Les aventures du Capitaine Magon. English

by David-Léon Cahun

  CHAPTER XII.

  I CONSULT THE ORACLE.

  I made it my first business on the following morning to go to thegreat market-place, near the trade-harbour and the temple of Achmon.It is surrounded by lofty houses upon an arcade, under which are theretail shops of the tradespeople, their warehouses being in courtsat the back. In these shops every variety of Libyan merchandise wasexhibited for sale. There were hides, dressed and undressed; stonesprepared for engraving; Numidian copper; lion-skins from Mount Atlas;thongs of hippopotamus-hide from Lake Tritonis; elephants' tusks fromthe Macar; corn from Zeugis and Byzatium, and wool from the land ofthe Garamantines. I spent a considerable time in making purchases ofivory, and procured a good supply at a very fair price; and later inthe day went with Hannibal and Hamilcar to fulfil the engagement Ihad made on the previous night. Hanno and Chamai preferred escortingChryseis and Abigail about the city; and Bichri went for an evening'sdiversion with Gisgo, Hasdrubal, and Himilco.

  Barca, our host, one of the richest shipowners in the colony, hadprepared us an elegant entertainment in a handsome tent pitchedupon the terrace of his house. As soon as the meal was ended, winewas brought in, and musicians and dancing-girls performed for ouramusement; and one of Barca's slaves, an old Libyan, who was wellversed in the songs and traditions of his people, repeated his talesabout the mystery and wonders of their origin.

  According to his account, there had formerly, south of Libya, beenan extensive sea, which received the water of several rivers, and tothe south of which again lay the land of the negroes, who had faceslike monkeys. This sea was the original Lake Tritonis, or Pallas, andthe chain of lakes, at the foot of the Atlas Mountains, extendingfrom the vicinity of Gades to Karth,[35] in Byzatium (now known tous as the Tritons), are either marshes formed by the overflow of twogreat rivers from the south, whose waters have been diverted by MountAtlas, or, when salt, are probably the remains of the same greatsea. There are then, he represented, two mountainous ridges, themore southernly of which outpours its streams as far as the Tritonisand Mount Atlas, and the other sends its rivers, the Macar and theBagradas, into our own Great Sea. Further west, issuing also fromMount Atlas, are other important rivers, which lose themselves inthe sands. These, however, long centuries back, had an outlet intothe inland branch of the great Atlantic Ocean, which, at that remoteperiod, was the southern boundary of Libya, and extending eastwardstowards the confines of Egypt, ultimately joined the Syrtes. Libyawas thus a great peninsula, connected with the mainland only by anarrow isthmus, now the Straits of Gades, and enclosed on every othercoast by water; on the north and east by the Syrtes, by which it wasseparated from Egypt; on the south by the inland sea that covered thepresent 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 withintelligence as he spoke, the old man told of mighty convulsions ofthe 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 wholeflood of the ocean rushed through to the Great Sea, and the Great Seareceded and yielded to the upheaving of the land.

  I listened with increasing interest. I knew already how the sea couldoverwhelm the land. I was also aware how the Siculians maintain thatlong ages back a neck of solid land had joined their country to thecontinent of the Vitalians. Many times, too, I had heard amongstPhœnicians how a deluge had detached the isle of Chittim from themainland. And now I was hearing the wondrous tale of how the sea hadretreated from the south of Libya.

  He went on to say that when the waters rolled away they submergedan immense number of islands, leaving the Fortunate Islands[36] (ofwhich I shall have to speak hereafter) as the sole representativesof what had previously been a vast archipelago, that had madecommunication easy, even in small boats, not only with the land ofthe Atlantides, but with that other great country that lies stillfurther to the west. Now, however, that Atlantis has disappeared,all intercourse has been dropped with that remote land, from whichboth the red and white Libyans assert that they originally came, andwhence migrating eastwards they founded cities as they advanced,became the first settlers in Egypt, and spread far and wide theknowledge of their gods, which were really the Dionysus and Minervaof the Hellenes and Vitalians, and Zeus, known among us Phœniciansas Baal-Hamon. According to their own account (which is confirmed bythe Hellenes), the Pelasgians, under the leadership of Melkarth-Ouso,came into Libya, but afterwards retreated to the east. Then came thegreat convulsion when the land was upheaved and the waters receded,and the earth subsided into its present configuration; then, too, theSidonians, protected by their gods, began to assert their sovereigntyon 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 webecome rapt in attention. Hannibal sat with his eyes wide open, andfrom time to time gave vent to ejaculations of astonishment; and I,though less surprised, for I had already speculated very much onthese matters, was nevertheless deeply impressed with the clearnesswith which they had been laid before us. I retired that night withmy brain agitated by excitement, and dreamed that I was commanding amagnificent fleet, and that we discovered the land beyond Atlantis;and when I woke in the morning, I made a vow in my mind that nosooner should my present expedition to Tarshish be completed, than Iwould set out on a voyage of discovery to the west.

  We had been in Utica three days when Adonibal sent me a message thathe wished to speak to me. Without loss of time I presented myself atthe palace, and was conducted to the apartment from which the admiralcan at once overlook the city, the harbour, and the sea. To hisenquiry how long it would be before I took my departure, I repliedthat having taken in my cargo I hoped to sail in two days.

  "Here, then," he said, "are letters for the suffects of Rusadir andGades; and I intend to give you ten seamen to supply the places ofthose you have lost. I am sure there ought not to be any deficiencyin your numbers in the event of your coming into collision withBodmilcar."

  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 Iowed him.

  I professed myself quite ready to pay anything that was due, but saidthat 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 knowit is a matter of principle with a true Phœnician to keep hisaccounts straight. The truth is, it is a little fine. Some of yourmen have been half-killing a couple of my Ligurians. The knaves aredown in the dungeon sleeping off the effects of their drinking-bout;but just pay their fines, and I will give you an order for theirrelease, and, if you like, you may go yourself and fetch them out."

  "Ah," said I, laughing, "you wanted to show off the efficiency ofyour police."

  I could not help asking him whether the circumstance did not remindhim of the time when I was his helmsman, and he had himself come toliberate me from the prison in Chittim, where I had been locked upfor smashing the skull of the grand merchant from Seir.

  "You mean when I was captain of the _Achmon_--and a noble ship shewas," said Adonibal. "Yes, to be sure--I remember it perfectly: wewere both of us younger then than we are now. When I was a youngsterI was always getting into scrapes as often as I went on shore witha purse-full of money; now I am only a poor hulk, dismasted andstranded here on the shore. Such is life! while we are young weentertain ourselves with breaking each other's heads, and when we areold 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, "theytook it into their heads to play pranks with one of the priests ofDionysos; they
treated him to some wine, made him perfectly tipsy,smeared his face all over with red and blue paint, and then insistedupon making him dance. Some of my Ligurian soldiers, seeing whatwas going on, tried to protect the priest--an interference thatyour men were not in the mood to allow. They had tripped up twoof the soldiers, when the Admiralty-guard came to the rescue, andquietly walked off four of your drunken fellows to me. I sent themto the dungeon, but I have not had them flogged; I am generallyas indulgent as possible in the case of a sailor's spree. I am anadmiral now, and old in the service, but I do not forget that I wasonce a young pilot."

  The subterranean vaults to which I now descended were very dark: mostof them were used as armouries or storehouses, but a few were setapart for prisons. The turnkey opened the door of one of these, andby the light of his torch I could distinguish Bichri and three ofmy sailors, all looking very sheepish, and I had some difficulty inrepressing my inclination to laugh. However, I assumed a serious air,gave them a severe reprimand, and sent them out with a notice thatthey were not to quit their ships. They did not wait for any secondbidding to be off; the Admiralty dungeons are no enviable quarters,and those who find their way into them rarely leave except for thecross or the gallows.

  Returning to the quay, I passed along the subterranean passage to thearsenal, and spent the remainder of the day in directing the repairsof my ships. By the evening everything was finished; and I was sogratified by the rapidity with which the work had been done, that inmy good humour I not only forgave my four men who were in disgrace,but allowed them, on promise of good behaviour, to have anotherholiday on the following day.

  For myself, I resolved to spend that day in an expedition to a smalltemple of Baal-Hamon, a short distance from the city, and to takewith me no companion whatever except my friend Barca's old Libyanslave.

  This temple is situated in the gloomy recesses of a forest; it isoblong in shape, and has neither door nor window; its only externalaperture is a hole in the roof to allow an escape for the smoke ofthe sacrifices; and it is entered by an underground passage, themouth of which is closed by a large stone concealed by the brushwood.Three old and half-naked Libyans were waiting outside, and after abrief consultation, in whispers, with the slave I had brought withme, quietly raised the stone and pointed to the orifice. I enteredthe passage, followed by the men, and in a short time found myself ina 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 topass, and opening into a second chamber, that was at once misty andred with the glare of two smoking lamps. Let into the wall of thiscompartment was another flat stone with a hole in its centre, whichone of the men turned slightly round upon its pivot, allowing meto peep into a third chamber, which was a mere cell, containing aniche, where a shapeless notched stone was deposited, which my guideinformed me was the god himself. In obedience to the directions thatwere given me, I prostrated myself three times before the deity, andremained waiting where I was. After a time, a black sheep that I hadbrought with me was conducted into the cell, and slaughtered beforethe niche in such a way that its blood flowed into a hollowed stonelet into the ground to receive it. When the sacrifice was finished,the stone was turned back, shutting the god with his newly-slainvictim into the inner cell. I was told to apply my ear to the hole inthe stone, and to listen for the voice of the deity. The lamps werethen extinguished, and I was left in silence and in total darkness.

  I PROSTRATED MYSELF THREE TIMES. _To face page 202._]

  Presently a deep muffled voice, that seemed to issue from the abyssesof 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, Isaid:

  "Oracle of Hamon! I would know whether it be possible to sailwestward 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 landto 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 Isight the head of Gades?"

  "Mortal!" the voice declared, "you ask more than it is permittedmortal to know. Go; I tell no more."

  The stone doorway turned on its hinge, and we groped our way backthrough the gloom out into the open air. I recompensed the attendantsliberally, and returned to the city--perplexed, it is true, butconfirmed 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 whetherthere were many of these subterranean temples in Zeugis and Byzatium.He told me that in the interior there were several very much moreelaborate, with arches and domes, but they were not nearly soancient; the true temples of the Atlantides were all like the onewhich we had just left. Some there were, indeed, that were stillmore simple, consisting only of three stones, flat and unhewn, ofwhich two were placed upright on their ends, and the third laidhorizontally across them; others were formed of stones arranged ina long covered avenue. Of these, some were in the open air and someconcealed under mounds of earth, at the top of which several stoneswere reared, while round the base circles of still larger stones weregrouped symmetrically. No doubt some of these erections were nottemples, but tombs, and were occasionally found in such numbers asto 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 whysome were underground and some above, and what was the design oftheir peculiar construction, I could elicit nothing from him but thatit was the result of magic, of which his people had inherited thegreat secret from their forefathers.

  Early the following morning, with the suffect's permission, I set towork to take in a supply of fresh water from the fine cisterns on thequays. Each cistern is divided into two compartments; one to collectthe rain-water in its turbid condition from the paved streets, theother to receive the same water when it has undergone the processof filtration; the two tanks being connected by square-headed cocksturned by a wooden key. All the private houses, as well as the publicbuildings, in the towns, are provided with cisterns of a similarconstruction, the country villages being supplied with water fromopen tanks formed by two circular compartments, of which one acts asa receptacle and the other as a reservoir.

  Hannibal, who had been paying a visit to the ramparts, returnedhighly gratified with what he had seen. He informed me that all theforts were built upon cisterns, and that the rubble-work of thewalls was twenty-four cubits thick at their base, and eighteen attheir top; that the soldiers' quarters were on the second and thirdstoreys, out of the reach of the battering rams, and built in thethickness of the walls; also that about three-quarters of a bowshotin advance of the inner line there was a wall half the height, andoutside this again a strong palisade, with a moat and intrenchment.He thought, however, that his eye had been keen enough to discoverone weak point to the right of the city, where the arsenal wasoverlooked by an adjacent hill, and I concurred in his opinion thatanother fort ought to be built upon the wall to cover any attack fromthe 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 allon board, I went to take leave of Adonibal. The aged suffect bade mea kind farewell, and wished me a prosperous voyage. I lost no time ingiving the signal for departure, and as we left the harbour we raiseda hearty cheer for the admiral, who was watching us from his balcony.Four other vessels, heavily freighted and bound for Massalia, at themouth of the Rhone, left Utica immediately after us.

  The distance from Utica to the Straits of Gades is 8800 stadia, andby fast vessels can be accomplished in about a week. A strong westwind, ho
wever, had made the sea so turbulent that all navigation wasvery difficult, and it was not until after four days that we sightedthe Cabiri (or the Seven Capes), a point which is usually reached intwo; and even then, in order to clear the promontory, we were obligedto make such long tacks that we quite lost sight of land, and werecarried far towards the north. But at length, on the seventh day, Irecognised the first great cape[37] on the mainland, south of thePityusai Islands.

  [37] Now Cape Palos.

 

  "Tarshish!" shouted Himilco, who had been so fully occupied that hehad scarcely spoken before. "Tarshish at last!"

  There was a rush to the deck; but so blinding were the rain and thespray, that it was impossible to distinguish anything on shore.

  I had taken in enough water to last us for a fortnight, and it waswell that I had done so, for we found ourselves experiencing thedifficulty, not at all infrequent, of approaching this dangerouscoast, and had to continue to make very long tacks.

  After three days' perpetual struggle with the elements we were stilloff the Libyan coast, but the wind then moderated, and the raingave place to sunshine. In the course of the next night Himilcoand I, whilst well-nigh every one was asleep, recognised the tallperpendicular peaks of Calpe and Abyla, and soon afterwards we passedunder the wall of rock that forms the southern limit of Tarshish; bythe morning we were within sight of the level tongue of land southof the magnificent bay of Gades. All along the headland rose thewhite domes and terraces of the town, imbedded in luxuriant foliage;high above all was the semaphore beside the temple of Ashtoreth. Aswe entered the basin of what serves equally for trade-harbour andwar-port, our trumpets were sounded, and we saluted the town withthree ringing cheers.

  We had reached our goal, and were in Tarshish at last.