35 



A. D, 1 190, 



failed with a triple fpread of fails *, about 50 armed gallies, and 100 

 tranfports or veffels of burthen. Befides thefe, there were 106 veflels, 

 which had afTembled at Lifbon, coafled round Spain as far as Marfeille, 

 and thence took a departure for Syria, without touching at any other 

 land. [HoveJen,/. 382 a.] 



All thefe veflels rowed and alfo failed. The gallies were adorned with 

 innumerable pencils (or pennants) waving in the wind, and banners, or 

 ftandards, (' fignis') fixed in graceful order on the tops of the fpears. 

 The rojlra, or beaks, were diftinguiflied by the variety of their paintings 

 or figures ; and the prows of the veffels Ihone with the light refleded 

 from the fhields fixed upon them. Modern veffels, fays Vinifauf, have 

 greatly fallen off from the magnificence of antient times, when the gal- 

 lies carried three, four, five, and even fix, tires of oars, whereas now they 

 rarely exceed two tires. The gallies, antiently called Liburna, are long, 

 {lender, and low, with a beam of wood fortified with iron, commonly 

 called a fpur, projecfting from the head, for piercing the fides of the ene- 

 my. There are alfo fmall gallies, called galeons, which being fliorter 

 and lighter; fleer better, and are fitter for throwing fire. 



Ships fometimes ventured, at leaft in the Mediterranean, to lofe fight 



of land; but gallies never left the flioref. \Hoveden,f. 38a b, 404 a 



Bromton^ col 1 2 1 7.] In order to keep the fleet from difperfing in the 

 night-time, a lantern was carried aloft by the king's veflel, which led 

 the way to the whole fleet. 



dowager of Sicily. The fame vefTel he elfcvvheie 

 calls a ^;//} ('biiza'): io hrfs ^\\i dromon, or Jrc 

 mund, appear, at leaft fometimes, to have been 

 ufed promifcuoufly. [Compare Viiiifiiuf, pp. 316, 

 320 — R. ds D'lceto, col. 661. — M. Paris, p. 162.— 

 Bromton, col. 1201.] 



The commentators, carried away by Greek 

 ctymologv, tell us that the droniund was a light 

 faft-failing vtfTel, fo called from S^eftoj, a race. It 

 is more than probable, that the word is Arabic : 

 and the examples quoted by Spclman, \_Archi!:oL 

 vo. Dromtinda'] who has therein condefcended to 

 copy Ifidore, are rather at variance with his defini- 

 tion and etymology. Vinifauf repeatedly charac- 

 terizes the dromons ;\$ heavy and dull-failing vcficls. 



* ' Triplici vclorum expanfionc velificatas.' \_M. 

 Parts, p. 162.] They feem to have had three 

 marts, each carrying only one fail. We are not 

 told, I believe, how many mafts the gallies had. 

 In eighty years after we find fomc of the veffels 

 belonging to an afTociation of cnifading kings, 

 which are remarked as very large, carrying two 

 fails each. \_Hemlngford, L. iii, c. 34 ] 



f Vinifauf exprtlsly fays [/). 274J that the kind 

 of veffel, which the antients called a Uburna, was 

 in his time (the iwelfth century) called a^a/lcy, in 

 L,3Un galea, which word is ufed on every occaiion 

 of mentioning fuch veifels by all the writers of the 



middle ages. Yet Stella, a Genoefe clironlcler of 

 the fifteenth century, is very angry with his con- 

 temporaries for ufing the word galea, which he 

 takes every opportunity of iligmatizing as a cor- 

 ruption of language lately introduced by idiots. 

 See particularly his Chronicle at A. D. 1146, 

 141 6, ap. Muralori Script, V. xvii. 



Flying firties, which the pilgrims had feen near 

 Sardinia, were now firft heard of in England : and 

 Hoveden [/. 383 a] feems apprehenfivc, that he 

 ftould fcarcely obtain credit for the exigence of 

 fuch wonderful animals. I find flying filhcs appro- 

 pi iated to the tropical feas of the welleni hemi- 

 fphere by lome writers of the prefcnt age, e. g. Mrs. 

 Piozzi; and, what is more furptifing, Mr. Ed- 

 wards, the hiftorian of the Weft- Indies, fuppofes 

 \_y. I, p. 12, wo/ir] that Columbus, a Mediterrane- 

 an navigator, had never ften a flying fifh, till he 

 was on the voyage wherein he difcovered the Weft- 

 ern world. The flying filh is defcribed, but very 

 briefly, by Pliny [L. ix, c. 36J under the name of 

 hirundo, or fwallow-fiflij and its flight, or leap, 

 has certainly fome refemblance to the (liimming 

 flight of the fwallow. Flying fiflics are common 

 in the A'.lantic ocean as far nortli as the coaft of 

 Portugal ; and we leai'ii from Mr. Pennant [^Bril. 

 Zoology, y. HI, /I. 292, 4'" edil.'\ tliat at leatt one 

 has been found on the cvall of South- Wales. 



