6o FOLLOW THE WHALE 



of their diving and respiratory apparatus is poetic but not altogether 

 unsound, for they do indeed behave like divers. Despite these de- 

 fects, Aristotle's description is somewhat remarkable as having been 

 written twenty- three centuries ago. 



Strabo, writing later of Ceylon, which he called Taprobane, says, 

 "They say it is an island lying out in the sea, distant from the most 

 southern parts of India . . . that there are found around its shores 

 cetaceous animals [whales] which are amphibious and in appearance 

 like oxen, horses and other land animals." This passage was later 

 elaborated by the Roman writer Aelian, who, in his History of Ani- 

 mals, says, "This sea is reported to breed an incredible number of 

 fish. They say whales also frequent this sea though it is not true 

 they approach the shore lying in wait for tunnies. The dolphins are 

 reported to be of two sorts." Strabo even has information on the 

 Ganges and quotes another Greek, one Artemidorus, whose writings 

 are lost, saying, "The Ganges descends from the Edomoi Mountains 

 towards the south. To one of its affluents he gives the name of 

 Oidanes, which breeds crocodiles and dolphins." It is indeed an as- 

 tonishing thing to read these rather matter-of-fact remarks, written 

 over two thousand years ago, and to find in them such intimate ref- 

 erences to the wildlife of places as distant as Ceylon and Bengal. It 

 brings home to us the extraordinarily rational attitude of the Greeks 

 towards exploration, geography, and the natural sciences. The whole 

 business, moreover, becomes positively prosaic with the advent of 

 the Romans. 



Egypt came under the Roman domain in 30 b.c. and the Romans, 

 with their customary efficiency, set to work to make the newly ac- 

 quired territory a paying proposition. With consummate adroitness 

 they immediately opened the ancient trade route to India, though 

 they did not themselves attempt to sail this but left the whole busi- 

 ness to the Greeks. In this we see the genius of the Romans, who, 

 in contrast to the Greeks, always avoided doing anything themselves 

 that they could persuade somebody else to do for them, particularly 

 if it was something which they did not wholly understand. Thus, we 

 find the influence of Rome extending, within a comparatively few 

 years, far beyond the confines of Europe to distant parts of Asia. 



There were many Roman chroniclers of this expansion, ranging 

 in attitude from that self-satisfied country gentleman, Horace, who 



