The Adventures of Captain Mago

Chamai merely remarked that he was quite sure that they might all rely with perfect confidence in my judgment. And thus the consultation was brought to a close.

Many times did we approach the coast with the intention of landing; but either it was utterly desolate, or it was so crowded with black men, who yelled and assumed such a threatening attitude, that we always postponed any attempt to go ashore. One night in particular, as we were passing under a promontory that I had named "the chariot of the gods," the noises we heard seemed of so threatening a character that I deemed it prudent to put out a little further to sea; but at length our provisions began to run short, and there was nothing to be done but to venture on land. Bichri, patient and enduring as he ever was, complained of living on salt fish; Jonah murmured that there was short allowance for ourselves, and no fruit for Gebal; and Hannibal regretted that we were losing our chance of picking up gold. I was accordingly induced to lay to as soon as I found a convenient opportunity.

Our anchorage was the estuary of a river apparently as large as the Egyptian Nile; its banks were covered with thick woods; numbers of crocodiles and hippopotamuses were visible in the water by its shore; and great birds, uttering shrill and piercing cries, whirled around above our heads.

For four days we wandered about without finding any sign of human being; we obtained, however, an abundance of wild fruit, and shot several buffaloes and antelopes, of which a great portion of the flesh was carried on board and salted. On returning from one of the foraging excursions, Bichri came running to me, looking utterly woe-begone; he was followed by Dionysos, weeping bitterly, and Jonah, gesticulating vehemently, and apparently as much agitated as himself.

"What's the matter, Bichri?" I asked.

"Gebal has gone!" he exclaimed; "he has been carried off by Bodmilcar's monkeys."

I burst out laughing. In his indignation he looked as if he could have annihilated me.

"I am sure they were Bodmilcar's!" he insisted; "creatures with long tails; they took him away; he never would have gone with them of his own accord."

Nothing I could do served to calm him; he would not be pacified until I allowed him to take some men and go out again in search of his lost favourite; but in the evening they all returned worn out with fatigue, only to announce, as might have been expected, that their search had been fruitless. There was no doubt the monkey had been delighted to join the troop of his own tribe that was gambolling in the woods. Bichri was very inadequately consoled for his loss by bringing back a great black monster, which, after he had wounded it, the men that were with him, in spite of the huge brute's desperate defence, had succeeded in despatching with their pikes. It certainly was a most formidable-looking creature, and I subsequently had it stuffed, and it may now be seen in the temple of Ashtoreth in Sidon. Bichri told us that after it had six or seven arrows in its body it snapped a pike-staff in two as easily as if it had been a reed; upon which Hannibal remarked that the strength that could break asunder a pike-handle made of oak of Bashan must be prodigious.

We were obliged to depart without finding any vestige of Gebal. After sailing on for about a fortnight, our supplies again ran short, and as we were discussing what steps we should take in consequence, Hannibal interrupted us by shouting:

"A gaoul ahead!"

Every eye was bent in the direction to which we were pointed, and sure enough there was a gaoul of Phœnician build; but on farther scrutiny it was evident that it was all dismantled, and drifting at the mercy of the waves.

"May be a ruse of Bodmilcar's," suggested Himilco.

Taking his hint, we approached very cautiously, and it was not until we had thoroughly satisfied ourselves that there was no one on board to answer our signals that we ventured close alongside. It was perfectly deserted.

Gisgo said that he remembered having once abandoned his ship off the Pityusai Islands, and that probably this was a similar case; but he could not understand what current could have borne the gaoul to this distant shore.

"Never mind where she comes from," I answered; "let us hope she may prove a godsend."

Hannibal and Himilco, who went on board, brought back the welcome intelligence that the hold was well freighted with corn and wine, the whole of which we joyfully transferred to our own vessels, leaving the empty hull again to the wind and waves. In the evening I caused an offering to be made to Ashtoreth in acknowledgment of her manifest interference on our behalf.

Next day we hove in sight of a lofty promontory, the top of which was as flat as a table. A strong gale was springing up.

"Never mind the wind," cried Jonah. "What do I care for the wind now? I've a purse full of gold; plenty to eat; plenty to drink; and a red tunic before long. Tempests be hanged! Long live the King!"

The gale for some days increased in violence, and all attempts at steering were quite useless. When, after eight days, the sea became calmer, I could make out that the land was lying to our left. This was according to my prognostications, and I followed the coast to the north with renewed confidence, day by day becoming more and more convinced that the sun was again rising in the heavens; and one lovely night, about a fortnight afterwards, Himilco suddenly seized my arm, and making me point to the northern horizon, exclaimed in a voice trembling with excitement:

"See, the Cabiri!"

"Yes; true enough; there are the Cabiri," I answered, as full of delight as he was himself. "We have accomplished an unheard-of thing," I added; "we have circumnavigated Libya."

"And to-morrow," he said, "we shall have the sun once more on our right; we are on our way to the Sea of Reeds."

"Aye, to the Sea of Reeds! and to Sidon, our own Sidon! Sidon the glorious, Sidon the incomparable!"

There was none to witness; the crew were sleeping in their berths; and in the fervour of our enthusiasm we threw ourselves into each other's arms.

A month later, as we were taking in fresh water at the mouth of a river, we fell in with some black men, who bore a marked resemblance to the Ethiopians, who are often seen in Egypt. One of them could speak a little Egyptian; he told me he had learnt it in Ethiopia, which is subject to Pharaoh. His own country, he stated, was six months' journey below the southernmost limit of Ethiopia; but he could give no information whatever about its distance by sea. These negroes called themselves Kouch, and having never seen any Phœnicians, took us for Egyptians; but as soon as we explained that so far from being subjects of Pharaoh we were enemies of the Misraim, they welcomed us as friends, and treated us with the utmost cordiality. They had evidently a great abhorrence of the Egyptians on account of the cruel ravages that had been committed on their northern boundaries.

For the next three months we never found a favourable wind to speed us on our way. We employed our time in transacting business with the Kouch, and in making hunting-expeditions into the interior of the country. In the way of exchanges we procured gold, ivory, pearls, and skins; and an immense success attended our hunting-excursions in a region that was found to abound in elephants, rhinoceros, and giraffes, as well as in smaller game. There was not one of us who had not some trophy of our good fortune or our skill to exhibit. Bichri killed a lion, with the skin of which he made himself a mantle, and even little Dionysos brought down a panther.

At length the opportunity for which we had watched so eagerly arrived, and we set sail once more. Ten days after our departure, while a stiffish breeze was blowing from the north-east, I noticed not very far ahead of us a large Phœnician gaoul, which appeared to have sustained some damage, and to be drifting along under the action of the wind. In answer to my signals, she gave me to understand that she had lost some oars and her yard-arm, and that she was in need of help. Always anxious to render assistance to a vessel in distress, but yet fearful of treachery I immediately ordered out my men, but meanwhile instructed Hannibal to have the catapults in readiness; and thus prepared, the Ashtoreth approached the gaoul on one side, and the Adonibal on the other, the Cabiros following in the rear.

There was no need for any apprehension on my part. As soon as we were fairly within view of each other, the captain, standing on the stern, raised his arms and shouted:

"By Baal Chamaim! it's Mago!"

"By Ashtoreth and all that's holy!" I exclaimed; "it is my cousin Ethbaal!"

The recognition was a mutual pleasure; our ships were soon alongside, and we were grasping each other's hands.

"How rejoiced I am to see you, Mago!" he repeated over and over again; "Phœnicia has given you up in despair; every one mourned you as lost. By Ashtoreth! you must have been saved by a miracle!"

And he put his hands upon my shoulders and long and keenly scrutinised my face.

"Tell me two things," I said; "where am I? and what has brought you here?"

Ethbaal seemed full of surprise; but said:

"Come, come; you are laughing at me. You must know well enough where you are."

I assured him that I was in earnest in what I said, and repeated my assertion that I was by no means aware of where I was; and when Himilco informed him that we had come from a place where the Cabiri could not be seen at all, and where the sun shone on the wrong side of us, he looked as if he thought we had taken leave of our senses. Nor did he appear to understand much better when Himilco went on to expatiate upon having once drunk fish-oil, and having had no wine for many months together.

"Mysterious!" muttered Ethbaal to himself; "here is Mago, close to the entrance of the Sea of Reeds, only six days' voyage from Ophir, and yet he comes from the south, after sailing four years ago westward to Tarshish! Strange!"

He pondered awhile, and then addressed himself to me:

"Yes; you are close to the Sea of Reeds."

I uttered an exclamation of delight, and turning to my people cried triumphantly:

"Was I not right? Did I not tell you that we were on our way to Egypt? Lucky we did not turn back from the Fortunate Islands!"

Ethbaal appeared to be confirmed in his suspicion that I must be mad, and declared his total ignorance of the Fortunate Islands:

"I have never heard of them!"

"No, nor yet of the Tin Islands; nor yet of Prydhayn; nor yet of the river of the Suomi; nor yet of the chariot of the gods," exclaimed Himilco. "Compared with us you are mere coasters, loafing about in cockle-shells."

Genuine Sidonian as he was, my cousin could not brook any insinuation against his seamanship, and colouring deeply at the slight which he conceived was offered to him, he said in a tone of anger:

"Out upon your insolence! do you call a man a coaster who has made the voyage to Ophir? do you call my gaoul a cockle-shell? Are you mad, or are you drunk, you one-eyed fool?"

Himilco, recalled to a sense of propriety, changed his banter into cajolery:

"Now then, my dear fellow, you can do a great deal better than bully me. Haven't you a little wine on board? It would be a great boon to give us a skin; we haven't tasted a drop this two months."

I interceded with Ethbaal, asking him to overlook what might seem to be rudeness on the part of Himilco, and assured him that our adventures had been so extraordinary that he must really pardon a little bragging. He not only took my mediation in a good spirit, but sent for a goat-skin of wine, which he himself handed to Himilco, in token of forgiveness. Saying that he should make an offering with it to the Cabiri, the pilot emptied so large a share of the contents down his throat that his companions began to wonder when his draught was coming to an end, and almost despaired of the wine lasting out till it should come to their turn to partake of it.

"Glorious wine! wine of Arvad, Hannibal," he said, smacking his lips as he removed the goat-skin from his mouth, and passed it to the rest.

Gisgo and Hannibal clutched at the bottle together.

"Nay, nay, my friends," cried Ethbaal; "do not be fighting for the wine. I have plenty more. My cargo is all wine which I am carrying to Ophir."

"Could you not take me with you?" asked Himilco eagerly; "my services are quite at your disposal."

CHAPTER XXI

THE QUEEN OF SHEBA

As soon as the wind dropped, we submitted ourselves to Ethbaal's instructions as to the direction in which we ought to steer, and taking his gaoul into tow, we proceeded on our course to Ophir.

When evening came we found that by Ethbaal's orders a true Phœnician banquet had been prepared on the stern of the Ashtoreth: cheese, olives, figs, raisins, and a double allowance of wine were served out to the men; and we ourselves took our seats upon brilliant carpets that had replaced the worn-out rags with which we had been so long familiar, and for the first time for months, nay, years, enjoyed the viands of Tyre and Sidon, and quaffed the wines of Byblos and Arvad.

Our spirits rose to the occasion, and I should hesitate to say how many times I filled and refilled my wine-cup before I began to recount the adventures which Ethbaal was anxious to hear.

My story lasted far on into the night.

When I had finished, Ethbaal, who had never flagged for one moment in his attention, raised his hands to the stars in the heavens above, and swore by all the gods that my chronicle ought to be registered in letters of gold. He went on to tell me that the cargo I had sent from Gades and all my messages had been duly received at Tyre; that everyone had come to the conclusion we must all have been drowned in the ocean; and that nothing had been heard about Bodmilcar, who, it was taken for granted, had been punished for his treachery by the direct visitation of the gods.

I offered Ethbaal a present of some very fine pearls; he at first refused to take any acknowledgment at all of his attention to us, but I induced him ultimately to accept the gift. The damages to his gaoul were only to the rigging, and did not affect the hull; and as we had taken it into tow, there was nothing to cause us any anxiety, or to prevent us from retiring to rest.

Next morning, in the course of conversation with Ethbaal, Himilco asked:

"Have you had any fighting, captain, since you have been out?"

"Fighting? no, why?" he replied.

"Because if you continue in our company you will soon find that fighting is our destiny. We are always fighting; if we are not fighting men, – and that we are doing pretty frequently, – we are fighting the beasts of the earth; and if we are not fighting beasts, we are fighting against wind and waves. Go where we will we attract the fightings, just like a headland attracts the storms. Fighting is our luck; so I just warn you, you had better be on the look-out."

Ethbaal laughed. He said he hoped that we had come to the end of our adventures in that way, and that we should have a prosperous voyage to Ophir; then turning to me, he asked what I expected to procure at Ophir, as I had already a large supply of gold, which was the commodity ordinarily obtained there.

I reminded him that I had a much larger quantity of amber than I really wanted, and that in return for a portion of it I intended to lay in a stock of sandal-wood and spices, peacocks and apes, and anything else that the country could offer.

The Arabian coast was rocky, but we sailed along it without difficulty for six days, at the end of which we arrived at Havilah, the principal city of the kingdom of Ophir and Sheba. Unlike the Phœnician seaports, it has no quays, fortresses, nor arsenals, but it is well-sheltered, and forms a commodious trade-harbour; the town rises like an amphitheatre upon the surrounding heights, and the white terraces, with their brown and red domes, broken by clusters of palm-trees, stand out in pleasing contrast to the deep-blue sky, while the domes of the temples are of gilded bronze, and glitter with dazzling brightness in the sunlight. Although the people are indifferent seamen, yet it is to the sea that they owe their prosperity, their city forming the mart between our own country and the distant Indies.

The Queen herself takes a keen interest in all matters connected with navigation, and her palace is situated close to the sea-shore. It is built of cedar, and ornamented with trellis-work and open balconies; the walls are all adorned with paintings, inlaid with precious stones, or hung with curtains of variegated stuffs.

I was very anxious to secure the Queen's favour, and to make her an offering worthy of her acceptance. With this object, I placed some of my finest pieces of amber in a casket made of Tarshish silver, and carrying my gift in my hand, I presented myself with Ethbaal and most of my officers at the entrance of the palace, and sounded the great drum by which it is the custom to demand admittance to the royal presence.

Ordinarily the Queen occupies a tapestried tent that overlooks the sea; she had consequently been aware of our entrance into the harbour, and when we presented ourselves at the gateway of the palace she gave immediate orders that we should be conducted before her. We were taken to her pavilion across a garden of surpassing beauty. There were countless plants, wonderful alike in their blossoms and their foliage, grouped in exquisite order around sparkling fountains; there were sumptuous tents of every hue pitched amongst the rare and graceful trees, to the boughs of which monkeys were attached by golden chains; Indian birds with gayest plumage fluttered overhead; and peacocks, displaying their gorgeous tails, were strutting along the avenues. Every thing we saw seemed worthy of the stateliest empire in the world.

We prostrated ourselves before the Queen, who at once bade us rise. She was young and very fascinating; and although she was surrounded by ladies in waiting and maids of honour, she was conspicuous among them all for grace and beauty. Her attire, redolent of perfume, was alike sumptuous and elegant; in her hair and round her neck were jewels valuable enough not only to equip a fleet, but to maintain it as well; a long robe, embroidered in gold with figures of men, beasts, and birds, was thrown over her, but opened to display the richness of the dress below; her sleeves were loose to the elbows, and on her wrists were bracelets that must have been all but priceless.

We were dazzled into silence as we first gazed upon her beauty and magnificence; but Hanno almost immediately advanced, and ventured to recite some verses of an Arab ode:

"Fairer than moons are thy beaming eyes,Nay, they are radiant suns:Forth from the bow of thine arched browShoot the arrows that pierce man's heart:Be it thy justice prevails far and wide,The universe yields to thy charms.What are thy favours? Say I not true?Fetters they are that bind the soul;What are thy fingers? What do I kiss?Keys of a heavenly joy."

The language spoken in Ophir is very similar to our own, and the Queen, who understands Phœnician well, expressed herself as being highly gratified at Hanno's courtier-like address. She then deigned to examine the presents I had brought, and requested me to give her a brief outline of my travels and adventures; then rising from her seat, and bidding us follow her, she went out, accompanied by her retinue, into the garden, and moving with all the grace and dignity of a goddess, herself conducted us to every point of interest in her paradise. Before we took leave of her she desired me to visit her again on the eve of our departure, that I might receive some instructions that she wished to give me.

The same evening the munificent lady sent us a store of provisions for our ships, and various presents for ourselves, amongst which I should especially note several embroidered robes for the women, and a scarlet tunic, a hyacinth-coloured girdle, and a gold-embroidered shoulder-belt for Hanno.

We remained a week at Havilah, making exchanges, and inspecting all that was worth seeing in the place. Representatives of nearly every nation seemed to be congregated in the town; men from India and Taprobane, from Ethiopia, and the mouth of the Euphrates. The people of Sheba themselves bear a strong resemblance to the Jews, Phœnicians, and Arabians, the principal difference being that they are of smaller stature and darker complexion. The queen, however, is remarkably fair. The gold and the tin that we procured here, as well as the peacocks, tortoise-shell, and ivory, are all imported from India; but the spices, stuffs, and vases of opaque glass, are brought through India from a still more distant land, to which hitherto no one has ever sailed, and which could not be reached in less than a two years' voyage.

On the day of my departure I presented myself again before the Queen.

"I have to inform you, Captain Mago," she said, "that the old King David who sent you to Tarshish died a year and a half ago, and has been succeeded by his son Solomon, of whose power, but especially of whose wisdom, I hear a wonderful report. His dominions extend as far as the Gulf of Elam on the Sea of Reeds, where he holds the port of Ezion-Geber. I am eager to enter into a treaty with him, and I commission you, on my behalf, to convey to this august monarch a present that shall be worthy of himself and me."

"Your will, O Queen, is my law," I replied, as I made my obeisance.

"But first of all, captain," she continued, "tell me whether you and your companions in toil are too worn out with the fatigues that you have already endured to undertake another voyage in my service. Information has reached me that the King of Babylon, Assur, and Accad is on his way, with a powerful army, to the mouth of the Euphrates to put down an insurrection. No one so well as yourself can fulfil what I desire. I want you, if you will, to convey him some messages from me, and to be the bearer of presents that I shall send."

I did not hesitate to comply; not only did I express my willingness to go, but assured her that the voyage would be neither difficult nor long.

"Go then, brave mariner," said the Queen, with a beaming smile, "and I shall not fail to recompense you royally."

I prostrated myself once again before her, and withdrew.

An hour later I had taken leave of Ethbaal, who was returning to Sidon by way of Ezion-Geber and the canal of Pharaoh, and, with all my people, I was embarking for yet another voyage.

CHAPTER XXII

BELESYS FINDS BICHRI SOMEWHAT HEAVY

It did not take us much more than a month to sail to the mouth of the Euphrates, although during the time we made one sojourn with the Arabians, and another with the fish-eating Gedrosians on the opposite coast.

On receiving the announcement from me of the aged King David's death, Chamai and his fellow-countrymen observed a week's mourning, fasted, rent their clothes, and combed neither their hair nor their beards; but at the end of the week they made plentiful ablutions, and held a festival in honour of Solomon, the King's son and successor.

It was early in the morning that we reached the river-mouth, and having entered it, proceeded till we came to a little town dedicated to the god Oannes. There is no stone found in the country, and the place, like all the other towns on the Euphrates, is built entirely of bricks, the fortifications being circular walls constructed of bricks, baked and unbaked, cemented with layers of bitumen. On the right were the remains of vast forests, which, according to the statements of the learned, were, three hundred years ago, the haunts of the elephant. On the other side, extending as far as the eye could reach, was a long stretch of meadow-lands and corn-fields. Looking up the river, we could count some hundreds of tents pitched among the crops or sheltered by the forest, the fires of the encampment sending up columns of smoke, and groups of horses being picketed everywhere amongst them. A few boats and two large ships of Phœnician build were moored to the shore; but what struck us most of all was the swarms of soldiers, many of them with swords drawn and lance in hand, who were posted everywhere alike on the river-bank, in the pastures, among the crops, and along the skirts of the forest.