APPENDIX. I. 



Since the rest of this work has been printed further 

 infonnation bearini^ upon the matters discussed in it has 

 come to my knovvledj;e. Some of these data are of 

 sufficient importance, especially from their bearin_L:j upon 

 the problems of oeoij;raphical distribution, to justifx' the 

 writing of an appendix. 



The discovery of the art of purple-dyeinij has been 

 attributed to the Tyrian tutelary deity Melkart, who is 

 identified with Baal by many writers. Accordins^ to Julius 

 P(3llux ("Onomasticon," i., iv.) and Nonnus ("Dionys.," XL., 

 306) Hercules (Melkart) was walking on the seashore 

 accompanied by his dog and a Tyrian nymph, of whom 

 he was enamoured. The dog having found a Murex with 

 its head protruding from its shell, devoured it, and thus 

 its mouth became stained with the purple. The n)-mph, 

 on seeing the beautiful colour, bargained with Hercules 

 to provide her with a robe of like splendour. He obtained 

 the shell-fish, extracted the purple, and dyed for her the 

 first robe of Tyrian purple, thus acquiring her favour. In 

 the exergue of some of the coins of Tyre is represented 

 this discovery of the purple-shell by the hound of Her- 

 cules. 



In Coleman's "Mythology of the Hindus," (London, 

 1832), a remarkable picture is given (Plate 5, fig. 2) of the 

 fish-incarnation of Vislnm with an animal re.sembling a 

 dog issuing out of a conch-shell at his feet. The asso- 

 ciation of a dog with Vishnu and his mo.st sacred chank 

 is hardly likely to have been invented by the worshippers 

 of Vishnu, for to the Hindu the dog is unholy and an 

 object of dread. This idea could hardly have originated 

 in India it.self, but was brought there along with a ho.st of 

 other bizarre conceptions. 



In the legend of the discovery of the purple dye we 

 have seen the mystic association (or companionship) of 

 tthe god with the conch-shell and the dog. in the Indian 

 [picture we see a representation of the identical conception. 

 In the foot-notes to Rawlinson's " History of 

 ^Herodotus" (London, 1858, vol. ii., pp. 4'4-5. footnote 2), 

 'there is a reference to a shell in the hand of a statue of a 



