A Pale Glow in the East 31 



side paddle rudder, these ships must have been able to do little else 

 but run free before the wind. However, the Phoenicians soon be- 

 gan experimenting. First they decked the ships over, and then they 

 added a permanent mast. Next they increased the size until there 

 were as many as thirty pairs of oars. They raised the freeboard and 

 started affixing external fin-keels, while decreasing the beam in pro- 

 portion to the waterline. The next stage was the introduction of 

 two decks with the rowers in two banks, one above the other and 

 both protected from the elements by being below decks, while the 

 oars entered the vessel through holes in the bulwarks which were 

 rendered weatherproof with leather collars. The evolution did not 

 cease even here, however, but proceeded steadily through the cen- 

 turies — the ships growing in size, more masts being added, experi- 

 ments with lateen and regular fore-and-aft sails and numerous other 

 nautical improvements being made — until we hear of large trading 

 vessels that relied entirely on sail even in confined waters and dis- 

 pensed with oars altogether. 



The Arabian Sea is, comparatively speaking, a mild sea, for al- 

 though it is subject to occasional tropical storms of great violence, 

 and to some quota of bad weather of other sorts, it is not penetrated 

 by any great ocean currents that bring masses of cold water to its 

 hot surface, so that fogs are extremely rare there, and the skies above 

 it are singularly free from clouds. It is a sparkling sea of azure waves 

 and mellow countenance. There are sometimes wonderful mystic 

 days upon this sea when the waters are almost colorless and so ut- 

 terly smooth they He Hke mercury under the torrential sunlight. 

 Birds upon its bosom stick up hke sooty periscopes and make pools 

 of dissonance with their paddlings that may be seen for miles, 

 spreading in rings like miasmic halos. A passing shark may cut a 

 swath that opens to half a mile before it dissolves in the glistening 

 surface, and some of the gulfs that extend from this sea into the hot 

 lands that lie to the north often appear for days on end as if they 

 were filled with molten silver. Yet throughout most of the year this 

 sea is blown upon by steady winds. In the winter they come from 

 India, are hot and dry, and are known as the northeast monsoons; in 

 summer they blow from the region of Africa, are moist, and are 

 very logically known as the southwest monsoons. The mild aspect 

 of this sea-country fosters the growth of a teeming animal life that 



