The Adventures of Captain Mago

"Here's your man, captain!"

Bodmilcar struggled to get free.

"Attempt to escape," said the trumpeter, "and I'll shake the life out of your body!"

Foaming with suppressed rage, the captured man submitted to his fate.

He was motionless and silent. Nothing could induce him to open his lips; sullenly he heard my questions; obstinately he refused to reply. He was tied to a rope's-end, and was soon swinging at the end of the yard-arm of the Adonibal.

My account was settled with Bodmilcar.

We were soon upon our homeward way.

After reporting our experiences to the Queen of Sheba, we proceeded to Tyre along the canal of Pharaoh, stopping only to pay our devoirs to King Solomon.

A triumphal reception awaited us. Throngs of our countrymen assembled to welcome our return; and King Hiram, in our honour, gave a sumptuous banquet, at which he invited me publicly to narrate the history of our protracted and adventurous voyage.

The King munificently gave me the three vessels which I had brought safely home, and the people unanimously elected me naval suffect at Sidon.

I appointed Hannibal captain of my men-at-arms, and retained Himilco, Gisgo, and Hasdrubal in my service in various posts of good emolument. The report of Hamilcar being killed in action had proved too true.

I have little more to tell.

All Phœnicia knows how I superintended the floating of the cedar-wood and all the materials which King Solomon required for the magnificent temple he was rearing at Jerusalem. Chamai is a captain in King Solomon's army, and is invariably recognised with every token of respect when he comes with Abigail, his wife, to visit me at the Admiralty palace. Every one, too, knows Bichri, the rich vine-dresser, who periodically comes to Sidon to sell his barrels and skins of sparkling wine, always inviting Himilco to the first taste of the produce of his vineyards; whilst every year a vessel is sent with all due pomp to Paphos to bring Hanno, the high priest of Ashtoreth, with the lovely Chryseis, her priestess and his wife, to sacrifice in the temple of their great metropolis. Dionysos, who has become a distinguished instructor of his countrymen in navigation, and Aminocles, his proud and aged father, generally accompany them.

On these occasions the Cabiros, adorned with embroidered hangings, puts out to sea in honour of my guests, and brings them to my private quay, where they are always hailed with acclamation as my former companions in the discovery of the Cassiterides, the Amber-coast, and the Fortunate Islands.

During the period of our festivities it is generally observed that Himilco does not walk home particularly straight, a circumstance that Bichri notifies by whistling some Benjamite or Cymrian air; and when finally the guests depart, Jonah is never missing, as he always insists on preceding them to their ship with a magnificent flourish of his trumpet.

NOTES

CHAPTER I

Phœnicians.– It is for simplicity's sake that throughout the preceding fiction I have adopted the classical name Phœnicians, which may be interpreted either as "the red men" or "men of the date-lands." Amongst themselves they were designated "Canaanites," or "people of the lowlands," in contradistinction to "Aramites," or "people of the highlands."

It would be out of place here to enter into any critical dissertation upon the words Khna and Aram, from which Canaanites and Aramites derive their appellation. —Page 1.

Shekel.– This word (which, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies a weight) is applied both to coined money, the use of which originated with the Phœnicians, and to a certain standard of ordinary weight. —Page 2. (#Page_2)

Tariff of the Sacrifices.– The ritual or tariff of sacrifices is extracted from the work of the Abbé Bargès on the Phœnician inscription discovered at Marseilles. —Page 5. (#Page_5)

Gaoul.– Originally this word signified any round hollow object. The Phœnicians designated the island of Gozo "Gaulo Melitta," Malta the Round, and it may easily be understood how the term came to be applied to their circular merchant ships, which were of a type essentially Tyrian. "Onerariam navem Hippus Tyrius invenit." (Pliny, 'Nat. Hist.')

My authorities for the description of the Phœnician vessels are:

1. Two engravings in Layard.

2. Ezekiel's prophecy against Tyre. (Chap. xxvii. 7.)

3. Xenophon's description in the 'Œconomia' of the great Phœnician ship that came every year to the Piræus.

4. The engravings in Wilkinson.

I have likewise ventured to draw some inferences by analogy from the accounts of Genevan, Pisan, and Venetian ships of the thirteenth century, given by Col. Yule, in his edition of 'Marco Polo.' —Page 8. (#Page_8)

Sheathed with Copper.– Although this may seem an anachronism, it may with some degree of certainty be alleged that the Phœnicians had an idea of using copper for this purpose. It would seem to be implied by Vegetius ('Rei militaris,' iv. 24) and by Athenæus (v. 40). An ancient legend attributes the invention to Melkarth, the Tyrian Hercules: Hercules … nave æneâ navigavit … navem æneam habuit (Servius).

The other materials employed in the building of the ships are mentioned by the prophet Ezekiel.

Besides the gaoul, I have introduced the barque, the fast ship, and the long ship, or fifty-oared war-galley.

Without entering into minute details, it may be said that the barque is essentially Phœnician. Barek, in Hebrew, signifies to bend or curve anything, as a plank. Barca est quæ cuncta navis commercia ad littus portat (Isidorus, Origines). In the modern Berber dialect it is called "ibarka."

The fast ship was called ἵππος, a horse, by the Greeks, either on account of its speed, or from the figure ordinarily found at its prow: Strabo distinctly asserts the latter reason. The vessel described in the text being of the type most frequently used in the Phœnician colony of Gades, has, on that account, been designated 'the Gadita.' Several Phœnician coins, apparently current on the coast of Africa, bear the impression of a horse's head; and the legend of a horse's head being discovered in the foundation of Carthage, probably originated in the national symbol affixed to the Phœnician ships.

The true Sidonian war-ship is the fifty-oared galley:

ναῦν πεντηκόντορον Σιδόνιαν.

    Eurip. Hel. 1141.

What was the tonnage of such a vessel, or how it could be worked by only fifty oars, or carry 400 men, are matters on which I give no opinion; it is not my province to enter upon any technical arguments.

If an analogy be required, it may be suggested by the huge Chinese junks which were seen by the Arabian, Ibn Batuta, in the fourteenth century, and which carried 600 men, and had fifty or sixty immense oars, each oar being worked by eight men, by means of ropes pulled in opposite directions. Those seen by Marco Polo had four men to each oar. It is not improbable that the Phœnician vessels were worked by some similar method. —Page 9. (#Page_9)

Purple sail.– My description of the parade-boats is not imaginary; pictures of them are given in Wilkinson (vol. iii.), and all the ancient writers, from Herodotus to Plutarch, enter into details concerning them. Herodotus describes the Sidonian vessel, from which Xerxes reviewed his fleet, as being adorned with golden hangings, meaning Babylonian materials wrought with gold. —Page 16. (#Page_16)

CHAPTER II

Pigeons. Ravens.– The custom of taking birds on a voyage, to indicate by their flight the direction of land, is mentioned repeatedly in the annals of antiquity. As an instance of more modern time and of semi-barbarous races, it may be incidentally quoted that the sea-king, Ingolf, or Floke Vilgedarson, in 868 took with him three ravens when he set out for the discovery of Iceland. —Page 23 (#Page_23).

Fleur-de-lys.– The tiara with this device may be seen amongst the engravings at the end of Botta's work. —Page 31 (#FNanchor_24).

CHAPTER V

Pharaoh.– The blank which exists in the records of Egypt at the end of the eleventh and beginning of the tenth centuries B.C., renders me unable to give the name of the Pharaoh reigning at this period.

The war-chariots of the Egyptians were mounted by Libyans, i.e., by Berbers of the Tamachek race, of which the Kabyles and Touaregs are the modern representatives. These chariots and cavalry, also Libyan, formed the great strength of the Egyptian army. —Page 79 (#Page_79).

CHAPTER VI

Cydonians. Pelasgians.– Without entering upon any dissertation on this topic, I content myself with mentioning the existence throughout Europe of races distinct both in type and language from the Aryan races whom they preceded. Two of these may be especially remarked: one with round skulls of Mongolian type, commonly called Turanians; the other with elongated skulls, classified as Australoids. These races have everywhere left traces alike of their presence and of their inferior civilisation. In the island of Crete, the Greeks preserved the memory of the Cydonians by the few words which I have introduced into the text. —Page 100 (#Page_100).

CHAPTER VII

Homer.– My introduction of the name of Homer undoubtedly demands an apology. I can only plead that the temptation to uplift the veil of mystery, and to reveal the mighty poet in connection with my fiction, was very great. Even after Schliemann's researches, the date of the Trojan war is so uncertain that I feel quite at liberty to regard it as an open question. —Page 129 (#Page_129).

CHAPTER IX