gulfweed, the ships might rot and fall +apart far from any shore or any hope of aid. Memories of the +Atlantis legend raised in their minds the menace of drowned +lands and the monumental ruins of a lost continent.</p> + +<p>To Columbus, however, the Sargasso Sea stood, not for a lost +continent, but for the boundary between the worlds. Where it +began, west of the Azores, the New World began also, and the +Old World ended. This was no theoretical meridian, he +thought, but a true physical line of demarcation drawn by nature +between the hemispheres. He could sense a difference in +climatic conditions in crossing the line, and the compass seemed +to show magnetic deviations. On his return he believed that +he could determine his longitude by observing the first floating +masses of tangled seaweed. So persuasive was his imaginative +force, so great his influence in Europe, that soon after his +arrival there the eastern boundary of the weedy sea became the +globe’s first, and last, political boundary of an all-embracing +kind. Title to newly discovered lands east of it was awarded +by a papal bull to Portugal. Title to newly discovered lands +west of it was awarded to Spain.</p> + +<p>Oviedo gave this expanse the name of Sargasso Sea, from +Sargaço, the Portuguese word for seaweed. It was freely +traversed by the explorers who followed Columbus. The world-rounding +expedition of Drake reports that for five days “wee +sayled through the sea of Weedes, about the space of one hundred +leagues, being under the Tropicke of Cancer.” The size +and exact location of the sea were long a matter of conjecture.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</span> +Varenius, for example, placed its northern limit opposite the +mid-Sahara and its southern opposite the Cape of Good Hope. +The note of Humboldt in his <i>Views of Nature</i>, published near +the middle of the nineteenth century, is the first scientific account +of it. This was based on rather scanty observations of English +and Dutch sailing vessels which took a course through it from +the West Indies to Europe. Humboldt thought the Sargasso +Sea comprised two weed banks, the larger one west of the +Azores, the smaller between the Bermudas and Bahamas, with +a transverse band connecting them. Fuller reports, since made +by steamers, with the careful records of the German Hydrographic +Office, have enabled scientists, and particularly Doctor +Krümmel, to correct these conclusions and plot the true outlines +of the sea.</p> + +<p>The Equatorial Current sets west from the coast of Africa. +The Gulf Stream sets north and east from the Straits of Florida—still +following the direction, Donnelly ingeniously contended, +that was given it by the lost continent of Atlantis, around which +it flowed. The two currents, moving in nearly opposite directions, +impart a circular motion to the waters that lie between, +so that all things adrift over an area of millions of square miles, +seaweed, driftwood, and hulks of ships are drawn toward a +common center, which may be called the floating storehouse of +the North Atlantic. Banks of weed are found as far west as +the Bermudas, and this outer grassy sea covers an expanse of +about three million square miles, or as much as continental +United States. But the true Sargasso Sea of dead waters, where +gulfweed is found thickly, covers an area of about one million +two hundred thousand square miles, or the size of the Mississippi +Valley. It is an ellipse with the Tropic of Cancer as +its longer axis. The sea stretches through fifteen degrees of +latitude and more than twenty-five degrees of longitude, the two +foci of the ellipse being near 45° and 70° west.</p> + +<p>With the shift of winds and calms the weedy sea itself shifts +somewhat, but its mean location remains unchanged. Humboldt +was convinced that in his time it was precisely where Columbus +had found it three and a half centuries before, and Maury’s +study of marine observations leads to the conclusion that there +has been no change in the last fifty years. Of all the larger<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</span> +aspects of nature this is perhaps the only one that is just as it +was in the time of Columbus. During thousands of years, when +the ocean was battering at the coasts of the continents, breaking +down or building up the shore; when earthquakes and volcanoes +were causing islands to appear and disappear; when the wind +and rain were at their unending tasks of bearing everything terrestrial +into the deeps; and when races of men were remodeling +some small portions of the earth’s surface with roads and ports +and bridges, the Sargasso Sea may have been the only thing immune +from change. This eternal vortex might well be called +the true Navel of the World.</p> + +<p>Even now, when many ships ply these waters, and after the +records of centuries seem to have assured that there are no +reefs or shoals under their greenery, travelers admit a sense of +uneasiness as their craft plunges into what seems a sunken +meadow. Nearer view, however, discloses that the patches of +vegetation are discontinuous. The larger single masses may be +several acres in extent, or may not be more than a hundred feet +across. The weeds commonly lie in long parallel rows that tail +to the prevailing winds. By noting the rows, the mariner can +tell whether the wind has been blowing steadily, or has recently +shifted, and in which direction. The lines are sometimes so +near together as to seem one mass, or they may be as far apart +as two hundred feet. In some places the weeds in them barely +touch, in others they are so crowded that their tops are thrust +a little distance above the water.</p> + +<p>A distinctive fauna, sparse in species but unnumbered in individuals, +has been developed among these masses. The floating +berries are thickly incrusted with white polyzoa. About +sixty animal species peculiar to the area have been noted, among +them small fish, shrimps, crabs, molluscs, gastropods, and one +insect. The fishes have developed a strong protective resemblance +to the shapeless weeds among which they feed. Strangest +of these is the <i>Antennarius marmoratus</i>, a little creature not +more than four inches long and indistinguishable from a plant +spray. It seems half adapted for walking; its fins, which suggest +the extremities of four-footed creatures, have real toes, and +the front fins have the form of arms with elbows and fingered +hands.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</span></p> + +<p>The Prince of Monaco conducted a scientific expedition into +these waters in 1905, and in 1911 the United States Hydrographic +Service sent a party of scientists for a three months’ +study of them; but adequate knowledge is still wanting.</p> + +<p>There is a Sargasso question: How does the weed get into the +sea? The old theory was that it is a true oceanic plant. To +those who held to the belief in a sunken continent the grassy +domain was a sort of canopy suspended over it, the flying banners +of the lost Atlantis. There is still good scientific opinion +of which the French are the leaders, that the weed grows in the +area where it is found, reproducing itself by fissure, the parent +stem throwing off branches which multiply in turn. The bulk +of scientific opinion outside of France is that these meadows of +the sea are the spoil of the neighboring islands and continents. +The gulfweed which covers them, it is held, has been torn from +the shores of northern Brazil, of the West Indies, and of North +America as far as Cape Cod, and has drifted into this vortex—a +journey that may take almost half a year. The French contend +that even without these admitted contributions from America +there would still be a weedy sea about the Tropic of the Crab.</p> + +<p>From time to time commercial enterprise has canvassed the +possibilities of a Sargasso adventure. It may be that a profitable +fishery will yet be established there with the Azores for +its base, and that the kelp will be converted into potash for fertilizer +or for gunpowder. Thus would the arts of war and peace +draw support from the sea, that, if legend speaks truly, sleeps +over the continent which spread them through the antediluvian +world.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c20">Chapter XX. Atlantis</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">Under</span> the Sargasso Sea, if a few accomplished thinkers, a +somewhat larger number of speculative scientists, and a host +of dreamers are right, lies the lost Atlantis. This legend of a +continent beyond the Pillars of Hercules, which reached a high +level of civilization, extended its rule along both shores of the +Mediterranean, sent its armies to battle with Egypt and Athens, +and “in a day and a fatal night” sank beneath the sea eleven +thousand years ago, is the most haunting and poignant thing +that has come down from antiquity.</p> + +<p>The story derives from Plato, who attributes it to his relative, +Solon, who had it from a priest of Egypt. It is told briefly and +completely in the <i>Timæus</i> and with much greater detail in the +<i>Critias</i>; unfortunately, the latter portion of this work is wanting +and the narrative ends abruptly, before recounting the +cataclysm outlined in the earlier work. Both are built upon +the conversation between Solon and the Egyptian priest. Discoursing +on the ignorance of the Greeks concerning their own +history, the priest said that they knew nothing of a thing which +was preserved in the sacred books of the temple at Sais—that, +nine thousand years before, the Athenians had repelled an +invading force which threatened the conquest of Europe and +Asia. This force had come in through the Straits of Gibraltar +from the Atlantic Sea, “which was at that time navigable.”</p> + +<p>Beyond the Straits, according to the <i>Timæus</i>, lay the island +of Atlantis, greater than Libya and Asia (Minor) together. Other +islands surrounded it, and farther west was a continent. Between +Atlantis and this continent rolled an ocean so great that, +compared with it, the land-locked Mediterranean was merely a +harbor. A powerful dynasty of kings arose on the island, subjugated +the surrounding archipelagoes and a part of the unnamed +continent beyond, and in the Old World swayed Libya +up to Egypt and the northern shore of the Mediterranean as far<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</span> +as Tuscany. They undertook to complete their conquest of the +Mediterranean coasts, but the Athenians, though deserted by +their allies, beat off their ships. While the fleet from beyond +the Straits was still in the Inland Sea, it would seem, the island +of Atlantis was sunk, and the earthquakes that submerged it +and the monstrous waves that followed spread ruin all along +the Mediterranean shores.</p> + +<p>Here is the passage in which Plato records the concluding +words of the priest of Solon: “But after (the battle) there occurred +violent earthquakes and floods, and in a single day and +night of rain all your warlike men in a body sunk into the earth, +and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared and was +sunk beneath the sea. And that is the reason why the sea in +those parts is impassable and impenetrable, because there is +such a quantity of shallow mud in the way; and this was caused +by the subsidence of the island.... There are remaining in +small islets only the bones of the wasted body, as they may be +called, all the richer and softer parts of the soil having fallen +away, and the mere skeleton of the country being left.”</p> + +<p>The longer account in the <i>Critias</i> describes the civilization +of Atlantis. It begins, as all chronicles used to do, with the +affairs of the gods, and their amorous interest in the daughters +of men (<i>Gen.</i> vi: 2). The sea god Poseidon fell in love with +Cleito, a mortal island maiden, and she bore him five sets of +twins. The ten sons became kings, each ruler of a tenth part of +Atlantis, but all subject to the eldest son, Atlas. The capital +of the island became his abode, as it had been his mother’s before +him. Poseidon himself had laid out the palace compound, +making alternate zones of sea and land; “there were two of land +and three of water which he turned as with a lathe out of the +center of the island.”</p> + +<p>At this point in the account, the divine figures disappear and +it becomes seemingly a straight historical narrative. Its picture +of the capital is more exact in its topographical, architectural, +and engineering detail than many that have come down to us +of the older capitals of Asia, or than any biblical picture of +Jerusalem. The laws, religion, and arts of the people are all +adequately noticed.</p> + +<p>There was a barrier of lofty mountains around the shores of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</span> +the island, their flanks sloping precipitously to the sea. In the +upland valleys were rich and populous villages. The middle +of the island was a great and fertile plain surrounded by a +ditch one hundred feet deep. Abundant rivers coursed the plain +and the moisture of the rainy season was supplemented in the +summer by a system of aqueducts. In the center of the plain +was a magnificent city.</p> + +<p>Assuming that this is no dream geography, it is necessary +to determine the size of Atlantis, and in doing so to reconcile a +conflict of statements in Plato’s story. He speaks of it as a +large island, though small as compared with a land domain west +of it, which “may be most truly called a continent”; yet he says +Atlantis was larger than Libya and Asia combined. The tale +becomes incredible if Libya receives its common Greek extension +as the whole of Africa, and if Asia is taken in the larger +sense; for such an island there would not be room in the Atlantic. +The passage is brought into harmony with the context +if other ancient definitions are followed, so that Libya is made +to mean the district immediately west of Egypt and Asia to +mean Asia Minor. This would give the legendary Atlantis a +territory of perhaps three hundred thousand square miles, or +about twice that of the state of California.</p> + +<p>There are precise figures for the great central plain and they +harmonize with such an estimate of the island area. The plain +was three hundred and forty miles long by two hundred and +thirty wide—in other words, exactly the size of the state of +Washington, but with its greater dimension from south to north. +The topography of the whole island suggests that of California, +although its shape was more compact. Its central plain lay +within its mountain barriers as the San Joaquin and Sacramento +valleys lie between the Sierras and the Coast Range. And in +its mineral riches, its mild climate, its system of irrigation, and +in the products of its fields, orchards, and vineyards it was very +like the Pacific coast state.</p> + +<p>“Whatever fragrant things there are in the earth,” says Plato, +“whether roots or herbage or woods, grew and thrived in that +land.” He mentions melons—“fruits with a hard rind”—chestnuts, +and “the pleasant kinds of dessert which console us after +dinner when we are full and tired of eating,” which may mean,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</span> +among other things, grapes and oranges; and all these “the +sacred island lying beneath the sun brought forth fair and wondrous +in infinite abundance.” In this picture there is but one +unfamiliar figure. Herds of elephants roved there, where California +can show only the fossil remains of the mastodon.</p> + +<p>In the account of the capital city it is illuminating to recur to +the Pacific state, for the metropolis of Atlantis lay in the midst +of a mountain-girdled plain, and yet, like Sacramento, had access +to the sea, in this case by a ship canal perhaps connecting +with a river. If one can imagine the buildings and grounds of +the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915 with the wharves and +commerce of San Francisco removed to Sacramento, one may +glimpse the legendary metropolis. In the center of the city, +on an artificial island, were temples and palaces like those of +the exposition, but of a barbaric splendor. Greatest of these +was the temple to Poseidon, a structure about as large as one of +the palaces surrounding the Court of the Universe at the exposition, +and doubtless of no greater height, for this was a region +of earthquake, and within the temple was one statue that reached +quite to the roof. Its walls were silvered, with gilded pinnacles, +and under the ivory roof the interior blazed with gold and silver +and “orichalcum”—copper, or an alloy of it, and esteemed next +to gold.</p> + +<p>The wall that encircled this inner island or citadel “flashed +with the red light of orichalcum.” There was a broad canal +around it, and then an encircling zone of land, about which was +a wall sheeted with tin. Around this was still another canal encircled +by another land zone, and here was a wall coated with +brass, beside which ran a racecourse two hundred yards wide +where horses contended. Encircling this again was the outermost +canal. Beyond it lay the city.</p> + +<p>The buildings of the outer city, as well as those of its sacred +citadel, were of stones in three colors—white, black and red—which, +with all the minerals useful to man, were taken from the +bosom of the island. There were hot and cold springs, with +baths and with pools for horses and cattle; the surplus water +was conveyed by aqueducts to the grove of Poseidon. Around +the harbor front were docks, triremes, and naval stores. Back +of them the plain was densely crowded with habitations. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</span> +harbors were full of vessels, and merchants coming from all +parts who from their numbers kept up “a multitudinous sound of +human voices and din of all sorts night and day.”</p> + +<p>A copper column stood in the temple of Poseidon, on which +the laws of the land were graven. The chief of these were that +the people should not take up arms against one another, and +that they should all come to the rescue if anyone in any city attempted +to overthrow the royal house. On the plain and in the +populous mountain valleys there was a system of military service +by districts and chiefs of districts, somewhat like that of +ancient Peru; and when Atlantis went to war ten thousand +chariots moved in front of its armies, and twelve hundred vessels +swept the sea lanes east and west. It was a powerful nation and +a happy—so long as the divine nature of their founder retained +its force among the people. Says Plato:</p> + +<p>“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 self-control; 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.”</p> + +<p>At length, however, the divine nature in the Atlantines became +diluted by mortal admixture. They were filled with avarice, +pride, the lusts of the flesh; and “the fairest of their precious +gifts” departed from them. Base to men of insight, they still +appeared to others as glorious and blessed. In order to effect +their chastisement and correction, says Plato, returning to the +mythological vein, a council of the gods was called, and Zeus +“spoke as follows.” What the Olympian said will never be +known, for here the <i>Critias</i> ends, and for the fate of the Atlantines +one must recur to the <i>Timæus</i>.</p> + +<p>The mythical prologue and epilogue excepted, the whole account +reads as if the author believed it himself. It is singularly +free from fantasy—this is no Cloud-Cuckoo Land of an Aristophanes. +The transcriber of the legend was perhaps the largest +mind of antiquity and a man of unblemished character; and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</span> +“strange but altogether true” he calls his own story. He was, +however, a constructive dreamer, and in his <i>Republic</i> he has +given a detailed sketch of an ideal state. Was this another +essay of a like nature? Might not the narrative carry further +if it came from a man of less imaginative sweep—from the contemporary +Xenophon, or from Plutarch, both of them vivacious +chroniclers with their eyes on facts? Phædrus had said to Socrates, +“You can easily invent a tale of Egypt.” Has the great +disciple of Socrates done this?</p> + +<p>These questions are asked still, and antiquity asked them. +Proclus in his commentary on the <i>Timæus</i> assumed that the legend +was a symbol of the contest between the primeval forces and +the spirit of art and science; he recites that Crantor, the first +commentator, accepted it as literal history and was ridiculed +for it. Strabo and Pliny barely mention the story. Thus Plutarch +sets down the circumstances of its relation: “Solon attempted +in verse a large description, or rather fabulous account +of the Atlantic Island, which he had learned from the wise men +of Sais; but by reason of his age he did not go through with it. +Plato laid out magnificent courts and inclosures, and erected a +grand entrance to it, such as no other story, fable, or poem ever +had. But he began it late, he ended his life before the work, +so that the more the reader is delighted with the part that is +written, the more regret he has to find it unfinished.”</p> + +<p>There is evidence that at any rate the legend is not an invention +of Plato. It was claimed by Plato himself that the victory +of the Athenians over the Atlantines was depicted on one of the +ceremonial tunics which were borne in the midsummer festival +of the Panathenæa. Diodorus has a reference to this war. +Ælian says that Theopompus heard a similar story in Phrygia, +in which, however, the island was called Meropis. Proclus +quotes from the <i>Æthiopica</i> of Marcellus a tale of ten islands +in the outer sea, the inhabitants of which preserved the memory +of a large island that had ruled over the archipelago and was +sacred to Poseidon.</p> + +<p>The following are the main explanations, ancient and modern, +of the legend: 1. Atlantis was no island, but a part of either +Europe or Africa—the Iberian peninsula, or Senegal, for example—so +remote from Egypt as to seem an island to mariners<span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</span> +who reached it after beating about beyond the Straits. 2. Atlantis +was Minoan Crete, resembling Plato’s island in its configuration +if not in its site; the ancient Cretan civilization was +destroyed about <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> 1500, almost as completely as if by a +submergence in the sea. 3. “Atlantis is too obviously an earlier +and equally colossal Persia, western instead of eastern.” 4. Atlantis +is pure fiction, arising, like the tales of Homer and Hesiod, +in the belief that the abodes of the heroes were in the extreme +west. 5. Atlantis is a variant of the old tradition of a Golden +Age. 6. Atlantis and the Fortunate Islands and the Azores are +one, but tradition placed them too near the Straits, and the +legend of a great sunken island arose when no land was found +where people thought land should be. 7. Atlantis is another +form of the solar myth—the setting of the sun in the red ruin +of evening, and the coming of dark upon the deep. 8. Atlantis +and the Republic are companion realms, the one no less imaginary +than the other, and each intended to illustrate Plato’s conception +of ideal polity.</p> + +<p>These are the conjectures of a skepticism which properly refuses +to believe that so great a thing has happened and left such +slight traces in monuments or in tradition. Yet there are some +details in Plato’s story not so easily disposed of, and they appear +more distinctly when Atlantis itself is erased from it. +These are the islands on both sides of the legendary continent, +the impassable sea that covers its site, the great ocean beyond it, +and the continent in the west which hems in that ocean. None +of these things the men of Plato’s time knew of, but, to give +them their modern names, they seem to be Madeira, the Canaries, +the Cape Verde Islands and the Azores on the one side +of the Sargasso Sea, the West Indies on the other, the Sargasso +Sea itself, the open Atlantic, and the American continent.</p> + +<p>If the classic world had few and faint traditions of a sunken +continent and ignored them or dismissed them as idle tales, it +had one overmastering feeling that could not be called a superstition +because it never took a tangible form. The feeling was +a blind terror of the Atlantic Ocean, as if something dreadful +had happened there, but so long before that nobody knew what +it was.</p> + +<p>Nothing has developed in Europe itself that makes Plato’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</span> +story of a lost continent a whit more probable or less plausible +than it was when he wrote it; but there have been contributions +to the legend from the ocean floor and from the New World. +The variations, and in a measure the shifts, of opinion on the +Atlantis story in the last hundred years are represented by three +names—Humboldt, Ignatius Donnelly, and Pierre Termier. +Writing in 1826, the German savant noted evidences of an external +influence in the historical monuments of Central America. +In his book, <i>Atlantis: The Antediluvian World</i>, Donnelly boldly +contended that a continent had disappeared in the mid-Atlantic, +that this sunken domain had been the cradle of civilization, and +that the widespread traditions of a deluge were race memories +of its disappearance. This writer’s identification with the Baconian +cipher theory, and his espousal of fanciful beliefs and +lost causes, political or other, together with his credulity and +his snap judgments, obscured the industry, the wide range of +information, and the real gift of generalization to which his +book bore witness. It came with something like a shock to the +scientific world when the French scholar, Prof. Pierre Termier, +Director of the Geological Survey of France, read his paper on +Atlantis before the Oceanographic Institute of France in 1912. +This was published at Monaco in the Bulletin of the Institute of +Oceanography in 1913, and a translation, included in the annual +report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1915, provoked a discussion +among geographers in America that continued for several +years.</p> + +<p>“It seems more and more evident,” concluded Termier, “that +a vast region, continental or made up of great islands, has collapsed +west of the Pillars of Hercules, and that its collapse occurred +in the not distant past.”</p> + +<p>In support of this inference Termier arrays the evidence of +the Atlantic’s surface and of the floor which its waters conceal. +A ship sailing due west from the Straits of Gibraltar four thousand +miles to Cape Hatteras would meet with no land. But if +it lengthened its course a little by making a detour, first toward +the southwest, then toward the northwest, then again toward the +southwest, it would bring in view Madeira, the more southern +Azores, and the Bermudas. And if it took soundings it would +discover that, the marine depths over which it was passing were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</span> +strangely unequal. If the ocean were drained dry, what would +be seen would be a long elevated region lying between the Old +and New Worlds, separated from both by two enormous valleys, +the wider and deeper one on the American side. This is the +revelation of oceanography—a hidden continent in the Atlantic +basin with the islands named above as its mountain peaks.</p> + +<p>Geology adds that the eastern region of the Atlantic over all +its length and probably from pole to pole is a great volcanic +zone. “Everywhere,” says the French geologist, “earthquakes +are frequent, here and there islets may spring up abruptly from +the sea, or rocks long known may disappear.” The ocean may +conceal the continuity of these changes, but to geological science +they are incontestable and they affect a zone which reaches from +Iceland to the Cape Verde Islands and is about 1,875 miles +broad.</p> + +<p>When a ship was laying the cable between Brest and Cape +Cod in 1898, the cable broke and was recovered by grappling. +The grappling irons encountered various submerged rocks with +hard points and sharp edges, and brought to the surface fragments +of the vitreous lava called tachylyte. These “precious +fragments,” as Termier calls them, are in the Museum of the +School of Mines in Paris. The significance of their structure +is that if they had solidified under water they would have been +composed of confused crystals. In the form in which they were +found they must have cooled when they were still above the +sea’s surface. The sharp edges of the marine rocks, whence these +fragments came, argue that the region collapsed suddenly and +recently. Had they remained after the volcanic disturbance a +long time above the sea, they would have been smoothed by +atmospheric erosion. Had they been a long time under the +sea, they would have been smoothed by marine abrasion. The +inference is that “the entire region north of the Azores and +perhaps the very region of the Azores, of which they may be +only the visible ruins, was very recently submerged, probably +during the epoch which the geologists call the present, because +it is so recent, and which for us, the living beings of to-day, is +the same as yesterday.”</p> + +<p>The evidence of zoölogy has been arrayed by another French +scholar, M. Louis Germain, briefly as follows: The present<span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</span> +fauna of the Azores, Madeira, the Canaries, and Cape Verde +Islands originated in Africa; the Quaternary formations of the +Canaries resemble those of Mauretania and inclose the same +species of mollusca. Therefore these archipelagoes were connected +with Africa up to an epoch near our own, at the very +least until toward the end of the Tertiary. Among the present +mollusca of the archipelagoes are some species which seem to +be survivors of the European Tertiary. Therefore there was a +bond between the islands and Spain which was severed during +the Pliocene. The <i>Pulmonata mollusca</i>, called oleacinidæ, are +found only in Central America, the West Indies, the Mediterranean +Basin, and the Canaries, Madeira, and the Azores, and +are larger in America than in these other regions. Therefore +the continent which included these islands had extended to the +West Indies at the beginning of the Miocene, but had been separated +from them during the Miocene. Fifteen species of marine +mollusca lived at the same time both in the West Indies +and on the coast of Senegal, and nowhere else. Therefore until +very near the present time a maritime shore extended from the +West Indies to Senegal.</p> + +<p>The arguments of geology and zoölogy may be combined. +Termier is of those geologists who believe the ancient alignment +of continents was east and west instead of north and south. +There was a North Atlantic continent comprising Russia, Scandinavia, +Great Britain, Greenland and Canada, and later a +large part of central and western Europe and of the United +States. There was also a South Atlantic or African-Brazilian +continent extending northward to the Atlas, eastward to the Persian +Gulf, westward to the Andes. Between the two continents +was the Mediterranean depression, the ancient maritime furrow +still marked in the present Mediterranean and Caribbean seas. +These continents were broken up by foldings and collapses and +a new design appeared, the general direction of which is from +north to south.</p> + +<p>M. Germain, confining himself mainly to the middle region +between these two supposed continental areas, infers the existence +of an Atlantic continent connected with Spain and Morocco +and prolonging itself so far south as to take in regions of desert +climate. During the Miocene this continent reaches the West<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</span> +Indies. It is then broken up and portioned off, at first in the +direction of the West Indies; then in the south, by the establishment +of a marine shore which reaches Senegal; then in the +east, probably during the Pliocene, along the coast of Africa. +“The last great fragment, finally engulfed and no longer having +left any further vestiges than the four archipelagoes, would be +the Atlantis of Plato,” says Termier, himself reviewing the conclusions +of Germain.</p> + +<p>Thus the geological and zoölogical arguments correspond +very closely. To Termier there is no doubt at all that until +an epoch near our own there was a continental domain in the +Atlantic west of the Pillars of Hercules, and that it was sunk +in a cataclysm. There is only one question left: “Did men then +live who could withstand the reaction and transmit the memory +of it?” Geology and zoölogy have perhaps told all they could +tell by way of answer. “It is from anthropology, from ethnography, +and lastly from oceanography,” says Termier, “that +I am now awaiting the final answer.”</p> + +<p>Anthropology and ethnography have provided some hints, +such as they are. Men of scientific or of speculative cast have +noted cranial and other correspondences in the subtropics on +both sides of the Atlantic, and what seemed to be African influences +in the civilizations of Central and South America. Quatrefages +named five races of American Indians which seemed to +him “true negroes.” Le Plongeon remarked the thick lips and +woolly hair of certain sculptured figures at Chichen Itza. Retzius +thought there were the same form of skull and the same +reddish-brown complexion in the Carib Islands and in the Canaries. +Elephant heads with trunk and tusks have been discovered +in the friezes of ruined temples in Yucatan. Wiener +contends, on the evidence of philology, that yams, manioc, peanuts +and tobacco came to America from Africa before Columbus +rather than went out from America afterward.</p> + +<p>In ancient times the people of the Old World and the New +were in contact. The belief has been that this was across the +Pacific, but the traditions of Mexico and its neighbors point in +a different direction.</p> + +<p>Two dominant notes are struck in the legends of the races +fronting on the Caribbean. One is the belief that civilization<span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</span> +was brought to them by white, bearded strangers who came over +the sea from the east. The other is the tradition of a deluge +or related cataclysm. And sometimes the two stories are +grouped; the beneficent strangers are refugees from the disastrous +something that had happened upon the sea. Cataclysm +has been called the pivot of Central American myth and the +basis of the Mexican calendar.</p> + +<p>The legendary founder of the oldest Mexican civilization, the +Toltec, was Quetzalcoatl, who was worshiped as a god, but was +reputed to have been a bearded white man who came from the +east with a band of colonists and instructed the natives in the +arts and sciences; his symbol was a boat. The story was that he +was driven out by the witch doctors, but promised to return. +Aztec belief that the Cortes expedition was the return visit made +easier the Spanish conquest. Among the Mayas the divine +stranger was known as Kukulcan, and his title was Lord of the +Hollow Tree (the ark?). Coming from “Valum Chvim,” he +founded the ancient city of Palenque. His company was described +as wearing black mantles with short sleeves; the Mayas +called them “men with petticoats.”</p> + +<p>Native legends of tropic America, some of which Spence has +marshaled, present a panorama of flood, fire, hilltops of refuge, +arks, survivors. According to the Arawaks of Guiana the world +was smitten by fire, from which men hid themselves in caverns; +and then by flood, from which a leader and his followers saved +themselves in canoes. In the Carib deluge myth men escaped +to the mountain tops. In the Tupi-Guarani myth the Creator +scourged the world with fire but a great magician put it out +with a rainstorm and men took to trees (boats?). In the Karaya +myth an evil spirit invoked the deluge and sent fish to pull the +survivors down from the hill Tupimare. Various hills in Mexico +and the American southwest are pointed out as the Ararats +of flood refugees. There is even an account in the Nahuatl language +of the building of an ark. According to early Spanish +writers there were similar stories of oceanic upheaval among the +natives of the Antilles.</p> + +<p>All the New World flood myths, the Chaldean, Aramæan, and +Iranian, the Hebrew story of Noah, and the Greek story of +Deucalion, as well as the indicated ending of Plato’s tale of Atlantis,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</span> +agree in their main lines—that a malevolent spirit +sought to drown all men, or that an angered divinity sought by +a deluge to punish their lusts and pride, and that a few righteous +or lucky men escaped. One of these stories, recited in the +sacred book of the Quiche Indians of Guatemala, was believed +by the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg to be an account of the disaster +to Atlantis. As the briefest of the flood myths, and not the +worst, it may be repeated:</p> + +<p>“They did not think or speak of the Creator who had created +them, and who had caused their birth. They were drowned, and +thick resin fell from heaven.</p> + +<p>“The bird Xecotcovach tore out their eyes; the bird Camulatz +cut off their heads; the bird Cotzbalam devoured their flesh; +the bird Tecumbalam broke their bones and sinews and ground +them into powder.</p> + +<p>“Because they had not thought of their mother and father, the +Heart of Heaven whose name is Hurakan, therefore the face +of the earth grew dark and a pouring rain commenced, raining +by day, raining by night.</p> + +<p>“Then all sorts of beings, little and great, gathered together +to abuse the men to their faces; and all spoke, their millstones, +their plates, their cups, their dogs, their hens,” denouncing them +and railing at them.</p> + +<p>These traditions of disaster, survival, and immigration are +the collateral support of native American myth to Plato’s narrative +of Atlantis. The monumental ruins of Central America +yield some evidence which in no wise confirms the traditions, +but into which they fit. The Maya civilization has been described +as immigrant from a region unknown. Its palaces and +temples and columns, and the figures and inscriptions upon +them, represent an art that seemingly had reached its maturity +when the earliest of them was made. There are no local evidences +of the slow evolution of skill and taste, such as would +be expected in an indigenous culture. The resemblances to the +monuments of Burmah and Siam are superficial. The evidences +of a European influence are practically <i>nil</i>. The indications of +a civilization remarkable along certain lines are convincing; +the Mexican calendar, the Maya astronomy, betray a knowledge +of the movements of the heavenly bodies which was equal to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</span> +that of Europe in the Columbian period, and yet independent +of it.</p> + +<p>The Maya monuments have one singularity which has challenged +speculation. “It has been found,” says Spence, “that +the starting point of all the dates found on the monuments, save +two, is the same. Thus all Maya reckoning dates from one definite +day in the past, a day 3,000 years prior to the first date in +Maya history which can be described as contemporary with the +monument upon which it is found. Upon this practically all +Maya scholars of repute are agreed.” It has been conjectured +that this normal date of the Mayas is the date of a cataclysm, +somewhat as the people of San Francisco, with the memory of +their earthquake and conflagration strong in them, date many +events in their conversation as since the Fire. It has also been +conjectured that this date, and a developed civilization, were +brought to the Mayas by the survivors of the cataclysm.</p> + +<p>Such is the case for Atlantis as it has been made up by men +with some rank as students or specialists. The bold guesses of +Donnelly, from whose work several of these citations have been +taken, must be added. His most interesting contention, perhaps, +is that the Bronze Age in Europe must have been preceded +by a Copper Age, since bronze is an alloy of copper and tin; +but that there is no evidence of a Copper Age in Europe. There +was, however, a Copper Age in America, from Bolivia to Lake +Superior, and therefore Atlantis was the bridge between the +Copper Age of America and the Bronze Age of Europe.</p> + +<p>With a characteristic sweep of statement Donnelly announces +his conclusions. The people of Atlantis “were the founders of +nearly all our arts and sciences; they were the parents of our +fundamental beliefs; they were the first civilizers, the first navigators, +the first merchants, the first colonizers of the earth; their +civilization was old when Egypt was young, and they had passed +away thousands of years before Babylon, Rome, or London was +dreamed of. This lost people were our ancestors, their blood +flows in our veins; the words we use every day were heard, in +the primitive form, in their cities, courts, temples. Every line +of race and thought, of blood and belief, leads back to them.”</p> + +<p>For every fact, tradition, or coincidence which seems to point +toward the disappearance of a continent in the Atlantic sea,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</span> +there are other explanations with authoritative names behind +them. The old dread of the Western Ocean is attributed to the +teaching of primitive religions that there was the land of shades, +and to the colossal trickery of Phœnician mariners who wanted +no competitors beyond the Pillars. The American legends of +bright-faced strangers coming over the water from the east are +declared to be still another form of the sun myth. The world-wide +tradition of a deluge may represent the independent thinking +of various races of men who found fossil shells on their hillsides +and reasoned that at some time a sea had covered them. +It is asserted that Termier assumed too much for his specific +evidence of a recent submersion—the fragments of tachylyte +dredged from the ocean floor—when he declared that vitreous +lava could not form under the sea. Accepting, as many +geographers do, that a great land domain has sunk near the +coast of Africa, they say that this was not a historic, nor a prehistoric, +but a geologic event.</p> + +<p>The controversy reduces itself, at last, to a question of time: +Did the large island which Plato called Atlantis disappear after +men came upon the earth? Termier does not assert this, but +thinks it possible, and in some measure the wish is father to +the thought. As an American geographer puts it, “It is well +known that Professor Termier is not only a good geologist, but +also a great lover of the beautiful and much given to the poetic +in speaking and writing.” This passage in the Termier address +is in point:</p> + +<p>“Meanwhile not only will science, most modern science, not +make it a crime for all lovers of beautiful legends to believe in +Plato’s story of Atlantis, but science herself through my voice +calls their attention to it. Science herself, taking them by the +hand and leading them along the wreck-strewn ocean shores, +spreads before their eyes, with thousands of disabled ships, the +continents submerged or reduced to remnants, and the isles +without number enshrouded in the abyss.”</p> + +<p>Beyond the appeal to poetry the Atlantis legend has another—an +appeal which is also a temptation. It explains much, perhaps +too much. There are gaps in the story of human origins, +and in the history of the arts and sciences, that are as wide as +the black voids the astronomer sees in the skies. Atlantis fills<span class="pagenum" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</span> +them all. Science has sought to fill them by assumptions—the +origin of man in a drowned continent of the Pacific called +Lemuria, of which Australia is a fragment; the origin of civilization +on the Mediterranean floor when it was dry land. These +are assumptions without a tradition behind them. Paradoxically +enough, the point of attack upon the Atlantis theory is that +a legend supports it, and other legends fit into it. The whole +matches into an ingenious and simple design, and are the affairs +of nature and man ever so simple?</p> + +<p>It is not for anyone to answer yet, perhaps ever. But one +has license from Termier to speculate, and, if one will, to dream. +If in substance Plato’s tale was true, it needs no effort of imagination +to picture the empire of Atlantis as it was eleven thousand +years ago, for all its drama save the dreadful end has been +repeated. The British Isles, with their sea-borne commerce, +their Mediterranean and Caribbean garrisons, their mines +and metal workings, their ancient Druidical religion and costume, +even their addiction to horse-racing, reproduce in the +northern seas the story of this vanished island dominion south +and west of Gibraltar.</p> + +<p>The outlines of the crowning calamity of history—if history +it was—have already been drawn by legend, and there are authentic +human experiences on a lesser scale, and in other times +and places, to fill in the canvas. In the European port nearest +the supposed site of Atlantis, on the first day of November, +1775, a sound of thunder was heard underground, and in an +earthquake that shook twelve million miles of sea and land the +city of Lisbon fell in ruins, burying sixty thousand persons +beneath it.</p> + +<p>“About one o’clock in the afternoon”—it is Pliny the Younger +speaking, the place is near Pompeii, and the time August 24th, +<span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 79—“a vast and singular cloud was seen to elevate itself in +the atmosphere. It spread horizontally, in form like the +branches of the pine, and precipitated the burning materials +with which it was charged upon the many lovely but ill-fated +villages which stood upon this delightful coast.... Multitudes +crowded toward the beach, but the boisterous agitation +of the sea, alternately rolling on the shore and thrown back by +the convulsive motion of the earth, precluded every possibility<span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</span> +of escape.... Now were heard the shrieks of women, screams +of children, clamors of men, all accursing their fate and imploring +death, the deliverance they feared, with outstretched +hands to the gods whom many thought about to be involved together +with themselves in the last eternal night.”</p> + +<p>Let the biblical account of the deluge speak the closing word +upon Atlantis: “And all the high hills that were under the whole +heaven were covered, and the waters prevailed upon the earth.”</p> + +<p>One turns from the convulsion and welter of the deep, and +the beautiful and dreadful thing that lay beneath it, and fixes +the gaze on archaic ships, laden with strangely robed men and +women, riding the long billows of the Caribbean toward a quiet +shore. There—if the dreamers are right—they built another +civilization, which flourished and in turn vanished, with its temples +and palaces, beneath the green mantle of the tropic forest. +If the dreamers are right.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c21">Chapter XXI. The Gilded Man</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">The</span> high plateau of Cundinamarca in the interior of Colombia +was once an inland sea. Its vestiges remain in small +lakes which the Indians held sacred, and into which they cast +offerings of emeralds and golden ornaments. There was a special +ceremony at Lake Guatavitá. When a cacique died and +another was chosen, a long procession moved down to the shore. +At the head went mourners, nude and wailing, their bodies +stained with red ochre. Behind them were other groups in +jaguar skins, their hair dressed with feathers, their limbs agleam +with barbaric jewelwork. Amid the joyful tumult of horns and +pipes followed the priests in tall black caps and long black +robes. In the rear came high priests and nobles carrying a barrow +hung with disks of gold. Upon the barrow rode El Dorado—the +Gilded Man—newly chosen chief of an obscure native +tribe, and destined to become, through no quality of his own, +the elusive central figure in the most singular chapter in exploration, +above all others the figure of fate in South America.</p> + +<p>He was well named, with the poetry wherewith Spain had +invested the very headlands and harbors that her sons had found +in the west. Like the mourners, the Gilded Man was naked, and +yet he was clad. His body had been rubbed with fragrant gums, +and priests with tubes had blown gold dust over him, until he +gleamed like the god of day incarnate. Arrived at the shore, +the enameled chief went upon a raft with his cortège and was +ferried to the middle of the lake. There he plunged in and +laved himself while the people shouted and the trumpets brayed +on the beach. The golden dust that had covered him glimmered +down through the water as an offering to its deity. In +its wake followed the bracelets and brooches which the attendant +lords flung into the pool. So the ceremony ended.</p> + +<p>This rite, beautiful and significant, is history, and not baseless +legend. Golden ornaments have been uncovered in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</span> +lake, which was drained by modern treasure-seekers; among +them was a piece wrought with some art which seems to be a +representation of the sacred raft and its passengers. Humboldt +thinks that the rite came from warmer regions and that the nude +figures and coronation bath are alien to the climate of the tableland. +But the fatal feature of the ceremony is that it was already +history when the Spaniards heard of it. The Muysca +Indians of the Bogota region subjugated the Muysca Indians of +the Guatavitá region about the time of the discovery of America. +The custom of bathing a gilded cacique passed with this small +tribal conquest. The memory of it remained. Unique among +the customs of the continent, it was talked of along the coasts +of the Caribbean when the Spaniards came. There were rumors +of it in Peru, and even farther south.</p> + +<p>“Let us go in search of that gilded Indian,” said Belalcazar +when a native of the north brought the first news of him to +Quito, which had fallen to Pizarro a few years before. The +Spaniards went, and found all there was to find—the deep +waters of Guatavitá. But this did not content them. The Gilded +Man was a symbol. He stood for something larger than a rite +that might take place once in a generation. He stood for the +very arrogance and folly of a royal and a priestly wealth that +must be beyond measure. Every sunrise the body of the +haughty savage was covered afresh with glittering dust. Every +sunset, so the Spaniards fabled, he cleansed himself in a pool, +the bottom of which had slowly paved itself with gold, as generation +after generation of his dynasty performed their ablutions. +Only a mighty nation and a rich could have so prodigal a +king; and so El Dorado came to mean not so much a man as a +golden city in a gilded land. The altars and ewers and basins +of its temples, the furnishings and plate of its palaces, the jewels +and table service of its nobles—here was promise of a booty to +match the loot of Mexico and Peru.</p> + +<p>In seeking it Spain spent more lives and sank more treasure +than in all its conquests in the New World.</p> + +<p>Somehow the land that held it seemed to recede as the exploring +columns advanced. It was sought in Colombia, in Venezuela, +in eastern Peru, in northwestern Brazil, in Bolivia, and +from Paraguay. Over a great inverted triangle the base of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</span> +which was a line nearly a thousand miles long drawn east from +the Cordilleras of Colombia nearly to the mouth of the Orinoco, +and the apex of which was in Paraguay two thousand miles to +the south, ceaselessly marched the expeditions. The El Dorado +country of the exploring parties—the region which knew their +tread—was thus a territory of about a million square miles. It +repeated the general lines of the continent itself, an enclave of +illusion surrounded by the realities of mountain and coast.</p> + +<p>Into this triangle from all sides struck the Spanish columns. +They moved east, north, and south from Quito, south from the +Caribbean, south and west from Trinidad, north from Asuncion. +They climbed mountains, forded rivers, penetrated deserts. +They froze in the passes of the Andes, sickened in the +flooded, fever-haunted valley of the Amazon, died of hunger in +the pathless plains; and everywhere the poisoned Indian arrows +found their targets. Three of the columns, one of which had +been on the road for five years, entered the plateau of Cundinamarca +at the same time—a coincidence without parallel in history. +Germans and Englishmen also essayed the adventure. As +for Spain, when de Silva appealed for funds and followers, the +country could have been depopulated, says Padre Simon, so +strong was the belief in the Gilded Land.</p> + +<p>Under the fable of the Gilded King ran other delusions. It +was thought that the northern part of South America was rich in +the precious metals. It was thought that the auriferous steeps +of Peru and New Granada swept eastward almost to the mouth +of the Orinoco. There was no comprehension of the continental +extent of intertribal trade, and the presence of gold among +Indian tribes was thought to be proof that it could be had in +their country, even when this was flat prairie or inundated +forest. Native traders followed their own path from the Andes +to the Caribbean; it is significant that the site of the legendary +city moved along it through successive generations almost from +end to end.</p> + +<p>The search for it falls into four chapters—the quest of +El Dorado of Cundinamarca; the quest of El Dorado of Canelas; +the quest of El Dorado of the Omaguas; the quest of El Dorado +of Manoa.</p> + +<p>By the chance meeting of three expeditions, already noted,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</span> +the end of the quest for El Dorado of Cundinamarca is sheer +pageantry. Belalcazar, lieutenant of Pizarro and governor of +Quito, had sent his captains in 1535 to discover what he conceived +to be a golden valley between Pasto and Popayan in the +Cordilleras of southern Colombia, not far from the South Sea. +The following year he undertook the search in person and +pushed it farther north to the plateau of Bogota. There he +found two other expeditions already in contact. Quesada had +started from Santa Marta with eight hundred men and a hundred +horses. With this command he had subjugated the Chibcha +nation, numbering a million persons if the chroniclers are right, +and dispersed an army of twenty thousand men which they had +put in the field. After difficult marching and fighting he brought +a handful of men—a hundred foot and sixty horse—to the +neighborhood of Bogota. Soon he saw approach the remnants +of an expedition which had left the coast of Venezuela five years +before. The German, Federmann, brought to the plateau a +hundred ragged men out of the four hundred well-equipped +soldiers with whom he had started.</p> + +<p>The three commands bivouacked almost within striking distance +of each other. They presented a spectacular contrast, for +the men from Peru were in Spanish steel and scarlet, those from +Santa Marta wore Indian fabrics, while the men from Venezuela +were clad in the skins of wild animals. The clergy labored +feverishly to avert the expected appeal to arms, and for once in +the history of New World exploration resolute men of the +Iberian strain settled their differences without fighting. The +three captains went back to Spain together where each laid his +claim to the governorship of New Granada before the throne. +Only Belalcazar was recognized and he only with the post of +Adelantado in the Popayan region.</p> + +<p>The quest of El Dorado of Canelas is the story of the expedition +of Gonzalo Pizarro and the secession therefrom of his lieutenant, +Orellana. Across all the history of Spanish exploration +flashes the treacherous and brilliant deed of Orellana, somewhat +as the “moving equator”—the Amazon—which he discovered, +cuts across the meridians of longitude between the Andes and +the Atlantic. Canelas was the Land of Cinnamon, and here, and +here only upon the soil of America, the two leading motives of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</span> +exploration—the search for gold, the search for spices—were +interwoven. Pizarro had heard of a fabled spiceland hard by +the territories of the Gilded King, and this was his avowed +objective. But his imagination roved further. In the valley of +the Napo, a stream which for a space forms the boundary between +Ecuador and modern Colombia, there were plains where +the inhabitants wore armor of “massy gold.” Gonzalo would +have a look at this armor. He set forth with 500 Spaniards, +4,000 Indians, 150 horses, 1,000 dogs, and 5,000 swine and +“Peruvian sheep.”</p> + +<p>While threading the passes at the very threshold of the journey +a tremendous earthquake rocked the mountains under his +feet, and an Indian village with hundreds of houses sank out of +sight. Followed the tempests, and for six weeks tropical rainstorms +with incessant thunder and lightning beat upon the men. +It was a prelude in keeping with the disasters to come. The +Land of Cinnamon was found, and left behind as too remote to +offer present profit. A brigantine was built on the Napo, and +Orellana was sent ahead with it to gather supplies in the Indian +settlements. The party never came back, but swept down the +Amazon in a wild adventure to the Atlantic sea, whence their +tales of the mighty river, its warrior women, its still stranger +peoples, and its temples roofed with gold, set Spain on fire. +Gonzalo waited for months, but he was of the strain of the +Pizarros—all hero as well as all scoundrel—and did not succumb +when he knew he had been betrayed. In a march of over +a year he led the remnant of his command back to Quito. All +his Indians had died or deserted, and only eighty Spaniards +remained. When they entered the City of the Line in June +1542, it seemed, says Prescott, as if the charnel-house had given +up its dead.</p> + +<p>El Dorado of the Omaguas had many seekers, and in some +measure unveiled itself before the eyes of Philip Von Hutten. +After him, the Gilded Land had for a time a place certain on +the map. It was the region between the Guaviare and Caqueta +rivers in southeastern Colombia and northwestern Brazil—the +territory of the Omaguas, a rich and numerous Indian nation.</p> + +<p>Von Hutten was a relative of the Welsers, the Augsburg +bankers to whom Charles V had ceded a large tract in Tierra-firma,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</span> +and who had already sent out Federmann for the adventure +of Cundinamarca. The second German expedition began +almost humbly. Von Hutten had only 130 men, and when he +found that Quesada was ahead of him with 250 men, he was content +to follow in his tracks, hoping to share the rewards of discovery. +But when Quesada reached the headwaters of the +Caqueta, he had seen enough, and Von Hutten pushed ahead +into the unknown.</p> + +<p>His Indian guide told him of a populous city called Macatoa +in a country rich with gold, and he even displayed small golden +apples which came from there. The winter rains overtook the +command on its road to this halfway house to El Dorado, and, +marooned on high ground, the men subsisted on maize and ants, +and on grubs, beetles, and roots. Their very hair and beards +fell off, but at length they reached Macatoa, and went on to the +land of the Omaguas.</p> + +<p>From a hill they saw at last the city they sought. It stretched +beyond the utmost range of the vision—long streets and densely +clustered houses, and a temple. In the temple, the guide said, +were idols of gold as tall as small children, and one golden +statue as tall as a woman, with other treasures above price. +Beyond, he assured them, lay still richer cities. What they saw +and what they heard were enough for Von Hutten and his band. +There were only forty left of them, and within the city, they +were told, was a large force of native warriors. The adventurers +clapt spurs to their horses and dashed in—and then +dashed out again, their leader wounded and fifteen thousand +Indians in pursuit. The figures are their own, as well as the +statement that they beat off the attacking force and retired. +Afterward Von Hutten was murdered by his men.</p> + +<p>To die on the march, to be stabbed by one’s companions, or +to be beheaded by one’s king, seemed the lot predestined for +captains who sought the Gilded Devil.</p> + +<p>As was proved again when the Spaniards quested for Cibola, +an Indian town is a deceptive thing when seen at a distance. +What Von Hutten really saw was probably a collection of +closely grouped villages, and among them a council house or +temple, larger than the others but no more imposing than the +bark communal houses under which at that time Algonquins<span class="pagenum" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</span> +were living upon Manhattan Island. Yet the bruit of his discovery +launched expedition after expedition from New World +and Old. Martin de Proveda, starting from Peru, reached the +country of the Omaguas and went on to Bogota. Pedro de Silva +brought a party of six hundred out of Spain, and in a six +months’ journey across the llanos of Venezuela saw all but thirty +die or desert. He tried again with another party of 170 Spaniards +going up the Orinoco. Famine, disease, and Indian +arrows accounted for every member of his party save one.</p> + +<p>There is evidence that unruly spirits were encouraged to seek +El Dorado in order to rid the settled places of the New World +of their turbulence. Such was the expedition which Pedro de +Ursua led out of Peru in 1559. A rabble of lawless adventurers +had been attracted thither by the civil wars which followed the +conquest. The viceroy was glad to commission this young +officer and see him depart with these “Gentlemen and old souldiers +of Peru” as Lopez Vaz called them. When they reached +the Indian villages of Omagua the expected happened. The +men murdered their leader, and the command fell to Aguirre, +who told them that whoever spoke further of El Dorado should +die. With his followers he set forth to reach the Atlantic and +return by way of Panama to Peru, where he purposed to seize +“riches, bread, wine, flesh, and faire women also.” His men +murdered him in turn, but not until he had done an amazing +thing. Starting down the Amazon, his boats won the sea by +way of the Orinoco, having used the Cassiquiare to cross from +one river system to the other.</p> + +<p>The Omagua chapter ends with the great and tragic expedition +of Gonsalo Ximenes de Quesada, conqueror of New Granada, +and one of the largest figures among the conquistadors, +brother of the Quesada who had sunk his means in a like search +eighteen years before. With 350 Spanish soldiers, 1,500 Indians, +a number of negro slaves, and a train of cattle and swine, +Ximenes left Bogota in 1579. Torrential rains, inundated +lands, prairie fires, mosquitoes, Indian warfare, disease, famine—the +disastrous routine of other expeditions—were repeated on +a larger canvas. Quesada got as far as the confluence of the +Guaviare and Orinoco, and then had to return. He brought +back seventy-four Spaniards and four Indians, and he left<span class="pagenum" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</span> +behind with his dead a fortune of two million dollars scattered +along the trails of the wilderness.</p> + +<p>The quest of El Dorado of Manoa lowers a curtain, rich and +somber and yet of fantastic design, upon the career of the most +remarkable Englishman of the Elizabethan age. In this last +phase of a long delusion other explorers led their thousands to +die in the jungles of the Orinoco, but their endeavor does not so +engage attention as that of Raleigh, who lost little save his own +fortune and head. There are two names, and then the Elizabethan. +Antonio de Berreo, married to Quesada’s niece, came +from New Granada down the Meta and part way down the Orinoco +for three years of dark futility. He came again and +founded towns at the confluence of the Caroni and the Orinoco, +and in the island of Trinidad at the Orinoco’s mouth. His lieutenant, +Domingo de Vera, went on to Spain and came back with +a fleet and two thousand men. These perished, all but a few, +in the two towns de Berreo had founded, or in the leagues of +turbulent river that rolled between them, or in the fever-wasted +jungles into which they set forth to find Manoa. De Berreo himself +fell a prisoner to Raleigh, who had set sail from England +about the same time that de Vera embarked from Spain.</p> + +<p>This time the Gilded Phantom, in order to make sure of victims +in an age about to grow weary of long quests and wary of +far horizons, had come almost across the continent to entrap +them. Not in the eastern foothills of the Andes, but along the +lower reaches of the Orinoco where the Atlantic tides still +throbbed, the snare was spread. In the mighty empire of +Guiana, it was said there was a lake of salt water almost as +great as the Caspian Sea, and upon it the largest, the fairest, +and the richest city of the world. A fugitive Inca had come +down from the Andes, and the nobles and merchants had followed +him, and long trains of llamas had borne their possessions +through the wilderness, and an armed host went before. +They “conquered, reedified and inlarged” Manoa, says Raleigh.</p> + +<p>So vast was the city that when the Spaniard, Juan Martinez, +was brought into it blindfold at noon, and his face then uncovered, +he moved through it all that afternoon and night, and +the next day from sun rising to sun setting, before he came to +the palace of the emigrant Inca. At the feasts of this emperor,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</span> +so de Berreo told his captor, when he “carouseth with his captaines, +tributaries and governours,” the company stripped and +were anointed with balsam and dusted off with finely powdered +gold, blown through hollow canes. So they sat, in radiant +drunkenness, for six or seven days together.</p> + +<p>Thus the striking inaugural ceremony of a vanquished Indian +tribe on the tableland of Bogota had become in the lowlands of +Venezuela the symbol of a luxurious and sensual court, and of +an intolerable splendor. Not one man, once in a lifetime, but +a host of drunken sybarites, carousing in repeated revels, wore +the golden coat; the raft on a tarn of the western plateau had +become a palace and a city greater than any other, and seated +in the eastern wilderness on a lake that was an inland sea. +Upon the mythical estate and possessions of the Gilded King +had been piled the fugitive prestige and riches of the Incas. +The magnificent and yet sordid culmination of a century of +splendid dreams and desperate endeavor, with cupidities, basenesses +and heroisms uncounted, it needed for its final victim +one who embodied in signal fashion the strength and the weaknesses +of the age. It found him in Sir Walter Raleigh.</p> + +<p>Raleigh was the most accomplished man of his time, and +every fiber of him was Elizabethan. On the scaffold he said, +“I have been a soldier, a sailor, and a courtier, all of them +courses of wickedness and vice.” Let it be added that in them +he excelled most other men. He learned soldiering under +Coligny, fighting the battles of the Huguenots. As a sailor he +took prizes of Spanish treasure ships, captured Fayal, led the +attack on the Spanish fleet at Cadiz, contributed to the strategy +that threw back the Armada; with him, as with Drake and his +companions, the ruling passion was to singe the beard of the +king of Spain. As a courtier he had his place among the vivacious +friendships of the Virgin Queen, and he was rewarded +and rebuked in turn with honors, monopolies, rustication, exile.</p> + +<p>Raleigh introduced the use of tobacco in England and the +culture of the potato in Ireland. He founded two short-lived +colonies in North Carolina, which has honored his memory in +the name of the state capital. He aided the colonizing ventures +of his stepbrother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and came to North +America with him. He encouraged and aided the poet Spenser.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</span> +He assisted Richard Hakluyt in bringing out his remarkable collection +of explorers’ manuscripts. It falls in with the picture +that Raleigh was skilled in brewing new drinks, one of which +bore his name; in the Tower of London he divided the time +between his library and a small distillery he had set up in a +hen-house.</p> + +<p>Like his great contemporaries, Raleigh was both a man of +action and a man of affairs—compound of statesman, <i>condottiere</i>, +and merchant-adventurer. He was also a writer of +noble gifts. Instead of moping in his long years of confinement +in the Tower, he wrote there his <i>History of the World</i>. +And he made beautiful poems. “If all the world and love were +young” is his line. His is the epigram, “The shallow murmur, +but the deep are dumb.” In one mood he could pen the invocation +beginning, “O eloquent, just and mightie Death,” and in +another carol,</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">If she undervalue me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What care I how fair she be?</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>His best-known line, “Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall,” +graven by him on a windowpane for the eye of Elizabeth, was +least characteristic of Raleigh. If always he sought to climb the +heights of adventure, he had little fear to fall. This record +concerns his strangest adventure and his final fall. In most part +it is the story as recounted in his book, <i>The discoverie of the +large, rich, and beautiful Empire of Guiana, with a relation of +the great and golden citie of Manoa, which the Spaniards call +El Dorado</i>. It is a fascinating book, for seldom before or +since has pen so gifted set down a travel tale; but there is +tragedy in the very title, which is the memorial of a vain dream. +Let the historian Bancroft recite the justification, or the excuse, +for the illusion of a worldly-wise man who was also an Elizabethan: +“If Elizabeth had hoped for a hyperborean Peru in the +arctic seas of America, why might not Raleigh expect to find +the city of gold on the banks of the Orinoco?”</p> + +<p>The bare narrative of Raleigh’s first quest of El Dorado of +Manoa need not long detain, for this skillful administrator, intrepid +explorer, and subtle diplomat found no golden city, lost<span class="pagenum" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</span> +no men in the wilderness, and had no trouble with the Indians, +whom his engaging bearing and politic address won to his side. +He had sent a ship to reconnoiter in 1594, and after his own +expedition came and went in 1595, he sent another ship in 1596 +to continue the exploration, while he himself took command of +the squadron that dashed in upon the Spanish shipping at Cadiz. +Raleigh’s Guiana flotilla of the year before consisted of five +ships, one of them from the British Admiralty. That there +might be no enemy behind him, he seized the Spanish settlement +at Trinidad, capturing de Berreo; anchoring his ships there, he +set off in barges with a hundred men up the stubborn current of +the Orinoco. Six months after he sailed from England, he was +back again with some Indian hostages, some pieces of golden +ore, and the marvelous stories with which his <i>Discovery</i> is +adorned.</p> + +<p>His travel narrative lays its scenes in “the insular regions +and broken world” of Guiana, which then included a good part +of Venezuela. Through its pages flows “the great rage and +increase” of the swollen Orinoco. Through them flit “birds of +all colours, some carnation, some crimson, orange-tawny, and +purple,” so that “it was unto us a great good passing of the time +to behold them.” “I never saw a more beautifull countrey, nor +more lively prospects,” exclaims Raleigh. From afar off he +gazed on a “mountaine of Christall.” “There falleth over it,” +he says, “a mighty river which toucheth no part of the side of +the mountaine, but rusheth over the toppe of it, and falleth to +the ground with so terrible a noyse and clamour, as if a thousand +great bels were knockt one against another.” Enters the note of +gold and of politics: In Guiana, it seemed, “every stone that we +stouped to take up, promised either golde or silver by his complexion.” +For “health, good ayre, pleasure and riches,” he concludes, +“this country hath no equal, East or West.” It would be +easy for the English to defend it, for the woods are so thick +along the rivers that “a mouse cannot sit in a boat unhit from +the banke.”</p> + +<p>The book holds also the statement of the large national aims +of Raleigh, into which, as he assured himself, the gold hunt +fitted. Not for him were mere “journeys of picory,” nor “to go +long voyages, to lie hard, to fare worse, to be parched and withered,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</span> +solely to “cozen myselfe.” Here was “a better Indies +for her Majestie than the King of Spaine hath any.” With the +gold of western America Spain bade fair to dominate the world. +Only by tapping the Indian treasure-house of eastern America +could the balance of power be restored. In a notable passage +Raleigh enunciates a theory of international politics that would +sound familiar to modern ears, if for the gold lust there were +substituted the lust of markets.</p> + +<p>“If we consider,” he says, “the affaires of the Spanish king, +what territories he hath purchased, what he hath added to the +acts of his predecessors, how many kingdoms he hath indangered, +how many armies, garrisons & navies he hath and doth +mainteine, the great losses which he hath repaired, as in 88 +above 100 saile of great ships with their artillery, & that no +yeere is lesse unfortunate but that many vessels, treasures, and +people are devoured, and yet notwithstanding he beginneth +againe like a storme to threaten shipwrack to us all: we shall +find that these abilities rise not from the trades of sacks, and +Sivil oringes, nor from ought else that either Spaine, Portugal, +or any of his other provinces produce: it is his Indian gold that +indangereth and disturbeth all the nations of Europe, it purchaseth +intelligence, creepeth into counsels, and setteth bound +loyaltie at libertie, in the greatest Monarchies of Europe.”</p> + +<p>This enterprise of matching gold with gold, Guiana against +Peru, Raleigh hoped would be intrusted to him, and he must +have pictured himself as viceroy, under England, of such +another India as Englishmen of later centuries were to attain. +Yet the <i>Discovery</i> is a defense, as well as a political tract and +a collection of mirabilia. Raleigh’s return, empty-handed, had +aroused the resentment of some who had put money into his +venture, and the ridicule and censure of more. It was alleged +that he had procured his golden ore in Barbary, and naught +better than marcasite from Guiana. It was even noised abroad +that he had not been with the fleet at all, but had been concealed +in Cornwall while his ships were away. The dreaming adventurer +had his enemies.</p> + +<p>After his second voyage to Guiana they were able to destroy +him. Twenty-one years had elapsed since the first expedition. +Twelve of these Raleigh had spent in the Tower, imprisoned on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</span> +one of the charges of treason which in those days meant little +save that a man was disliked by the royal favorites of the +moment. At sixty-four years of age he was paroled and went +to Guiana with a squadron of fourteen vessels and the coveted +commission of governor of the country. He spoke now of a +wonderful mine and little of a thing that was in the back of his +head, for still he dreamed of Manoa’s golden towers, which, as +many men would have it, were nowhere on earth.</p> + +<p>The expedition turned out disastrously. King James had submitted +to Spain through its ambassador at London a detailed +copy of Raleigh’s plans and had received what was represented +to Raleigh to be a pledge of unmolested passage to the up-river +country claimed by him by right of discovery. He found the +Spaniards fortified against him. There were clashes in which +his own son lost his life and also the governor of a river town, +kinsman of the Spanish ambassador.</p> + +<p>Raleigh returned to face his fate, and in effect it was Spain’s +own hand that wrote the decree of death, for the two royal +houses were about to be united by marriage, and the Stuart was +studiously complaisant to the Hapsburg. Sir Walter was tried +on a charge of masking, under a project to discover a mine, a +piratical raid on the Spanish settlements—a charge which the +national contacts of a hundred years invested with a grim +humor. But he was executed on a more serviceable pretext, the +long-suspended sentence for treason; nor did it avail him to +urge that the king’s commission for his voyage was in itself a +grant of pardon. The night before his death on the scaffold he +wrote these lines:</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">E’en such is Time, who takes in trust</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our youth and joys and all we have,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And pays us but with age and dust.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<p>Thus the great Elizabethan faced and dismissed two vanities. +Equally so he had found life itself and the mocking parable of +his New World quest—for hopes, frustration; dross for gold.</p> + +<p>With Raleigh ended the larger expeditions to find El Dorado. +There is a little more to say. Some years before, two parties +had sought the Gilded City, starting from far south. One came<span class="pagenum" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</span> +from Buenos Aires in 1537, all the colonists leaving that ill-fated +city, and passing up the river in the hope either of finding +El Dorado or of reaching the Spanish settlements on Lake Titicaca. +A detachment of this party halted on the Paraguay and +founded Asuncion. Another detachment, numbering two hundred +persons, pushed on into Bolivia, where the Indians ambushed +and killed them all. A later party which was led by +De Chaves left Asuncion in 1560, wandered northwest into +Bolivia and there disbanded.</p> + +<p>The imaginary lake of Manoa, sometimes called Mar Eldorado +or the Golden Sea, was delineated on maps of South +America for nearly three centuries after the time of Columbus. +Periodical overflows of the Orinoco tributaries, which cover +wide regions with standing water, serve to explain the origin +and persistence of the lake legend. For the shift of the basic +legend from Colombia to Guiana, Humboldt suggests an explanation +in a custom of native tribes in the latter country. +Instead of tattooing themselves, the Indians anointed their +bodies with turtle fat and stuck spangles of mica with a metallic +luster, white as silver and red as copper, upon their skins, so +that at a distance they seemed to wear laced clothes.</p> + +<p>In 1740 Don Manuel Centurion, the Spanish governor of +Santa Thome del Agostina, made further search for the fabled +lake of Manoa and the city washed by its waters. The popular +imagination was inflamed by the reports of an Indian who came +down the river Caroni. In the southern sky he showed the +natives the dim radiance of the Clouds of Magellan. This he +said was the reflection of golden ore on an island in the lake of +legend. So may one leave the city of illusion where it belongs, +in cloudland.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c22">Chapter XXII. The Dream Quests of Spain</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">The</span> search for El Dorado was the greatest of the dream +quests of Spain. It was not the first, it was not the last. Along +with lesser ventures without number Spain sought certain grand +objects. These included the Fountain of Youth, the Earthly +Paradise, the Temple of the Sun, the Cradle of Gold, the Country +of Cinnamon, the Enchanted City of the Cæsars, the Islands +of Solomon, El Gran Moxo, El Gran Paititi, the Sepulchres of +Zenu, the Temple of Dobayba, the Seven Cities of Cibola, +Quivera the prairie capital. And Spain sought also buried cities +and phantom lakes and craters abrim with liquid gold.</p> + +<p>Through most of these quests is the flow of delusive water. +It sparkles in the youth-conferring spring which De Leon failed +to find. It moves in the River Jordan, for which red man and +white hunted in Florida. It sweeps past the mythical Quivera, +bearing huge canoes with prows of gold. It shines on the far +horizon of Cibola, and on it there are barks of Cathay. It +glimmers in the tarn of Guatavitá. In the legendary sea of +Manoa it reflects the fugitive gold of El Dorado. It laves the +enchanted City of the Cæsars hard by the lake of Nahuelhuapi. +In the Laguna de los Xarayes it ripples around the island home +of El Gran Moxo. It flashes on the beaches of fabled islands +west of the southern continent.</p> + +<p>There were reasons for the illusory lakes of Spanish adventure. +The City of Mexico was seated in a lake with causeways +crossing it and canals reaching the heart of the city. The +Empire of Peru held Lake Titicaca as sacred. The scarcely less +remarkable civilization of the Chibchas of Colombia rendered +homage to the lakes of the central plateau. So the Spaniards +thought that when they sought other golden cities in the wilderness +they would find them on the shores of inland seas.</p> + +<p>The periodic inundations of the Orinoco, the Amazon, the +Paraguay, and the tributaries of these streams deceived and disturbed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</span> +men with appearances which they could not understand. +One explorer would come upon a vast sheet of still water, and +in due time it would get upon the maps. Another would lead +his column dry shod over the same place, and men were slow to +realize that each had made correct report of what he saw. For +example, the legendary lake of Xarayas, long supposed to be +the source of the Paraguay, is merely a seasonal inundation; but +during high water this transitory sea extends three hundred and +fifty miles north and south and one hundred and fifty miles east +and west.</p> + +<p>The things of the spirit—religion, romance, pure fantasy—animated +Spain in some of the quests it followed beside the still +waters of the lakes of dream. Its rude chivalry could serve the +ideal with a whole heart. But for the most part cavalier and +muleteer sought gold alone. Gems, spices, pepper, dyewoods, +grain fields, raw materials, rubber, bananas, coffee—these are +objects of ancient or modern enterprise in strange lands. They +meant little to the Spaniard. Nor was his deepest interest in +metal that was still underground. He was looking for the gold +that for generation after generation Indian civilizations had +brought to the surface and stored in their capital cities. The +rewards of savage toil he would seize for himself who better +knew their value, or thought he did.</p> + +<p>That is why the visionary expeditions of Spain are in the +main a search for cities, or, failing these, projects to loot temples +and rifle graves. Neither the digging nor the assembling +of the golden treasure was in the scheme. The purpose was to +take the central treasure houses. So Spain had already done in +Peru. The captive Inca Atahuallpa had himself suggested a +kindred thing. For ransom he offered to fill his prison chamber, +a room seventeen feet wide and twenty-two feet long, with gold +to the depth of nine feet, or as high as the reach of the tallest +cavalier. When the bargain was made, gold began to pour in +from all corners of the empire—statues, vases, vessels, utensils, +plaques, disks, chains, temple ornaments, nuggets, and golden +dust. Of course his captors killed the Inca, and rushed on to +seek the sources whence flowed the maddening stream; and what +they found did not satisfy. Much of the treasure of the Incas +had disappeared. Nor has it been uncovered since.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</span></p> + +<p>Those vain enterprises of Spain, with which a great part of +the New World’s sixteenth century was filled, were attempts of +adventurers to lay hold of the gold which had escaped the conquistadors +in Mexico and Peru, or which it was imagined had +escaped them. It was supposed that the descendants of the +Montezumas, taking rich treasures with them, had retreated +northward to Cibola or to Quivera, and there renewed their state. +It was reported, and with some basis of fact, that princes of the +Inca blood had gone north, south, or east from Cuzco and set up +new cities in the wilderness. The basis of fact was the flight +of Manco Capac, called the Last of the Incas. This prince +raised the country against its conquerors, flung an army of two +hundred thousand warriors against the Spanish garrison in +Cuzco, and before night settled on the empire of the Andes gave +proof on the battlefield that there was valor in the Quichua +blood. At the mountain fortress of Choquequirau, the Cradle +of Gold, six thousand feet above the valley of the Apurimac, +Peruvian geographers believe the Last of the Incas made his +seat.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Fountain of Youth</i></p> + +<p>It is best to begin the recital of the dream quests of Spain +with the dream of all ages—the search for lost youth. It was +the first of those adventures in the New World in which the sons +of Spain were to show they were different from other men, in +that when they imagined a vain thing their imagination rushed +on to action.</p> + +<p>In an unfinished poem Heine sketches the beginning of this +quest. Ponce de Leon, the veteran ex-governor of Porto Rico, +lies in his hammock and an old Indian servant sings to him of +the Bahama island of Bimini with its bird song and undying +flowers, and of its interesting tenants. These were old men +restored by a magic spring to riotous youth and beldames who +had drunk of its waters and regained girlhood’s bloom; they +were afraid to return home because of the scandal their shamefully +youthful appearance would work among their friends. +Poetic license carries this sketch only a little beyond the credulity +of the period, for Peter Martyr had written at length to the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</span>bishop of Rome of an island with a youth-restoring spring some +three hundred leagues north of Hispaniola.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f20"> +<img src="images/fig20.jpg" alt="dream"> +<p class="caption"><i>The Things of the Spirit Animated Spain in Some of the Quests It Followed<br> +Beside the Still Waters of the Lakes of Dream</i></p> +</div> + +<p>The Spanish cavalier set sail with three ships in 1512, in +search of Bimini. There were nearly seven hundred islands +and islets in the Bahamas and his journey was through a labyrinth. +For a part of the voyage he had the strangest, and perhaps +the most fitting, of pilots. To a clump of islands near the +Lucayos he gave the name of La Vieja or the Old Woman group +because he found them without inhabitants save one ancient +woman. Her he took aboard to help guide him through the sea +passages. He found Florida, but he did not find Bimini, which +was discovered later by his captain, Juan Perez de Ortubia, the +sagacious old woman directing him to its shore. The water +there was like any other water. Ponce de Leon, however, +escaped the disabilities of age. A poisoned Indian arrow +launched from a Florida bow did for him when he was about +sixty-one.</p> + +<p>Before his death, the quest for a fountain from which one +might quaff the draught of youth had been broadened to include +a River Jordan of rejuvenating baths. This was somewhere on +the peninsula of Florida, where for half a century red men and +white searched for it, bathing in every stream, lagoon, and +swamp they found, in the hope that the magic water, in some +sudden transformation scene, might betray its whereabouts.</p> + +<p>Though they did not know it, the Spaniards themselves +brought to the New World the legend of the fountain of youth +and the name of Bimini, as well as that of the River Jordan. +Wiener has traced each step. In 1493, a year before the Pope +made the line of demarcation between the Spanish and Portuguese +discoveries, he had given to Spain the newly discovered +lands on condition that the natives should be baptized in the +Catholic faith. Amerigo Vespucci falsely reported that, in compliance +therewith, a fountain of baptism had been placed on an +island in the Gulf of Mexico. Peter Martyr in his <i>Decade of +1511</i> called this the <i>fonte perenni</i>, but the cartographer misread +his Latin, and on the map attached to his work a coast line +north of Cuba is called <i>isla de beimeni parte</i>. Thus the perennial +fountain became Bimini, and the fiction of a Christian +baptismal font revived a pagan myth.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</span></p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Enchanted City of the Cæsars</i></p> + +<p>The quest of the Enchanted City of the Cæsars was the southernmost +adventure of the dreaming mind of Spain. It was +prosecuted along the slopes of the southern Andes and the Patagonian +plains beyond—that mysterious and desolate region +which made so deep an impression upon Darwin. Over the +remote prairies, peopled only by huanacos and roving bands of +tall savages, Spanish commands hunted for a capital which the +natives called Trapalanda, and which, according to the oath of +those who said they had seen it, was as great as ancient Nineveh +and as populous as Peking.</p> + +<p>Outbound to the Moluccas, the story ran, a vessel belonging +to the bishop of Palancia was shipwrecked in the Straits of +Magellan. The captain of the stranded craft, Sebastian de +Arguello, found himself on the Patagonian coast with three +thousand miles of mountain and plain between his little band +and the outpost of Spanish power at Cuzco. Followed by about +two hundred soldiers and sailors, thirty adventurers, twenty-three +married women, and three priests, he struck boldly into +the heart of the pampas, moving northward. When the company +reached a region of lakes and meadows rimmed by snowy summits +resolution was taken to found there an independent state +aloof from the perturbations of the world. Other fugitives had +reached this inviting spot before the Spaniards—a numerous +native people flying from the wreck of Peru.</p> + +<p>It would seem from the rapid growth of the city which was +said to have arisen upon the shore of Lake Nahuelhuapi that red +men and white mingled their blood. The first report of the +austral capital reached Concepcion in Chile, in 1557.</p> + +<p>The Spanish settlements were led to picture a great, rich city +in the south. A strong wall ran around it, and over it the roving +Indians of the prairies could see reddish roofs that gleamed as +with gold. The houses were of cut stone and those who had +been within them spoke of beds, chairs, and table service made +of precious ores. The central edifice in the capital was a noble +church roofed with silver, and from it were decreed and regulated +the pompous festivals of the ecclesiastical year.</p> + +<p>Wishing to keep their isolation inviolate, its inhabitants had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</span> +an understanding with the Indians that the secret of the city +should be told to none. But when it received the name of <i>La +Ciudad encantada de los Cæsares</i> (the enchanted City of the +Cæsars), it was a presage that from all the Spanish settlements +of the south, expeditions should go forth to seek it out, for the +very words were a challenge to the imagination.</p> + +<p>It was called the city of the Cæsars because the men who +founded it had been subjects of Charles V of Spain, whom men +had styled the Cæsar in recognition of his world-wide dominion. +It was called enchanted because of the beauty of its lake setting +and the splendors within its walls. Soon its people became +known as the Cæsars, and the men who conducted expeditions to +reach them as the Cæsaristas.</p> + +<p>There were other motives for the quest beside the golden +treasure to be found there and the wish to visit a clime so fair +that none died save of old age. Here were a kindred people, +cut off from their fellows, and, it might be, lapsing decade after +decade into a splendid barbarism. The purity of their Christian +faith was in danger of corruption from every sort of heathen +error. Civilization and religion were both concerned in the +rescue of this fascinating creole capital, which had done so well +by itself and yet needed to renew its contacts with the world. So +said the Spaniard wherever fortune had placed him—in the +homeland, in Mexico, in the Philippines, and most of all in the +colonies of the southern Cordilleras and the eastern plains.</p> + +<p>There were a number of small expeditions to seek the legendary +city, and three of importance. Diego Flores de Leon +reached Lake Nahuelhuapi from the Pacific side, heard of savage +armies massed on his front, and went no further. Half a +century later came the Jesuit father, Nicolas Mascardi. Fearing +that the southern capital might have forgotten the mother tongue +of Spain, he collaborated with another churchman in a letter +which was translated into seven languages—Greek, Latin, Spanish, +Italian, Chilean, Puelche, and Poya. The letter was sent +ahead by an Indian courier after he reached the shores of +Nahuelhuapi. Hearing a report that the site of the city was +near the Atlantic, he crossed the continent, and then turned +southward toward the Straits of Magellan, falling at last to an +Indian arrow. This was in 1673. More than a century afterward<span class="pagenum" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</span> +the Franciscan friar, Menendez, was sent out by the viceroy +of Peru, but found no city beside Nahuelhuapi.</p> + +<p>Thereafter faith in the fable died, save among the imaginative +and the credulous. Of the former was Charles III of Spain, +who died believing it in 1788. Of the latter are the common +people of Chile and Argentina, who see in the streams of lava +and volcanic sand at the foot of Osorno the roads of a hidden +people, and who still hear in the noise of the avalanches upon +Tronador the thunder of artillery along enchanted battlements.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Seven Cities of Cibola</i></p> + +<p>In the quest of the Seven Cities of Cibola Spain dreamed +northward, and again deluded itself by the magic and sonority +of a name. When the fable was full blown it was of a city as +great as the capital of the Montezumas and ruled by a fugitive +prince of that house. Lesser cities surrounded it, as they surrounded +Tenochtitlan on the plateau of Anahuac. It stood +beside a great inland sea out of which flowed the Colorado, and +on the coasts of this land were ships from China.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants of the plains were cattle of deformed shape +and ferocious aspect, which the Spaniards called the kine of +Cibola. The inhabitants of the seven cities, says Friar Marcos, +who saw them at a distance, were a people “somewhat white,” +clad in cotton garments and dwelling in stone houses with flat +roofs. The Franciscan continues: “They have emeralds and +other jewels, although they esteem none as much as turquoises, +wherewith they adorn the walls and porches of their houses, +and their apparel and vessels, and they use them instead of +money through all the country. They use vessels of gold and +silver, for they have no other metal, whereof there is greater +avail and more abundance than in Peru.”</p> + +<p>This capital of the buffalo country was located within the +limits of the present United States. Somewhat shrunken from +the dimensions of legend, it is still in existence and the descendants +of the men fabled to traffic with Cathay go about its streets. +Their skins are darker than Marcos reported them, but they have +the features and expression of white men.</p> + +<p>Here is another myth of a gilded land and a refugee king, but +overlaid with material of a strange texture brought from afar.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</span> +Its scene is inland where buffalo are feeding; yet one of its +windows commands the Pacific with slanting Chinese sails upon +it, and into the other comes an old tale of the open Atlantic. +The Seven Cities of Cibola are the legendary seven cities of +Antilia, founded by seven Spanish bishops who fled the Moor, +and they are the seven caves out of which came the Aztecs. But +they are also seven towns, the remains of which, waste or tenanted, +are to be found in New Mexico near the Arizona line. +The vice of the legend is that they are small towns, and poor.</p> + +<p>There are names of consequence in the quest of the Seven +Cities of Cibola, but a broad blotch of buffoonery is smeared +across it. Alone of all the visionary searches of Spain, it invites +the treatment of ironic burlesque. Yet there is heroism in +the story and a great chapter of geography.</p> + +<p>The first of these names is that of the luckless but stout-hearted +Cabeza de Vaca who left a trail of wandering mishap +clear across the continent of North America, and who was yet +to break new paths through the forests and savannas of South +America where he founded the capital of the Silver Republic. +In 1536 the outposts of Melchior Diaz, who commanded in the +northern Mexican district of Culiacan, came upon a strange +party—a white man, nearly naked, with matted hair and beard, +a negro, and eleven Indians. The white man spoke in Spanish +and with such joyful agitation as to arouse a momentary suspicion. +It was Cabeza de Vaca. His negro companion was +named Estivanico. There were three other Spaniards a day’s +march behind. In what was to follow, singularly enough, the +negro is the central figure; in what had gone before the story +is the Spanish captain’s.</p> + +<p>In 1527 he had sailed for Florida as treasurer of an expedition +with five vessels and six hundred men, in search of the +Golden Apalache, one of the minor dream quests of Spain. +Quitting the fleet in a Florida bay, three hundred men marched +inland to their objective. What they found was a collection of +forty wigwams on the Suwanee River and a rude people that +engaged them in daily skirmishes at arms. So they marched +on, became entangled in the swamps and bayous along the coasts +of Alabama and Louisiana, made one fatal attempt to build +rafts and cross the Gulf to the Mexican coast, and then succumbed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</span> +by degrees to the wilderness. All but four of the Spaniards +perished and these were buffeted from tribe to tribe in an +aimless drift westward. They had almost reached the Gulf of +California when they met the Spanish outpost, and in eight +years they had wandered from Atlantic to Pacific.</p> + +<p>What they told launched the search for the Seven Cities of +Cibola. Farther north they had found tribes of sedentary Indians +living in stone houses, wearing cotton garments and turquoise +ornaments, and with indications of stores of gold to draw +upon. Francisco Vasquez Coronado, governor of Northwest +Mexico, was commissioned by Mendoza, Viceroy of New Spain, +to explore in that direction. Distrusting the reports of Cabeza +de Vaca, his first step was a reconnaissance under the Franciscan, +Fray Marcos. As guide and attendant the negro Estevanico +went with him, and a party of Pima Indians accompanied +them. They started northward from Culiacan in 1539, following +the coast. In Sonora the friar committed the folly of sending +the negro ahead with instructions to report to him at intervals +by messenger. If he found a mean thing he was to send a cross +a hand’s length long; if a larger matter, a cross two hands’ long; +if the negro found a country better than New Spain he was to +send back a great cross.</p> + +<p>That was the last Fray Marcos saw of the negro, but he heard +from him, and from time to time he heard about him. Four +days after his departure an Indian came back bearing a wooden +cross as high as a man and the word of Estevanico that thirty +days’ march ahead were seven cities abounding in pearls and +gold, and all subject to one lord. The houses were of stone and +mortar, one, two, and three stories high, and the chief’s house +was of four stories. One of the cities was named Cibola. As +the friar proceeded, the natives brought tales which seemed to +confirm the reports, and used place names that suggested grandeur. +He heard of a province called Totoneac, of the city of +Ahacus, and of the kingdoms of Hacus and Marata.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Africa was blazing a trail far ahead into Darkest +America. It was broad, dusty with the feet of an accumulating +multitude, and finger-posted by avarice and imposture. The +negro had taken the adventure out of the hands of the too-trusting +monk. In his wanderings with Cabeza de Vaca he had won<span class="pagenum" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</span> +assurance, some knowledge of the Indian nature, and a gourd +rattle. He moved with the state and tumult of a medicine-man, +this clapper his potent emblem of authority. The superstitious +natives met all his demands, and he demanded much—more +food than he could use, gold, green stones, women. The monk +followed, several journeys behind, in a sort of anti-climax.</p> + +<p>The procession of the black Bacchus had its inevitable ending. +Marcos learned it while he was still some days from his goal. +He met a number of the Indians who had been with Estevanico, +and they were flying toward Mexico. They told of entering +Cibola with the negro, where his arrogance and folly mounted +to new levels. Noting the lowering looks of the sedentary Indians, +several of these plains Indians went outside and, hiding +themselves, awaited the finish they foresaw. One day they +beheld their companions running from the town with men in pursuit. +The negro was not with them. His hosts had killed him.</p> + +<p>With two of the Indians Marcos went on to a hill from which +he looked down upon a valley dotted with villages. The nearest +of these and not the largest was Cibola. To Marcos it seemed +“as large as the City of Mexico.” It is situate, he says, “on a +plain at the foot of a round hill, and maketh shew to be a fair +city, and is better seated than any that I have seen in these parts. +The houses are builded in order, all made of stone with divers +storeys and flat roofs.” Then he adds from hearsay details of +golden vessels and turquoise-studded porches.</p> + +<p>Setting up a wooden cross, Marcos hastened back, rejoicing, +to make his report to the viceroy. Out of what he told, and the +far-sounding names of provinces and kingdoms which he had +heard, the Spanish mind made a thing too rich for the haggard +realities of the American southwest. It seemed to call for a +well-appointed expedition, and Coronado urged this on the +viceroy.</p> + +<p>With Marcos as his guide he was dispatched with a land force +of three hundred and twenty Spaniards, three hundred native +allies, and a thousand Indian and negro camp followers. He +left San Miguel in February, 1540, and in May a fleet under +Alarcon was sent from Acapulco to act in concert with him along +the coast of the Gulf of California. Alarcon went to the head of +the gulf with his ships, and up the Colorado, but, learning from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</span> +natives that white men had already entered Cibola, he returned +with his fleet to Acapulco.</p> + +<p>What Coronado had entered was the Indian pueblo of Zuñi +and its attendant villages in northwestern New Mexico. As soon +as his soldiers beheld these little settlements, writes Castaneda, +who went with the expedition, they “broke out in curses against +Fray Marcos.” They accused him of deceiving them, and in +fear of his life he was glad to go back with the courier who bore +to the viceroy the report of Coronado. “I can assure your +honour,” says the report, “the friar said the truth in nothing +that he reported, saving only the names of the cities and great +houses of stone; for although they be not wrought with turquoises, +nor with lime nor brick, yet are they very excellent +houses of three or four or five lofts high, wherein are good +lodgings and fair chambers. The seven cities are seven small +towns, and they stand all within four leagues together, and none +of them is called Cibola, but altogether they are called Cibola.”</p> + +<p>In his scholarly account of this expedition Bandelier defends +the credulous monk, and urges that the Spaniards had tricked +out his story with their own imaginings. He argues that the +comparison with the City of Mexico was not with the old Aztec +capital, but with the new Spanish town which, as Fray Marcos +knew it in 1539, may not have had as many as a thousand inhabitants. +As to the statement that the citizens of Cibola embellished +their houses with green stones or turquoises, it has +been learned that it was an old custom in Zuñi to decorate the +roof hatches by which the people descended to their chambers +with turquoise, malachite, phosphate of copper and other stones +or ores of green and blue. This was truthful detail, although +lending itself to exaggeration. But the golden vessels, which +most concerned the Spaniard, were fable, and the Coronado +expedition had cost $250,000.</p> + +<p>Despite the forthright words of Coronado, one conquistador +who would look facts in the face, his countrymen were unwilling +to surrender the vision all at once. The English merchant, +Henry Hawks, spent five years in Mexico and in 1572 made this +report: “The Spanyards have notice of seven cities which old +men of the Indians shew them should lie towards the northwest +from Mexico. They have used and use dayly much diligence<span class="pagenum" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</span> +in seeking of them, but they cannot find any one of them. They +say that the witchcraft of the Indians is such, that when they +come by these townes they cast a mist upon them, so that they +cannot see them.”</p> + +<p>Zuñi lies south of the great Navaho reservation, and is a +pueblo of the same type as Taos, Acoma, Laguna, and the Hopi +towns. Its identification with the Seven Cities of Cibola rests +on the reports of the explorers themselves, on an examination +of their routes, and especially on the researches of Frank H. +Cushing, commissioner of the American Bureau of Ethnology, +who became a member of this Indian tribe in 1880 and lived +with it four years while he studied its traditions. At that time +Zuñi had sixteen hundred inhabitants.</p> + +<p>These people called their home Shivano (Spanish, Civano). +Cushing found that the sonorous Marata and Tontoneac were not +kingdoms or provinces, but directions, and that one of the distant +“cities” named by the natives was Acoma, which lies near +the Mesa Encantada. While the Spaniards had denied that +Marcos and Estevanico really made a journey to the north, +Cushing heard from the Zuñi story-tellers that a “black Mexican” +had come among them and had been killed for his rudeness +to their women. Soon afterwards the first “white Mexicans” +they had seen entered their land as conquerors.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Quivera</i></p> + +<p>Coronado was not content to bring back his costly expedition, +empty-handed, from the fiasco of Cibola. Again he dreamed +northward, and the name of his dream is Quivera. Between this +city of illusion in the Mississippi Valley, and the city of enchantment +which the Cæsars had reared on the edge of the Patagonian +plain, it is six thousand miles in a straight line. These +two capitals of the mirage are the farthest north and farthest +south of Spanish fantasy.</p> + +<p>The conqueror of Cibola drifted into the Quivera adventure +by degrees. There must be richer pueblos east of the seven +towns, he thought, and went in search of them, discovering and +occupying many. But he found New Mexico a sterile land. He +became interested in the great buffalo herds that roamed the +plains to the north and sent his lieutenant, Alvarado, on a hunt<span class="pagenum" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</span> +to secure meat. Alvarado took with him as a guide an Indian +from somewhere far to the east whom he found living with the +Pecos tribe and who figures in Spanish writings as El Turco, +“the Turk,” which was what he looked like. The Spaniard did +not stay long among the buffalos, for the homesick Turk had an +exciting tale to tell. With it, Alvarado hastened back to his +chief, and soon, with El Turco as pathfinder, the columns started +toward the northeast and Quivera.</p> + +<p>This was another golden city in a prosperous land. Through +the land ran a river two leagues wide in which swam fish as +large as horses. There were great canoes upon the river, with +as many as forty men to drive them, and these had golden eagles +for figureheads. The native sovereign slumbered in the afternoons +beneath a tree the branches of which were hung with +golden bells, where the wind made music. The houses of +Quivera were built of stone and were like those of the pueblos +of New Mexico, but larger and fairer. The meats and drinks +of its citizens were served in vessels of precious metals.</p> + +<p>Of this land the Turk himself was a native. But there was +another Indian exile with the party. His name was Ysopete, +and he, too, spoke of Quivera. It seemed to be a different place +farther north.</p> + +<p>With one guide bent on leading him northward and the other +eastward, the expedition which Coronado conducted toward +Quivera moved like a man lost in the wilderness. It traveled +to the right for thirty-seven days and partly returned on its +tracks. Soon the Spaniards became confused and ill at ease. +In the vast monotony of the staked plains they saw no marks +by which they could guide themselves forward or find the way +back. A sense of helplessness stole over them. The very bison +that grazed around them excited a sort of fear. Their horses +went wild with terror when for the first time they saw these huge, +misshapen beasts, whose glowing eyes and hollow bellowing +were calculated to inspire awe even in men.</p> + +<p>The wanderers were in latitudes less kindly to illusion than +those where other men were seeking the Gilded King, and a +glimmer of the scientific and reasoning spirit which weighs motives +and scrutinizes facts was born in them. Was not this story +of Quivera the Golden just a tale told by the settled Indians in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</span> +order to get rid of them? Had not El Turco been instigated to +lure them by confused trails into the wilderness and leave them +to perish there? Had not one of them detected him talking to +the devil in a pitcher of water?</p> + +<p>While they harbored these distrustful forebodings the Spaniards +fell in with a party of plains Indians who knew Quivera. +It was forty days’ march ahead, they said, and the columns +would die for lack of food and water upon the way. Stone buildings +and plentiful provisions in precious vessels at the end of the +way? The prairie nomads knew of none of these things. They +spoke of an encampment where the houses were made of straw +and skins, and a little maize in them, naught else. The shifty +Turk changed his story. He had not told the truth, he admitted, +as to the houses of Quivera, but it had a numerous population +and a store of precious metals. In anger the Spaniards put +shackles upon him. They were ready to go back, but Coronado +was determined, without risking too many lives, at least to see +for himself what lay at the end of the trail. He took twenty-nine +horsemen, the manacled El Turco, and Ysopete, and rode +northward with the plains Indians.</p> + +<p>After thirty days of hard riding through a great treeless plain +dotted with buffalo herds and watered by a number of small +streams, Coronado reached Quivera, where he stayed twenty-five +days. He describes the region about it as a rich land in +which grew plums like those of Spain, mulberries, and well-flavored +grapes. But the settlement itself was merely the summer +camp of an Indian horde that followed the buffalo and supplemented +a beef diet with corn cakes, made from maize grown +in the river bottoms.</p> + +<p>The explorer tells the story with rough candor. “I had been +told,” he says, “that the houses were made of stone and were +several stories; they are only of straw, and the inhabitants are +as savage as any that I have seen. They have no clothes, nor +cotton to make them out of; they simply tan the hides of the cows +which they hunt, and which pasture around their village and +in the neighborhood of a large river. They eat their meat raw, +and are enemies to one another and war among one another. +All these men look alike.”</p> + +<p>As Estevanico had met his fate at Cibola, so the Turk met his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</span> +at Quivera. Its people did not know him, but they welcomed +Ysopete, and for his sake the Spaniards. El Turco sought to lay +the blame on the New Mexican Indians, who, he said, had engaged +him to lead the Spaniards to their fate on the prairies. +This tale failing to help his credit, he tried to raise Quivera +against his masters, who incontinently hanged him.</p> + +<p>Before turning southward to rejoin his command and take +it back to Mexico, Coronado set up a wooden cross which bore +a soldierly inscription, “Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, leader +of a campaign, came to this place.”</p> + +<p>Four states claim Quivera, and the blind wanderings of the +Spaniards give conjecture a broad field to work in. One thing +certain is that La Gran Quivera, the new Mexican mission, +established after the suppression of the Indian uprisings in +1580, does not stand on its site. Bandelier thinks the site was +in central Kansas about a hundred miles north of the Arkansas +River. It has severally been contended that Quivera was a camp +of the Wichita Indians; that it was in Nebraska not far from +the state capital; and that the place the Spaniards reached was +in the southwest corner of Missouri. Cyrus Thomas, who supports +the latter view, holds that El Turco came from some tribe +near the confluence of the Arkansas and Mississippi, that the +great stream of which he spoke was the latter river and Quivera +a town on its banks, while the place seen by Coronado was +simply the homeland of Ysopete. Whatever the region, it would +be as vain to seek the site as to look for the camping ground in +the desert where some forgotten Arab tribe pitched its tents for +a night, and struck them at sunrise.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Islands of Solomon</i></p> + +<p>There came a time when the New World was too small to hold +the visions of Spain. North and south the conquistadors had +marched, seeking what they did not find. So they dreamed +westward over the sea. They had plunged their hands in gold. +They might yet bathe in it at the Baths of Sunset.</p> + +<p>As always, there were stories of islands in near-by waters +where the superstition or simplicity of the natives had heaped +up treasure that more deserving men might seize. The Spaniards +went after it, at first from Mexico. Then from the harbors<span class="pagenum" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</span> +of Peru ships began to sail westward, and fantasies spread +over the deep.</p> + +<p>These voyages add two titles to the dream quests of Spain—the +Enchanted Islands and the Isles of Solomon—and the names +may stand for one reality. About six hundred miles west of the +mainland of South America, and on the line of the equator, lie +the Galapagos, comprising five large and ten smaller islands. +From the Peruvians the Spaniards learned of them, but for a +while they could not find them. They were vaguely called the +Islas Encantadas because they seemed to elude the search. The +buccaneers used them later as sallyports from which to attack +the Peruvian plate fleet. Still later whalers resorted thither, but +not until 1832 did Ecuador occupy the group.</p> + +<p>This archipelago of the west may have been the basis of the +legend that grew up among the seafaring folk of Peru. It was +told that the Inca Tupac Yupanqui had made a voyage and come +upon two islands which were called Nina-chumpi and Hahua-chumpi, +or Fire Island and Outer Island. He brought back gold +and silver, a throne of copper, black slaves, and the skin of an +animal like a horse. Another account said the islands were +distant a journey of two months, and one was so large it might +be a continent. There were sheep, llamas and deer upon it and +a bareheaded people who wore cotton and woolen garments. +Although their king dwelt in a palace with mud walls, a frieze +of gold ran around it.</p> + +<p>A later legend, purporting to tell of a Spanish discovery, is +very definite: A long time before, a ship from Chile had been +driven out of its course to a large island, which it coasted for +fifty days. One of the seamen, Juan Montanes, went ashore and +found a race of tall, bearded Indians and women whose braided +hair reached to their ankles. They lived in communal houses +four hundred feet long by one hundred feet wide. Numerous +rafts and sumptuously decorated canoes thronged with people +plied along the coasts. Because of his beard, the natives +treated the Spaniard kindly and pressed a gold plate and emeralds +upon him.</p> + +<p>The account continues with the exactness of a seaman’s chart: +“These islands must be reached from Puerto de Arica, taking +the volcano in the bay as a landmark, such being the custom of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</span> +the Indians who come and go thither. As soon as the said volcano +disappears, the desert islands are reached. Going in +among them, after two days the large island which seems to be +a continent is sighted, and what lies to the west is still to be +discovered.”</p> + +<p>There are elements in this story, such as the communal +houses and the ornate canoes, borrowed from actual expeditions +to the South Seas which the earlier legend itself had +launched. What these expeditions had set out to find was a +continent about two thousand miles to the west, which stretched +northward for three thousand miles from the latitude of Tierra +del Fuego to 15 degrees south, or almost on a line with Callao; +a domain about the size of that afterward discovered and named +Australia, but lying on the near side of the Pacific. Rumors +of such a continent passed from tavern gossip to palace conferences. +Sarmiento de Gamboa had gathered and analyzed Inca +traditions of Pacific islands and the learned men of the colony +assumed that a continental mass lay behind them. So in 1567 +the governor of Peru dispatched two small ships with one hundred +and fifty men and put his youthful nephew, Alvarado de +Mendana, in command.</p> + +<p>An incredible thing happened. These frail vessels, provisioned +for a voyage of two thousand miles, drove westward +without sighting land for seven thousand miles. In two months +they crossed the width of the Pacific, making their land-fall in +the East Indies. For six months the crews explored the capes, +creeks, and jungles of a group of islands flanking New Guinea +on the east. Then the ships started back and were off Callao +twenty months after they had left it. They brought no gold, +but stories of “a naked, cheerful people of a bright reddish +colour”—in reality, head-hunting cannibals, to this day the most +savage of men.</p> + +<p>Nearly thirty years went by before another expedition was +undertaken, and meanwhile legend was at work. It gave the +distant group the name it bears upon the map. These were +called the Isles of Solomon, says Lopez Vaz, “to the ende that +the Spaniards, supposing them to bee those Isles from whence +Solomon fetched gold to adorne the temple at Jerusalem, might +bee the more desirous to goe and inhabit the same.” But the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</span> +Portuguese writer adds that because Drake and other raiders +had entered the South Seas, it was determined not to settle them, +so that interloping vessels Molucca-bound might have no succor +on the way.</p> + +<p>In 1595 Mendana, now middle aged, undertook to colonize +the islands, going out with four ships and 368 emigrants—men, +women and children, his own wife among them. Then another +amazing thing happened. The Spaniards could not find the +Solomons. They discovered the Marquesas, and in the island +of Santa Cruz founded a short-lived colony where Mendana died +and whence the expedition went forth again to disaster. Quiros, +Mendana’s great lieutenant, returning to Peru, represented to the +viceroy that the islands come upon by his chief must screen an +unknown continent, as in fact they did. In 1605 he was sent +out to find them. He discovered the Society Islands, the Duff +group and the New Hebrides, but nowhere was there trace of the +Isles of Solomon.</p> + +<p>Dissolved into fable, for two centuries they were lost to +geography. In the waterside taverns of Peru, people still talked +of them. But it had become a maxim of the viceroys to treat +the discovery as a romance, and learned men concurred. The +group was erased from the maps of the world. Although it includes +ten great islands stretching for six hundred miles in an +almost unbroken barrier across the track of navigators, and +although the first Spanish expedition brought back information +so detailed that every headland and harbor which Mendana +passed has since been identified, yet for two hundred years nobody +could find the archipelago. When it was rediscovered it +was from the other direction. Carteret and Bougainville, rounding +Africa and entering the South Seas in the latter part of the +eighteenth century, came upon islands which were found to be +the lost lands of Spain.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Sepulchers of Zenu</i></p> + +<p>There are significant words in Raleigh’s <i>Discovery of Guiana</i>. +Here, he says, “commanders that shoot at honour and abundance +shall find more temples adorned with golden images, more +sepulchres filled with treasure, than either Cortez found in Mexico +or Pizarro in Peru.” Moreover, it is virgin soil: “the graves<span class="pagenum" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</span> +have not bene opened for golde, nor the Images puld downe +out of their temples.” Spain’s hunger for gold pursued the +Indians into their sanctuaries, and even into their graves.</p> + +<p>The Bachelor Enciso and Balboa, each in turn commander of +Darien, sought golden treasures, which, as report ran, Indian +piety had heaped in the wilderness.</p> + +<p>Enciso went forth to sack the Sepulchers of Zenu. This +province lay some twenty leagues west of Cartagena. From its +steeps the rains washed gold down in such profusion that the +natives caught in nets nuggets as big as eggs. Zenu was also +the cemetery for all the tribes of the country. For ages they +had brought their dead thither for burial, and deposited golden +ornaments with the bodies in the tombs. The soil, the Spanish +lawyer thought, must have become incredibly rich from this +long accumulation. It was no sacrilege to plunder the dead, +for were these not pagans, buried according to the rites of an +idolatrous faith?</p> + +<p>Landing on the coast of Zenu, Enciso found an army under +two caciques drawn up to oppose him. The lawyer in him +prompted him to put his opponents in the wrong before appealing +to arms. So he had a formal statement read to the two +chiefs. The colloquy which followed, and which he reports +himself, is one of the most interesting incidents in all the contacts +of white men with savages. The statement recited that +there was one God who ruled in heaven, that in the Pope He +had a vicar who ruled on earth, and that the latter had awarded +Zenu to the King of Spain. The Indians replied that they accepted +the sovereignty of God in heaven, but nothing further. +The Pope, they said, must have been drunk, to give away what +did not belong to him, and the King somewhat mad, to ask of +him what was not his to give. If the King came to take it, they +would cut off his head and set it on a stake; and they pointed +to other stakes on which heads were set.</p> + +<p>Whereupon there was fighting, in which, Enciso says, the +Indians had the worse of it. But two of his men, slightly +wounded by poisoned arrows, died raving; the country was hostile +beyond what he had anticipated, and his force small. He +went away without rifling the sepulchers.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</span></p> + + +<p class="large"><i>The Temple of Dobayba</i></p> + +<p>Balboa, succeeding Enciso at Darien, heard of a province +called Dobayba forty leagues away on the banks of the Atrato. +It was named either from a goddess or from an Indian princess +to whom, after death, divine honors were paid. Her worship +was conducted in a great temple, whither natives came with +their offerings. At stated times the caciques of remote provinces +sent a golden tribute, together with slaves for sacrifice.</p> + +<p>Superstition and fear piled up treasure at this shrine. At one +time its worship had been neglected. Then a great drought fell +upon the land, the springs and rivers dried up, and a scourge of +death was visited upon the neglectful nations. The survivors +renewed their zeal and redoubled their offerings of slaves and +gold. Thus from generation to generation the wealth of many +peoples drained into the blood-stained temple. The prospect of +spoiling a heathen shrine profaned by human sacrifice and +piled high with idolatrous gold presented itself not as a desecration +but as a duty.</p> + +<p>On his first journey Balboa mistook a deserted frontier village +for the temple town. When he went again, it was at the behest +of Pedrarias, who had been made governor of the colony, and +whose jealousy prompted him to set Balboa a task that might +bring disgrace. The quest of Dobayba was now deemed an +enterprise of romantic promise but of high hazard. The way +thither led through tribes of bold and crafty savages. In the +dreary fens lurked animals to be dreaded, including monstrous +importations from classic myth. Clouds of mosquitoes swarmed +above the stagnant water, sinister lizards crawled on the banks, +crocodiles haunted the ooze. Dragons couched there, so said +report, and huge bats flitted by on vampire errands. Peter +Martyr even mentions two harpies. A later age was to discover +the enigmatic White Indians. Rather than enter this accursed +region, the coast natives were wont to shun the direct routes and +travel the steep paths of the mountains.</p> + +<p>Balboa was to win neither gold nor glory upon his forbidding +mission. Passing up the Gulf of Oraba and into the river +Atrato with a fleet of canoes, the expedition was ambushed by +Indian canoes, losing half its number. Its leader, wounded,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</span> +made shore with the remainder and at sunset began a crestfallen +retreat to Darien.</p> + +<p>The temple of Dobayba—if there was a temple—was left +inviolate, to receive the gold and shed the blood of heathen until +the tropical forest swept in and buried it in a green oblivion.</p> + + +<p class="large"><i>Other Quests</i></p> + +<p>Of certain other Spanish quests less has been recorded, because +they were incidental to larger undertakings or were conducted +by small parties of adventurers, monks, or treasure-seekers, +rather than by columns of troops sent out by provincial +governments. Pious men sought the Terrestrial Paradise toward +the headwaters of the Orinoco. From all points of the compass +explorers hunted for the Kingdom of Women. Sometimes the +conquistadors reiterated their own exploits, as when Federmann +looked for the House of the Sun in the Colombian Andes, although +under the name of the Temple of the Sun it had already +fallen to Pizarro. The adventure of the Golden Chain was attempted +on several occasions, parties of Spaniards undertaking +to drain the crater lake of Urcos, into which, tradition said, had +been flung a massive chain of gold long enough to encircle the +great square at Cuzco.</p> + +<p>The quest of the Cradle of Gold is of the last century, and +here the magic of a name again wrought its spell, two hundred +years after the feet of the conquistadors had passed. Bingham, +who climbed to this ruined mountain fortress a dozen years ago, +believes that Choquequirau is just a name of Indian poetry, +misunderstood. Seen from a distance, the ridge on which it +lies resembles a hammock, and its only gold may be that which +the setting sun flings upon it. But the name itself, and the vagueness +of knowledge as to its last defenders, led to various attempts +to reach the ruin from the valley below. One party +brought back reports of rock-built “palaces, paved squares, +temples, prisons and baths.” The prefect of the Peruvian department +of Apurimac, using a company of soldiers and Indian +carriers, built a way across the rocky gorges and up the steep +mountain side to Choquequirau. This, it is thought, was the +eyrie of the last Inca—neither temple town nor treasure house, +but a frontier fortress of the long ago.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</span></p> + +<p>The legendary Laguna de los Xarayes was indicated on the +early maps of South America as lying at the sources of the +Paraguay. In it was the splendid island home of El Gran +Moxo. The imagery of the Hebrew prophets was borrowed to +describe his palace with its golden and silvern vessels, its doors +of bronze where living lions in chains of gold kept guard, its +cloud-like tower where a disk of silver, in shape like the moon, +shed light over the waters.</p> + +<p>Explorers sought this island magnificence in vain. When +they came in the dry season, they could not find even the lake +in which it swam, for what seemed to be a vast lagoon was +merely high water on the Paraguay.</p> + +<p>One of the golden visions of Spain recoiled upon its head. +The Spaniards would not have it that with a single blow they +had struck down the power of the Incas and laid hold of all their +riches. It seemed to them they had merely precipitated a dispersal +and an exodus—the going out of Indian princes and +property to found new seats elsewhere. One of these was the +great city of Paytiti, also called the White House, which had +risen near the confluence of the Huallaga and Marañon in the +forests of Peru. The legend which the conqueror propagated +of a fugitive dynasty grown strong in exile was cherished by +the humbled Quichuas, and twice it roused them to arms.</p> + +<p>In 1740 Juan Santos assumed the name of Atahuallpa, raised +an army from the uncivilized members of various tribes, drove +out the missionaries, and for a space made the name and power +of Paytiti a fact on the borders of Peru. Again, in 1780, Tupac-Amaru, +a descendant of the Incas, appealed to the legend, +aroused the country, abolished enforced mine service and ecclesiastical +dues, and became master of most of the Peruvian +plateau. The insurrection was put down and its leader executed, +but the injustices he had fought were never restored in +full vigor, and passed altogether when Peru rose against Spain +in the War of Independence. The dream of Paytiti had become +a vision of liberation.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c23">Chapter XXIII. The Fabric of Illusion</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">The</span> traditional world, like the modern world, is a fabric +woven of many stuffs and colors, and patched with strange materials, +some old, some almost new. If one wonders how it was +all thrown together, one must consider that the type of mind +which collects and analyzes facts, which experiments in order +to discard error, which defines terms and reasons from them, +did not appear until late in the world’s history and even now +is not common. Aristotle, the chief scientist of antiquity, debated +why a dead kingfisher, suspended from a string, should +foretell the direction of the winds by turning its bill toward +that corner of the heavens whence they were to come. Sir +Thomas Browne hung a kingfisher on a string, and found that +it did not do this thing.</p> + +<p>Except when directed to its immediate problems of food and +shelter, the antique mind thought in images, rather than in definite +terms. Its processes were akin to dreams, in which one +takes strange things for granted, nor seeks to verify anything. +Save when they drove a bargain, men took one another’s statements +for granted. Much the same thing is true of the savage +to-day.</p> + +<p>The realms and races of prodigy form the main burden of +travel tale. Except when travels took the form of commercial +voyagings, or military expeditions, and with a few other exceptions, +such as the journeys of Pytheas the Massilian and Marco +the Venetian, their theme, almost until modern times, was wonder. +Home-keeping folks wanted to hear, as still they do, of +countries and customs, and men and animals, that were different. +The myths of geography have come out of the contacts of +the dreaming mind of savagery and early civilization with the +unknown. They represent men in the process of getting acquainted +with the world about them.</p> + +<p>For primitive man they began at the very boundary of his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</span> +district. Mystery was there, and forbidding things were suspected; +and if waste lands lay beyond, these got themselves +uncouth populations. The stranger that crossed the boundary +was dreaded and hated as something not quite human, or at +least as wielder of a magic that might work harm. It is said +of wild tribesmen in Borneo that when they meet a stranger they +turn their backs and hide their faces because the sight of him +makes them dizzy. “The stranger is for the wolf,” is an Arab +saying, and the early rule of the world was that he must die +in the interest of those upon whom he had thrust himself. “He +had salt water in his eyes,” was the Fiji formula when castaways +were clubbed to death. Many tribes call themselves by +names which mean simply “men,” as distinguished from all +other peoples, whose human nature is not conceded.</p> + +<p>But the cruel host of to-day might be the helpless guest of +to-morrow. There came a time of toleration, the limited toleration +recorded in the Slavic proverb, “A guest and a fish smell +on the third day.” As men crossed and recrossed the tribal +boundary its weird legends were shifted to remoter horizons, +became things to gossip about rather than act upon, and might +mellow into genial report. Even historical peoples living at +a distance were swathed in horizon haze. The justice of the Indians, +their freedom from bodily ailments, and their contempt +of death are favorite themes of Ctesias. Herodotus spoke of +the Egyptians as later ages have spoken of the Chinese. Adam +of Bremen gave a fantastic picture of the peoples of the far +north—small, sinister Finns, whose magic could wreck passing +ships and draw the very fish out of the sea; cruel islanders colored +bluish green by salt water, and the “most noble” Northmen, +bravest, most loyal, most temperate of men. Above all +other races in consideration, so the west agreed for some centuries +of unwonted humility, were the Chinese. Among them, +says Purchas, “is reported to be neither Thiefe nor Whore, nor +Murtherer, nor Hailes, nor Pestilence, nor such like Plagues.” +And they live to be two hundred years old.</p> + +<p>Travelers were the agents of distance, bringing the woof +which the stay-at-home worked into the warp of his fancy. Until +very recent times they were the world’s telegraph, mails and +newspapers, all in one. Their coming was an event, and their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</span> +going was remarked upon. Over rough ways, through countries +where inns were not, among peoples who had instinctive dislike +of a stranger and deemed it no fault to despoil or enslave him, +the wanderer pursued his uncertain fates as merchant, pilgrim +or mendicant. He paid his fare by the stories he took with +him—winning a precarious hospitality in strange lands and an +eager welcome when he reached home. The more curious the +tale he told, the more kindly he was entreated—Ulysses repaid +royal hospitality with royal guerdon—and in the ancient world +so little was known that one might tell almost any tale he +pleased. There was no means of checking up a report. Of +course there were skeptics here and there, and there was, and is, +a suspicion that old men and wanderers use rather more than +the truth. The Ancient Mariner, being both old and traveled, +had a great tale to tell.</p> + +<p>Whole races wandered as well as single individuals. The +migrations of peoples, and most if not all of them have had a +nomad period, have had something to do with bringing the +more beautiful of their legends into being—the tales of ideal +lands, abodes of the blest where their dead are, or whither their +heroes are translated without dying. The journeys of the sun +are tracked upon them and human wistfulness has builded there, +but so has memory. The homeland which the ancestors of a +people abandoned long before, driven out, it may be, by an +invading host, lives in its legends as a region desirable above all +others. The hardships of the exodus are remembered also, and +tradition magnifies the cruel height of the mountains, the swiftness +of deep, unfordable rivers, the terror of moonless trails +and all the heavinesses of the way. When the dead go home, +or the heroes pass to rest, the path of souls which they travel +back is the path their forefathers followed and the one journey +ends where the other began, in a land that is a province of the +Golden Age.</p> + +<p>This hypothesis, which is Herbert Spencer’s, may not explain +all the elysiums that a yearning fancy has created. Yet in the +South Seas they lie in the direction whence the islanders came; +the Hindu legend of the blissful Uttarakarus of the north is +thought to hold the memory of a migration southward from +some Himalayan valley; while the curious Persian legend of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</span> +the enclosed garden of Yima, where was neither deformity nor +iniquity, may be a note on the early movement of the Iranians +from their cold ancestral home to the Azerbaijan region, and +a halt there before renewing their march toward the sun and the +sea.</p> + +<p>Though seldom we may follow the process, religion, and symbolism, +which is its handmaiden, and magic, which is its elder +brother, traced the outlines of most of the fabulous animals and +peculiar peoples; human forgetfulness, savage logic and hearsay +have filled them in. The natural history of the traditional +world was in good part the contribution of the religions of +Egypt, Assyria, Persia, and India. The tribes of grotesque +peoples, the dog-faced generations, the satyrs, the demons of +the waste, the fowls with woman faces, the women with fish-tails, +the winged quadrupeds, all seem more like the carven +creatures which populate the walls and towers of mediæval +cathedrals than breathing tenants of fields and waters. The +seeming is significant. When the hunchback, Quasimodo, was +on the roof of Notre Dame at night, “then said the women of the +neighborhood, the whole church took on something fantastic, +supernatural, horrible; eyes and mouths were opened here and +there; one heard the dogs, the monsters, and the gargoyles of +stone, which keep watch night and day, with outstretched necks +and open jaws, around the monstrous cathedral, barking.” +When the edifice took fire, continues Hugo, “there were griffins +which had the air of laughing, gargoyles which one fancied one +heard yelping, salamanders which puffed at the fire, tarasques +which sneezed in the smoke.”</p> + +<p>In the temples of the Middle Ages the fabulous birds of the +traditional world came home to their roosts, and the fabulous +animals to their dens. They had been taken from the temples +of earlier religions and they found their way back through the +medium of an art which did not know where these creatures +came from. Nor did ancient travelers and geographers. These, +they supposed, were real races of men, real beasts and birds. +They had never seen them, for they roamed the outer spaces, +but everywhere they saw their effigies—in the porches of palaces, +upon the columns of imperial courts, and on the monuments of +princes, as well as within the shrines of strange gods.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</span></p> + +<p>Creatures of allegory these were, religious symbols, survivals +of totemistic worship of beasts. Yet the entablatures on which +their outlines were graven were mistaken for illustrated natural +history, accepted as literal records of fact, like the columns +which companioned them and which kings set up along the highways +of the east to proclaim that hither they had come and +here they had prevailed in battle.</p> + +<p>The imagery of all religions musters them. Eskimo mythology +is a witch-haunted shore, Aztec mythology a charnel-house, +Chilean mythology a forbidding menagerie. The Chiriqui +of Panama have an alligator, a jaguar, and a parrot god, +all with human bodies. In Egyptian myth one reads of the +watch-dog of Osiris in the underworld—the Swallower of the +West, mixture of crocodile, lion, and hippopotamus. On a +man’s shoulders Anubis carried a jackal head; and half human +were the bull-gods, hawk-gods, goat-gods, vulture-gods, cat-gods. +The Ægean pantheon shows human figures with the +heads of asses, lions, bulls, and birds. The god Brhaspati of +Hindu myth was seven-mouthed and seven-rayed, beautiful-tongued, +sharp-horned, blue-backed, and hundred-winged. +Hanuman was a monkey-god. The goddess Kali was a dark-blue +female with four arms and three eyes. Siva himself had +four faces, which appeared in turn when a ravishing nymph +created by Brahma walked quite around him to tempt him.</p> + +<p>The evolution of these divine beast-men, ancestors of the +fabulous races of geography, begins with the annual sacrifice +of a sacred animal and the preservation of its skin for the ensuing +year. At first this was stored, then stuffed, then drawn +over a wooden or stone image, to which, as worship lost its +primal grossness, the human form was imparted. The result +might be an ass- or goat-god, a centaur or satyr. Yet, with religious +symbolism shaping it, evolution has operated also in +reverse, dowering anthropomorphic deities with animal parts +to signify typical qualities. This is seen even in Christian +story. On the choir stalls of a Rhine church begging friars +were depicted with the cowled head of a monk, but with a pig’s +body and fox tail, while a Bible of the tenth century shows the +evangelists as beast-headed men, and the four gospels as a four-headed +composite animal called the tetramorph.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" id="f21"> +<img src="images/fig21.jpg" alt="gargoyle"> +<p class="caption">THE GARGOYLES OF STONE WHICH KEPT WATCH DAY AND<br> +NIGHT</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</span></p> + +<p>Out of the magic dances of men, as out of their temples, the +races of fable have come trooping. By donning the heads and +perhaps the tails of horses, bulls, asses, and goats, and treading +certain measures, ritual mummers became, in the thought of the +time, horse-demons, ox-demons, ass-demons, and goat-demons, +and as such semidivine. They danced to bring fertility to the +flocks and herds, while the god—it is Pindar speaking—“laughed +aloud to see the romping license of the monstrous +beasts.” The masks of wild animals and of reptiles and birds +were worn also, and the motions of these creatures were repeated +in other dances, as they are to-day, in order to propitiate dangerous +beasts, or bring luck in the chase, or constrain heat and +cold, sun and rain, through animals that were their symbols. +Possibly the First People of Indian myth, equally with the +satyrs of the classics, derive from rites in which dancers simulated +beasts, and seemed, therefore, both human and bestial. +Belief that ritual dancers donned the animal nature with their +masks; travelers’ reports; the ambiguous records of pictograph +and frieze, and tribal forgetfulness of the meaning of long-abandoned +rites—all were avenues by which the mummers +passed out of the atmosphere of a naïve township magic into +the spacious precincts of marvel. Greek tragedy and Greek +comedy grew up in their steps, flourished for some splendid +moments, and died out. But the ritual mime, whence these +came, is still danced by peasants clad in skins.</p> + +<p>If, as pragmatism claims, the intellectual world is “pervaded +and perverted by errors, lies, fictions, and illusions”—things +real only in the sense that they can be talked about—it could +not be otherwise than that the folk-mind would throng the galleries +of fable with its cruder creations. Was it not a slighter +thing to picture “gorgons, hydras, and chimæras dire” than to +give the wood its guardian deity, or to reach the poetry of Indian +belief that the echo is the Lizard-Man telling back? The +night terrors of the savage, the dream figures of an age when +dreams were very real, the hallucinations of medicine-men, +the deep reactions of the imagination to what seems abnormal +but is merely strange, even the easy success of the alarming +masks and deforming paraphernalia of tribesmen on the warpath—all +contributed to the fabulous populations. In the house<span class="pagenum" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</span> +of the mind, one chamber is a museum where it strives to improve +on nature’s handiwork. It invents no new thing, but it +shifts familiar combinations, exaggerating, deforming, recombining. +The product is either a caricature or a composite, a +grotesque or a chimæra. Nature itself has set a pattern in the +bat, which the Persians say is compounded of bird, dog, and +muskrat, since it flies like a bird, has dog teeth and lives in +holes like a muskrat.</p> + +<p>By his own handiwork has man been misled, or led away +into curious valleys of vision. Savage art seems constrained by +some obscure law of the mind to give its subjects, be they god, +man, or beast, a grotesque delineation. It may be that primitive +drawing was evolved inversely from the drawing of children, +whose first animals are usually horizontal human beings; +the first men pictured by the cave artists were more like erect +animals. Paleolithic man, so Luquet thinks, learned how to +represent animals before he did men, and gave the latter beast +countenances and misshapen members in his early attempts to +represent them. The stuff of myth is in the rock drawings. In +sculpture itself its influence is clearly marked.</p> + +<p>On the evidence of broken statues, desert peoples based tales +of forgotten races that had been turned into stone. On the evidence +of wooden idols, snow-mantled in the land of the Samoyeds, +their neighbors based tales of a northern nation frozen +into immobility with each recurring winter and thawed out by +the sun’s return. There were sculptures and bas-reliefs in +Egypt which ministered to the pride of kings by picturing them +several times as large as their subjects and vassals; and these +were evidence to the stranger that he had come into a country +which held both giants and dwarfs. Primitive drawings betray +ignorance of perspective, and this archaic style was retained +by religious conservatism after art had found itself. The sculptures +that show Egyptian countenances in profile, with eyes as +long as in the full face, also show profiles of quadrupeds having +but two legs and a single horn. Here, and not in “the wild, +white, fierce, chaste moon, whose two horns are indissolubly +twisted into one,” may be the secret of the unicorn.</p> + +<p>The power to evoke myths of the living has been in marble +statues and wooden images from the beginning, for in the beginning<span class="pagenum" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</span> +they were wrought in the thought that life would +enter them. A passage in <i>The Flame of Life</i> reveals the creative +quality in D’Annunzio reacting to their spell: “In the fruit +orchards, in the vineyards, among the vegetables, among the +pastures, rose the surviving statues. They were numberless +like a dispersed people. Some still white, some gray or yellow +with lichens or greenish with moss, or spotted; in all attitudes, +with all gestures, goddesses, heroes, nymphs, seasons, hours, +with their bows, with their arrows, their garlands, their cornucopias, +their torches, with all the emblems of their riches, +power, and pleasure, exiled from fountains, grottos, labyrinths, +harbors, porticos; friends of the evergreen, box, and myrtle, +protectors of passing loves, witnesses of eternal vows, figures of +a dream far older than the hands that had formed them and the +eyes that had seen them in the ravaged gardens.”</p> + +<p>Sovereign reason itself has sent emissaries to the courts of +fable. Science is tolerant and until it knows it speaks the language +of Montaigne, “It is a sottish presumption to disdaine and +condemne that for false, which unto us seemeth to beare no +show of likelihood or truth.” Empedocles, precursor of physical +scientists, and perhaps first to glimpse the doctrine of evolution, +provided the classic world with a working explanation +of the prodigious animals and peoples and gave a law to the +menageries of myth. He thought that the various parts of men +and animals were separately created by the elements, which were +his deities. There were heads without necks, arms without +shoulders, eyes without sockets; and as they wandered about in +space these members united, forming man-headed beasts, beast-headed +men, and various bizarre beings which because of their +maladjustment did not survive in competition with normal men +and animals. The doctrine has been echoed in modern times +in the contention that the composite creatures of fable—part +reptile, part bird, and part beast—represent intermediate forms, +experiments which nature inaugurated and abandoned in evolving +higher types of life. The marsupial kangaroo, the duck-billed +platypus, and the flying lizard are surviving testimony to +such experiment.</p> + +<p>A kindred philosophy may be discerned here and there in the +folklore of aboriginal Americans. In the deluge legend of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</span> +Pimas, Fox and Sister, escaping in two arks, set to work to +fashion a new world of men out of mud; Fox molds manikins +with one arm, one leg, one eye, but Sister derides these and tells +him to put his journeyman’s product away behind the ocean in +another world; then she breathes into her own better handiwork +the breath of life; these deformed folk are still living somewhere, +the Pimas think. The haunting Indian myth of a First +People, who had the human form but the beast nature, and from +whom the animals derive, and the companion myth of a First +People who had the brute form, but discarded it for the human, +are things with the Empedoclean quality, but reach deeper; +and a true note of observation is in them. Somewhere in every +man one catches a glimpse of some animal. All created things +are reflected in his form, his gait, his face. “Somewhat of +me down there?” was the question of Emerson when he caught +a dog’s understanding glance; and in men’s countenances he +had seen, he thought, “the features of the mink, of the bull, +of the rat, and the barnyard fowl.”</p> + +<p>Thus the <i>Metamorphoses</i> of Ovid take on a tinge of plausibility. +“What keeps these wild tales in circulation for thousands +of years?” asks Emerson. “What but the wild fact to +which they suggest some approximation of theory!” In lighter +vein in <i>Penguin Island</i> Anatole France sketches the metamorphosis +of birds into men: “Immediately the penguins were +transformed. Their foreheads enlarged and their heads grew +round like the dome of St. Maria Rotunda in Rome. Their +oval eyes opened more widely on the universe; a fleshy nose +clothed the two clefts of their nostrils; their beaks were changed +into mouths, and from their mouths went forth speech; their +necks grew short and thick; their wings became arms and their +claws legs; a restless soul dwelt within the breast of each of +them. However, there remained with them some traces of +their first nature. They were inclined to look sideways; they +balanced themselves on their short thighs; their bodies were +covered with fine down.”</p> + +<p>There is good terrestrial history as well as the dreams and +guesses of the mind hidden in travel tales, and in them are embalmed +some of the oldest memories of mankind. Paleolithic +man found various subraces of men in Europe when he came<span class="pagenum" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</span> +there, savage prowlers from whose skeletal remains modern +science has restored the outlines of squat, ape-necked, beetle-browed +human beings, crudely formed as a heathen idol. +Against these he waged the relentless war of one species against +another—a war of extermination. The memory of their odious +appearance would survive longest in the stories told to entertain +or frighten children. As Sir Harry Johnston has suggested, “the +dim racial remembrance of such gorilla-like monsters, with +cunning brains, shambling gait, hairy bodies, strong teeth, and +possibly cannibalistic tendencies, may be the germ of the ogre +in folklore.”</p> + +<p>It is certain that folklore shows the traces of other and less +frightful races of men who in turn were driven off the European +scene. The giants of nursery tales are identified by Tylor with +Stone Age heathen, shy of the conquering tribes of men, loathing +their agriculture and the sound of their church bells. When +the Scandinavian sagas speak of dwarfs, furtive and cunning, +garbed in reindeer kirtle and colored cap, hiding in caves, and +armed with bone-tipped arrows, they are picturing the persecuted +and once widely spread Lapp race.</p> + +<p>It may be that a vague recollection of now extinct animals has +survived in legend. There is an Iroquois story recorded by +Father Charlevoix of a great elk which stood so high that eight +feet of snow did not impede his movements, and with “a sort +of arm which comes out of his shoulder and which he uses as we +do ours.” Kaska tribesmen speak of a large, hairy, tusked +animal which roamed their land long ago. The Indians of +North America must at some time have seen living members +of the elephant family. It has been suggested that the tortoises +of Hindu myth which bear the world on their backs are a +memory of the huge Himalayan tortoise.</p> + +<p>There are legends that are true myths of observation, exercises +not of memory, but of primitive logic. They disclose man +pondering the ruinous records of the past and satisfying the +necessity for a theory that shall explain them. The diminutive +burial cysts and dolmens made by departed races and scattered +over the world were thought to be the graves of dwarfs, or their +houses, or their treasure places. Fossil bones have produced +a veritable cycle of these philosophic myths. The frozen mammoths<span class="pagenum" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</span> +and fossil bones of Siberia have been known to man from +earliest times and have produced a stock of legends as well as +an immemorial trade in ivory. Some of these, reciting the +battles of prehistoric animals with one another and with men, +have almost the dignity of epics.</p> + +<p>The mistaken logic that produced the creatures of legend +has had at various points a sort of whimsical confirmation. +Save for his fiery breath, the dragon of fable mirrors the leathern-winged, +serpent-tailed, crocodile-bellied saurians that +haunted the marshes of the ancient world and passed from the +scene ages before man is supposed to have come upon it. There +are living things as weird of aspect as any created by the unbridled +imagination of man, but most of them are small. Such +are the vampire bat, the dragon fly, and the so-called fiend fly, +the black face and curved horns of which gave it in the Middle +Ages a diabolic name. Seas and fresh-water streams and +marshes all contain creatures which so much resemble, and so +much differ from, the familiar land animals as to seem the +product of a conscious venture into the grotesque. With a fish +net and microscope one might bring to view an array of animals +that in everything save size would rival the exhibits of +fable. The wildest dream of man has not pictured anything so +beautiful and strange as the life-drama of the little creature that +is first a larva, then a chrysalis, and then the butterfly of a +single summer.</p> + +<p>There are words in which the germinal idea has been so enveloped +in wrappers of metaphor and inference, so incased in +concentric shells of rationalization, so burdened with borrowed +significances, so freighted by sentiment and reflection, and so +enriched by art and historical accretion that they may be called +microcosms of the world of fable; the proper noun, Babylon, is +one of these. In large measure the peoples of prodigy and in +some measure the lands of legend owe their being to a search +for causes confined within the domain of etymology. They may +be called a literary phenomenon, a product of words and the +ways of words, and a by-product of libraries. Words breed +myths. Given a Rome, people will invent a Romulus. Given +the ancient Britons and Celts, people will invent a Britannus +and a Celtus, their eponymous chiefs. The theory of totemism—supposed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</span> +descent from an animal ancestor—arose, as Spencer +thinks, from the efforts of savages to explain the animal names +which they bore.</p> + +<p>When the meaning of words becomes forgotten or their form +corrupted, a myth follows. Mediæval Spain, for example, believed +that Jews were born with tails, confusing the word rabbi +with rubo (a tail). Château Vert in England has become Shotover, +and peasants have it that Little John shot over a high hill +near by. Maid Marian of the Robin Hood ballad cycle is the +Mad Morion of the Morris dance, a boy who whirled through +its measures wearing a morion or helmet.</p> + +<p>How names can become corrupted the public-house signs of +England will attest. The Bag O’Nails should be the Bacchanals; +the Bully Ruffian should be the ship Bellerophon; the Cat and +Wheel should be St. Catherine’s wheel; the Goat and Compasses +should be God Encompasses Us; the Iron Devil should be Hirondelle +(the swallow), and the Queer Door should be the Cœur +Doré (the golden heart). The effigies of bags of nails, cats, +goats, and doors under these uncouth names are pictorial fables +based upon bad etymology.</p> + +<p>In like fashion Pliny confused the name of the Canaries with +the Latin <i>canis</i> (dog) and says these islanders are called thus +because, like dogs, they devour the entrails of wild beasts. Similar +confusions of words have brought legendary islands upon +the maps. Avalon, the Celtic paradise in the west, whither +Arthur was ferried unto peace, is Apple Island of the classics, +the place of the golden, dragon-guarded apples of the Hesperides. +Antilia, mystic mediæval island of the remote Atlantic, +is perhaps Ante-ilya, or island off the Portuguese coast. +Milton’s “cold Estotiland” and Estland, islands which held their +place for centuries on the maps of the northern seas, are probably +misreadings for Scotland and Iceland, transferred from +faded sketch-maps to a Venetian chart of the sixteenth century.</p> + +<p>“Not Angles, but angels,” said a punning ecclesiastic when +he saw fair-haired Saxon captives in the slave markets of the +Mediterranean. So the Greeks and Romans gave to savage +tribes the names that in their own tongues sounded most like +what these tribes called themselves. A myth might result—a +record of some deformity, or some inhuman custom. A larger<span class="pagenum" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</span> +number of myths arose from men’s giving a literal meaning to +figurative terms in their own language. To speak in riddles +was more than a social game with the ancients, is more than a +social game now with various peoples. There were certain +things which must not be named, but only referred to indirectly. +There were times when riddles must be propounded and +times when they must not; and riddle-time, says Frazer, was +usually in the presence of a dead body or at a sacrifice.</p> + +<p>What might follow, a glance at a few Finnish riddles will +show. One of them runs, “Beyond the great water a large old +man shouts,” and another, “A cry from the forest and light +from the hill.” In each case thunder is the answer. The sky +is described as a blue field strewn with silver. “A child looks +through the hedge” means the sunrise. “A red cock springs +from house to house” means fire. “A small white man was +sowing, he became very mischievous,” means snow. As Müller +remarks, here are elements which in the mind of a poet or a +grandmother would soon create a number of delightful myths.</p> + +<p>In its contacts with enigmatic language the end of literalism +is fable. Speak of fleet horses as children of the wind, and you +have the story of Iberian mares impregnated by the west wind. +Speak of swift runners as shadow-footed, and there appears on +the canvas of Ind the silhouettes of natives asleep under the +shade of their gigantic feet. “We are a people without a head,” +said the kingless Turkomans, and the Headless People shouldered +their way into the map of fable. “Their shoulders are +where our heads are,” Indians of Guiana told Raleigh, describing +a tall neighbor race, and artists delineated them with eyes, +noses, and mouths where their breasts ought to be. Sometimes +savage tribes stretch their ears by attaching weights to them; +hence, perhaps, the tale of folk who used one ear as mattress, +the other as coverlet. As to the people whose feet were turned +backward, may these not be, Tylor asks, the Antipodes on the +other side of the globe, whose feet, surely enough, are planted +“the opposite way” every time they set them down?</p> + +<p>The method explains much, although care must be taken that +it be not made to explain too much. The germ of fable is found +in such figurative epithets as bull-browed, long-headed, horse-faced, +ox-eyed, lion-hearted, bird-witted. But for these phrases<span class="pagenum" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</span> +to fructify in marvel, it would need that in a time more naïve +and among a people who knew neither the ends of the world +nor the ways of speech, men of one race should use them in +telling another the manners and customs of a third. For cultivated +minds these conditions cannot be reproduced except in +the magic and make-believe of poetry. For the unlettered, alike +in lands of culture and of barbarism, they still exist.</p> + +<p>The power of wish and the power of words are chief gods in +the world of fable.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c24">Chapter XXIV. The Travel Tales of Mankind</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">When</span> the travel stories of mankind were first set down in +writing the list was already nearly complete. Little was added +afterward until the modern age began the systematic collection +of a mass of folklore which, with all its significance, had scant +literary backgrounds and less than the old geographical quality. +This is a strange thing. From generation to generation men +increased their stores of knowledge, but from century to century +they neither greatly increased nor greatly reduced their +stock of fables. There were periods when men forgot the wisdom +of the ancient world, but they remembered and repeated +its pleasant marvels.</p> + +<p>These have had a long journey down the ages. The Greek +had them from the Persian, Indian, and Egyptian; the Roman +had them from the Greek; the Arab merchant and Christian +pilgrim had them from the Roman; the Celtic monk and the +viking had them alike from Roman, Arab, and Christian; and +the Spanish explorer had them from every mediæval source. +In the Spanish Americas of the sixteenth century the Age of +Fable blazed forth again and then grew dark.</p> + +<p>The things added in this journey to the original stock of +travel tales were mainly local legends and variations on older +themes. The grasshoppers in one province chirped or were +silent in obedience to provincial ordinance, the fountains of +another had curative properties, there was an enchanted forest +in a third. Celtic glamour passed a wand over familiar material +and it yielded the veiled or sunken islands of the western +ocean. The quest of El Dorado came out of a Spanish +dream. Nearly all other travel tales are found in the earliest +literature. It must be that men told them to one another ages +before writing was known.</p> + +<p>Various of the older books record them. They are interwoven +with myths of the supernatural in epic poetry. They are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</span> +included in accounts of countries and peoples in histories, encyclopædias, +and guide-books. They decorate the narratives of +ancient and mediæval travelers. They are compiled in volumes +of mirabilia. Instances of these several records are the Odyssey +of Homer, the <i>History</i> of Herodotus, the <i>Travels</i> of Marco Polo, +and the <i>Collecteanea</i> of Solinus.</p> + +<p>The special type of letters which travel tales have developed is +the collections of mirabilia. Most, perhaps all, of these have +been library pilferings and borrowings. Photios culled from +the <i>Indika</i> of Ctesias everything that was difficult to believe, and +the rest of this survey of ancient India is lost. Solinus won the +name of Pliny’s Ape by extracting the curious things from the +writings of the Roman encyclopædist and combining them in a +work which was standard for a thousand years.</p> + +<p>The very skepticism of other writers evidences the industry +of the historians of marvel. In his <i>Attic Nights</i>, Gellius, a +Roman of the second century <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>, tells of a bundle of musty +books which he bought for a few coppers in Brundusium. “They +were all in Greek,” he says, “and full of wonders and fables, +containing relations of things unheard of and incredible, but +written by authors of no small authority—Aristeas of Proconnesos +and Isogonos of Nicæa, and Ctesias and Onesikritos and +Polystephanos and Hegesias.” Swiftly he lists their races of +dog-headed, one-legged, headless, and feathered mortals. “As +we perused them,” says the practical but too-scornful Roman, +“we felt how wearisome a task it is to read worthless books +which conduce neither to adorn nor to improve life.”</p> + +<p>When Huc was ascending a Chinese river in the middle of +the last century his native servant used to go ashore at every +stopping place and bring aboard a stock of pamphlets to read. +These products of the ready pens of the literary class included +fantastic stories of various kinds, some of them very coarsely +written. Says Huc: “The Greeks fixed the abode of their monsters +and ephemeral creatures in the east, and the Chinese have +returned the compliment by placing theirs in the west, beyond +the great seas. There dwell their dog-men, their ears long +enough to trail on the ground as they walk; there is the Kingdom +of Women, and of the people with a hole right through them +at the breast.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</span></p> + +<p>Best of all skeptical discussions of prodigy is the <i>Enquiries +into Vulgar and Common Errors</i> (1646), which bears the high +name of Sir Thomas Browne. Its author challenges the entire +array of travel tales, closes his eyes to the truth hidden in many +of them, recites the means by which impostors fabricate imaginary +animals, denounces “saltimbancoes, quacksalvers, charlatans, +astrologers, fortune tellers, jugglers, geomancers and the +like incantatory impostors,” and sounds a warning against +Herodotus, Ctesias, Maundeville, Pliny, Ælian, Solinus, +Athenæus, Philes, Tzetzes, and “even holy writers such as Basil +and Ambrose and Isidore, Bishop of Seville, and Albertus, +Bishop of Ratisbone.” Preachers and moralists, he says, have +made occasion for error by using for illustration the fables of +the phœnix, salamander, pelican and basilisk. The root of the +matter, he concludes, is the “deceptible condition” of men, of +which Satan took advantage in the beginning.</p> + +<p>In whatever books one finds these pictures of strange lands +and races they have the effect of cameos, in that they are miniatures, +and the outlines are not subject to change. The description +is always brief, and next to nothing is added to it from +age to age. The griffin has no new habits, the dog-faced men +lived under the old law, the pygmies of the Middle Ages have +not yet won the battles with the cranes which they were waging +in the time of Homer. If a traveler sees these strange creatures +he has nothing fresh to say of them. The main thing that happens +is that they shift their places on the map, retiring always +before the advance of knowledge. Æthicus of Istria contributes +almost the only really novel touch in a thousand years. He saw, +so he says, the Amazons in the region north of the Caspian suckling +the centaurs and minotaurs.</p> + +<p>That these fables came down through the centuries unchanged +is a tribute to the hold of tradition, to men’s reverence for the +written word. It is also a revelation of the way natural histories +and encyclopædias were compiled until about the time +of Buffon and Cuvier. When a thing got itself said, it had a +good chance of surviving, provided it was interesting. Other +men copied it out of a book without demanding proofs, authority +taking the place of research. The ancient geographers cited +the very poets as authorities.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</span></p> + +<p>Because they passed through endless compilations the fables +remained brief, or became so. Despite its vigor and penetrating +quality, even the <i>Geography</i> of Strabo rests for its main facts +on a multitude of travel books whose statements it abridged. +What the Greek writers could not wholly avoid was too much +for the Roman encyclopædists. They were note-takers, compilers, +abridgers, and they tried to make all learning their +province. The encyclopædias of Varro, Verrius, Flaccus, Pliny, +Suetonius, Pompeius Festus, and Nonius Marcellus were the +product not of a staff of experts, but in each case of a single +mind. The editors epitomized everything. They made extracts +from books, extracts from extracts, abridgments of abridgments. +The original works they consulted were lost, and only fragments +of the mental inheritance of the Roman world were transmitted +from age to age. Under the modern system of specialized inquiry +the frontiers of knowledge press ever outward. Under +the old encyclopædists they drew inward and the body of known +facts shrank continually. This tendency culminated in Isidore, +Bishop of Seville in the seventh century, last of the Roman, +first of the Christian, encyclopædists. He devotes two sentences +to the small island of Thanet, now a part of Kent. He gives +three sentences to Great Britain; “jet is very common there, and +pearls,” he says.</p> + +<p>From works prepared under such conditions one must be content +with a treatise as brief as this in Isidore’s <i>Etymologies</i>: +“The Cynocephali are so called because they have dogs’ heads +and their very barking betrays them as beasts rather than men. +They are born in India.”</p> + +<p>The ideal lands, the prodigious races, and the fabulous animals +were first made known to the world by the Greeks. Few +of the classic travel tales, however, originated with them. Most +of them trace back to Egypt and India; if their sources are still +more remote, the track has been lost. The mythical peoples and +animals dwelt in the deserts of Africa and the deserts and mountains +of Asia. India, even more than Egypt, was their home. +The mighty mountains that bordered it, the multitude of peoples +that inhabited it, the strong touch of the grotesque in their art +and ritual, and their curious sense of kinship with the elephant, +the tiger, the snake, and the jackal made theirs the native soil<span class="pagenum" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</span> +of marvel. Many of the singular creatures that peopled the +hinterlands of Africa seem to be emigrants from India and +beyond.</p> + +<p>The earliest travel tales in Greek literature are found in +Homer’s Odyssey commingled with accounts of places and peoples +that are not of the earth. These stories of the tenth century +before Christ look westward from Greece. In the poems of +Pindar the strange outlines of eastern marvel appear on the +Mediterranean scene and a new aspect of reality animates them. +With the history of Herodotus, written in the fifth century +before Christ, the invasion is well-nigh complete. Imbedded in +the greatest of all histories, passages about the griffin, the +phœnix and kindred creatures are scattered through volumes that +contain the high story of the Persian attempt upon Greece, and +the best accounts which the Mediterranean world had of the +back lands of the earth. Herodotus had heard of so many wonderful +things which were true that he made it a rule to report +what he heard even where he doubted its truth; and to this rule +the world owes much. The Halicarnassian doubted the existence +of a sea north of Europe, or of the Tin Islands, but he gave them +a place in his pages. He could not believe that the Phœnicians +had circumnavigated Africa, but his record of their incredible +assertion that as they sailed they “had the sun on their right” +is evidence that the thing was done.</p> + +<p>Herodotus was attacked as untruthful by Ctesias and the +Pseudo-Plutarch, and his monument at Thurium in Italy recites +that he removed thither to escape ridicule; but in the main this +was the ridicule of men who accepted his pleasant stories and +doubted his history, and who were offended because with too +candid a pen he sketched faction and faint-heartedness in the +Greek states when Xerxes led his host across the Hellespont.</p> + +<p>After Herodotus the chief sponsor for antique marvel is +Ctesias the Cnidian, whose work falls in the following generation. +If the one history was the product of travel, the other was +the product of prolonged residence abroad, Ctesias having been +stationed as physician for seventeen years at the Persian court. +He gave the Greeks their first special treatise on India, introduced +the Deformed Folk to the west, and pictured the peninsula +as a preserve of curious peoples and animals. So he made<span class="pagenum" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</span> +a notable book of his <i>Indika</i>, but among the learned it had small +credit. “A writer not to be depended on,” Aristotle calls the +author, and where Herodotus was accused of credulity, Ctesias +was assailed for mendacity. Modern criticism, however, has +identified several of his monstrous races with tribes still inhabiting +Hindostan and partly excused other fables on the +ground that he never saw India and put in his book only what +the Persians told him of their neighbors to the east. When +one people tells another the ways of a third, the theme is +marvel.</p> + +<p>What was denied to Ctesias was vouchsafed to Alexander in +the next generation. With his own eyes he saw India. The +European race before which the east unveiled was the most +gifted, curious, and imaginative of all peoples, and the east +beheld it personified in the captivating figure of Alexander. +The expedition brought legends back with it, and left other +legends behind. Indian and Afghan and Turkoman and Arab +never forgot the great Macedonian, while the whole literature of +the west was colored by this eastern contact.</p> + +<p>A few other Greek names are linked with the travel tale. +Scylax of Caryanda taxed credulity with his fabric of wonder. +Aristotle examined reports of fabulous creatures, and fables as +to actual species, and rejected most, but not all, of them. The +study of anthropology, developed at Alexandria, found its harvest +in the geography of Strabo and in the survey of the +Erythræan Sea by Agatharcides. Both works contain curious +accounts of curious tribes of men.</p> + +<p>Pausanias the Lydian, who lived in the second century of the +Christian era, is better remembered than men with better title +to remembrance, because his work happened to survive. His +<i>Description of Greece</i> has been compared to an old shoe flung +high on the beach of time. An old man wrote it, interested in +old things. Pausanias has much to say of the wonders of sacred +grottos, trees, and springs. His method of taking a road and +describing everything along it was copied by pilgrim writers, +who clogged the paths of Palestine with their marvels. Modern +criticism has discovered that he repeats as interviews with +natives statements he had read in local handbooks, and that, +betrayed thereby, he tells of seeing cities as flourishing places<span class="pagenum" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</span> +which had been in ruins for centuries. Yet Pausanias was a real +traveler, although at times a luckless compiler.</p> + +<p>Lucian the Samosatan was his contemporary, but his contribution +to marvel is a satire on the credulity of all travelers, among +whom he arraigns Homer, Herodotus, and Ctesias. His <i>True +History</i> relates an imaginary voyage to the moon, and thence to +the Fortunate Isles, where Ulysses entrusts him with a letter to +Calypso. In the belly of a whale nearly two hundred miles +long, which had swallowed his ship, he finds lakes, woods, and +strange races of living men. It was the singular fortune of this +travesty to provide material for epics which the Celts accepted +as history and for adventures which were foisted on the narrative +of Baron Munchausen.</p> + +<p>The Latin mind was inferior to the Greek chiefly in that it +was deficient in curiosity. The Romans were content to rule +the world rather than to understand it. It was enough that +amber and silk and incense and spice should come to them from +the four corners of the earth without their following the trade +routes back to find what manner of people sent these things. +Yet legend was active among the mariners and camel-drivers +and porters of the races that served the Roman on the fringes of +his empire. The fables of these porter-nations were passed on +to the Arab and are preserved in the <i>Thousand and One Nights</i>.</p> + +<p>Rome, however, performed a service to the traditional world +by producing the elder Pliny and his amazing <i>Natural History</i>. +Pliny has not the charm, narrative gifts, or historical genius of +Herodotus, but he comes half a millennium afterward and has +more to report. He lacks the comprehensive and penetrating +intelligence of Aristotle, but he knows more—of things that are +so, and of things that are not so. His great work is perhaps the +most impressive monument to industry raised by a single mind. +The entire body of learning of the ancient world passed through +his mind and came out again in the volumes which he calls a +natural history but which are in fact an encyclopædia. These +thirty-seven books record twenty thousand matters of importance +collected from about two thousand volumes, only a few of which +have survived. As his nephew, the younger Pliny, recites, it +was his maxim that “there is no book so bad but some good may +be got out of it.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</span></p> + +<p>To get it Pliny made notes, even in the bath. When he traveled, +his secretary was by his side with a book and tablets, and +if it was winter the scribe took dictation with his gloves on. In +Rome Pliny never moved about except in a litter, reading while +he was being carried through the streets. Once he rebuked his +nephew for walking and “losing all those hours.”</p> + +<p>While tracing the courses of the stars, the description of countries, +plants and animals, the anatomy of man, the properties +of drugs, the nature of gems, the uses of metals, the science of +farming and the fine arts, Pliny contrives also to sketch the +geography of marvel. “It is really wonderful,” he declares, +“to what a length the credulity of the Greeks will go.” Yet he +draws most of his material from them, and whatever his own +attitude toward the things he recites, the result of the recital was +to give credulity its own text-book for a thousand years. Cynical +as was his point of view, Pliny was yet a lover of marvel and +searched it out and set it forth in his pages whether he believed +it or not. It was enough that it was interesting.</p> + +<p>His was the journalistic angle. The <i>Natural History</i> is in +effect a vast newspaper report of the world of about <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 77. +The columns of curious miscellany which newspapers print +sometimes under such headings as “Oddities in the Day’s News” +are legacies of his spirit. The monument to his immense industry +and reportorial instinct is a work which fabulists of all succeeding +ages used as a quarry for their own building materials. +Had his been the questing mind of the Greek, instead of the +drag-net intelligence of the journalist of an incurious but marvel-loving +world, the view of the central countries of culture +and of the horizon lands presented in the <i>Natural History</i> would +have less the aspect of a main circus tent surrounded by side +shows.</p> + +<p>Solinus, surnamed Polyhistor or the Varied Narrator, distilled +the marvels from Pliny, making some seven hundred +extracts, adding to them from other sources, and producing a +work which supplanted the older writer in the affections of the +multitude throughout the Middle Ages. His <i>Collecteanea</i> appeared +in the third or fourth century of the Christian Era, and +although he seems to have been a pagan grammarian, he had +mainly Christian readers. St. Augustine quotes him four times<span class="pagenum" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</span> +in his <i>City of God</i>, and Isidore uses no less than two hundred +extracts in his <i>Etymologies</i>. The pagan’s work was both a symptom +and a cause of the intellectual decline in the Middle Ages. +Other men did as he did, or accepted the results of his labors +as sparing them its pains. What he did, and what Europe did +after the breakdown of the old order of things, was to forget +ancient wisdom and hold fast to ancient wonder. Solinus was +spiritual father of the Christian fabulists, mentor of the Christian +pilgrims.</p> + +<p>What Pliny wrote, perhaps with his tongue in his cheek, +Solinus copies with mouth agape. The world is become a playhouse, +a curio hall, a province of faerie. One learns that, like +man, the quail suffers from the falling sickness and that the +cranes of Thrace travel southward in ballast, stuffing their craws +with sand and pebbles. In the Mediterranean islands there is +a “sardonic” plant, on eating which one grins horribly and dies +of lockjaw. In Germany are the Hercynian birds whose feathers +give light in the dark. Here also is a mule-like pastoral beast +with so long an upper lip that he “cannot feed except walking +backward.” In Africa are jovial apes which rejoice in the new +of the moon and lament in its wane, and sphinxes and satyrs +“easily taught to forget their wildness, very sweet faced, and +full of toying continually.” There are no snakes in Ireland—and +no sense of right and wrong.</p> + +<p>The <i>Physiologus</i>, an Alexandrian compilation, companions +the <i>Collecteanea</i>, but introduces a moralizing note and thereby +ushers a rabble of real and fabulous animals into the symbolism +of ecclesiastical architecture. Isidore of Seville is a desiccated +Solinus, dried out by theology and the specialized pursuits +of the grammarian. He wrote at the opening of the +seventh century. His <i>Etymologies</i> has already been cited as +that irreducible minimum of knowledge to which the epitomizing +habit of Roman encyclopædists tended always. It shows also +the Roman dependence on authority as a substitute for research, +and the Roman worship of words. Easy it was for early Christian +writers to take up the tradition of the encyclopædists, for +it needed only that the authority of the pagan be replaced by +that of a purer faith. The pagan marvels were accepted almost +in a body and many of them are briefly recited by Isidore.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</span></p> + +<p>How words breed legend is disclosed in the very title of the +<i>Etymologies</i>. Carrying a little further the tradition of the +Romans, with whom philology was almost as old as poetry and +more important than natural science, Isidore seemed to think +that when he had given the derivation of a term he had accomplished +a complete description of the thing that bore its name. +Words themselves were things transcendental. Thus he defines +Barbarism as “the uttering of a word with an error in a letter +or in a quantity.” <i>Nox</i>, the Latin word for night, “is derived +from <i>nocere</i> (to injure) because it injures the eyes.” “<i>Homo</i> +is so named because he is made of <i>humus</i> (earth), as it is told +in <i>Genesis</i>.” “<i>Corpus</i> (the body) is so called because being +corrupted it perishes.”</p> + +<p>Isidore writes the texts for the chapter in the history of marvel +that deals with Christian fabulism, pilgriming, and cosmography. +It is Christian only in the sense that Christians of the +earlier centuries tell the tales, make the journeys, and construct +the world theories. Its subject matter is Jewish and pagan, with +the two elements sometimes in an artless, sometimes in a forced, +combination; it presents one side of that contact and conflict +between Aryan and Semitic cultures which is the history of the +last nineteen centuries. For the first part of the period the result +of the conflict in the field of geography, travel, and tradition +was what might be expected where simple-witted peoples, lately +emerged from barbarism and not yet nationally minded, meet +a race of ancient culture and intense national spirit. Jewish +conceptions prevailed. It was thought that children, if taught +no other tongue, would naturally speak Hebrew. Europe accepted +as a literal recital of fact the Sumerian legend preserved +in Hebrew Scriptures that the human race began with +Adam—“the mean, toolless and frivolous Adam,” as Andrew +Lang calls him—and his consort in the Garden of Eden; and +from Hebrew chronology it figured that the earth must be about +four thousand years old. It made over its geography to conform +to Old Testament texts, and, discarding the world-knowledge +of the classic civilizations, it made over its maps to show +Jerusalem in the center of a flat earth.</p> + +<p>When pilgrims to Palestine had visited the scenes of the birth +and passion of Christ they proceeded to explore the Jewish background<span class="pagenum" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</span> +for memorials of Old Testament history, with side trips +into the realm of pagan marvel. All of them looked for the +pillar of salt by the Dead Sea in which Lot’s wife was entombed; +for centuries this column comes and goes in their narratives. +Silvia of Aquitaine, whose journey falls in the fourth century, +says there was no pillar there—the sea had engulfed it—but +others saw it later. Theodosius says it waxed and waned with +the phases of the moon. Antoninus denies the report that pasturing +sheep had diminished its size by licking it. A fragment +of this marvel is in the Library of Congress at Washington, +together with the report of an American traveler who measured +the pillar and found it sixty feet high and forty feet around, +larger than he believed Lot’s wife could have been.</p> + +<p>Other of the earlier pilgrims are said to have gone into +Arabia to see the dunghill where Job contended with his comforters. +The pyramids, some thought, were the barns of Joseph. +The Apples of Adam still showed the marks of his teeth. The +Jordan halted its waters at the time of the Epiphany. Devils +were seen on Mount Gilboa. The torments of hell lay under the +Sea of Sodom and Abbott Daniel had a whiff of them from its +surface. In Samaria, Paula, friend of Saint Jerome, saw +“devils writhing and yelling in different kinds of torture, and +men before the tombs of the saints, howling like wolves, barking +like dogs, roaring like lions, hissing like serpents, bellowing +like bulls.” One pilgrim writer copied another, few took any +note of the natural features of Palestine, most of them were of +primitive culture, and the women had a wider outlook than the +men.</p> + +<p>The Jew, Rabbi Moses Petachia, made a pilgrimage, reporting +among other things that the wind which blew from the shallow +parts of the Sea of Azov, the Stagnant Sea of old geography, +was fatal to passers-by; he saw on the Euphrates a flying camel +which could go a mile in a second. Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela +undertook a remarkable journey in the twelfth century to learn +the condition of the Jewish communities of the east. He brought +back valuable information, but said he could not approach the +vast ruins of Babylon because of the scorpions and serpents that +haunted them, located mythical Jewish states in the deserts of +Arabia, and repeated numerous fables on hearsay. If he ever<span class="pagenum" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</span> +took this journey, says the elder Disraeli, it must have been with +his nightcap on.</p> + +<p>How the new peoples of the west lost the sense of historical +perspective under the Jewish impact is shown in the long speculation +over the whereabouts of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. +Classic learning was dismissed as “windy babble.” The fate of +the peoples of the great monarchies of antiquity aroused no +curiosity. But everywhere were sought the footsteps of the vanished +Israelites. They were imprisoned in the Caucasus, they +had become Afghan mountaineers, they were privileged subjects +of Prester John, they were settled in the Canaries, they had +reached China, they had colonized Peru, they were the progenitors +of the British and American peoples, they were the ancestors +of the North American Indian, and the first Mormons.</p> + +<p>While Europe was curious about the shrines, landmarks, and +legends of Asia, and held it to be the continent of wonder, Asia +did not return the interest. It had few travel tales to tell of the +peoples of the west, few reports of any kind. The Chinese saw +little of note in the Roman Empire, “Great China,” save that +it had good jugglers and asbestos cloth and that the eastern gate +of Constantinople was covered with shining gold leaf and was +two hundred feet high. India ignored the sea, and was self-contained +in its life and legends; the fabulous and felicitous +peoples of the Puranas dwell in trans-Himalayan valleys. Arab +sailors were carriers of Indian fables and may have taught them +to the Chinese; a large part of Chinese marvel has a quality +suggesting importation. Yet the superior historical sense of +the Chinese, preserving almost intact marvel tales that were +brought to them, made the rest of the world their debtor. Their +encyclopædias and classics are quite in the style of Pliny, as, +for example, the <i>Shan Hai King</i>, or <i>Wonders by Land and Sea</i>, +to which the dates of <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> 2700, 2205, and 222 have been severally +ascribed, and which is also alleged to be a Taoist forgery +of the fourth century <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> Monster peoples and animals are in +this work, and one of its early prefaces relates the journey of a +king to the Halls of the Giants in the east, to the mansions of +the Fairy Queen in the west, across a bridge of tortoises in the +south and over streets made of feathers in the north. It is also +recited that by imperial decree nine urns were set up in various<span class="pagenum" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</span> +parts of China on which, to the fear of the people, the common +and the strange animals of each region were pictured.</p> + +<p>Religious fervor at length set the feet of Chinese upon paths +along which wonder grew. Buddhist priests and scholars went +east to teach and west to learn. If the annals of the Middle +Kingdom are to be credited, a fair interpretation of the record +is that the Chinese reached the coast of North America in +<span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 499 and again in 502 and 556. They found countries +which they described as the Land of Marked Bodies and the +Great Han country. The natives of the former had horses and +draft deer with great horns (reindeer) and esteemed copper +more than gold. A thousand furlongs east was the Kingdom of +Women—erect, white-skinned, hairy, timorous, subsisting on a +salt plant like wormwood. The residents of the Land of Marked +Bodies, supposed to be the Aleutian Islands, were tattooed, joyous, +rich in gold and silver. Eastward was Great Han, possibly +British Columbia, the wild beasts of which devoured guilty +criminals, but spared persons falsely accused. There was also +a country of dog-headed men.</p> + +<p>These lands have been identified with regions of northeastern +Asia, and because of their climate and products with American +regions as far south as California and Mexico.</p> + +<p>The westward journeys of Buddhist scholars are historical +and important. They went to India at various periods from the +beginning of the fifth to the latter part of the seventh century of +our era to study the Law of Buddha, to visit the sites associated +with Sakya Muni and to collect sacred books and relics. One +Chinese work has a record of fifty-six of these worthies. The +Buddhist pilgrims were men of higher intelligence and still +greater credulity than those who at about the same time were +journeying out of Europe to the shrines of Palestine. Their +largest figure, and one of the world’s greatest travelers, is +Hiouen Thsang, who left China in <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 629 and returned seventeen +years later.</p> + +<p>In the desert of Gobi, Hiouen saw spectral armies charging +down upon him and at night the flare of spectral torches, but at +a word of scripture the glamour faded. In the T’sung-ling +mountains Fa-hien found poison dragons that spat the storm and +avalanche; here, says Hiouen, one should not wear red garments<span class="pagenum" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</span> +nor carry loud-sounding calabashes. The pass of Varasena was +so high that birds could not fly over it, but crossed the summit +afoot. Report had it that in the deserts of Turkestan a sandstorm +covered in a single day as many cities as there were days +in the year.</p> + +<p>The India that Hiouen traversed was a land of ruins and +marvels. He tells of demon women and miracle gold and +wonder-working Buddha teeth; of a shepherd that became a +dragon; of a roe that brought forth a beautiful girl with deer +feet; of a risha that could fly until a princess touched him, and +thereafter he merely walked; of a holy man whose sanctity +made light in a dark wood. There are elephants in his pages +that tend shrines with flowers and perfumes, and wild asses that +protect an altar, and desert ants as large as hedgehogs. There +are dragon domains and serpent palaces underground, and +aboveground a Buddhist tower made of cows’ dung. There is +a City of Hump-backed Women and on a distant island the +Kingdom of Western Women who traffic in gems with Byzantium +and accept lovers from there.</p> + +<p>Most of these things of Chinese report the west knows also +from Herodotus and Pliny and Polo. Out of India, marvel.</p> + +<p>The Nestorian chapter in the joint history of religion and +wonder bears a twelfth-century date, but deals with the inheritance +of classic fable. Although the mediæval legend of a +powerful Christian monarch named Prester John, who reigned +amid pagan enemies somewhere in the heart of Asia, was based +on rumors of the eastward spread of the Nestorian faith, the +Christian element in it is weighted with all the pagan wonders +of an earlier time. The realm of Presbyter John is the range +of strange animals and stranger men. Thus the apocryphal +letter bearing his signature which reached the west declares: +“Our land is the home of elephants, dromedaries, camels, crocodiles, +meta-collinarum, cametennus, tensevetes, wild asses, white +and red lions, white bears, white merles, crickets, griffins, tigers, +lamias, hyenas, wild horses, wild oxen, and wild men, men with +horns, one-eyed men, men with eyes before and behind, centaurs, +fauns, satyrs, pygmies, forty-ell high giants, cyclopes, and +similar women; it is the home, too, of the phœnix, and of nearly +all living animals.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</span></p> + +<p>Here, continues the royal letter writer, are the accursed Gog +and Magog, and the Lost Israelites, and the worm Salamander, +and Amazons and Brahmans, and paradise and pearls and +pepper. And when John goes to war a million and a half soldiers +follow him. The epistle is pagan marvel’s broadest +gesture over lands unknown.</p> + +<p>With differences of Oriental temperament and cast of +thought, Arab geography and travel parallel every phase of the +west except the Age of Ignorance. The Arabs escaped a Lactantius +and a Cosmas, but they had their Plinies and Ptolemies, +their own sea epic, and in Ibn Batuta a traveler second only +to Marco Polo. Until the Middle Ages were ending the centers +of world culture were at Bagdad and Cordoba. If Christendom +accepted the ancient fables and rejected the ancient learning, +Islam embraced both.</p> + +<p>The great Arab geographers blended in their works the +methods of Ptolemy and Pliny, together with a story-telling +strain from the coffee-houses of the east. The very titles of +their works suggest this—Aljahedh’s <i>Book of the Cities and +Marvels of Countries</i>, Massoudy’s <i>Meadows of Gold and Mines +of Precious Stones</i>, Al Istakhri’s <i>Book of Climates</i>, Ibn Haukal’s +<i>Book of Roads and Kingdoms</i>, Ibn Khordadbeh’s <i>Principal +Trade Routes</i>, Abulfeda’s <i>Encyclopædia</i>, and Idrisi’s <i>The Delight +of Those Who Seek to Wander Through the Regions of the +World</i>. These are treatises such as would be expected from +a race which had found its destinies in trade routes, which had +pitched its tents in the seats of the ancient culture, and which +took its ease in coffee-houses. They show Ptolemy’s sense of +distances and measurements, Pliny’s note-taking habits and +appetite for marvel, the bazar instinct for entertaining stories, +and the Arab’s poetic fancy. Massoudy’s is the typical product +of his race. It is a vast and glittering collection of history, +science, travel, and legend, thrown together by an imagination +to which the varied and shifting shows of life and nature were +perpetual delight. What mainly it and its companion works +lack is the Greek sense of form and capacity for precise +thinking.</p> + +<p>Arab geography and marvel are best to be studied in the +seven voyages of Sindbad the Sailor. These are true travels,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</span> +tricked out with legendary travel tales, taken by a number of +men, notably the Two Mussulman Travelers of the ninth century, +and all ascribed to one man in order to give them the epic +quality. Sindbad is the Arab Ulysses and this the Arab +Odyssey. The theater of the eastern epic is the Indian Sea, +rather than the Mediterranean, it is well-nigh free from myths +of the supernatural, and its geographical notes, although disguised, +are definite. One can trace, and Beazley has done so, +the itineraries of the much-buffeted merchant-wanderer, and +identify the material of many of his adventures.</p> + +<p>Wak-wak, the destination of the first voyage, is perhaps +Japan; the island of mysterious nightly music is an echo of +Solinus; the adventure of the whale’s back is repeated by St. +Brendan’s companions, and the owl-headed fish are borrowed +from Khordadbeh. The accounts of the roc of Zanzibar and +the Indian valley of diamonds in the second voyage are to be +found also in the <i>Travels</i> of Marco Polo. The third voyage is +lifted from Homer; the hairy, ugly little dwarfs are the pygmies +of the Iliad, and the one-eyed giant who ate Sindbad’s companions +is a negro Polyphemus out of the Odyssey. The fourth +voyage, with its incidents of cannibal ghouls and their reason-destroying +herbs, the burial of Sindbad alive with his deceased +native wife, and his encounter with pepper-gatherers, is a distorted +narrative of Indian races, customs, and products. The +Old Man of the Sea, or Sheikh of the Seaboard, in the fifth voyage +is the orang-utan of Sumatra. The sixth voyage is mainly +a description of Ceylon. In the seventh voyage the account of +elephants that transported Sindbad to their cemetery, where +without killing them he could have all the ivory he required, is +about as Pliny would have written it.</p> + +<p>Into this east of glowing sorceries came two men of the west +in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the one to traverse +Asia from end to end, and see more of wonder than any man +had seen before, the other to roam still farther, for his journeys +were in his imagination and had only its limits. The <i>Book of +Diversities</i> of Marco Polo is the greatest of all narratives of +wanderings. The <i>Marvellous Adventures of Sir John Maundeville</i> +is the wildest of all romances that purport to be fact. The +two works may be considered together if for no other reason<span class="pagenum" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</span> +than the ironic comment they afford on popular judgments +before time redresses them. The facts of Polo were long +treated as fables. The fables of Maundeville were accepted as +facts. Sir John’s book was translated into every European +tongue and passed through hundreds of editions. Because of +his reports on the wealth of Kublai Khan, Marco was nicknamed +Il Milioni; he was asked on his deathbed if he would not recant +some of the things he had said, and after his death there figured +in Venetian masques a comic character who told unbelievable +tales to guffawing street crowds and was called Marco Milioni.</p> + +<p>The Venetian spent twenty-four years in Asia, most of the +time in the service of the philosopher-monarch, Kublai Khan, +and returned to his native city in 1295. There are fables in +his book, hearsay statements usually reported as such; but their +effect of illusion is slight compared with the staggering and +splendid realities which the narrative unfolded before eyes unprepared +for them. Marco drew aside the curtain of Asia. It +was as if the spectators in some provincial theater, used only to +the antics of vagrant mountebanks and the crudities of folk-drama, +saw for the first time one of those extravaganzas of +music, movement, and color, built around a tale of the Orient, +which tax even the dramatic resources of world capitals to produce. +Sitting in their own darkness, the simpler peoples of the +west saw on a stage hung with costly draperies and dim with +clouds of incense, a stage of vast spaces and long perspectives, +the civilizations of the venerable east—India, dreaming in the +sun with its jeweled rajahs and naked fakirs; China, with its +teeming populations, its immense inland fleets, its wisdom and +its riches; Burma, serene amid the clang of its temple bells; the +golden roofs of Japan rising out of cherry blossoms; Tibet, +wrapped in a vision; the Indian Archipelago, with its spices, +pearls, and cannibals. Other figures less clearly defined appeared +in the background—nomads of the steppes, fur-hunting +Samoyeds of the tundras, mountain tribes that pressed their +women upon stranger guests; glimpses even of farthest Africa, +of a Christian Ethiopia, of the Zanzibar of negroes, ivory, and +ambergris, and of Madagascar, past which the sea bore relentlessly +southward.</p> + +<p>Of many of these things Europe heard for the first time from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</span> +Marco, of all of them his was the first illuminating report, and +most of them his own eyes had seen. Here Truth is the stuff of +Illusion. Though Marco speaks of dog-faced Andamanese, and +islands of Amazons, and Lop with its evil spirits, and the storm-raising +witches of Socotra, and the roc, it is not on these, but +on his verities, that wonder waits. The center of the wonder is +Kublai Khan, who built the pleasure-dome in Xanadu. Greatly +is he beholden to the traveler, who came to him one morning +out of the unknown. But for Marco, as Masefield finely says, +this lord of lords, ruler of so many cities, so many gardens, so +many fish pools, would be only a name, an image covered by the +sands. Remembrance is with those who see, and write.</p> + +<p>Though he did not see, Maundeville wrote. The author of the +volume that bears this name may have seen Syria, but he claims +to have been everywhere. He served the Sultan of Egypt against +the Bedouins and declined his daughter’s hand in marriage. He +drank of the Well of Youth. He served the emperor of China +in his war against Mancy. He took astronomical observations +in the Indian Ocean. He traversed Russia, Livonia, Asia Minor, +Amazonia, Persia, India, Tartary, China, Arabia, Libya, Ethiopia. +One great thing his humility forbade him to essay, and +that was the Terrestrial Paradise. “I was not worthy,” he says.</p> + +<p>The fabricator of the Maundeville narrative seems to have +been Jean de Bourgogne, a physician of Liège, who died there +in 1373, long enough after his book appeared for it already to +have won reputation; on his deathbed he was proud to avow his +authorship, though not his imposture. It is to be inferred that +he appropriated his pen name of Maundeville, knight of St. +Albans in England, from the title of a romantic satire by Jean +du Pin published a few years before, in which the writer is conducted +in a dream through a world of allegory by a knight +named Mandevie whose home was on a white mountain—Mons +Albus or St. Albans, as has been suggested. Where the adventures +of Maundeville came from is not in doubt. Friar Odoric, a +great but credulous traveler, had spent fourteen years in Asia, +largely in India and Cathay, and had written out his story on +his return to Italy in 1330. Maundeville, whose book is perhaps +of twenty years later, looted his predecessor so thoroughly that +the friar was deemed the copyist of the knight; Samuel Purchas<span class="pagenum" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</span> +thought that “some later fabler,” like Odoric, had stuffed the +knight’s tale. Maundeville raided also the fables of Solinus, the +forged letter of Prester John, the travels of King Hayton of +Armenia, and the varied lore and legend of all lands and times +collected in the preceding century by the great encyclopædist +of the Middle Ages, Vincent of Beauvais. Apparently he never +heard of Polo.</p> + +<p>The bogus knight won a wide and fascinated audience by +throwing his marvels into a tale of which he is the hero. His +own adventures, his travels from land to land, his comments on +countries and peoples, give his book unity, movement, and the +narrative interest which is lacking in the works of Ctesias, Pliny, +Solinus, and their school. Ctesias writes of India, but never +professes to have been there, and Pliny and Solinus sit afar and +look over the world. Maundeville comes out of the library and +crosses the earth, staff in hand, in an earlier, and unhallowed, +<i>Pilgrim’s Progress</i>. His is the method, and his almost was the +vogue, of the Odyssey and of the Sindbad saga. The classic +brevity and sterility in recounting mirabilia, he escapes in some +measure, robbing several fables to enrich one. It happened that +an early rendering of his work into English was done when the +island tongue was in a fluid state, and done with such sense of +idiom that he has been called, although falsely, the father of +English prose.</p> + +<p>Maundeville is most interesting when he is most audacious, +or when he stumbles most. At Joppa he transposes the figures +of a classic myth, and reports seeing a rib forty feet long of +“Andromeda a great giant,” chained there before Noah’s flood. +The chameleon (chamois?) is “a little Beast, as a Goat.” In +Pathen the giant tortoise of Odoric becomes “a kind of Snails +that be so great that many Persons may lodge them in their +Shells.” The rats in the Isle of Charia are “as great as Hounds +here.” There are wool-bearing hens in Mancy. The manna in +the Land of Job “cleanseth the Blood and putteth out Melancholy.” +Chaldea is a country of fair men and evil women. In +the Pepper Country “the Women shave their Beards and the +Men not.”</p> + +<p>The author scatters his mythical islands even over the mainland +of Asia. Yet his sense of the shape and rotundity of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</span> +earth was far in advance of his time. In the midst of romancings, +one finds this, the clearest word of his century, and in the +field of exploration the most constructive: “I say to you certainly +that Men may environ all the Earth of all the World, as +well underneath as above, and return again to their Country, if +that they had Company and Shipping and Conduct; and always +they should find Men, Lands and Isles, as well as in this Country.” +For this declaration, for the vision of the Valley of the +Shadow of Death which Bunyan took from him and he from +Odoric, for the delight that his fictitious narrative still conveys, +and for the English prose which is its vehicle, one may half forgive +the physician of Liege his pose of a gouty English knight, +dictating the true story of adventurous years to ease hours of +broken rest, and ending it with a benediction, followed, anthem-wise, +by a chorus of amens.</p> + +<p>The remainder of the story of marvel, so far as it is a literary +phenomenon, is a sea tale told by men of the west, for Prince +Henry the Navigator was born a few years after Jean de Bourgogne +died, and with his manhood there opens the era of maritime +discovery. Meanwhile the northwest of Europe had entered +the record with Norse and Irish chapters. Though maps of the +early Middle Ages placed the griffins and the cynocephali in the +north of Europe, the north knew them not. Giants and trolls it +knew, and the Iceland sagas tell of vampires that hid in heaps +of stockfish, and monster men, dragons, and bulls that guarded +a haunted shore. The inevitable compilations came later. The +history of Norway written by Pontoppidan in the eighteenth century +is a brief for Scandinavian waters as the habitat of +prodigious things.</p> + +<p>The Celts neither robbed nor traded on the sea, and the very +ports of Ireland were opened by Northmen; yet one of the three +great epics of the deep, the <i>Voyage of St. Brendan</i>, is Irish, and +monks are its heroes. The five Irish <i>Imrama</i> or sea tales, of +which this is the chief, weave a spell beyond any other woven +upon the deep, because they look westward toward hidden continents +that presently were to loom through the mists, and track +with spectral craft the very seas that foamed erelong around the +prows of Spain. Working with bits of old beliefs, as a craftsman +with bits of broken glass, the Celt fashioned an oriel window<span class="pagenum" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</span> +through which he glimpsed the lands of dream. It was +magic like that of Gwyn ab Nudd, King of Faerie, who spread +before St. Collen the semblance of a feast in a great court. “I +will not eat the leaves of trees,” said the saint, and flung holy +water about him, and “there was neither castle, nor troops, nor +maidens, nor music, nor the appearance of any thing whatever, +but the green hillocks.”</p> + +<p>Fables of old time which had smoldered through the later +Middle Ages, and which were rekindled by fresh contacts with +classic marvel in the revival of letters, blazed into fierce life in +the age of discovery. When new continents swam into ken, and +hidden empires showed themselves for a moment on distant +mountain sides, only to crash down at the onset of a handful of +adventurous men, nothing seemed incredible. A world which +had denied its own shape awoke to the fact of antipodal lands +and peoples and was prepared to believe anything. The extravagant +things it credited—and herein is palliation for its +credulity—were yet small beside the wonders with which reality +smote it in the face. The prodigious races of antiquity that had +retreated before the traveler seemed at last to have been run to +cover in those parts of the New World whither Spanish explorers +penetrated. South America presented itself as a fulfillment of +classic wonder and a proof of the unity of the human story.</p> + +<p>Mythical America was in part a projection of the dreaming +mind of Spain upon the sensitive consciousness of savages. +There are stories that have a way of taking root as soon as they +are transplanted, and by the incorporation of native elements of +accommodating themselves so completely to new surroundings +as to deceive the very men who had loosed them. Hence the +mingling of Old and New World elements in the tales of giants, +pygmies, Amazons, satyrs, and acephalites. The conquistadors +put leading questions, and had the answers they wanted. If +they were deceived, yet there was more of the scientific spirit in +the men who set out in search of Paradise or El Dorado, than +in all the generations of encyclopædists who copied down +incredible things and never went forth to find them.</p> + +<p>One may trace the outlines of Mythical America in the journals +of Columbus; in the writings of Peter Martyr and Garcilaso +de la Vega; in the monographs of conquistadors like Coronado;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</span> +in the <i>History of the Indies</i> by Oviedo, which Las Casas unjustly +declares is “as full of lies almost as pages,” and in Hakluyt’s +<i>Principal Voyages</i>, justly called the English prose epic. +For the most fabulous and fascinating picture one turns to +Raleigh’s account of his expedition to Guiana in 1595. It is +at once a collection of mirabilia, a story of adventure, a courtly +address to the “Lady of Ladies” (Queen Elizabeth), a commercial +prospectus, and the brief of a man on the defensive. In its +pages the southern coasts of the Caribbean are as rich in marvel +as the southern coasts of the Mediterranean in the pages of +Pliny.</p> + +<p>Earlier travelers had found it well to secure specimens of +ores, plants, and savages as vouchers for their credit among +skeptical stay-at-homes, and the Spaniards took the precaution +of carrying notaries in their ships to attest their statements. In +the eighteenth century a more effective check was developed for +travel tales. The science of criticism superseded the habit of +compilation. The reports of travelers were examined, sifted, +and compared by closet philosophers. French savants like +Buache, Delisle, and Fleurieu challenged the realms of prodigy +and had no answer from them. Humboldt’s great journey into +Spanish America at the end of the century is the recessional. +Through the lands of legend he wends his way, a patient, sometimes +a pensive, observer, and puts Atlantis, El Dorado, the +Amazons and the wild men of the woods to the question. His +report is the most tolerant, suggestive, and illuminating document +in the literature of marvel. Soon afterward began the +scientific study of European folklore with the brothers Grimm +as pioneers.</p> + +<p>The remarkable things which the North American Indian had +to tell, most of them, were not assayed until after Humboldt’s +time. Save where the Spaniard had been, they have the undiluted +aboriginal quality; yet a bookish note, which has been +imputed to Viking influence before Columbus, is in eastern +Algonquin and Eskimo sea lore and giant lore. These tales of +the northern continent did not launch expeditions, nor enter the +great narratives of travel, and they have yet to win their indicated +place in literature. There is wonder in them, and poetry, +and the deep reflection of untutored minds; though crude the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</span> +backgrounds and the figures that animate them, they parallel +almost the entire array of legendary lands and peoples which +the classic world assembled. Skillful old story-tellers—“delight-makers” +they were called—told them at night about a dim +fire in the ceremonial roundhouses. Winter was the time, for +then, says Schoolcraft, the strange beings that might be underground +or in the lakes and streams could not hear through the +frozen surfaces the merry tales that the Indian dared tell about +them, and the laughter of the roundhouse.</p> + +<p>Rude are these records of a people whose trickster-hero might +be the obscene and ofttimes ridiculous coyote instead of Ulysses; +who spoke of caribou back-fat and not of the lotus, and who had +“the sacred groaning stick” rather than the lyre of Hermes. +Their myth-figures, no demigods of marble perfection, are the +coyote, the buzzard, the hare, the loon, the lizard—in reality the +Indian in his nakedness; and their evil beings are flint people +and awesome rolling skulls. Yet they could see in the stars the +light of lodge fires, speak of the rainbow as the road of the dead, +picture the whirlwind as the dance of a ghost, find a relation +between a gust and the flutter of a moth’s wings, trace the drift +of spirits down the wind, and catch on the throat of the humming +bird a gleam of the fire it stole in a Promethean adventure. +No weary Titan upholds the Indian sky, but in Tlingit story an +old woman stands under the earth with a mighty post and +supports it.</p> + +<p>Shape-shifting is at the basis of North American myth, and +the substantial identity of men and animals is proclaimed by it. +“Baalam’s ass,” says Leland, “spoke once for every Christian; +every animal spoke once for the Indian.”</p> + +<p>If one marvels how the fabric of fable held together so long +alike in classic and savage lands, one has only to make some +change in a familiar bedtime story told to children. Their protest +is instant; they want the tale as they have heard it. So +do men.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c25">Chapter XXV. The Gains of Fable</h2> +</div> + + +<p><span class="smcap large">It</span> has been well for men that they have been citizens of two +worlds—the traditional world and the world of reality. Whatever +harm they have suffered in either has come from but two +things. These things are fear and selfishness, wherein are all +the frustrations and all the cruelties. The rest has been good.</p> + +<p>The myths of fear kept men from sailing west and south. +Until a few centuries ago the imaginary terrors of the Atlantic +and of the tropics hid from them the knowledge that men like +unto themselves lived in all parts of the earth, and that the winds +would waft them to these along smooth pathways of the sea. +The myths of selfishness—the tales that maritime nations told +of evil things in waters and upon coasts which they would close +to the enterprise of others—wrought the same mischiefs that +greed and falsehood work anywhere. They retarded the advance +of learning, restrained the intercourse of nations, and +recoiled at last on the heads of those who invented them.</p> + +<p>The gains of fable are writ large in the history of modern +exploration. Error was the guiding star of discovery. A vain +fancy was the most precious cargo of the caravels, as it was the +keenest weapon of the conquistadors. The coasting voyages +around Africa into the eastern world would have been longer +deferred if men had known that the Dark Continent reached so +far to the south. The discovery of America was due to three +stupendous mistakes—the belief that Asia stretched thousands +of miles farther eastward than it does; the belief that Japan was +a thousand miles farther from Asia than it is; the belief that the +circumference of the earth was three thousand miles less than +its true dimension. The total of these mistakes was so great +that the whole of the New World lay concealed within it. Had +Columbus known that he must sail due west for nearly twelve +thousand miles to reach Cathay, he would have foregone his +enterprise.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</span></p> + +<p>Because the Spaniards made marvels the text for launching +expeditions instead of telling or compiling stories, their delusions +as to the Americas of the sixteenth century constitute the +strangest chapter of travel tale. But “he that would bring home +the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with +him”; the illusory expeditions of Spain had results that were +denied to the more pedestrian adventuring of other nations. +One of these led Cabeza de Vaca across the territory of the +United States from Atlantic to Pacific, as early as 1539. It was +not until 1805, in the Lewis and Clark expedition, that the cooler +advance of the Anglo-Saxon matched this feat. In their search +for illusive golden cities the countrymen of the Cid explored +the mountains and savannas of South America, the American +Southwest, and even the South Seas, and did it all so far ahead +of the English and American penetration of the northern continent +that the story of their adventures was an old tale before the +Saxon had entered the Great Plains, or climbed the Great Divide, +or dropped down to the Pacific.</p> + +<p>Such is the service of dreams. They fire the mind and make +the feet of young men restless. The province of wonder has +been to rescue men from their heaviness. They settle down in +one place, and their children and chattels tie them there, but the +nomad in them droops within unchanging horizons and sickens +down in dullness. No report of other lands like their own and +other peoples like themselves will arouse them. They want to +hear of marvels, and every tale of them is a pleasant tale even +if it is of one-eyed cannibal giants, or malignant dwarfs, or +headless men, or the storm-winged roc, or the Swallower of the +West. At least it opens new vistas, and peoples them with +creatures such as cannot be seen at home. So it was that William +of Wykeham instructed the scholars of New College, +Oxford, to occupy the long winter evenings in the Middle Ages +with “singing, or reciting poetry, or with the chronicles of the +different kingdoms, or with the wonders of the world.”</p> + +<p>The spirit that leads men to seek distant markets, or dig for +gold in mines, or search for raw materials on the other side of +the earth, is modern, and still only a few have it. Through most +of the story of man it has seemed a better thing to hunt for +hidden treasure, to seek for the Golden Fleece or a golden city,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</span> +to set out for the Terrestrial Paradise, to win to the back of the +north wind. Even now, report that a prehistoric monster haunts +a lake in Patagonia, or that an expedition will hunt pirate gold +on an island of the Pacific, stirs pulses that would not respond +to the news that a great coal field had been uncovered in Alaska +or China.</p> + +<p>Imagination and curiosity, whence have come most of the +travel tales, have builded where building was needed to fill in +empty places whereon men refused to rear the structures of +reality, or to replace what they tore down. In their passages +from age to age and in their long migrations, men have been +constantly forgetting things, carrying over long stretches of the +sea such memorials of the heliolithic culture as a particular +process of mummification, but not the arts and sciences that had +gone with it. They have discovered lands only to lose track of +them. Authentic notes of distant countries and customs they +would not credit; there has been ignorant incredulity as well as +ignorant credulity. The true things in geography to which men +have shut their eyes are no more than countervailed by the vain +things they thought they saw. The tales of afternoon lands and +the singular peoples of the mountains and deserts widen, if only +with the shifting contours of legend, horizons which had been +narrowed by forgetfulness and a perverse refusal to believe.</p> + +<p>Nor have even these tales been enough to satisfy with their +close likeness to realities. Men have played with the thought +of other countries above the clouds or in far-off seas, imagining +things which none was expected to believe, and yet which copyists +repeated and literal-minded men accepted sometimes as +having basis of fact. Such are Plato’s Republic, More’s Utopia, +Campanella’s City of the Sun. Aristophanes pictured a Cloud-Cuckoo +Town, which the birds built between earth and heaven to +bring the gods to terms, and filled it with the trillings and pipings +of feathered creatures. The satirist who wrote of Lilliput, +Brobdingnag and Laputa had read Lucian’s <i>True History</i>. In +Ariosto’s Limbo of the Moon were stored such treasures as time +misspent in play, vain efforts, good intentions, unpaid vows, the +promises of princes, and deathbed alms.</p> + +<p>Three of these imaginary countries were sketched with such +fidelity to detail, poetic or grotesque, that they lived in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</span> +thought of men with almost a sense of the actual. Scobellum +was a fruitful land, the people of which went beyond the cannibals +in cruelty, the Egyptians in luxury, the Persians in pride, +the Cretans in falsehood, the Germans in drunken license. +Whereupon the gods turned the drunkards into swine, the +lecherers into goats, the gamblers into asses, the idle women +into milch cows, and the misers into moles. The Land of +Cockaigne was a country of luxury and high feeding where the +houses were built of barley sugar and the streets were paved +with pastry and goods were free in the shops. Fiddler’s Green +is a place where always the fiddlers are fiddling and the pipers +piping, and the dancers dancing; it lies on the other side of hell.</p> + +<p>Travel tales that purport to be true have a way of rebuking +unbelief with their half triumphs. Noting only the impossible +items in a tradition, learned skepticism has opened itself to discomfiture +by rejecting the whole. The two outstanding figures +of fable, the pygmy and the Amazon, point the moral. In the +more grotesque forms may be found notes on forgotten history +and on palæontology. Those tales for which no basis of fact +can be discerned are yet projections of the minds of primitive +men on the clouds, seen after the men themselves have dropped +below the horizon, like the red in the sky after sunset. At least +their colors illumine the manuscript of antiquity and the rude +scroll of savagery.</p> + +<p>Though fantastic fables were bred thereof, it has been loss +and not gain that the old sense of kinship with the fowls of the +air and the beasts of the field is no more. There were compassions +and tolerances in this imagined relation, with just a hint +of deep insight. Before the brotherhood of man became so +much as a phrase, the brotherhood of all created things was a +fact. Killing for the mere stupid sake of killing had no place +in a world in which men believed that the first men were ants; +in which they made the hare, the coyote, and the raven heroic +figures of their epics; in which they celebrated the piety of the +oryx, the elephant, and the llama; in which they acclaimed the +strength of the lion, the keen sight of the eagle, and the sagacity +of the fox, and in which they spared the bear, the deer, and the +parrot because it seemed to them that these were ancestral folk. +Were these savages farther from the truth than men of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</span> +present day whose interest is not in the lives but in the deaths +of beasts, and who rob the woods and fields of half their beauty +and significance by their senseless pursuit of the pathetic, defenseless, +and yet kindred beings that harbor there? “My sister +the swallow” is the chant of St. Francis. In a better time when +wild life will be cherished and not hunted, it will be remembered +that the dawn-peoples had a vision which was not all +vanity.</p> + +<p>The world of reality wears a rich garb that was woven for it +by the world of tradition ages ago. Shifting lands of legend +have become solid ground. There was no island of Brasil, but +the country of Brazil bears its name. There was perhaps no +Antilia, domain of the Seven Bishops, but the Antilles stretch +their veritable ramparts across the Caribbean. The Amazons +are commemorated by the earth’s greatest river. There are +beasts and birds which perpetuate the names of the dragon, the +harpy, the sea horse, the unicorn, the satyr. The pity of the +pelican lives in Christian symbolism. The wisdom of the brute +runs through Æsopian fables and mediæval bestiaries. The +creatures of classic prodigy—the griffins, the phœnix, the dragon—animate +the blazons of heraldry. The ideal lands and marvelous +peoples of ancient story lend a strange beauty to the +romances of chivalry. Half of the appeal of cathedrals is in +the monstrous figures—bestial, grotesque, devilish—which proclaim +from their roofs and buttresses and sculptured walls a +paradox which is no paradox at all, that the sanctuaries of the +spirit are set among the perilous ways of the world. The old +credulities are enshrined in the language of every people, in +the imagery of the arts, and in the bedtime tales that follow the +settings of the sun from station to station around the earth.</p> + +<p>These things have spoken neither the last nor the greatest +word they are to utter. The fruitful use of the collections of +savage myth and peasant lore is yet to come, when classic legend +will take its place as but a chapter in the volume of fantasy. +What will be revealed therein is the mind of man in the presence +of the spectacle of beauty and terror which is the world. Here +the themes of poetry, painting, and the plastic arts await a new +treatment. Not so much the councils of the gods, the myths of +creation and of natural forces, as the simpler travel tales that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</span> +are close to the soil will be drawn upon. Olympus towers afar +with its divinities. Nearer to the earth, for example, is the +mountain of San Francisco in Arizona, which the Navahos say +was “bound with a sunbeam, decked with haliotis shell, clouds, +he-rain, yellow maize, and animals, nested with eggs of the +yellow warbler, spread with yellow cloud and made the home +of White-Corn Boy and Yellow-Corn Girl.” However high their +spirit soars, men’s feet are on the ground. If it is the limitation +of their nature it is the liberation of their art that their +interest is more in quests of the Terrestrial Paradise than in +myths of things unearthly.</p> + +<p>It was the first belief of man that with a thought he could +change the outer world. What was it, indeed, but the projection +of his own soul—the demons that were his evil thoughts, +“the savage and voluptuous beasts that were the emblems of +his folly,” the ideal lands that were the dawn and afterglow +of his own days? The beginning of art was magic, alike in +the chants of rainmakers, the cave paintings of the Dordogne, +and the sculptures of Egypt; and magic is its end. Still may +the artist soul of man fashion its own realities.</p> + +<p>While he builds the pleasant marvels of his yesterdays into +habitations of fancy, he will rear other structures of the like +insubstantial stuff and deem them the abiding places of reality. +The shows of nature are a pageant through which man moves in +a dream of his own making. The piling and passing of the +clouds, the fog’s oblivion, the sunset, the night and the stars, +work their spells about him, masking, concealing, revealing. +With the harmless revel of fireflies in the dew and dusk, fairy +locks unbolt for him. He cannot look upon life save as a drama +or an allegory, with the earth as the stage and the sky for its +hangings. By the law of his being he must be maker of myths.</p> + +<p>Only a divine animal could question what was behind the +hills, win the vision of unconjectured oceans, hear the note of +eternity in the sound of running water, and, flashing into a brief +ecstasy, sink back again with the cry of Eheu Fugaces. The +brute-gods of his myths, are they not man himself with his +animal routine and his divine moments? When he crosses the +barrier of dreams, when he sits at the gates of memory, when +contemplation holds him motionless “like a flame in a windless<span class="pagenum" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</span> +spot,” in his Dionysian intoxications, in the very dances wherein +he merges the god and the brute, he creates worlds that ensphere +his every mood. The Iranian who calls the abode of the blest +the House of Song, and the Mongol whose official scrolls speak +of the continents as the Golden Surface have made a new heaven +and a new earth.</p> + +<p>It is not given man to envisage reality. His is the greater +gift to brood over Chaos and shape it as he will.</p> +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="c26">Bibliography</h2> +</div> + + +<p>In preparing this book the works most frequently consulted +have been Pliny’s <i>Natural History</i>, Browne’s <i>Enquiries into +Vulgar and Common Errors</i>, Beazley’s <i>Dawn of Modern Geography</i>, +Frazer’s <i>Golden Bough</i>, Tylor’s <i>Primitive Culture</i>, +Hakluyt’s <i>Principal Voyages of the English Nation</i>, and Pinkerton’s +<i>Collection of Voyages and Travels</i>. Both the Hakluyt and +Pinkerton collections are libraries in themselves, each with some +hundreds of titles, and the travel narratives they contain will not +be separately listed here.</p> + +<p>Following are the main sources drawn upon for the materials +of this study:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p><span class="smcap">Abercromby, John.</span> <i>The Pre- and Proto-historic Finns.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Aelian.</span> <i>De Natura Animalium.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Adams, Cyrus C.</span> “The Sargasso Sea,” in <i>Harper’s Monthly</i> for 1907.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Albertus Magnus.</span> <i>Egyptian Secrets.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Aldrovandi.</span> <i>Opera Omnia.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Allen, Paul.</span> <i>History of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Alexander, Hartley Burr.</span> <i>North American Mythology</i>; <i>Latin-American Mythology</i>.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Arabian Nights.</span>” Burton Edition.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Anutschin.</span> Interpretation of old Russian manuscript on “<i>The +Unknown Peoples of the East</i>,” translated by Dr. H. Mirchow in +proceedings of the Anthropological Society of Vienna, 1910.</p> + + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Babcock, William H.</span> <i>Legendary Islands of the Atlantic</i>; “Atlantis +and Antillia,” in <i>Geographic Review</i> for 1917.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Balch, Edwin Swift.</span> “Atlantis, or Minoan Crete,” in <i>Geographic +Review</i> for 1917.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bandelier, A. F.</span> <i>The Gilded Man.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bates, Henry Walter.</span> <i>The Naturalist on the River Amazons.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Beazley, C. Raymond.</span> <i>The Dawn of Modern Geography.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Beddard, Frank Evars.</span> <i>A Book of Whales.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bingham, Hiram.</span> <i>Across South America.</i></p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Blackwood’s Magazine</span>” for 1904. “Heraldry.”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Botchkareva, Maria.</span> <i>Yashka; My Life as Peasant, Officer and Exile.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bradley, Henry.</span> <i>Ptolemy’s Geography of the British Isles.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brehaut, Ernest.</span> <i>An Encyclopedist of the Dark Ages; Isidore of +Seville.</i></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brewer, E. Cobham.</span> <i>Dictionary of Phrase and Fable.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Brooks, Noah.</span> <i>First Across the Continent.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Browne, Sir Thomas.</span> <i>Enquiries into Vulgar and Common Errors.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Buddhist</span> <i>Records of the Western World</i>. Truebner’s Oriental Series.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Buffon, George Louis L.</span> <i>Natural History.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bulfinch, Thomas.</span> <i>Legends of Charlemagne</i>; <i>The Age of Fable</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bunbury, E. H.</span> <i>History of Ancient Geography.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Burton, Sir Richard F.</span> <i>A Mission to Gélélé, King of Dahome.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Burckhardt, John Lewis.</span> <i>Travels in Arabia.</i></p> + + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Carlyle, Thomas.</span> <i>The French Revolution.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Carnoy, Albert J.</span> <i>Iranian Mythology.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Caxton, William.</span> <i>History of Reynard the Fox.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Chamberlain, Alexander F.</span> “Recent Literature on the South American +Amazons,” in <i>Journal of American Folk-Lore</i>, 1911.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Chambers, W. & R.</span> <i>The Book of Days.</i></p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Chambers Journal</span>,” for 1844. “The Dwarf Nation Idea.”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Charnay, Désiré.</span> <i>The Ancient Cities of the New World.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Churchward, Albert.</span> <i>The Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cook, Captain James.</span> <i>Voyages of Discovery.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Coronado.</span> <i>His Journey as Told by Himself and His Followers</i>, +translated by George Parker Winship.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cox, Sir George W.</span> <i>An Introduction to the Science of Comparative +Mythology and Folklore.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ctesias</span>, <i>Indika</i>. Translation by John W. McCrindle.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cuvier, Georges.</span> <i>Animal Kingdom.</i></p> + + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Dalton, Leonard D.</span> <i>Venezuela.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Diodorus Siculus.</span> <i>The Historical Library.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Disraeli, Isaac.</span> <i>Curiosities of Literature.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dixon, Roland B.</span> <i>Oceanic Mythology.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Donnelly, Ignatius.</span> <i>Atlantis: The Antediluvian World.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Doughty, Charles M.</span> <i>Travels in Arabia Deserta.</i></p> + + +<p class="p2">“<span class="smcap">Encyclopædia Britannica.</span>” <i>Ninth and eleventh editions.</i></p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics.</span>”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Evans, E. P.</span> <i>Animal Symbolism in Ecclesiastical Architecture</i>; <i>The +Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals.</i></p> + + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Fisher, Ruth B.</span> <i>On the Borders of Pigmy Land.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fiske, John.</span> <i>Myths and Myth Makers.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fouqué, De La Motte.</span> <i>Undine.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fox, William Sherwood.</span> <i>Greek and Roman Mythology.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">France, Anatole.</span> <i>Penguin Island.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Frazer, J. G.</span> <i>The Golden Bough; Folk-Lore in the Old Testament.</i></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Freud, Sigmund.</span> <i>Totem and Taboo.</i></p> + + +<p class="p2">“<span class="smcap">Geographical Review</span>” for 1917. “Proposed Expedition to New +Guinea.”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gerini, Col. G. E.</span> <i>Researches on Ptolemy’s Geography of Eastern +Asia.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gesner, Konrad.</span> <i>History of Animals.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gould, Charles.</span> <i>Mythical Monsters.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gould, S. Baring.</span> <i>Curious Myths of the Middle Ages.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gray, Louis Herbert.</span> <i>North American Mythology.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gribble, Francis.</span> <i>The Early Mountaineers.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Groome, Francis H.</span> <i>Gipsy Folk-Tales.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Grote, George.</span> <i>History of Greece.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Guerber, H. A.</span> <i>Myths and Legends of the Middle Ages.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Guillim, John.</span> <i>A Display of Heraldry.</i></p> + + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Hakluyt, Richard.</span> <i>Principal Voyages of the English Nation.</i></p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Harper’s Book of Facts.</span>”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Harrison, J. E.</span> “Satyrs” and “Silenoi,” in <i>Encyclopedia of Religion +and Ethics</i>, vol. xi.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hedin, Sven.</span> <i>Through Asia</i>; <i>Central Asia</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Herodotus.</span> <i>History.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Homer.</span> <i>Iliad</i> and <i>Odyssey</i>, Pope’s Translation.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hugo, Victor.</span> <i>Notre Dame de Paris.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Humboldt, Alexander Von.</span> <i>Personal Narrative of Travels to the +Equinoctial Regions of America</i>; <i>Views of Nature</i>; <i>Researches +Concerning the Institutions and Monuments of the Ancient Inhabitants +of America</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Hyamson, Albert H.</span> “Sambatyon,” in <i>Encyclopedia of Religion and +Ethics</i>, vol. xi.</p> + + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Ibanez, V. Blasco.</span> <i>Mexico in Revolution.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Irving, Washington.</span> <i>Tour of the Prairies</i>; <i>Life and Voyages of +Christopher Columbus</i>; <i>Voyages and Discoveries of Companions +of Columbus</i>.</p> + + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Jacobs, Joseph.</span> <i>The Story of Geographical Discovery.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Johnston, Sir Harry H.</span> <i>British Central Africa.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Josephus</span>. <i>Antiquities of the Jews</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Johnson, William Henry.</span> <i>The World’s Discoverers.</i></p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Journal of American Folk-Lore</span>,” 1901 to date.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Joyce, Thomas A.</span> <i>Mexican Archæology.</i></p> + + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Keane, John.</span> <i>The Evolution of Geography.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Keane, A. H.</span> <i>The Gold of Ophir</i>; <i>Man, Past and Present</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Keith, A. Berriedale.</span> <i>Indian Mythology.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Kingsley, Charles.</span> <i>The Hermits.</i></p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</span></p> +<p><span class="smcap">Knapp, Philip Coombs.</span> “Crete and Atlantis,” in <i>Geographic Review</i> +for 1919.</p> + + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Landrin, M. Armand.</span> <i>Les Monstres Marins.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lang, Andrew.</span> <i>Custom and Myth</i>; <i>Modern Mythology.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lankester, E. Ray.</span> <i>Secrets of Earth and Sea.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Laufer, Berthold.</span> “The Story of the Pinna and the Syrian Lamb,” +<i>Journal of American Folk-Lore</i>, 1915.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Leland, Charles G.</span> <i>The Algonquin Legends of New England.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Livingstone, David.</span> <i>Missionary Travels and Researches in South +Africa.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lower, Mark Antony.</span> <i>The Curiosities of Heraldry.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lucian.</span> <i>The True History.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Luquet, G. H.</span> “Human Figures in Paleolithic Art,” <i>L’Anthropologie</i>, +1910.</p> + + +<p class="p2">“<span class="smcap">Mabinogion.</span>” Translation by Lady Charlotte Guest.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Machal, Jan.</span> <i>Slavic Mythology.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mahaffy, Arthur.</span> “The Solomon Islands,” in <i>Empire Review</i> for +1902.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Major, Richard Henry.</span> <i>Discoveries of Prince Henry the Navigator +and their Results.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">McCrindle, John W.</span> <i>The Invasion of India by Alexander the Great, +as described by Arrian, Rufius, Diodorus and Plutarch.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">McCulloch, John A.</span> “Celtic Mythology”; “Abodes of the Blest,” in +<i>Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics</i>, vol. i: “Monsters,” in vol. +viii.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">MacIver, D. Randall.</span> <i>The Ancient Races of the Thebaid.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">MacRitchie, David.</span> “Dwarfs and Pygmies,” in <i>Encyclopedia of +Religion and Ethics</i>, vol. 1.; “Giants,” in vol. vi.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Marie de France.</span> <i>Lays.</i> Translation by Eugene Mason.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Maundeville, Sir John.</span> <i>Marvelous Adventures</i>, edited by Arthur +Layard.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mendana, Alvaro De.</span> <i>The Discovery of the Solomon Islands</i>, +Hakluyt Publications.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Merriam, C. Hart.</span> <i>The Dawn of the World.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Millington, Ellen J.</span> <i>Heraldry in History, Poetry, and Romance.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Millington, W. H.</span> (and <span class="smcap">Berton L. Maxfield</span>). “Philippine Superstitions,” +in <i>Journal of American Folk-Lore</i>, 1906.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mortimer, W. Golden.</span> <i>History of Coca.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Müller, F. Max.</span> <i>Contributions to the Science of Mythology</i>; <i>Comparative +Mythology.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Müller, W. Max.</span> <i>Egyptian Mythology.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Murger, Henri.</span> <i>Scènes de la Vie de Bohème.</i></p> + + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Pigafetta, Antonio.</span> <i>Magellan’s Voyage Around the World</i>, edited +by James Alexander Robertson.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</span></p> +<p><span class="smcap">Pinkerton, John.</span> <i>Collection of Voyages and Travels.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pliny.</span> <i>Natural History.</i> Bohm’s Classical Library.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Plutarch.</span> <i>Parallel Lives.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Polo, Marco.</span> <i>Travels.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Pontoppidan, Rt. Rev. Erik.</span> <i>The Natural History of Norway.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Powell, Talcott.</span> “Lumberjack Legends,” <i>New York Herald-Tribune</i>, +1924.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Prescott, William H.</span> <i>Conquest of Mexico</i>; <i>History of the Conquest +of Peru</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Purchas, Samuel.</span> <i>Purchas, his Pilgrims.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Phyfe, William Henry P.</span> <i>Five Thousand Facts and Fancies.</i></p> + + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Quatrefages, A. D.</span> <i>The Pygmies.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Quinn, Daniel.</span> “In Arkadia,” in <i>Catholic University Bulletin</i> for +1900.</p> + + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Reclus, Elisée.</span> <i>The Earth and Its Inhabitants.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Reddall, Henry Frederic.</span> <i>Fact, Fancy, and Fable.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Redway, Jacques W.</span> <i>The New Basis of Geography.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Reich, Emil.</span> <i>Woman Through the Ages.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Reid, Mayne.</span> <i>Odd People.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rothery, Guy Cadogan.</span> <i>The Amazons in Antiquity and Modern +Times</i>; <i>A B C of Heraldry</i>.</p> + + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">St. John.</span> <i>The Lives of Celebrated Travellers.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sawyer, Frederic H.</span> <i>The Inhabitants of the Philippines.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sayce, Archibald Henry.</span> <i>The Hittites.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schoolcraft, Henry R.</span> <i>The Indian Tribes.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schmitz, Leonhard.</span> <i>A Manual of Ancient Geography.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schuchert, Charles.</span> “Atlantis the Lost Continent,” in <i>Geographical +Review</i> for 1917.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schuller, Rudolph.</span> “Atlantis the Lost Continent,” in <i>Geographical +Review</i> for 1917.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Scottish Geographical Magazine</span>” for 1902. <i>The Discovery of the +Solomon Islands.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sidney, Sir Philip.</span> <i>Arcadia.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Smith, Grafton Elliot.</span> <i>The Migrations of Early Culture</i>; <i>The +Evolution of the Dragon</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Smith, J. Russell.</span> <i>The World’s Food Resources.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Smith, William.</span> <i>Dictionary of Ancient Geography.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Solinus.</span> <i>Collecteanea.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Spence, Lewis.</span> <i>An Introduction to Mythology</i>; “Atlantis and the +Maya Civilization,” in <i>Occult Review</i> for 1921; “Traces of Atlantis +in American Myth,” in <i>Occult Review</i> for 1920.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Standard Illustrated Book of Facts.</span>”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Stanford’s</span> <i>Compendium of Geography and Travel.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Stanley, Henry M.</span> <i>Through the Dark Continent.</i></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Strabo.</span> <i>Geography</i>, in Bohm’s Classical Library.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sullivan, Louis R.</span> “The Pygmy Races of Man,” in <i>Journal of the +American Museum of Natural History</i> for 1919.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sweet, William Warren.</span> <i>A History of Latin America.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Swift, Jonathan.</span> <i>Gulliver’s Travels.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Synge, M. B.</span> <i>A Book of Discovery.</i></p> + + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Teit, J. A.</span> “Water Beings in Shetlandic Folk-Lore,” in <i>Journal of +American Folk-Lore</i>, 1918.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Termier, Pierre.</span> “Atlantis,” in <i>Annual Report of the Smithsonian +Institute</i> for 1915.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas, Cyrus.</span> “Quivera—A Suggestion,” in <i>Magazine of American +History</i> for 1883.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Thomas, Northcote W.</span> “Animals,” in <i>Encyclopedia of Religion +and Ethics</i>, vol. i.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tozer, H. F.</span> <i>History of Ancient Geography.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tylor, Sir Edward Burnet.</span> <i>Researches into the Early History of +Mankind and the Development of Civilization</i>; <i>Primitive Culture</i>.</p> + + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Van Loon, Hendrick Willem.</span> <i>The Golden Book of the Dutch +Navigators.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Very, Baron De Santa-Anna.</span> <i>The Land of the Amazons.</i></p> + + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Wallis, W. D.</span> “Prodigies and Portents,” in <i>Encyclopedia of Religion +and Ethics</i>, vol. x.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Walsh, William S.</span> <i>Curiosities of Popular Customs</i>; <i>Handy Book of +Curious Information</i>.</p> + +<p>“<span class="smcap">Warner’s Library of the World’s Best Literature.</span>”</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Weigall, Arthur E. P.</span> “A Nubian Highway,” in <i>Blackwood’s Magazine</i> +for 1907.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Wells, H. G.</span> <i>The Outline of History.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Westropp, Thomas J.</span> “Brasil and the Legendary Atlantic Islands,” +in <i>Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy</i> for 1912.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Wheeler, William A.</span> <i>Familiar Allusions.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Wiener, Leo.</span> <i>Africa and the Discovery of America.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Williams, Archibald.</span> <i>The Romance of Early Exploration.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Williams, Henry S.</span> <i>The Historians’ History of the World.</i></p> + + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Xenophon.</span> <i>Anabasis.</i></p> + + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap">Zahm, J. A.</span> <i>Along the Andes and Down the Amazon</i>; <i>The Quest of +Eldorado</i>; <i>Up the Orinoco and Down the Magdalena</i>; <i>Through +South America’s Southland</i>.</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak">Index</h2> +</div> + +<ul class="index"> +<li class="ifrst">A</li> + +<li class="indx">Aaf Mountains, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Abarimon, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Abbadie, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Abchaz, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Abdallah of the Land, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Abdallah of the Sea, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aberdeen Almanac, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Abodes of the Blest, <a href="#Page_257">257-261</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336-337</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Abomey, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Absalom, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Abu baraquish</i>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Abul Abbas, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Abulfeda, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Abyssinia, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, + <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Academy of Armory</i>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Acephalites, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Acheron River, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Achilles, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Acoloro, island of, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Acoma, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Acorn-eaters,” <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Acridophagi, <a href="#Page_198">198-199</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Acroconopes, the, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Actæon, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Actium, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Adam assayed, <a href="#Page_357">357</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Adam of Bremen, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Adam’s footprint, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Adam’s Peak, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Addison, Launcelot, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aden, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Gulf of, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Adriatic Sea, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ægean Sea, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ægipans, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ælian, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, + <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Æneas, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Æneid</i>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Æschylus, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Æsculapius, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Æsop’s fables, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ætas, the, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Æthicus of Istria, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Æthiopica</i> of Marcellus, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Æthiopis</i>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Afer, Dionysius, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Afghans, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Africa, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, + <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, + <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, + <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Africa’s warrior women, <a href="#Page_178">178-184</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Age of Fable, <a href="#Page_348">348</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Agate, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Agatharcides, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Age of Ignorance, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Agira, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Agostina, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Agriophagi, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aguirre, <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ahacus, <a href="#Page_320">320</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aigamuxa, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aigiarm, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aikeambenanos, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ajasson, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Akbar, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Akkas, the, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Alabama, <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aladdin, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Alani, the, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Alarcon, <a href="#Page_321">321</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Albany, land of, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Albatross, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Albertus Magnus, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Albinos, <a href="#Page_193">193-194</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Alciphron, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aldrovandi, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aleutian Islands, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Alexander, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, + <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Alexandria, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Algonquins, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Al Istakhri, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aljahedh, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Allerion, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Alligator god, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Alps, the, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Altai Mountains, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Alton, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Alvarado, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Alvares, Father, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Amazons, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151-189</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, + <a href="#Page_362">362</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Amazon march, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Amazon stone, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Amazons, River of the, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Amazuni</i>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Amber, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ambergris, <a href="#Page_364">364</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ambrose, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li> + +<li class="indx">America, dragon in, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Lucian’s reference to, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Plato’s reference to, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">claim that St. Brendan discovered it, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Chinese Buddhists reached it, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Norse discovery of, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">discovery of by Columbus, <a href="#Page_272">272-3</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a></li> + +<li class="indx">American Bureau of Ethnology, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> + +<li class="indx">American Indian myths, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117-120</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368-370</a></li> + +<li class="indx">American Museum of Natural History, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + +<li class="indx">American southwest, Ararats in, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Amerigo Vespucci, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Amethyst, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Amiens, cathedral at, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ammon, Abbot, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Amoy, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Amycteres, the, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Anahuac, plateau of, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Anamba Islands, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>A’nasa</i>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ancient Mariner, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Andaman Islanders, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Andari, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Andes Mountains, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, + <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Andromeda, a great giant,” <a href="#Page_366">366</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Angola, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Anguilla, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Animal kingdom, <a href="#Page_27">27-48</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Animals, Avenue of, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Animals, criminal trials of, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Animals, their names borne by men, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">taking human form, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">politics of, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Annam, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Annwfir, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ant, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">gold-guarding, <a href="#Page_62">62-64</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Antennarius marmoratus</i>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Anthropology, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Anthropophagi, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, + <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Antichrist, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Antigon, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Antilia, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Antilles, the, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Antiope, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Antipodes, <a href="#Page_9">9-10</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Antoninus, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Antony, Mark, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Anubis, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Anuradhapura, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Anutschin, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ape, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aphrodisiacs, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Apollo, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Apple Island, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Apples of Adam, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Apurimac, valley of the, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Arab geography, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362-363</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Arabia, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, + <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Arabian Nights</i>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, + <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Arabian Sea, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Araby the Happy, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Arachne, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Arapahoes, the, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Arawaks, the, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Arcadia, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246-248</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Arctic night, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Arctinus, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ardnainiq, the, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aretias, island of, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Argensola, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Argonauts, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Argos, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ariana, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Arimaspians, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Arinadillo, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ariosto, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aristeas of Proconesus, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aristophanes, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aristotle, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, + <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Arjuna, Rajah, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ark, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Arkansas River, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Armada, the, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Armenia, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, + <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aromatic Cape, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Arngrim, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Arrian, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Artemidorus, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Artemis Stymphalia, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Arthur, King, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Art’s beginning in magic, <a href="#Page_376">376</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aryan culture, <a href="#Page_357">357</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Asafœtida, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Asesa, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Asia, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, + <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, + <a href="#Page_364">364</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Asia Minor, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, + <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ass, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Feast of the, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Baalam’s, <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ass-bittern, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Assuan, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Assyria, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Astarte, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Astolpho, home of, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Astomi, the, <a href="#Page_107">107-108</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Astrakhan, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Astronomy, Maya, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Asuang, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Asuncion, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aswamedha quest, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Atahnallpa, Inca, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Atbara River, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Athenæus, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Athens, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Athos, Mount, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Atlantes, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Atlantic Ocean, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, + <a href="#Page_262">262-273</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Atlantis, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, + <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281-297</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Atlantis: The Antediluvian World</i>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Atlas Mountains, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Atrato River, <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Attica, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Attic Nights</i>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Augustus, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aurochs, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aurungzebe, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Austin the monk,” <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Australia, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Autolycus, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Avalon, isle of, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Avernus, lake of, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ayamanes, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Azerbaijan, <a href="#Page_337">337</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Azores, the, <a href="#Page_12">12-13</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, + <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Azov, Sea of, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Aztecs, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">B</li> + +<li class="indx">Baalam, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Baalim, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Baboons, fear of, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Babylon, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Babylonia, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bacchus, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bactrians, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Badger’s legs, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bagdad, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bagrada River, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bahama Islands, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bailey, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Baker, Sir Samuel, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ba-Kwamba tribe, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Balasses, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Balboa, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331-332</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Balm of Gilead, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Baltic Sea, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Bamboo Books</i>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bancroft, <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Banda, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bandelier, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bangkok, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Banshee, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bantam, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bantu, the, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Barbarism defined, <a href="#Page_357">357</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Barbarossa, Frederick, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Barcelona, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Barentz, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Barns of Joseph, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Basil, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Basilisk, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bassorah, Hassan el, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bastards of the Kalahari Desert, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bat, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, + <a href="#Page_344">344</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bates, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Battalion of Death, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174-177</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Batu, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Batwas, the, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Baurded, Treasurer, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bears, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">as men bewitched, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Beasts, fabulous, <a href="#Page_49">49-67</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Beasts of Revelation, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Beazley, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Becket, Thomas à, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bede, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bedouins, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bedtime stories, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bee, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Beelzebub, the fly god, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Beetle, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Beeton, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Behrs, the, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Belalcazar, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bellerophon, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Belloc, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Belzoni, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Benjamin of Tudela, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bennu, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Benzom, gum, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Berber rock-towns, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bermuda Islands, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bernier, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bertinoro, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Beryl, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bes, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bestiaries, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bezoar, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bible, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, + <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bibliography, <a href="#c26">378-383</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bielovodye, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Big-footed men, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Billdad, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bimini, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bird of paradise, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Birds, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Birthstone, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bishop-fish, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Black River, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Black Sea, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Black Side of Cathedral, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Black Virgin,” <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bladder as sky, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Blameless” peoples, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brazil, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, + <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Blefkens, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Blemmyes, the, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Blessed Islands, <a href="#Page_258">258-261</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bloodstone, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Blue-land, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Boadicea, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Boccias Islands, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bogaz Keni, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bogota, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bohemia, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248-250</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bokhara, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bolivia, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bongo tribe, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Book of the Cities and Marvels of Countries</i>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Book of Climates</i>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Book of Diversities</i>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Book of Roads and Kingdoms</i>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Books, virtue in all, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Borneo, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bororo Indians, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bosman, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bossewell, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Boston Linnæan Society, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Botanic Garden</i>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Botchkareva, Maria, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174-177</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bothnia, Gulf of, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bo-tree, Sacred, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bottle-imps, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bouchey, Margaret, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bougainville, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Boundary between Old and New World, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bounteous Isle, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bourbourg, Abbé Brasseur de, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bourgogne, Jean de, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Boys, maiming of, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bradamante, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bragman, isle of, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brahma, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bran, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Breadfruit, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Breezes, generative, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brest, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brhaspati, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bridge of tortoises, <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bridinno, dwarf land of, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Britannus, <a href="#Page_344">344</a></li> + +<li class="indx">British Columbia, <a href="#Page_360">360</a></li> + +<li class="indx">British Isles, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, + <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brittany, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brobdingnag, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bronze Age, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Browne, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, + <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bruce, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brundusium, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brushwood Town, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brusilov, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brynhild, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Buache, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bucephali, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Buchanan, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Buddha, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Buddhism, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Buenos Aires, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Buffalo, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, + <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Caffrarian, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Buffon, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, + <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bull, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bulotu, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bunyan, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bunyan, Paul, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bunyip, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Buried cities, <a href="#Page_213">213-215</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Burma, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Burrowing creatures, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Burton, Lady, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Burton, Sir Richard, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, + <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Busbequins, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bushmen, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, + <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bustard, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Butterfly, <a href="#Page_344">344</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Buzzard, <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Byssus silk, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Byzantium, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">C</li> + +<li class="indx">Cabeza, de Vaca, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cabul, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cadiz, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cæsaristas, the, <a href="#Page_317">317</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cæsars of South America, <a href="#Page_317">317</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Calabash, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Caldilhe, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Caliban, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + +<li class="indx">California Indians, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">California, island of, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">California, State of, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Callao, <a href="#Page_328">328</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Calypso, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cambodia, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cambyses, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Camel, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, + <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">flying, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cametennus, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Campanella, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Camulatz, the bird, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Canada, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Canary Islands, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, + <a href="#Page_345">345</a>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Canelas, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cape Bojador, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cape Cod, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cape of Good Hope, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cape Guardafui, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cape Hatteras, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cape Santa Elena, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cape of Spices, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cape Verde Islands, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cappadocia, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Capricorn, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Caqueta River, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Carbuncle, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Carchemish, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cardan, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cardinal Points, <a href="#Page_203">203-205</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Caribbean Sea, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, + <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Carib, island of, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Caribs, the, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Caribou, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Carlyle, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Caroline Islands, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Caroni River, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Carp, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Carpini, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cartagena, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Carteret, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Carthage, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cartooning humanity, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Caspian Sea, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cassia, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cassiquiare River, <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cassiterides, the, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Castaneda, <a href="#Page_322">322</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Castelnau, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Castor, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cat, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cataclysm in New World myth, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Catalan map, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cat-fish, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cathay, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, + <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cathedrals, animal symbolism in, <a href="#Page_46">46-48</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Catoblepas, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Caucasus Mountains, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, + <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cave drawings, <a href="#Page_340">340</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Celtic glamour, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Celts, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Central America, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291-294</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Celebes, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cellar strain in human nature, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cellini, Benvenuto, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Centaur, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Central point of earth, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cephalopod, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cercopes, the, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cerne, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ceylon, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chalcedony, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chaldea, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chambers’ <i>Journal</i>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chameleon, <a href="#Page_366">366</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chamlakhu, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chains of Indo-China, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chao Fu-Kua, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chaos, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chardin, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Charia, Isle of, <a href="#Page_366">366</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Charlemagne cycle, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Charles III of Spain, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Charles V of Spain, <a href="#Page_317">317</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Charlevoix, Father, <a href="#Page_343">343</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Charon’s ferry, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chassenée as rat advocate, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chatan, pygmy city of, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chelonophagi, the, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chenoos, the, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cherokees, the, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chestnuts, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chiau Yau, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chibcha Indians, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chichen Itza, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Childbirth, a means of promoting, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chilean mythology, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chimæra, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">China, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, + <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, + <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, + <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">China seas, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chinese discovery of North America, <a href="#Page_360">360</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Chinese Encyclopedia</i>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chinese wall, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chiquitos, the, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chiriqui Indians, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Choquequirau, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Choromandæ, the, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chrism, devil’s, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Christ symbolized by unicorn, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">called the phœnix, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Christian fabulists, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Christian pilgrims, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>, <a href="#Page_357">357-358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Christian symbolism, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Chronicle of the Cid</i>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chrysolite, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chrysoprase, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Churchward, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cibola, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318-323</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ciconian coast, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cilician pirates, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cimarron republics, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cimbri, the, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cinnabar, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cinnamon, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Land of, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> + +<li class="indx">City of Brass, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> + +<li class="indx">City of God, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></li> + +<li class="indx">City of Hump-backed Women, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">City of Mexico, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a></li> + +<li class="indx">City of the Sun, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Classic myth, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Claudius, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Closet philosophers, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Clothing, origin of, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cloud-centaurs, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cloud-Cuckoo Town, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Clouds of Magellan, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cloves, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Coast Range, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Coata, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cobra, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cochin-China, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cock, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cockaigne, Land of, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cockatrice, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77-78</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cock’s egg, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cocytus River, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cod, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Colic, a cure for, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Coligny, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Collecteanea</i>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Colombia, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, + <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Colorado River, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Columbus, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, + <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, + <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Comedy, Greek, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Commercial subtlety, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Communal houses, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Comorin, Cape, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Compass, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Composite creatures, doctrine of, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Concepcion, <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Condor, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Conflict between Horus and Set,” <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Confucius on jade, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Congo, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Conquistadors, <a href="#Page_299">299-333</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Constantinople, <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Constellations, animal forms of, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Conway, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cook, Capt., <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cool Lake, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Coos Bay giants, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Copper, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Age, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Mountains, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Coptic Christians, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cordilleras, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cordoba, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Corentyne River, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cornelius Nepos, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Corn spirit, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cornwall, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Coromandel Coast, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Coronado, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321-326</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Corsali, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cortez, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Corvo, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cosmas, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cossack colonel a woman, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Costa Rica, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cotton-plant, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cotzbalam, the bird, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cougnantainsecouima, the, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Council of Virgins, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Country of the Dwarfs</i>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Country of Widows, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Country of Women, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Court of the Universe, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cow, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cowry shell, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Coyote, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Crab, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cradle of Gold, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cramps, a cure for, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Crane, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">war with pygmies, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Crantor, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Crayfish, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Creative caricature, <a href="#Page_340">340</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Credulity of Greeks, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Crete, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cricket, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Crimean war, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Criminal courts of birds, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Critias</i>, the, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Crocker Land, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Crocodile, <a href="#Page_36">36-37</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cromagnons, the, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Crow Indians, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Crusaders, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ctesias, characterized, <a href="#Page_352">352-353</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">cited, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, + <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, + <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cuatas, the, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cuba, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cuchiviro, Rio, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cuckoo, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cundinamarca, plateau of, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cupidity, a cure for, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Curupira, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cush, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cushing, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Customs” of Dahomey, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cuttlefish, men mistaken for, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cuvier, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, + <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cuzco, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cybele, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cyclopes, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cyme, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cynocephali, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cyrenaica, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cyrene, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cyrne, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cyrus the Great, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Czecho-Slovakia, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">D</li> + +<li class="indx">Da Gama, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dahomey, <a href="#Page_179">179-183</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dahut, Princess, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dalay River, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Damastes, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dampier, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dance macabre, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dancing negresses, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dandini, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Daniel, Abbott, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">D’Annunzio, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Danube River, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dardæ, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Darkness, legends as to, <a href="#Page_220">220-221</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Darwin, Charles, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Darwin, Erasmus, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + +<li class="indx">David, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Davy, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li class="indx">De Acunha, Father, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dead Sea, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Deadly upas tree, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li class="indx">De Arguello, <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Death-watch, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + +<li class="indx">De Berreo, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Deccan, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li class="indx">De Chaves, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dee, River, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Deer, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Deformed Folk, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li> + +<li class="indx">De Gamboa, <a href="#Page_328">328</a></li> + +<li class="indx">De la Mare, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + +<li class="indx">De Leon, Diego Flores, <a href="#Page_317">317</a></li> + +<li class="indx">De Leon, Ponce, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Delicious Isle, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Delight-makers, <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Delight of Those Who Seek to Wander Through the Regions of the World</i>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Delisle, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Delos, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Delphi, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Deluded Folk, eight, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Deluge, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Delusive water, <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> + +<li class="indx">De Maillet, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Demons, <a href="#Page_376">376</a></li> + +<li class="indx">De Ortribia, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> + +<li class="indx">De Proveda, <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Derbent, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Derceto, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Descouret, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Description of Greece</i>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Desert, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209-215</a></li> + +<li class="indx">De Silva, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Destruction of Mankind,” <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Deucalion, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + +<li class="indx">De Urreta, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> + +<li class="indx">De Ursua, <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Devil, cult of in Florida, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Devil-fish, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Devil-mask of the Jurupary, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + +<li class="indx">De Weltheim, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Diable Borteux, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Diamond, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Diana of the Ephesians, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Diana in Autun, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dicuil, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Digby, Sir Kenelm, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dinosaur, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Diodorus Siculus, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, + <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, + <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dionysus, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Disappearing Islands, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256-257</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Disraeli, <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ditter, island of, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dobayba, temple of, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dodona, oak of, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dog, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, + <a href="#Page_340">340</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">husbands, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dogfish, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dog-headed people, <a href="#Page_105">105-107</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dog-ribs, the, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dog Star, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dolmen, <a href="#Page_343">343</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dolphin, <a href="#Page_90">90-91</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dondun, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Donnelly, Ignatius, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Don steppes, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + +<li class="indx">D’Orbigny, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dordogne cave paintings, <a href="#Page_376">376</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dos Santos, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Doughty, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Doul-Karnain, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dove, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dowarnenez, Bay of, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dragon, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, + <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79-88</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, + <a href="#Page_344">344</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dragonfly, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dragon-tyger, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dragon-wolf, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Drake, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dravidians, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Drawings, Primitive, <a href="#Page_340">340</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dread of thick foliage, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dream Quests of Spain, <a href="#Page_312">312-333</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dreams, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dromedary, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Druids, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Drums, magic, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Drunkards, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dryads, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Du Chaillu, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Duck, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Duff Islands, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Duirs, the, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dumb-barter, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dunashki, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Du Pin, Jean, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dutch East India Company, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dwarf-gods of Egypt and Phœnicia, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dwarfs, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dyaks, the, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">E</li> + +<li class="indx">Eagle, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eagle-stone, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Earth, size and shape of, <a href="#Page_5">5-13</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Earth-holders, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li> + +<li class="indx">East, <a href="#Page_204">204-205</a></li> + +<li class="indx">East African islands, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Easter Island, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eastern Roman Empire, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> + +<li class="indx">East Indies, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ecbatana, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ecclesiastical suits against vermin, <a href="#Page_31">31-32</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Echo, the, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eclipses, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ecuador, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Edam, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eden, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_357">357</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eden, Richard, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Edom, land of, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eel, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">“eel-mother,” <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eel-like men, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Egede, Hans, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Egypt, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, + <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, + <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Emmet valley, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Elbe River, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Elders, Animal, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li class="indx">El Dorado, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298-310</a>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Elephant, <a href="#Page_32">32-34</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, + <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">tower, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Elephantine, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Elephantophagi, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eleusinian mystery, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li class="indx">El Gran Moxo, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> + +<li class="indx">El Gran Paititi, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Elixir of life, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Elizabethan age, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Elizabeth, Queen, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Elm’s refreshing shadow, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + +<li class="indx">El Turco, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Elysium, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257-261</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Emerald, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Emerson, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Empedocles, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Enchanted City of the Cæsars, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316-318</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Enchanted Islands, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Enchantments, a defense against, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Enciso, Bachelor, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Encyclopædia Britannica, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Encyclopædists, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Engano, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">English Channel a ferry of souls, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Englishmen, tailed, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Enmities of birds, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Enotocoitae, the, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Enquiries of Browne</i>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ephesus, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Epilepsy, treatment of, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Epiphany, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Equatorial Current, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Equestrian statues, Carthaginian, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eratosthenes, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ericson, Thorwald, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eriphia, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Error the guiding star of discovery, <a href="#Page_371">371</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Erythræ, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Erythræan Sea, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Esdras</i>, books of, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eskimos, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, + <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Essay-writing, a dragon diet for, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Estevanico, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Esther</i>, book of, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Estland, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Estotiland, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Etearchus, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ethnography, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ethiopia, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, + <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Etymology as source of myths, <a href="#Page_344">344-347</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eudoxus, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Euphrates River, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Euripides, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Europe, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Evangelists as beast-headed men, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Evans, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Eve, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Evolution of divine beast-men, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Evolution of the Dragon, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ewaipanoma, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Expedition Island, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Ezekiel</i>, book of, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ezion-geber, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">F</li> + +<li class="indx">Fabric of Illusion, <a href="#Page_334">334-347</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fabulous winged creatures, <a href="#Page_68">68-78</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fa-hien, <a href="#Page_360">360</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fairies, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">queen of, <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Falcon-fish, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Falcon-man, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Falconry, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Familiars, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fang-chang, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Farissol, Abraham, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Faroes, the, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fatephur Sikri, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Father John, bird called, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Faun, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fayal, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fear, myths of, <a href="#Page_371">371</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Feast of Reason, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Feast of the Valiant Women, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Feathered men, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Febrifuge, a, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Federmann, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Felfel Mountain, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Fen-shu</i>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Female Crusade, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Female incense, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fertility emblems, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Festus Avienus, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fezzan, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fiddlers’ Green, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fiend fly, <a href="#Page_344">344</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fijis, <a href="#Page_335">335</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Filipinos, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Finland, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Finn-folk, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Finnish magic songs, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">riddles, <a href="#Page_346">346</a></li> + +<li class="indx">First People, Indian, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fish, a polygamous, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fish-eating races, <a href="#Page_196">196-198</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Flaccus, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Flame of Life</i>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Flavianus, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fleurieu, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Flint people, <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Florida, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Flying Dutchman, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Foersch, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Folk of Tradition, <a href="#Page_190">190-200</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Fonte perenni</i>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Forest, beliefs as to, <a href="#Page_215">215-217</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Formosa, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fortunate Isles, <a href="#Page_257">257-261</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fossils as source of myths, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fountain of the Sun, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fountain of Youth, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314-315</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fouqué, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fox, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fragrant Mountains, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">France, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + +<li class="indx">France, Anatole, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Frankincense, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Franks, the, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Frazer, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a></li> + +<li class="indx">French Amazons, <a href="#Page_172">172-174</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Friar-fish, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Friars, begging, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Friedemann, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Friendly Islanders, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Friendships of birds, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Friesland, West, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Frobisher, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Frog, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fu-lin, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Fung-wang</i>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Furies, the, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">G</li> + +<li class="indx">Gadarenes, country of the, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gaditanian Sea, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gains of Fable, <a href="#Page_371">371-377</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Galen, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Galvano, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gambia River, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gamblers, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gamphasantes, the, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ganges River, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Garcias ab Horto, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Garcilaso de la Vega, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gargoyles, <a href="#Page_337">337</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Garnet, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Garuda, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gaul, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Geese, wild, <a href="#Page_41">41-42</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gélélé, King, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gellius, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Genesis</i>, book of, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, + <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Genghis Khan, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Geographers, ancient, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Geography of Scents, <a href="#Page_230">230-231</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gerini, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Germain, Louis, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> + +<li class="indx">German Hydrographic Office, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Germany, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>, + <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gesner, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gessi, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Getæ, the, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ghauts, the, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ghosts, merriment of, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ghouls, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">isle of, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Giants, <a href="#Page_190">190-193</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>, + <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">stone, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gibbon, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gibraltar, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Straits of, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gihon, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gila Canyon, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gilbert, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gilboa, Mount, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gilded Man, the, <a href="#Page_298">298-310</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gindanes, land of the, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ginger, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ginseng, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Giraldus Cambrensis, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Glistening Heath, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Glooskap, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Glow-worms, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gnomes, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gnu, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Goat, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gobi, Desert of, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Goddess of Liberty, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> + +<li class="indx">God-man, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + +<li class="indx">God’s land of the Celts, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gog and Magog, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235-238</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gold, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">origin of use as money, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Spanish quest of, <a href="#Page_298">298-333</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gold Coast, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Golden Age, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Golden Apalache, <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Golden Bough</i>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Golden Chain, adventure of, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Golden Chersonese, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Golden Fleece, <a href="#Page_372">372</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Golden Surface, the, <a href="#Page_377">377</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Goliath, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Good intentions, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Goodwin Sands, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Goose, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gonges, Olympede, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gorgons, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gorilla, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Goths, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gould, Baring, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gould, Charles, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gradlon, King, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Grand Lama of Tibet, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Grapes, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Grasshoppers, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Grasshopper-eaters, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Grasshopper warriors,” <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gravelly Sea, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Great China,” <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Great Han Country, <a href="#Page_360">360</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Great Mother, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Great Saracen Land, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Great Syrtis, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Great toe, peculiar formation of, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Great Year, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Greece, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, + <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Greenland, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Green Sea of Gloom, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Grenada, island of, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gribble, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Griffin, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55-56</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, + <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>, + <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Grimm Brothers, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Guacaris, the, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Guadeloupe, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Guatemala, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Guatavita, Lake, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Guaviare River, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Guiana, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, + <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Guillim, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gulf of California, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gulf of Mexico, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gulf of Oraba, <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gulf of Paria, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gulf Stream, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gulfweed, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gumberoo, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gum camphor, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gum-tree country, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gunhild, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gwenland, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gwyn ab Nudd, <a href="#Page_368">368</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gymnetæ, the, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Gypsies, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">H</li> + +<li class="indx">Hacus, <a href="#Page_320">320</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hadam, Eldad, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hahua-chumpi, island of, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Haida, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Hairy ones,” <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Haiti, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hakluyt, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, + <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Halcyon, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Half-men, <a href="#Page_111">111-112</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Halls of the Giants, <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hamam Meskouteen, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Haman, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hand of Satan, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hanno, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hannum, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hanuman, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hanyson, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Happy hunting grounds, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Harald Hardrada, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hardouin, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hare, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Harem of a queen, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Harpies, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75-77</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hart, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hathor, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hatusapur, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Havaika, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hav-fruen, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Havilah, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, + <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hav-manden, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hawk, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hawkins, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hawks, Henry, <a href="#Page_322">322</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hayton, King, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Headless People, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hebrew the natural speech, <a href="#Page_357">357</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hecatæus, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hedgehog, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hedin, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hedjaz, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hegesias, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Heifer, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Heimskringla</i>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Heine, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Helicon, Island of, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Heliogabalus, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Heliolithic culture, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Heliopolis, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hellebore, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hellespont, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hell-way, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Helyon, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hen, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Henry VII, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Henry the Navigator, Prince, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Heraldry, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66-67</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Herbenstein, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hercules, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, + <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hercynian birds, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Herkhuf, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hermes, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hermits, beasts of, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Herodotus, characterized, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">cited, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, + <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, + <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, + <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, + <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, + <a href="#Page_354">354</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Heroes of beast epics, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Heron, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Herrera, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hesiod, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hesperides, the, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hibernating Samoyeds, <a href="#Page_116">116-117</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hiddekel, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hierro, island of, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Hill and Sea Classic</i>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hill of Little Devils, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Himalayas, the, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Himantopodes, the, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Himilco, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Himyarites, the, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hionen Thsang, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hippocampus, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hippo Diarrhytus, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hippogrif, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hippogypi, the, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hippolyte, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hippopotamus, <a href="#Page_34">34-35</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hiram of Tyre, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>History of the Indies</i>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hittites, <a href="#Page_185">185-187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ho-lao-lo-kia, vanished city of, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Holland, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Holme, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Holstein coast, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Holy Roman Empire, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Homer, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, + <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, + <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Homocane, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Homunculus, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hopi towns, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Horizon Lands, <a href="#Page_201">201-222</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Horned hogs, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Horned men, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Horneman, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Horse, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, + <a href="#Page_324">324</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hörselberg, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Horus, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hospitality, proverb on, <a href="#Page_335">335</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hottentots, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">“click” of, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + +<li class="indx">House of Song, <a href="#Page_377">377</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Houses of the Sun, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Huallaga River, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Huanacos, <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Huc, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hudson Bay Company, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hugag, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hugo, Victor, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Huguenots, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Humboldt, characterized, <a href="#Page_369">369</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">cited, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, + <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Humming bird, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hungarian Plain, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Huns, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hurakan, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hyderabad, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hydra, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hyena, <a href="#Page_35">35-36</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hyparkhos River, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hyperboreans, <a href="#Page_201">201-203</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">I</li> + +<li class="indx">Ibanez, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Iberia, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ibis, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ibn Batuta, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, + <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ibn Haukal, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ibn Khaldun, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ibn Khordadbeh, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Iceland, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ichthyophagi, <a href="#Page_196">196-198</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ideal lands, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257-261</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336-337</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ideal states, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Idrisi, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ignatius, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Iguanodon, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Iliad, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Illampu, peak of, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Imaus, Mount, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Immaculate Conception, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Imrama</i>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Im Thurn, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Incas, fugitive, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Incense Country, the, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229-235</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Route, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">battles, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Incontinency, how discovered, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">India, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, + <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, + <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, + <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, + <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, + <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Indian Archipelago, <a href="#Page_364">364</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Indian Ocean, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, + <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Indika</i>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Indo-China, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Indonesia, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Indus River, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Inis Fitæ, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Inishbofin, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Insanity, a cure for, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Institute of Oceanography, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Insula de ben faminill</i>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Insula mulierum</i>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Insula virorum</i>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Insurrection of Women, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Intoxication, a preventive of, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Io, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Iran, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ireland, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Irijo River, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Irish sea epics, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252-253</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Iron city, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Iroquois, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Irving, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Is, sunken city of, <a href="#Page_255">255-256</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Isaiah</i>, book of, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Isidore, characterized, <a href="#Page_356">356-357</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">cited, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Iskander’s wall, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Isla de beimeni parte</i>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Isla de Mugeres</i>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Islam, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Island of Death, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Island of Females, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Island of Life, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Island of Males, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Island of the Seven Cities, or of the Seven Bishops, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, + <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Islands, number of, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Islands of Enchantment, <a href="#Page_251">251-261</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Islands of the Sun, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Islas Encantadas, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Isle of the Blessed, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Isle of the Double Towers, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Isle of Finn, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Isle of Fire, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Isle of Flowers, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Isle of Gems, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Isle of Laughter, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Isle of a Saint, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Isle of Sheep, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Isle of Shouting, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Isle of witches, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Isogonus, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Israel, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Issedones, the, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Istakhri, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ister, the, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Istria, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Italy, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Itys, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ivan the Terrible, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ivory, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ivory, apes and peacocks, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ivory Coast, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">J</li> + +<li class="indx">Jacinth, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jackal, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jade, <a href="#Page_23">23-24</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Gate, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jaguar god, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jaitwas, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Janaidar, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Japan, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, + <a href="#Page_371">371</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jasconius, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jason, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jasper, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Java, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, + <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jehovah, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jenkinson, Anthony, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jerba, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jerusalem, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, + <a href="#Page_357">357</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">center of the earth, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jesuits, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jet, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jews, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">legendary kingdoms of, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">with tails, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">black pygmy, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jew’s-harps, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jinga, Queen, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Joan of Arc, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">and bottle imp, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Job, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">his dunghill, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Job</i>, book of, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> + +<li class="indx">John of Herse, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Johnson, Doctor, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Johnston, Sir Harry, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Joliet, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Joppa, <a href="#Page_366">366</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jordan, River, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jordanus, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Josephus, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Judas on his rock, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Judy, the, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jujube, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Julian, Emperor, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Julius Cæsar, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Juno, temple of, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jupiter Ammon, oasis of, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Juruena River, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Just” peoples, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Justin, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">K</li> + +<li class="indx">Kabyles, the, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kadesh, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kaidu, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kali, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kalm, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kanakas, the, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kangaroo, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kansas, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Karabel, Pass of, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kara-Khitai, the, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Karaya myth, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Karelian, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kasil, island of, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kaska tribesmen, <a href="#Page_343">343</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Kataphugia</i>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kathkuri, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kazwini, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Keane, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kent, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kerensky, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kerner, Justinus, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kibu, island of, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Ki-lin</i>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kilsapheen, Lost, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kine of Cibola, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> + +<li class="indx">King of Faerie, <a href="#Page_368">368</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kingdom of Dogs, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kingdom of Women, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kingsley, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kinship with animals, <a href="#Page_374">374-375</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kirata, the, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kirghiz, the, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Klebermeer, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kobolds, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kohistan, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Koliwan, Lake, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kollman, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Komana, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Koran, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kordofan, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Korean tradition of inhabited lands, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kors Trold, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Korwars, the, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kraken, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92-93</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Krokottas, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Krümmel, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kublai Khan, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kukulcan, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kurdistan, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kwan-lun hill, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kyffhäuser Berg, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">L</li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Lachryma Crocodili</i>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + +<li class="indx">La Condamine, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lactantius, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ladanum, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ladrones, the, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lafitan, Père, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> + +<li class="indx">La Gran Quivera, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Laguna, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lahore, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li class="indx">La Maillard, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lamary, land of, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lamb of Revelation, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lamberti, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lambri, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lamias, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lamprey, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lampridius, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lamya, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Land of Darkness, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Land of Fair Women, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Land of Ghosts, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Land of Job, <a href="#Page_366">366</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lands of Legend, <a href="#Page_223">223-250</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Land of Marked Bodies, <a href="#Page_360">360</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Land of the Living, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Land of Promise, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Land of Truth, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lane, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lang, <a href="#Page_357">357</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lanuvium, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Laos, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lapis lazuli, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lapland, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, + <a href="#Page_343">343</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Laputa, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Large-eared men, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Las Casas, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Las Jurdes, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lassen, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Last of the Incas, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Latin mind, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Laufer, Berthold, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Laurel-tree and lightning, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + +<li class="indx">La Vieja Islands, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lecherers, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Leems, Knud, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Legion’s winter camp, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Leigh, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Leland, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Le Maire, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lemuria, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lenin, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Leopard, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Le Plongeon, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Leptus, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lesiy, the, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Les Merveilleuses</i>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lestai, the, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lethe, fountain of, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Leuke, isle of, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Leviathan, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Levine, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lewis and Clark expedition, <a href="#Page_372">372</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lhasa, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Library of Congress, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Libussa, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Libya, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, + <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Liège, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lilliput, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Limbo of the Moon, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Limpopo River, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Linnæus, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lion, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, + <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, + <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lipo district, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lisbon earthquake, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lisbon Wanderers, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Little Black Men, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Livonians, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lizard, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lizard-Man, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Llama, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lliuga, Princess, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lobo, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Locris, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Locusts, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lodestone, Mountain of, <a href="#Page_16">16-17</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lofoden, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Logic, Indian, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lok, John, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>London Graphic</i>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Long, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Loon, <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lop, desert of, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lopez, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lord of the Hollow Tree, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lord of the Two Horns, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lords of the Field, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lotophagi, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lot’s wife, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lotus-land, <a href="#Page_227">227-229</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Louhiatar, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Louisiana, <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lucan, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lucayos, the, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lucca, Gaudentio di, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lucerne, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lucian characterized, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">cited, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lucknow, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lucky-stone in toad’s head, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ludolf, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lumberjack legends, <a href="#Page_65">65-66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lusignan, house of, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lusitania, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lust, ritual, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Luxembourg family, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lydia, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lynn, vessels from, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lyonesse, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lyon-poisson, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">M</li> + +<li class="indx">Macassar poison, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Macatoa, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> + +<li class="indx">McCrindle, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mace, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Macrobians, the, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + +<li class="indx">MacGregor, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Madagascar, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, + <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Madanino, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Madeira Islands, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mældune, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Maelstrom, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Magellan, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Magh Mell, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Magic dances as sources of the races of fable, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Magic Food, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Mahabharata</i>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Maid Marian, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Maidu Indians, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Maimonides, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Majorca, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Malabar, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Malacca, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Malatu, Sea of, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Malays, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Malay Peninsula, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, + <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Maldive Islands, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Male incense, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Male infants, killing of, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Malory, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mambuti, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mammoths, frozen, <a href="#Page_344">344</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mamore River, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manannan, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manatee, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manco Capac, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mancy, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mandrake myth, <a href="#Page_21">21-23</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mangi, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mangou, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manhattan Island, <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manikins, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manioc, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manlius, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manoa, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Man of the Mountain, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Manticora, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Maps, mediæval, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mara River, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Maranon River, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Marata, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Marcasite, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Marcellus, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Marco Milioni, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Marcos, Friar, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mare, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mareb, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mar Eldorado, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Marignolli, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Marining animals, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Market of the Sea, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Markets, Night, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Marquesans, the, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Marquette, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Marseilles, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Martikhora, <a href="#Page_57">57-58</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Martinez, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Martlet, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Martyr, Peter, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Marvellous Adventures of Sir John Maundeville</i>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mascardi, <a href="#Page_317">317</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Masefield, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mashona region, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Massagetæ, the, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Massoudy, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Masu, Mountains of, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Matabele region, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mather, Increase, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Matriarchate, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Matrimonio, island of, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ma Tuan-Len, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Maundeville, characterized, <a href="#Page_365">365-367</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">cited, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, + <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, + <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, + <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, + <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, + <a href="#Page_364">364</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mauretania, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mayas, the, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> + +<li class="indx">May Day, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mead, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Meadows of Gold and Mines of Precious Stones</i>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mecca, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mediæval Trade, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Medicine bag, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Medicine men, <a href="#Page_321">321</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Medina, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mediterranean Sea, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, + <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, + <a href="#Page_356">356</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Megasthenes, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mergui archipelago, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Megon, plain of, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Meir, Rabbi, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mekong River, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mekran, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Melanesia, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Melons, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Melusina, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Memphis, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mendana, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Menendez, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Mercurius Politicus</i>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Merfolk, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98-102</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mericourt, Theroigne de, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Merles, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mermaids, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Merodach, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Merolla, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Meropis, island of, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Merveilles de L’Inde</i>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mesa Encantada, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mesha, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mesopotamia, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Meta-collinarum, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Metamorphoses</i>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Metamorphosis, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Meta River, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mewan Indians, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mexico, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">calendar of, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mezzoramia, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Miami River, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Miaotze, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Micmacs, the, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Middle Comedy, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Midgard serpent, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Midian country, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Midsummer Eve, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Miletus, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Miltiades, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Milton, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Minæans, the, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mincoupies, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mindanao Island, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mingrelia, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ming tombs, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mink, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Minocane, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Minotaur, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mirabeau, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mirabilia, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mirage, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Misers, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mississippi River, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Missouri, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mistletoe, <a href="#Page_19">19-20</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mnemosyne, fountain of, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mock king, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mole, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Molucca Islands, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242-245</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Moly, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Monaco, Prince of, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mongolia, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, + <a href="#Page_377">377</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Monoceros, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Monocoli, the, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Monomatti, the, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Monomotapa, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Montaigne, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Montana, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Montanes, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Montegre, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Montserrat, island of, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Montygre, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Moon goddess, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Moon, voyage to, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Moorish warrior queen, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mordecai, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">More, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Morea, the, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Morgan le Fay, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mormons, <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Morocco, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Morris, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Moscha, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Moses and an Ethiopian princess, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Moslems, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mount of Eden, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mount Ida, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mount Sion, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mountains, beliefs relating to, <a href="#Page_205">205-209</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">lights on, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mountains of the Moon, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mouse-Apollo, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Moving Isle, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Müller, Max, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Müller, von, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mummification, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Munchausen, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Munster, a lake in, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Munza, King, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Murder, ritual, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Murger, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Muscovites, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Musk, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mustaghata, Mount, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Myrina, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Myrrh, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Mythical Monsters</i>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Myths of observation, <a href="#Page_343">343-344</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Muysca Indians, <a href="#Page_299">299</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">N</li> + +<li class="indx">Nabatheans, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nagas, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nahuatl ark legend, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nahuelhuapi, Lake, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nairs, the, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nanling Mountains, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Narwhal, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nasamonian youths, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Natural histories, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Natural History of Norway</i>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Natural History, Pliny’s</i>, <a href="#Page_354">354-355</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nature a pageant for man, <a href="#Page_376">376</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nausicaa, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Navahos, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, + <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Navel of the World, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nearchus, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nebraska, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Necho, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Necromancers, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Negrillos, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Negritos, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Negritos del Monte, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Negro Indians, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Negroland, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Negro, Rio, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nekhbet, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nephrite, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nereids, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nergal, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nero, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nesnas, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nestorians, <a href="#Page_239">239-240</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nestorius, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + +<li class="indx">New Calabar, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> + +<li class="indx">New Granada, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li> + +<li class="indx">New Guinea, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, + <a href="#Page_328">328</a></li> + +<li class="indx">New Hebrides Islands, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li> + +<li class="indx">New Mexico, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> + +<li class="indx">New Towns, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> + +<li class="indx">New York, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Niam-Niams, the, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nicander, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nicobar Islands, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Niebuhr, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Niger, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nightingale, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nile River, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, + <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nina-chumpi, island of, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ninth wave, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nixie, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Njogel, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Noah, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nomad spirit, the, <a href="#Page_372">372</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nonius Marcellus, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nordland, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + +<li class="indx">North, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li class="indx">North Atlantic continent, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + +<li class="indx">North Atlantic, floating storehouse of, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> + +<li class="indx">North Brother Island, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li class="indx">North Carolina, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Northmen, <a href="#Page_267">267-268</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a></li> + +<li class="indx">North Pole, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> + +<li class="indx">North Sea, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + +<li class="indx">North wind, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Northern Lights, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Norva Sound, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Norway, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nosala, island of, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Noseless nations, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Notaries on shipboard, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nova Zembla, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Novgorod manuscript, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nubian Highway, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nulo Mountain, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Numantranus, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Number of peoples, provinces, rivers, and towns, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Numidia, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nutmegs, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Nysæan shore, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">O</li> + +<li class="indx">Obongos, the, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> + +<li class="indx">O Brasile, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li> + +<li class="indx">O’Brien, Frederick, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Oceania, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ocean Stream, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Odoric, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, + <a href="#Page_366">366</a>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Odyssey, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, + <a href="#Page_366">366</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ogier the Dane, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ogre, <a href="#Page_343">343</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ojibwas, the, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Olaus Magnus, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Old Man of the Sea, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Old Man of the Woods, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Old men’s tales, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Old Woman Islands, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Oleacinidæ, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Olisipo, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Olive, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Olympus, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Omaguas, the, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Onesicritus, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Onoscileas, the, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ophiophagi, the, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ophir, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223-227</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Opinicus, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Oraisan, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Oranges, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Orang-utan, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Orc, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Orellana, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Orgy of death, Amazon, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Orichalcum, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Orinoco, River, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>, + <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Orkney Islands, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Orlando, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ormuz, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Orontes River, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Orsæan Indians, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ory, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Osiris, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Osorno, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ostrich, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Othman, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Otter-men, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Otto of Freisingen, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ottokar, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ottoman empire, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Otway, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ovid, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Oviedo, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Owl, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ox, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">burrowing, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Oxus River, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Oysters, government of, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">P</li> + +<li class="indx">Pacific Ocean, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">lost continent in, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">island traditions of, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Padua, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pajarito plateau, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Palenque, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Paleolithic artists, <a href="#Page_340">340</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Palestine, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Palomides, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Palos, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Palus Mœotis, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pamirs, the, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pamphagi, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pan, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Panama, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Panama-Pacific Exposition, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Panathenæa, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pandavas, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pandore, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Panther, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Paracelsus, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Parade, negro Amazon, <a href="#Page_182">182-183</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Paradise and pearls and pepper, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Paraguay, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Paraguay River, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Paranunta, Rani, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pard, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Parik, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Paris, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Paris, Island of, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Parroquet, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Parrot, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Partridge, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pasto, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pastoral song, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Patagonia, <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pathen, <a href="#Page_366">366</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Paula, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pausanias, characterized, <a href="#Page_353">353-354</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">cited, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Peacock, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Peanuts, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pear, earth shaped like, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pearl, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Peary, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pedrarias, <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pegasus, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pegu, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pelican, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pellinore, <a href="#Page_64">64-65</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Peloponnesus, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Peltry, Siberian, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Penguin Island</i>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Penang, island of, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Peoples of Prodigy, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103-120</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pepper, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Pepper Country, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Pepper “forests,” <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">pepper wars, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pepy II, Letter of, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Perforated people, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Periplus of Erythræan Sea, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Perotti, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Persia, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, + <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Persian Gulf, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Persica</i>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Peru, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>, + <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Petachia, Rabbi Moses, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Peter Martyr, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Petra, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Petrified cities, <a href="#Page_211">211-213</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Petrifying river, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Petrograd snipers, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Phædrus, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Phæacia, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pharaoh’s Red Sea hosts, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pheasant, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Philes, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Philippines, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Philology, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Philomela, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Phineus, King, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Phlegethon, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Phœnicians, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Phœnix, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68-70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, + <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Phong, the, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Photios, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Phrygian cap, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Physiologus</i>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Piasa petroglyph, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Piedras hijades, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pigafetta, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pigeon, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pig of the ocean, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Pih T’an</i>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pike, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pilate, Swiss legend of, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pilatus, Mount, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pillar of salt, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pillars of Hercules, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pima deluge myth, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pindar, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pinkerton, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pinna, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pippilika, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pison, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pizzani, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pizarro, the brothers, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Plague, a remedy for, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Plato, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, + <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Platypus, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pliny, characterized, <a href="#Page_354">354-355</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">cited, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, + <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, + <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, + <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, + <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, + <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, + <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, + <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_345">345</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, + <a href="#Page_359">359</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pliny’s Ape, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pliny the Younger, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Plutarch, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Poetry, magic of, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pohjola, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Poland, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Polish women fighters, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Polo, Marco, characterized, <a href="#Page_363">363-365</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">cited, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, + <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, + <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, + <a href="#Page_334">334</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Polybius, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Polyhistor, <a href="#Page_355">355</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Polyphem ein Gorilla</i>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Polyphemus, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Polystephanos, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pompeii, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pompeius Festus, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pompey, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pomponius, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pontoppidan, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, + <a href="#Page_367">367</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pontus, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Popayan, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pope, Alexander, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pope Alexander III, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Popinjays, in the deserts, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Popol Nuh, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Popos, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Porcupines, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pork, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Porter-nations, fables of, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Port of Missing Ships, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Porto Rico, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Portugal, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, + <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Portus Nobilis, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Poseidon, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Potato, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pottery, animal outlines of, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Prabhâsakhanda</i>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Prague, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Prasias, Lake, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Precious stones in Christian symbolism, <a href="#Page_24">24-25</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Prejevalski, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Prescott, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Prester John, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238-240</a>, + <a href="#Page_359">359</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Priestesses, armed, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Priest-king, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Primum mobile</i>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Principal Trade Routes</i>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Principal Voyages</i>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Prison for lost souls, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Proclus, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Procopius, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Progne, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Prometheus Bound</i>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Promises of princes, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Prophecy: how the gift is conferred, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Prospero’s isle, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Psalm-singing birds, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pseudo-Plutarch, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Psylli, the, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Psyllotoxotæ, the, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pterodactyl, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ptolemy, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, + <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Public-house signs, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pueblo Indians, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Puerto de Arica, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pu-lu tribe, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Punt, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Puranas</i>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Purchas, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_335">335</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Purgative, a, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pygmies, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132-150</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, + <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pygmy Highway, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pyramids, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pyrenees Mountains, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pytheas of Massilia, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_334">334</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">Q</li> + +<li class="indx">Quail, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Quatrefages, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Queen Bee, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Queen of Sheba, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Quesada, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Quesada, Ximenes, <a href="#Page_304">304</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Questing beast, <a href="#Page_64">64-65</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Quetelet, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Quetzalcoatl, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Quichna Indians, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Quimper, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Quiros, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Quito, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Quivera, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323-326</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Quoyas Morrov, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">R</li> + +<li class="indx">Rabbit, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Race-course, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rainbow, <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rain trees, <a href="#Page_20">20-21</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rajputana, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rakshasis, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Raleigh, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, + <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305-310</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>, + <a href="#Page_369">369</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ram, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ram-eagle, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rami, the, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ramni, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ramus, Jonas, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ras Sem, petrified village of, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rat, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">worship of, <a href="#Page_30">30-31</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">monster, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rath, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Raven, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Raw materials, search for, <a href="#Page_372">372</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rawlinson, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Realm of Big Women, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Red River, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Red Sea, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Regio feminarum</i>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Region of Darkness, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Reig Rawan, Desert of, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Reindeer, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Remora, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Repose, regions of, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Republic</i>, Plato’s, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Retreat of the Ten Thousand, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Retzius, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Revelation</i>, book of, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Horsemen of, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Regnard, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Reynard the fox, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rhegium, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rhine maidens, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rhinoceros, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">of the air, <a href="#Page_74">74-75</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">horn for detecting poison, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rhizophagi, the, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rhodesia, ancient, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rhodope Mountains, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rhone River, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ribbon fish, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ribeiro, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ricold of Monte Croce, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Riddles, <a href="#Page_346">346</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rights of Women, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Riphæan Rocks, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ritual mimes, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ritual murder, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> + +<li class="indx">River of China, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">River that flows by the Throne of God, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Robin Hood cycle, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Roc, <a href="#Page_72">72-74</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rock crystal, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rock Tibboos, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rocky Mountains, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rodriguez, Barboza, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rodzianko, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Roebuck, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Roger, King of Sicily, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rogero, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rohan, family, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Roman pharmacopeia, animal items in, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rome, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, + <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Romulus, <a href="#Page_344">344</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Root-eaters, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Roraima, Mount, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rothery, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rotundity of the earth, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366-367</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Roulin, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Roundhouses, ceremonial, <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Royal Irish Society, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ruad, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Rubruquis, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ruby, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ruskin, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Russia, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">fighting women of, <a href="#Page_174">174-177</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">strange peoples of, <a href="#Page_115">115-117</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">S</li> + +<li class="indx">Saba, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sabæans, the, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sacramento, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Valley, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Sacred groaning stick,” <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sacred Promontory, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Saffron as magic diet, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sagittary, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sago tree, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Augustine, <a href="#Page_355">355</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Bernard, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Brendan, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">island of, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Clement, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Collen, <a href="#Page_368">368</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Colodoc, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Costinian, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Francis, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Gerasimus, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Guthlac, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Helenus, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Jerome, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. John, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. John’s Eve, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Leonor, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Maria Rotunda, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Mark, treasure of, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Sulpicius, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> + +<li class="indx">St. Vitus dance, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sais, temple at, <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Saint, statue of a, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Salamanca, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Council of, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Salamander, <a href="#Page_38">38-39</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Salmon, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Salt fish diet, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Salvaje, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Samar, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Samarcand, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Samaria, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sambation, the river, <a href="#Page_17">17-18</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Samoan Islands, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Samoyeds, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, + <a href="#Page_364">364</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sanazzaro, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sandalwood, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sandrokotos, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li class="indx">San Joao River, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> + +<li class="indx">San Francisco, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> + +<li class="indx">San Francisco, mountain of, <a href="#Page_376">376</a></li> + +<li class="indx">San Joaquin Valley, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Santa Cruz, island of, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Santa Marta, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Santa Thome del Agostina, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li> + +<li class="indx">San Thome River, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Santom aborigines, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Santos, Juan, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sapphar Metropolis, the, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sapphire, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Saragossa, feminine defense of, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sardinia, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">pygmy survivals in, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sardonic plant, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sargasso Sea, <a href="#Page_274">274-280</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sarmatians, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sassafras, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Satan, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Satyr-fish, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Satyrs, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121-131</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>, + <a href="#Page_361">361</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">Satyr Islands, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Saures, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Savaii, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sayce, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sayf Al-Muluk, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scaliger, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scalping, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scandinavia, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scapegoat, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scarab, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scarecrows as tribal ancestors, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Scenes de la Vie de Bohème</i>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Schenchzer, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Schomburgk, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Schoolcraft, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Schorodomachi, the, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Schweinfurth, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sciapodes, the, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scilly Islands, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scipio, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scobellum, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scorpion men, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scotland, tide myth of, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scrofula, animal remedies for, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scylax, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scyritæ, the, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scythia, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, + <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scythian lamb, <a href="#Page_58">58-62</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sea a symbol of eternity, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sea creatures, <a href="#Page_89">89-102</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">named after land animals, as sea-dragons, hares, horses, kites, lions, mice, oxen, spiders, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sea serpent, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93-95</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sea of Clarified Butter, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sea of Curds or Whey, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sea of Glass, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sea of Milk, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sea of Salt Water, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sea of Sugar Cane Juice, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sea of Wine, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Seal, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Seal-men, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sebo, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sedentary Indians, <a href="#Page_320">320</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Selfishness, myths of, <a href="#Page_371">371</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Semangs, the, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Semiramis, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Semites, commercial fictions of, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">culture of, <a href="#Page_357">357</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Seneca, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Senegal, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Senegal River, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sephar, Mount, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sepulchers of Zenu, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329-330</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Seres, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Serrano, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sertorius, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Set, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Seven Cities of Cibola, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318-323</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Seven Seas, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Shadow-footed,” <a href="#Page_346">346</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Shagamaw, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Shakespeare, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Shan Hai King</i>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Shantung, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Shape-shifting, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Shark, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97-98</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Shaw, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sheep, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sheikh of the Seaboard, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Shetland Islands, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Shikh, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Shoshones, the, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Shrewmouse, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Shu-king</i>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Siam, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Siberia, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">women fighters of, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sicily, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sid, the, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sidney, Sir Philip, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sierras, the, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sigismund, King, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man</i>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Silent Isle, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Silver, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Silvia of Aquitaine, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Simeon, Rabbi, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Simhala, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Simon, Padre, <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sinai, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sind, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sindbad, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, + <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Singular speech, <a href="#Page_104">104-105</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sinmenkpen, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Siptakhora tree, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sirens, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Siva, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Skeletons, animated, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Skin-shifting, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Skogfrau, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Skulls as drinking cups, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">talking, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">rolling, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Slave Coast, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Slavs, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sliabh Daidche, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sluggish Sea, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Smith, Grafton Elliot, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Smithsonian Institution, report of, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Smyrna, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Snails, <a href="#Page_366">366</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Snake, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37-38</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, + <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Snake-eaters, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Snakes in Ireland, no, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Snoligoster, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Snowy Mountains, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Society Islands, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Socotra, island of, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Socrates, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Soe-Drawl, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Soe-Ormen, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sofala, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Solar mythology, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Solinus, characterized, <a href="#Page_356">356</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">cited, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, + <a href="#Page_349">349</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Solomon, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, + <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Solomon Islands, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327-329</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Solon, <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Somaliland, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sombreron, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sorcerers that took hyena form, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> + +<li class="indx">South, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li class="indx">South America, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li> + +<li class="indx">South Atlantic continent, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + +<li class="indx">South Arabs, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + +<li class="indx">South Brother Island, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li class="indx">South Dakota, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li> + +<li class="indx">South Seas, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Southern hemisphere noblest, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Souza, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Soviets, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Spain, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, + <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>, + <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">treasure ships of, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sparta, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Speculum Regale</i>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Spence, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Spencer, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Spenser, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sphinx, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Spice Islands, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242-245</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Spices, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Spider, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Spitzbergen, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Splinter cat, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Springs, magical, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Spurred men, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Squid, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Squonk, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Stag, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Stagnant Sea, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Staked plains, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Stanley, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Star of the Archers, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Statues as source of myths, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Stone Age heathen, <a href="#Page_343">343</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Stone giants, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Stone of the eyes,” <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Storax, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Stork, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Story of the Winged Disk,” <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Strabo, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, + <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, + <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Straits of Florida, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Straits of Magellan, <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Street of feathers, <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Streets of women, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Struthocameli, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Struthophagi, the, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Struthopodes, the, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Struys, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Stygian Pool, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Stymphalian birds, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Subraces, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Suffolk, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sukhavati, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sumatra, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, + <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sun-haters, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sun, track of the, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sunamukha, the, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sun-Carrier, <a href="#Page_6">6-7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sunda Islands, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Sung Geography</i>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sunken Lands, <a href="#Page_254">254-257</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sunset, hissing sound at, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Superior, Lake, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Suwanee River, <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Svetadvipa, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Swallow, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40-41</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Swallower of the West, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_372">372</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Swan song, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sweden, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">the Great, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Swine, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, + <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Symmetry, sense of cosmic, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Symons, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sympathetic magic, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Syria, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Syrian lamb, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Syrtic district, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">T</li> + +<li class="indx">Tabernacle form of earth, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Table of the Sun, <a href="#Page_14">14-15</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tachnin River, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tachylyte, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tae-Ping women fighters, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tagus River, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tahetan tide myth, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tahiti, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tailed men, <a href="#Page_121">121-131</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Takla-makan, dead city of, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Talmud, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tamerlane, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tanganyika country, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tangi, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tannhäuser, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Taos, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tapio, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tapirs, king of the, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Taprobane, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Taranto, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tarantula, <a href="#Page_39">39-40</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tarascon, shield of, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tarask, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tartars, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, + <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tariessus, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tatius, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tauron, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Taurus Mountains, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tawny Moors, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tchad, Lake, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tchudi, the, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tecumbalam, the bird, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tembandumba, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tempe, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Tempest, The</i>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tempests, how to avert, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Temple harlots, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Temple of Dobayba, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331-332</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Temple of the Sun, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ten Lost Tribes, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>, <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tennyson, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tenochtitlan, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tensevetes, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Terhetar, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Termeh, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Termier, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, + <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ternate, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Terra Australis Incognita, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Terrestrial Paradise, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, + <a href="#Page_365">365</a>, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Terrible Ocean, <a href="#Page_262">262-273</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tetramorph, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Texera, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Teyma, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thalestris, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thanet, island of, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tharshish, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thebaid, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Theocritus, <a href="#Page_246">246</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Theodor, Bishop, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Theodosius, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Theophrastus, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Theopompus, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thermiscyra, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thermodon River, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Theseus, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thevet, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thirty Years’ War, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thomas, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thoreau, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thorne, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thought, fancied omnipotence of, <a href="#Page_376">376</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thrace, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thule, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thunberg, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thunder bird, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thunderbolts, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thuringia, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Thurium, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tiber River, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tiberius, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tibet, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, + <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tides, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tidor, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tierra del Fuego, <a href="#Page_328">328</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tierra-firma, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tig-balang, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tiger, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tigris River, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Timæus</i>, the, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tin, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tin Islands, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Titan, <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tithonus, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Titicaca, Lake, <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tityrus, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tlingit myths, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Toad, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tobacco, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Toltecs, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tomyris, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tonga, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Topago, province of, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Topaz, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Topographical legends, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Topsell, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Topsy-turvy, law of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Torca, island of, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Torres Straits, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tortoise, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Toscanelli, map of, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Totemism, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Totoneac, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Toucan, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tower of London, <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Traconda, island of, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tragedy, Greek, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Trapalanda, <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Travel Tales of Mankind, <a href="#Page_348">348-370</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Travels in Barbary</i>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Travelers, Lot of, <a href="#Page_335">335-336</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Travelers’ Trunk, earth like a, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Trebizond, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tree of the Sun, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Trees, <a href="#Page_19">19-21</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Trickster-hero, <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Trinidad, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Trinity, the earliest, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tritons, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Troglodytes, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, + <a href="#Page_194">194-195</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Troll, <a href="#Page_367">367</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tronador, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tropic of Cancer, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Trotzky, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Troubadours, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Troy, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>True History</i>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tsheremis, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li class="indx">T’sung-ling Mountains, <a href="#Page_360">360</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tuanaki, island of, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tuatha Dé Danann, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tumbleweed, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tupac-Amaru, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tupac Yupanqui, Inca, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tupi-Guarani myth, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tupimare, the hill, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Turanians, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Turkestan, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Turkey, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Turkomans, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Turja Fells, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Turquoise, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Turtle, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Turtle-eaters, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tuscany, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Twelfth Day, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Two Mussulman Travelers, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Two Sisters, isles of, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tylor, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>, <a href="#Page_346">346</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Tzetzes, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">U</li> + +<li class="indx">Udyana, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ulloa, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ulysses, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>, + <a href="#Page_354">354</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Underground, beliefs as to, <a href="#Page_217">217-220</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Undine</i>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ung-Khan, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Unicorn, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50-55</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">horn of, antidote for poison, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Unicorn bird, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Uniped, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + +<li class="indx">United States, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Universe an egg, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Unpaid vows, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ural Mountains, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Urcos, lake of, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Urdu-begani, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Utopia, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Uttarakarns, the, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">V</li> + +<li class="indx">Vaikuntha, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vain efforts, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Valasca, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Valencia, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li> + +<li class="indx">“Valentines,” Amazon, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vale Perilous, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Valley of Apes, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Valley of Diamonds, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Valley of the Shadow of Death, <a href="#Page_367">367</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Valum Chvim, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vampires, <a href="#Page_367">367</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vancouver Island, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Van Diemen’s Land, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Van Noort, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Varasena, Pass of, <a href="#Page_361">361</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Varenius, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Varro, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Varthema, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vartomannus, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vashti, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vassals of the beasts, men as, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vaz, Lopez, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Veddahs, the, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vegetable lamb, <a href="#Page_58">58-62</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Venetus, Paulus, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Venezuela, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Venice, lion of, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Venus, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Venus, Mandragorolis, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vergil, Polydore, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vermin, a diet against, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Verrius, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Versailles, march on, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vicarious sacrifice, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Views of Nature</i>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Viking names, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Villon, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vilna unit of girl soldiers, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vincent of Beauvais, <a href="#Page_366">366</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vine, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vineta, legendary city of, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vine-women, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Virgil, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Virgin gift-bearers, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Virgin Mary, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Virtues and vices pictured, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vishnu, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vitruvius, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vokearos, the, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Volcano Island, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Volga River, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Von Hutten, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Votiaks, the, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Voyage of Maldune, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Voyage of St. Brendan</i>, <a href="#Page_367">367</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Vulture, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">W</li> + +<li class="indx">Wagon homes, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wak-wak, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wales, legend of, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wallerius, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Walnut tree, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Walton, Isaac, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wandering arts, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wapaloosie, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wars over women, Indian, <a href="#Page_162">162-163</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wartburg, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Water gods of northern Europe, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Water horse, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Water sheep, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Weddell, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Weigall, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Welsers, the, <a href="#Page_302">302</a></li> + +<li class="indx">West, <a href="#Page_204">204-205</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">as home of marvel, <a href="#Page_349">349</a></li> + +<li class="indx">West African Rain Forest, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li class="indx">West Indies, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Westropp, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> + +<li class="indx">West wind, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Whale, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;</li> +<li class="isub1">bones of for dwellings, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wheel-shaped maps, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Whirlwind the dance of a ghost, <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li> + +<li class="indx">White-Corn Boy, <a href="#Page_376">376</a></li> + +<li class="indx">White House, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> + +<li class="indx">White Indians, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li> + +<li class="indx">White Nile, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Whitman, Walt, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Whore of Babylon, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Whydah, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wichita Indians, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wiener, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wild Women, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + +<li class="indx">William of Wykeham, <a href="#Page_372">372</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wind-egg, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Winged serpents, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Winter’s Tale</i>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wish, power of, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Witchcraft, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240-242</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, + <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Witch Realm of Lapland, <a href="#Page_240">240-242</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wolf, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wolf, Dr., <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Woman of the Thicket, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Women for guests, <a href="#Page_364">364</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Women in Mexican revolutions, <a href="#Page_169">169-170</a></li> + +<li class="indx">World, a living being, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Woodpecker, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Words, power of, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></li> + +<li class="indx">World summit, theory of, <a href="#Page_12">12-13</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Woruisamocos, the, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wu-lung-li-tan, village of, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wyvern, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">X</li> + +<li class="indx">Xanadu, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Xarayes, Laguna de los, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Xecotcovach, the bird, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Xenophon, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Xerxes, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">Y</li> + +<li class="indx">Yacu-mama, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Yakuts, the, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Yams, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Yangste Kiang, the, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Yao, the, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Yashka</i>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Yazd, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Yazel, Abraham, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Yedua, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Yellow-Corn Girl, <a href="#Page_376">376</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Yellow Sea, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Yemen, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + +<li class="indx"><i>Yen-men</i>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Yima, garden of, <a href="#Page_337">337</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Yoruba, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ysopete, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Yucatan, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Yule, Colonel, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Yunnan, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + + +<li class="ifrst">Z</li> + +<li class="indx">Zahm, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Zambesi River, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Zanzibar, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Zell, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Zenobia, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Zephyria, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Zipangu, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Zulus, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Zuñi, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Zuyder Zee, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> +</ul> + +<p class="c p1">THE END</p> + + +<hr class="full x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="bbox"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="c sp large"><i>Distinguished Books</i></p> +</div> + + +<p> +BARE SOULS <span class="smcap">By Gamaliel Bradford</span><br> +</p> + +<p>This volume goes beyond the geographical limits of Mr. Bradford’s +successful “Damaged Souls,” and includes a group of the world’s most +mysteriously fascinating personalities. Under Mr. Bradford’s magic +touch they spring to life as self-revealing human beings. His subjects +include John Keats, Thomas Gray, Flaubert, Voltaire, Edward +Fitzgerald, Charles Lamb and Horace Walpole.</p> + + +<p> +LEVIATHAN <span class="smcap">By William Bolitho</span><br> +</p> + +<p>“If you are a discriminating reader you will have marked William +Bolitho as a man whose stuff you will follow anywhere, for he stands +out from the hordes of excellent and gentle essayists as boldly as does a +woodcut when placed next a half-tone engraving.”—<i>Laurence Stallings</i> +in the New York <i>World</i>.</p> + + +<p> +THE LIFE OF THE BAT <span class="smcap">By Charles Derennes</span><br> +</p> + +<p>An exciting personal narrative is told in this book—the life story of +the bat, much of it threaded on the life experiences of a captive bat +called Noctu. He very soon develops a strong personality, and through +his story we learn the life history of bats generally,—their apparent +pastimes,—as in their aerial ballets—their mating, their search for +food and the whole fascinating range of their daily and nightly activities.</p> + + +<p> +AT A VENTURE <span class="smcap">By Charles A. Bennett</span><br> +<i>Illustrated by Clarence Day, Jr.</i> +</p> + +<p>“How delightful to run across a new writer of such subtle penetration +combined with a light and lazy humor. Mr. Bennett has a fine +sense of satire, of character, of life, and is a master of the luminous +phrase. He discusses live subjects, and his papers cover all sorts of +topics from advertising to zebra-raising, written with ease, elegance +and grace. The pictures are priceless, all movement, irony and +grin.”—<i>W. E. Woodward</i> in the <i>Nation</i>.</p> + + +<p class="c sp">HARPER & BROTHERS</p></div> + + +<div class="bbox1"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="c sp large"><i>A Miscellany</i></p> +</div> + + +<p> +THE BIBLE AND COMMON SENSE <span class="smcap">By Basil King</span><br> +</p> + +<p>Here is a book in which honest people of every communion, groping +their way through the storms of controversy, will find fresh light to +guide them. Mr. King tells eloquently what the Bible means to him +as an individual, and frankly and fearlessly discusses such topics as +the Virgin Birth, the divinity of Christ, and the effect of scientific +criticism on the Bible. His tone is always constructive, always reverent, +always inspiring.</p> + + +<p> +THE MYSTERY OF RELIGION <span class="smcap">By Everett Dean Martin</span><br> +</p> + +<p>What is religion? Has it any real bearing on morality and the unescapable +facts of human relationship? The author of “The Behavior +of Crowds” here scientifically analyzes, in the light of social psychology, +the ceremonials and taboos of religion, and the fundamental meaning +and cause of group religion as a universal human need.</p> + + +<p> +THE SEVEN LIVELY ARTS <span class="smcap">By Gilbert Seldes</span><br> +</p> + +<p>A spirited and entertaining discussion of the “low-brow” arts and +artists of comic stage and screen, of song and dance and newspaper +humor, by a “high-brow” young critic who sees in them the flourishing +germ of a native American expression.</p> + + +<p> +A MAGICIAN AMONG THE SPIRITS <span class="smcap">By Houdini</span><br> +</p> + +<p>A master magician here reveals the results of years of careful study +of noted mediums and of spiritualistic phenomena of all kinds. This +account of his adventures during his investigations, and the striking +conclusions to which he has been forced form an important—and entertaining—chapter +in the crusade for truth.</p> + + +<p> +THE AMERICAN MIND IN ACTION<br> +<span class="smcap">By Harvey O’Higgins</span> and <span class="smcap">Dr. E. H. Reede</span> +</p> + +<p>A keen analysis of the typical American attitude, as exemplified in +the lives and personalities of a dozen outstanding Americans. “The +work is absorbingly interesting, holding the reader as with a magic +spell from beginning to end. The American reader feels as he follows +the analysis of the American mind that he is gradually penetrating to +the mystic depths of his own soul.”—<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p> + + +<p class="c sp">HARPER & BROTHERS +</p></div> + +<div class="transnote"> + +<p class="c">Transcriber’s Notes:</p> + +<p>Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.</p> + +<p>Perceived typographical errors have been changed.</p> + +</div> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75759 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + |