36 FOLLOW THE WHALE 



some estimations would fit those of a large rorqual, and the baleen 

 of whales has repeatedly been referred to as their "beards" by those 

 who have never seen the animals in the flesh. The limbs being over- 

 laid with gold might well mean that they were covered with blubber 

 from which oil that was golden in hue or which could be converted 

 into good metal of the same color was extracted. The eyebrows of 

 lapis lazuli, which, be it noted, is referred to as "real," may be either 

 a flight of pure literary fancy or an exceptionally realistic descrip- 

 tion, for it was an ancient belief that these stones were the lenses 

 of the eyes of sea monsters. 



The ancient Egyptians also had a name for the whale the spell- 

 ing and meaning of which is of considerable interest. It was written: 



n 



^e^cs 



'WWW 

 /Www Q I 



SAN EN UATCH-UR 



which may be transliterated as shown. This means literally "the bull 

 of the sea" and it probably referred to the sperm whale, though it 

 may also have been applied to dolphins. 



Although the ancient Egyptians never ventured far out into the 

 Indian Ocean, they obtained at the very earhest times articles of 

 commerce that are clearly of Indian origin. Somebody must have 

 been bringing these commodities to the Red Sea ports, and we are 

 prompted to inquire who these carriers may have been. Now, as 

 we have seen, the beginnings of seamanship on the Oman and 

 Makran coasts of Arabia and Persia appear to have come to naught, 

 for the inhabitants of those places are still today using the most 

 primitive craft and seem never to have developed anything better. 

 It appears, however, that on the southern coasts of India real sea- 

 faring began at a very early date and it is possible that the first truly 

 ocean-going vessels were constructed there. Unfortunately, we 

 know very little about the early inhabitants of the Malabar coast. 

 It was ever a rich and fertile land, and civilization, in which the 

 whole population participated, started there in prehistoric times. 

 Having ample wood at their disposal, these people seem to have 



