PYTHEAS. 69 



volcanic area. These two mountains, which for the last two 

 thousand years have been more or less frequently in eruption, 

 seem to have enjoyed a long period of rest, during which the 

 Lipari islands served as a vent. It seems to me, therefore, 

 highly probable that this statement made by Pytheas was a 

 perfectly truthful record of an actual occurrence. 



The third difficulty is the assertion that round the island 

 of Thule Pytheas saw a substance which was neither earth, 

 air, nor water, but a substance resembling medusae or jelly- 

 fishes (TTvetyxovi $aA<xaWw eot/<os), which could neither be passed 

 on foot nor in ships. This passage, which has completely 

 puzzled southern commentators, is justly regarded by Professor 

 Nilsson as a striking evidence of Pytheas's veracity. For 

 when the Northern Ocean freezes, this does not happen as 

 in our ponds or lakes, but small, separate plates of ice are 

 formed, and as soon as this process commences, the fisher- 

 men hurry to the shore, lest they should be caught in the 

 ice, which for some time is too thick to permit the passage 

 of a boat, yet too weak to support the weight of a man. A 

 very similar description is given by Captain Lyon. "We 

 came," he says, "amongst young ice, in that state called 

 sludge, which resembles in appearance and consistency a far 

 better thing lemon ice. From this we came to small round 

 plates, of about a foot in diameter, which have the appear- 

 ance of the scales of gigantic fishes."* Eichardson also 

 particularly mentions the " circular plates of ice, six or 

 eight inches in diameter."-)- These discs of ice tossed about 

 by the waves suggested to Professor Nilsson himself, when 

 he first saw them, the idea of a crowd of medusae, and if we 

 imagine a southerner who had never before witnessed such a 

 phenomenon, and who on his return home wished to describe 

 it to his fellow-countrymen, it would have been difficult to 

 find an apter or more ingenious simile. It is, moreover, one 

 * Lyon's Journal, p. 84. t Arctic Expedition, vol. ii. p. 97. 



