I CONSULT THE ORACLE.
I made it my first business on the following morning to go to the
great market-place, near the trade-harbour and the temple of Achmon.
It is surrounded by lofty houses upon an arcade, under which are the
retail shops of the tradespeople, their warehouses being in courts
at the back. In these shops every variety of Libyan merchandise was
exhibited for sale. There were hides, dressed and undressed; stones
prepared for engraving; Numidian copper; lion-skins from Mount Atlas;
thongs of hippopotamus-hide from Lake Tritonis; elephants' tusks from
the Macar; corn from Zeugis and Byzatium, and wool from the land of
the Garamantines. I spent a considerable time in making purchases of
ivory, and procured a good supply at a very fair price; and later in
the day went with Hannibal and Hamilcar to fulfil the engagement I
had made on the previous night. Hanno and Chamai preferred escorting
Chryseis and Abigail about the city; and Bichri went for an evening's
diversion with Gisgo, Hasdrubal, and Himilco.
Barca, our host, one of the richest shipowners in the colony, had
prepared us an elegant entertainment in a handsome tent pitched
upon the terrace of his house. As soon as the meal was ended, wine
was brought in, and musicians and dancing-girls performed for our
amusement; and one of Barca's slaves, an old Libyan, who was well
versed in the songs and traditions of his people, repeated his tales
about the mystery and wonders of their origin.
According to his account, there had formerly, south of Libya, been
an extensive sea, which received the water of several rivers, and to
the south of which again lay the land of the negroes, who had faces
like monkeys. This sea was the original Lake Tritonis, or Pallas, and
the chain of lakes, at the foot of the Atlas Mountains, extending
from the vicinity of Gades to Karth,[35] in Byzatium (now known to
us as the Tritons), are either marshes formed by the overflow of two
great rivers from the south, whose waters have been diverted by Mount
Atlas, or, when salt, are probably the remains of the same great
sea. There are then, he represented, two mountainous ridges, the
more southernly of which outpours its streams as far as the Tritonis
and Mount Atlas, and the other sends its rivers, the Macar and the
Bagradas, into our own Great Sea. Further west, issuing also from
Mount Atlas, are other important rivers, which lose themselves in
the sands. These, however, long centuries back, had an outlet into
the inland branch of the great Atlantic Ocean, which, at that remote
period, was the southern boundary of Libya, and extending eastwards
towards the confines of Egypt, ultimately joined the Syrtes. Libya
was thus a great peninsula, connected with the mainland only by a
narrow isthmus, now the Straits of Gades, and enclosed on every other
coast by water; on the north and east by the Syrtes, by which it was
separated from Egypt; on the south by the inland sea that covered the
present sandy desert; and on the west by the ocean itself.
[35] Karth, the town; later Cirtha, the actual Constantine.
But as time went on great changes were evolved. His face beaming with
intelligence as he spoke, the old man told of mighty convulsions of
the earth, and how they changed the isthmus of Gades into a strait,
and how the waters were swept back by the shock, so that the whole
flood of the ocean rushed through to the Great Sea, and the Great Sea
receded and yielded to the upheaving of the land.
I listened with increasing interest. I knew already how the sea could
overwhelm the land. I was also aware how the Siculians maintain that
long ages back a neck of solid land had joined their country to the
continent of the Vitalians. Many times, too, I had heard amongst
Phœnicians how a deluge had detached the isle of Chittim from the
mainland. And now I was hearing the wondrous tale of how the sea had
retreated from the south of Libya.
He went on to say that when the waters rolled away they submerged
an immense number of islands, leaving the Fortunate Islands[36] (of
which I shall have to speak hereafter) as the sole representatives
of what had previously been a vast archipelago, that had made
communication easy, even in small boats, not only with the land of
the Atlantides, but with that other great country that lies still
further to the west. Now, however, that Atlantis has disappeared,
all intercourse has been dropped with that remote land, from which
both the red and white Libyans assert that they originally came, and
whence migrating eastwards they founded cities as they advanced,
became the first settlers in Egypt, and spread far and wide the
knowledge of their gods, which were really the Dionysus and Minerva
of the Hellenes and Vitalians, and Zeus, known among us Phœnicians
as Baal-Hamon. According to their own account (which is confirmed by
the Hellenes), the Pelasgians, under the leadership of Melkarth-Ouso,
came into Libya, but afterwards retreated to the east. Then came the
great convulsion when the land was upheaved and the waters receded,
and the earth subsided into its present configuration; then, too, the
Sidonians, protected by their gods, began to assert their sovereignty
on the sea, and sending forth ships to every region of the world,
opened emporiums of commerce, discovered mines, founded cities,
taught the art of writing, and disseminated knowledge of every kind.
[36] The Canaries.
More and more as the aged Libyan recited his ancient legends had we
become rapt in attention. Hannibal sat with his eyes wide open, and
from time to time gave vent to ejaculations of astonishment; and I,
though less surprised, for I had already speculated very much on
these matters, was nevertheless deeply impressed with the clearness
with which they had been laid before us. I retired that night with
my brain agitated by excitement, and dreamed that I was commanding a
magnificent fleet, and that we discovered the land beyond Atlantis;
and when I woke in the morning, I made a vow in my mind that no
sooner should my present expedition to Tarshish be completed, than I
would set out on a voyage of discovery to the west.
We had been in Utica three days when Adonibal sent me a message that
he wished to speak to me. Without loss of time I presented myself at
the palace, and was conducted to the apartment from which the admiral
can at once overlook the city, the harbour, and the sea. To his
enquiry how long it would be before I took my departure, I replied
that having taken in my cargo I hoped to sail in two days.
"Here, then," he said, "are letters for the suffects of Rusadir and
Gades; and I intend to give you ten seamen to supply the places of
those you have lost. I am sure there ought not to be any deficiency
in your numbers in the event of your coming into collision with
Bodmilcar."
I was proceeding to thank him for his liberality, but he stopped me,
and said that he should have to trouble me for fifty shekels that I
owed him.
I professed myself quite ready to pay anything that was due, but said
that I was very much amazed to learn that I was in his debt.
"It is a mere trifle," said Adonibal, in his usual facetious way;
"it will not ruin you. I should not mention it at all, only you know
it is a matter of principle with a true Phœnician to keep his
accounts straight. The truth is, it is a little fine. Some of your
men have been half-killing a couple of my Ligurians. The knaves are
down in the dungeon sleeping off the effects of their drinking-bout;
but just pay their fines, and I will give you an order for their
release, and, if you like, you may go yourself and fetch them out."
"Ah," said I, laughing, "you wanted to show off the efficiency of
your police."
I could not help asking him whether the circumstance did not remind
him of the time when I was his helmsman, and he had himself come to
liberate me from the prison in Chittim, where I had been locked up
for smashing the skull of the grand merchant from Seir.
"You mean when I was captain of the _Achmon_--and a noble ship she
was," said Adonibal. "Yes, to be sure--I remember it perfectly: we
were both of us younger then than we are now. When I was a youngster
I was always getting into scrapes as often as I went on shore with
a purse-full of money; now I am only a poor hulk, dismasted and
stranded here on the shore. Such is life! while we are young we
entertain ourselves with breaking each other's heads, and when we are
old we busy ourselves with cutting them off."
"But, seriously, how have my men been committing themselves?" I asked.
"As far as I understand the matter," replied the suffect, "they
took it into their heads to play pranks with one of the priests of
Dionysos; they treated him to some wine, made him perfectly tipsy,
smeared his face all over with red and blue paint, and then insisted
upon making him dance. Some of my Ligurian soldiers, seeing what
was going on, tried to protect the priest--an interference that
your men were not in the mood to allow. They had tripped up two
of the soldiers, when the Admiralty-guard came to the rescue, and
quietly walked off four of your drunken fellows to me. I sent them
to the dungeon, but I have not had them flogged; I am generally
as indulgent as possible in the case of a sailor's spree. I am an
admiral now, and old in the service, but I do not forget that I was
once a young pilot."
The subterranean vaults to which I now descended were very dark: most
of them were used as armouries or storehouses, but a few were set
apart for prisons. The turnkey opened the door of one of these, and
by the light of his torch I could distinguish Bichri and three of
my sailors, all looking very sheepish, and I had some difficulty in
repressing my inclination to laugh. However, I assumed a serious air,
gave them a severe reprimand, and sent them out with a notice that
they were not to quit their ships. They did not wait for any second
bidding to be off; the Admiralty dungeons are no enviable quarters,
and those who find their way into them rarely leave except for the
cross or the gallows.
Returning to the quay, I passed along the subterranean passage to the
arsenal, and spent the remainder of the day in directing the repairs
of my ships. By the evening everything was finished; and I was so
gratified by the rapidity with which the work had been done, that in
my good humour I not only forgave my four men who were in disgrace,
but allowed them, on promise of good behaviour, to have another
holiday on the following day.
For myself, I resolved to spend that day in an expedition to a small
temple of Baal-Hamon, a short distance from the city, and to take
with me no companion whatever except my friend Barca's old Libyan
slave.
This temple is situated in the gloomy recesses of a forest; it is
oblong in shape, and has neither door nor window; its only external
aperture is a hole in the roof to allow an escape for the smoke of
the sacrifices; and it is entered by an underground passage, the
mouth of which is closed by a large stone concealed by the brushwood.
Three old and half-naked Libyans were waiting outside, and after a
brief consultation, in whispers, with the slave I had brought with
me, quietly raised the stone and pointed to the orifice. I entered
the passage, followed by the men, and in a short time found myself in
a small dim chamber, in the further wall of which was a flat stone,
which turned on a hinge and formed a door, just affording room to
pass, and opening into a second chamber, that was at once misty and
red with the glare of two smoking lamps. Let into the wall of this
compartment was another flat stone with a hole in its centre, which
one of the men turned slightly round upon its pivot, allowing me
to peep into a third chamber, which was a mere cell, containing a
niche, where a shapeless notched stone was deposited, which my guide
informed me was the god himself. In obedience to the directions that
were given me, I prostrated myself three times before the deity, and
remained waiting where I was. After a time, a black sheep that I had
brought with me was conducted into the cell, and slaughtered before
the niche in such a way that its blood flowed into a hollowed stone
let into the ground to receive it. When the sacrifice was finished,
the stone was turned back, shutting the god with his newly-slain
victim into the inner cell. I was told to apply my ear to the hole in
the stone, and to listen for the voice of the deity. The lamps were
then extinguished, and I was left in silence and in total darkness.
[Illustration: I PROSTRATED MYSELF THREE TIMES.
_To face page 202._]
Presently a deep muffled voice, that seemed to issue from the abysses
of the earth, came to my ear:
"Phœnician mariner, what wouldst thou ask of me?"
Awestruck, I could scarcely speak, but making an effort to reply, I
said:
"Oracle of Hamon! I would know whether it be possible to sail
westward beyond the Straits of Gades, and whether there is land."
"There is land," the voice repeated.
"Is it to be found north, west, or south?" I inquired.
"There is land to the north, there is land to the west, there is land
to the south," the oracle replied.
Emboldened by the answers I obtained, I asked again:
"And the proper route--is it by the sacred promontory, or must I
sight the head of Gades?"
"Mortal!" the voice declared, "you ask more than it is permitted
mortal to know. Go; I tell no more."
The stone doorway turned on its hinge, and we groped our way back
through the gloom out into the open air. I recompensed the attendants
liberally, and returned to the city--perplexed, it is true, but
confirmed in my resolution to explore the ocean and seek for land,
far or near, beyond the Straits of Gades.
In the course of our walk back, I inquired of my companion whether
there were many of these subterranean temples in Zeugis and Byzatium.
He told me that in the interior there were several very much more
elaborate, with arches and domes, but they were not nearly so
ancient; the true temples of the Atlantides were all like the one
which we had just left. Some there were, indeed, that were still
more simple, consisting only of three stones, flat and unhewn, of
which two were placed upright on their ends, and the third laid
horizontally across them; others were formed of stones arranged in
a long covered avenue. Of these, some were in the open air and some
concealed under mounds of earth, at the top of which several stones
were reared, while round the base circles of still larger stones were
grouped symmetrically. No doubt some of these erections were not
temples, but tombs, and were occasionally found in such numbers as
to cover a large extent of ground, and were laid out in set figures,
representing men, serpents, eggs, and scorpions.
Such was the Libyan's account of his religious edifices. When,
however, I began to question him about their signification, and why
some were underground and some above, and what was the design of
their peculiar construction, I could elicit nothing from him but that
it was the result of magic, of which his people had inherited the
great secret from their forefathers.
Early the following morning, with the suffect's permission, I set to
work to take in a supply of fresh water from the fine cisterns on the
quays. Each cistern is divided into two compartments; one to collect
the rain-water in its turbid condition from the paved streets, the
other to receive the same water when it has undergone the process
of filtration; the two tanks being connected by square-headed cocks
turned by a wooden key. All the private houses, as well as the public
buildings, in the towns, are provided with cisterns of a similar
construction, the country villages being supplied with water from
open tanks formed by two circular compartments, of which one acts as
a receptacle and the other as a reservoir.
Hannibal, who had been paying a visit to the ramparts, returned
highly gratified with what he had seen. He informed me that all the
forts were built upon cisterns, and that the rubble-work of the
walls was twenty-four cubits thick at their base, and eighteen at
their top; that the soldiers' quarters were on the second and third
storeys, out of the reach of the battering rams, and built in the
thickness of the walls; also that about three-quarters of a bowshot
in advance of the inner line there was a wall half the height, and
outside this again a strong palisade, with a moat and intrenchment.
He thought, however, that his eye had been keen enough to discover
one weak point to the right of the city, where the arsenal was
overlooked by an adjacent hill, and I concurred in his opinion that
another fort ought to be built upon the wall to cover any attack from
the eminence.
The sundial on the Admiralty palace marked the hour of noon when,
having made my roll-call, and satisfied myself that my men were all
on board, I went to take leave of Adonibal. The aged suffect bade me
a kind farewell, and wished me a prosperous voyage. I lost no time in
giving the signal for departure, and as we left the harbour we raised
a hearty cheer for the admiral, who was watching us from his balcony.
Four other vessels, heavily freighted and bound for Massalia, at the
mouth of the Rhone, left Utica immediately after us.
The distance from Utica to the Straits of Gades is 8800 stadia, and
by fast vessels can be accomplished in about a week. A strong west
wind, however, had made the sea so turbulent that all navigation was
very difficult, and it was not until after four days that we sighted
the Cabiri (or the Seven Capes), a point which is usually reached in
two; and even then, in order to clear the promontory, we were obliged
to make such long tacks that we quite lost sight of land, and were
carried far towards the north. But at length, on the seventh day, I
recognised the first great cape[37] on the mainland, south of the
Pityusai Islands.
[37] Now Cape Palos.
[Illustration]
"Tarshish!" shouted Himilco, who had been so fully occupied that he
had scarcely spoken before. "Tarshish at last!"
There was a rush to the deck; but so blinding were the rain and the
spray, that it was impossible to distinguish anything on shore.
I had taken in enough water to last us for a fortnight, and it was
well that I had done so, for we found ourselves experiencing the
difficulty, not at all infrequent, of approaching this dangerous
coast, and had to continue to make very long tacks.
After three days' perpetual struggle with the elements we were still
off the Libyan coast, but the wind then moderated, and the rain
gave place to sunshine. In the course of the next night Himilco
and I, whilst well-nigh every one was asleep, recognised the tall
perpendicular peaks of Calpe and Abyla, and soon afterwards we passed
under the wall of rock that forms the southern limit of Tarshish; by
the morning we were within sight of the level tongue of land south
of the magnificent bay of Gades. All along the headland rose the
white domes and terraces of the town, imbedded in luxuriant foliage;
high above all was the semaphore beside the temple of Ashtoreth. As
we entered the basin of what serves equally for trade-harbour and
war-port, our trumpets were sounded, and we saluted the town with
three ringing cheers.
We had reached our goal, and were in Tarshish at last.