256 History of Nature. [ BOOK VII. 



CHAPTER LVII. 

 Wherein first appeared the general Agreement of Nations. 



THE first silent Consent of all Countries hath agreed in 

 this, That they should use the Ionian Letters. 



first seized : so from them were named Mounts Cassius and Libanus, 

 Antilibanus and Brathys. Perhaps it is to these that allusion is made, 

 Genesis, vi. 4. The Protogonus and (Eon here spoken of, being the 

 first generation of mortals, were the discoverers of the way of taking 

 food from trees; and their children, Genus and Genea, in a time of 

 scarcity in Phanicia, first worshipped the sun, as Beelsamin, or only 

 Lord of Heaven. 



" Hypsuranius, a Tyrian, first made huts of reeds and rushes, and the 

 paper-reeds. His brother Usoiis first invented covering for his body, out 

 of the skins of wild beasts which he could catch ; which may be reconciled 

 with the narrative in Genesis, iii. 21. He consecrated two rude stone 

 pillars to the fire and wind, and worshipped them with the sprinkling of 

 the blood of wild beasts taken in hunting. He first ventured on the sea 

 in a kind of raft ; and on his death were first instituted anniversary feasts. 

 Many years after him, Agreus and Halieus were the inventors of the arts, 

 and it would appear, the fathers of tribes who pursued hunting and fish- 

 ing. The two brothers who invented the working of iron were their 

 sons. One of these, named Chrysor, the same as Vulcan, employed 

 charms and divinations ; he invented the hook, bait, and fishing-line, and 

 boats slightly made : perhaps those covered with leather, mentioned by 

 Pliny as used in his day in Britain, and originally derived from this 

 Eastern source. This Coracle, employed so late as the fourth or fifth cen- 

 tury of Christianity in crossing the British Channel, is still used in Welsh 

 rivers, and is figured, in its modern structure, by Mr. Yarrell (" History 

 of British Fishes," vol. ii. p. 62, 2d edit.) : a copy from an ancient relievo 

 in Montfaucon is at the end of this volume. It was a subsequent race, 

 the Cabiri, that formed the first complete ship. From the last generation, 

 or Chrysor and his brother, sprang two brothers : one called Technites, or 

 the artist, and the other, Ge'inus Autochthon, the home-born man of the 

 earth. These first mingled stubble with the brick earth, and dried the 

 tiling in the sun. This accommodation was further improved by the for- 

 mation of courts, fences, and cellars about houses. They were husband- 

 men, and worshipped a statue carried about in a movable temple, drawn 

 by oxen. This practice is alluded to by the prophet Amos, v. 26, and 

 perhaps 2 Samuel, vi. 3 and 7. These were the first that employed dogs 

 in the hunting of wild animals. Amynus and Magus, their sons, first 



