CRETE AND THE CRETANS.
No sooner were the ships safely settled in their moorings, than
Himilco and I, who had both been up on watch throughout the last
four nights, retired to take the rest that we so much needed, and,
worn out by fatigue, I did not wake until the sun was high above the
horizon.
The shore was still quite deserted; the steep rocky mountains
appeared for the most part to rise perpendicularly from the sea; and
the little valley of the river soon lost itself in a deep gorge,
densely wooded with myrtles and holm-oaks.
My first care was to send a squad of sailors on shore to fill our
barrels and goat-skins with a supply of fresh water; I next ordered a
guard of soldiers and archers to be landed ready for any emergency;
and then despatched Bichri, accompanied by half a score of bowmen,
up the gorge to explore the mountains. There was abundance of wood
about, and I determined to light some fires and cook our morning
meal upon the strand. I likewise pitched a couple of tents, in which
I laid out some of our merchandise, in case Bichri should fall in
with any of the natives of the island. Jonah made himself especially
prominent by his services on the occasion; he carried wood enough on
his back to load three ordinary men, and lifted a barrel of water
without any assistance, remarking that, if any one would give him
wine in it to drink, he would lift a barrel twice the size.
About midday Bichri returned, tired with his wanderings, but well
pleased with his morning's work. He had come across several of the
natives on the mountains; they fled at his approach, but being an
experienced mountaineer he had followed them from rock to rock, and
had at length succeeded in capturing one of them. The others had
pelted him with stones from a distance, but he had sustained no
injury, and, in accordance with the orders I had given him, he had
acted strictly on the defensive, and had not in any way returned
their violence. The prisoner that he brought with him was a great
strapping fellow, with a quantity of glossy black hair and a skin as
brown as a Midianite's; his eyes were black and obliquely set; his
face wide, with projecting cheek-bones, and a pointed chin. He had
no other covering except the skin of a wild goat, which was thrown
over his shoulders and fastened round his waist by a cord, and on his
bare neck and arms were a necklace and bracelets made of shells. A
hatchet with which he had defended himself had been wrested from him
by Bichri; it was made of a highly polished stone of a greenish hue,
and had a strong wooden handle.
[Illustration: PLEASED WITH HIS MORNING'S WORK.
_To face page 99._]
As soon as the barbarian was brought to me he began with many
gesticulations to speak in a language of which I did not understand
a word. I restored him his hatchet, made him a present of a piece of
red cloth, and after showing him the goods in the tent, gave him his
liberty. He bounded off towards the mountains and disappeared among
the trees.
Two hours afterwards he came back with several other men, half-naked
as himself, and armed with lances and rudely-made bows. When within
about a hundred paces of us, they stopped and waved some boughs of
myrtle. I ordered my men to do the same, and then I advanced to
meet them, making Hanno accompany me, and display some pieces of
red cloth and strings of glass beads. Gradually the savages gained
courage and were induced to approach, and at last to enter our tent.
There was one of them who seemed to be a sort of chief, and acted as
spokesman; he first pointed to the sky and ejaculated, "Britomartis;"
and then to the mountains, saying "Phalasarna, Phalasarna." It
was evidently not the first time he had come in contact with
Phœnicians, for as soon as he caught sight of our ships he cried
"Sidon! Sidon!" and touching our tunics, he called them "kitons."
We gave him an old kitonet, and distributed a quantity of glass beads
amongst his followers, who brought us in return a couple of wild
goats, and some partridges, which they called "hamalla."
Towards evening another of their number, an old man, came to us;
he wore a kitonet under his goat's skin and had on an old pair of
sandals. He could speak a little Phœnician, and succeeded in
making us understand that he was of the race of the Cydonians, who
had been the original possessors of the island, until the Phrygians
and the Leleges had made war upon them and forced them to take
refuge, east and west, where the mountains were most inaccessible.
The whole of the coast, and the central highland, as well as the
fertile valleys of the north and south, were now occupied by the
conquerors, who had subsequently been joined by a colony of Dorians,
so that, altogether, the Cydonians were being gradually exterminated.
I now comprehended how it was that I, who had always approached
Crete from the north by way of Caria and Rhodes, had never seen any
inhabitants except Dorians; whilst other Phœnician captains who
had landed on the eastern extremity of the island--where they had
discovered some insignificant mines, and opened a small traffic in
the ore--had always transacted business with the Cydonians.
The old man likewise informed us that his people had a town, up
in the mountains, called Phalasarna; also that their goddess was
Britomartis, which in their language signifies "the gentle virgin."
He was delighted with the wine which I gave him; and on receiving,
as a present, a couple of lance-heads and a necklace of enamelled
earthen beads, he promised to get us next day as much fresh meat as
we wanted.
Upon its growing dark, the barbarians retired to their mountains.
Hannibal took the precaution of doubling the number of his sentinels,
but we were quite undisturbed throughout the night.
In the morning the Cydonians returned and brought some goats. They
are not in any way an agricultural people, and consequently could
not provide us with either corn or vegetables, but they brought us a
quantity both of wild fruit and wild honey. I showed them a picture
of an ox, and tried to make them know that that was the animal I
wanted them to get me, but they explained that they had none of
their own upon the mountains, and that such an animal had been quite
unknown upon the island until it was introduced by the Phrygians.
Pointing in the evening to the crescent moon, the barbarians told me
that it was Britomartis, their goddess of the chase. Chryseis said
she knew this goddess by the name of Artemis, from which I drew the
inference that the Cydonians might have taught her worship to the
Dorians, who would have made her known to the Ionians. The offerings
that are accustomed to be made in her honour are hinds and deer; and
I have heard it said that young men have been sacrificed as victims
on her altar; but this is mere tradition, and I do not pretend to
state it as a fact. I feel quite certain, for my own part, that
although this goddess is the moon, she is not identical with our
goddess Ashtoreth, otherwise she would not have been content only to
encourage them to hunt, but would have taught them the science of
navigation.
The Cydonians are also acquainted with the god of the Phrygian tribes
of the Curetes and the Corybantes, who have a city called Cnossus
in the island, where they have built a temple. This god is a white
bull, although sometimes he is known to take the form of a man. The
Dorians affirm of him that he is the primitive god of the country,
but the Cydonians protest against this statement, and maintain that
he was imported hither by the Curetes. I myself had never heard of
the god. I cannot believe that he is either the Apis of the Egyptians
or our own great Moloch. Chryseis asserts that she knows him by the
name of Zeus, and believes that once upon a time he crossed the
strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Ionia, carrying a fair
maiden on his back. He is said to be a fine and majestic creature,
and the Phrygians of Crete honour him with dances, howlings, and the
music of tambourines: his priests are of the tribe of the Corybantes,
the progeny of Corybis. It was mentioned by Chryseis that a bull
had once married a queen of the island, named Pasiphae, by whom he
had a strange offspring, half-man, half-bull; but the monster was
destroyed, she thought, by some Dorian or Ionian King. I can hardly
persuade myself that this bull was Zeus; and I am rather inclined
to suspect that the whole story is a fable, depicting some victory
gained by the Ionians over the mixed Phrygian tribes that had made
good their settlement upon the island.
I openly avowed my own conviction that this god was not our own god
Moloch. Moloch was far more powerful than any god of the Ionians;
he was much too mighty to permit foreigners to triumph over his own
people. It was quite possible that the Phrygians had not honoured
their bull-god Zeus as they were bound, and he, in anger, had
abandoned them to their conquerors; but this was not like Moloch; no,
he was not Moloch.
"Gods! gods!" cried Chamai, who had overheard the tenor of our
talk; "who are all these gods? There is one only God; and El is His
thrice-holy name. Another name He has, but _that_ we are forbidden
to pronounce. In His sight Moloch, Zeus, Artemis, Melkarth, all
are nothing. Chemosh could not defend the Moabites against our
hosts; Dagon could not protect the Philistines of Gaza and of
Askelon; Nisroch could not lead the Syrians at Zobah on to victory;
Adrammelech was impotent to gain a triumph at Damascus; and Baalim
could not prevail in behalf of the Amalekites. They all are nothing.
It is the Almighty El, the Lord of hosts, the Maker of the heaven and
the earth, that is the only God. He has brought us out of Egypt; He
has established us in our goodly lands. He is the God invisible and
true, the God of vengeance and of power."
"However much I may confess," said Hannibal, interrupting Chamai's
earnest protest, "that your mighty El may be the god of the mountains
and the plains, it cannot be denied that our Ashtoreth is the
goddess of the ocean. See what glorious victories she has gained for
us Sidonians; she has made us monarchs of the sea! For Moloch and
Melkarth I have no reverence whatever; but still I think that Baal
and the gods of Arvad should be honoured in the countries they have
favoured with their care."
"And don't forget our great Cabiri," put in Himilco; "what would all
our Tyrian pilots do without their guidance and protection?"
"I know nothing about pilots," Chamai said; adding, "for my part I
shall be content to worship El, our Lord Almighty, by land, by sea,
and everywhere."
So ended the discussion; and every one having made his invocation to
his own special divinity, all retired to rest.
There was little more to be gained from the Cydonians; accordingly,
on the following morning, having made a few trifling purchases, I
prepared to start. My own intention was first to round the western
limit of the island and to steer full north; next, having sighted the
two Cytheras, to coast along the mainland till we reached the mouth
of the Achelous, where I hoped to replenish our supply of water,
and to transact some profitable business with the natives; thence,
passing between Zacynthus and Cephallenia, I reckoned I could take
our course between the mainland and the island of the Siculi; once
there, I would coast along the north of it to Lilybœum, from
which headland the distance was only 380 stadia across to Carthage.
Such was my project; but whether any of the gods had been incensed at
our discussion the preceding night, or whether they were disposed to
put the capabilities of our vessels to the test, certain it is that
they had decreed that our course should be very different.
The sky was dull and lowering, and Himilco drew my attention to some
lurid clouds that were gathering in the south-west.
"No time to lose," I said; "unless we can get ahead of the hurricane
that is brewing down there, we shall run the risk of being dashed on
this rugged and unsheltered coast. There is safe anchorage on the
northern shore, and thither with all speed we must betake ourselves
before the storm shall break."
The weather was unnaturally calm; but I knew the necessity of urging
the rowers to full speed, and the ships made rapid progress to the
west. In the course of twelve hours I calculated we had made about
450 stadia, and had got quite clear of the island; but by this time
the sky had become obscured with low heavy clouds, and there was no
room to doubt that the tempest was approaching. I continued to keep
well out to sea, and fortunate for us I did so; for at nightfall,
when we were, as I conjectured, about 150 stadia from the land, the
storm overtook us in its fullest fury. The hurricane blew from the
south-west and feeling satisfied that by abandoning ourselves to its
violence we should be carried nearly north between Crete and the
lesser Cythera, I ordered a sail to be hoisted, and permitted the
wind to drive us on before it.
Throughout that night we knew not where we were. The rain poured down
in torrents; wave followed wave in quick succession, dashing masses
of water on to our decks, and our helmsmen had the utmost difficulty
in controlling the vessels so that they should not present their
broadsides to the squalls. The crash of the thunder was incessant,
and by the vivid glare of the lightning we could see where the
seething foam was rent asunder into black and yawning chasms.
In spite of the heavy seas that they continually shipped, our
vessels, all three, bore up admirably. I made the rowers and the
soldiers set to work with scoops to bale out the water, and under
the supervision of Hannibal and the oarsman in command, who spared
neither fair words nor hard blows to keep them to their task, they
worked away with a will.
In a voice loud enough to be heard above the roar of the tempest,
I shouted to Chamai that now was the time to invoke his God. To
Bichri's inquiries whether the danger was really great, I answered
that I had experienced worse weather in the Syrtes, and had known
worse peril on the sea beyond the Straits of Gades, the swell out
there being very long; but here, though rough and strong, the sea was
short, and the ships seemed as though they might hold their own.
Chryseis and Abigail were in their cabin locked in each other's
arms. Chamai and Bichri, although quite unaccustomed to the sea,
and scarcely able to maintain their footing, kept up their spirits
bravely, and to their very utmost assisted the sailors in securing
the rigging and making fast the stowage; but nothing could exceed the
terror of the great hulking Jonah, who, in the most abject state of
alarm, threw himself down upon the floor of the hold, where, like a
big bundle, he was rolled about at every pitch and lurching of the
vessel.
"Oh, oh! why did I come?" he groaned, in the agonies of despair; "why
did I come? why did I leave the village where I had plenty, and more
than plenty? I shall be drowned, drowned in the sea, and the fishes
will eat me! Oh, oh!"
"Out of the way, you great camel!" said Hannibal, giving the poor
wretch a tremendous kick in the ribs; "you will be smashing something
if you keep floundering about in this way; you all but threw me down
just now. Here, some of you," he called to the sailors, "come and
lash this fool to the foot of the mast."
The unwieldy giant was rolled helplessly along, and bound securely as
Hannibal directed.
Going to the stern, I found Himilco doing his best to instruct the
helmsman. He informed me that he had quite lost sight of the _Dagon_.
Just as he spoke, an enormous wave almost dashed the _Cabiros_
against our side, and a vivid flash of lightning revealed Hamilcar
and Gisgo gesticulating vehemently to their men.
"A fine beginning to our voyage!" shouted Gisgo, as he passed us.
"Hold on, man; face it out! and we shall conquer in the end," I
screamed in reply.
To Hanno, who stood clinging to a rope, gazing out upon the sea, I
said:
"Keep up your courage, Hanno."
"I have courage enough for Chryseis and for myself as well," he
answered, cheerily; "but I confess," he added, "I have never seen
weather so bad as this."
At this moment we were startled by the voice of Himilco, shouting
vehemently:
"The sail! the sail! look to the sail!"
The sailors flew to the yard. We were all but capsized; an immense
wave had turned the ship's side to the wind, and the sail was driven
tight to the mast. A flash of lightning, more dazzling than any that
had gone before, threw its vivid glare upon a great round vessel
right in front of us.
"The _Melkarth_! Bodmilcar!" cried Himilco and Hanno the same instant.
[Illustration: "THE MELKARTH!"
_To face page 106._]
A second flash. There was no mistake; beyond all doubt there was the
_Melkarth_, and Bodmilcar, standing erect upon the poop, seemed to be
controlling the very winds and waves.
A third flash gleamed out amidst the continuous crashing of the
thunder, but it revealed nothing except the raging waste of waters;
the _Melkarth_ had vanished in the darkness.
"Khousor Phtah[31] is working away up there with his hammer," said
Himilco; "but let him hammer; he will not harm us; we have the Cabiri
on our side."
[31] The god of subterranean fire and of the hammer. Compare
Phtah with the Hephaistos of the Greeks.
The next hour was a period of intense anxiety. As far as I could
judge the tempest was bearing us northwards, but I had no means of
knowing for certain whether it was so. Every wave threatened to
break upon the ship's side, and the _Cabiros_, which was quite close
to us, appeared sometimes towering high above our heads, and at
others gulfed down far below our feet. I was standing with Himilco
and the two helmsmen over the stern cabin, when a sea, heavier than
any we had yet encountered, swept clean across the deck. I clung to
the ship's side, and when I raised myself, half stunned and half
blinded by the shock, I found that Himilco and one of the helmsmen
had disappeared. Fortunately the helm had not been carried away,
and by exerting all my strength, I succeeded in pushing the tiller
round, and bringing the ship back into the current of the waves; then
confiding the helm to a seaman who had just come up, I leaned over
the side, and kept shouting "Himilco! Himilco!"
Day was beginning to dawn, and in the glimmering light I could just
distinguish Chamai; he had cast himself down before the cabin-door,
and was imploring the God of Israel to spare the lives of the two
women, even though it should please Him to destroy the lives of all
beside.
Noticing the agitation of my voice, Hanno rushed towards me,
expressing his alarm that something must have happened to our good
pilot. I was telling him how much I feared that he had been washed
overboard, when a voice reached me from behind:
"All right; I came down on my head;" and Himilco emerged from the
hold with a goat-skin in his hands.
His appearance was a great relief, the more so when he explained that
he was quite unhurt.
"The water carried me clean over the hatchway," he said; "and by good
luck my head struck against this goat-skin in the hold. Strange to
say the goat-skin hasn't burst. Praise to the good Cabiri! they have
been good guardians. But what has become of Cadmus, who was at the
helm?"
I could only point mournfully to the sea. Himilco seemed to
comprehend, but he made no reply, and having seated himself upon the
poop, began to refresh himself with the contents of the goat-skin he
had found.
All of a sudden Bichri came towards me, and said he should like to
speak to me. He began:
"As I am no sailor, perhaps I ought to apologise for giving an
opinion, but my eyesight is very keen; and I am certain that I can
see mountains over there to the right of the poop."
Himilco started to his feet; without relinquishing his hold upon the
skin of wine, with his single eye he steadily scanned the horizon in
the direction in which Bichri was pointing. After a few moments, he
said:
"The archer is right; my eye seldom deceives me; we are to leeward of
land."
Notwithstanding the incessant downpour of rain, I could just see
enough through the mist to discern that there were mountains behind
us to the right. Feeling sure that we had been driving to the
north, I had no doubt in my own mind that the land we saw was some
promontory on the north coast of Crete; and so ultimately it proved.
Our first business now was to get clear of the whirlwind, and to
make for the shore. I signalled to this effect to the _Cabiros_, and
doubled the number of the rowers by making a soldier as well as a
sailor work at every oar. In the next place I inspected the stowage,
and was rejoiced to find how little it had been displaced.
In a few hours the wind had almost dropped, and shortly afterwards a
ray of sunlight darting through the clouds, cast an enlivening gleam
upon our course.
"The Lord has saved us," said Chamai; "but I confess I was horribly
alarmed."
Himilco wrung out his drenched kitonet, and proposed that, with my
permission, he should give Bichri, who had been the first to spy out
the land, a draught of wine from the skin which he still retained. I
acknowledged that he well deserved it.
The two women were now induced to come from their cabin; although
they were still somewhat tremulous with their recent fright, they had
a bright smile upon their faces.
"Here they are," said Hanno, as he escorted them on to the deck;
"they are like the weather, half smiles, half tears."
Chamai declared that he would rather contend with ten armed men
than with one angry sea; I told him, however, that he had behaved
admirably, considering it was his first squall, but recommended him
to be cautious for the future how he spoke irreverently of the gods.
Emerging from the hold, helmet in one hand, cuirass in the other,
Hannibal came up to us, saying:
"I have had such sharp work all night in keeping those beggarly
rowers up to the mark, that I had no time to look to my armour;
I expected to find it battered to bits; but thanks to your gods,
Ashtoreth or any one you like, it is all safe and sound. Happy to see
you, ladies; I hope you have recovered your fright, and regained your
appetites. I am hungry enough."
And as he caught sight of Himilco and Bichri, enjoying themselves
over the goat-skin, he hurried off to join them.
[Illustration]
By the afternoon the sun had dispersed the clouds entirely, and the
deep blue waters shone brightly in contrast with the verdant land
from which we were distant not more than thirty stadia. I sent the
_Cabiros_ on ahead to find a suitable place for anchorage, where
we might rest and repair our damages. Whilst we were sitting on
the deck of the _Ashtoreth_, basking in the sunshine, and taking a
simple repast of dried figs, unleavened bread, and raw onions, to
our great delight we saw the _Dagon_ coming on behind us. She had
lost her yard-arm with its sail attached, but drifted along by the
tempest, she had surmounted all further perils. Happily we had a
good store of spare sails to replace what were lost. We came up with
the _Cabiros_ as she was lying off the head of a high promontory,
waiting to announce that on the southern slope of the headland there
was a fine bay, into which a river debouched from an open and fertile
valley. All three vessels accordingly rounded the point, and steering
to the south, along the coast, by nightfall had reached the middle
of the bay, whence the shore recedes considerably to the east. Here
the _Dagon_ and the _Ashtoreth_ were brought to anchor, and the
_Cabiros_ was drawn up on shore. The anchorage was very good, and the
weather continued beautiful; inland we could see lights gleaming from
several villages, and thus feeling secure, with light hearts, though
with weary bodies, we laid ourselves down to rest, and slept soundly
throughout the night.