and Giants of the Ancients. 201 



the other in their desire to seize the morsels. This fish is also 

 found in rivers, as-'in the Cydnus (Tersoos) in Cilicia ; bnt 

 here it is small, the reason of which is tliat the clear pm-e water 

 of this river, which is moreover very cold, does not supply 

 the fish with abundant food, the siluri loving disturbed and 

 muddy water, in which they fatten. The Pyramus (Jihun) 

 and Sarus (Sihun), also Cilician rivers, produce much finer 

 specimens. The siluri are also found in the Syrian Orontes 

 (Nahr el Asy), in the river of the Ptolemies (Belus, the modern 

 Nahr N'man, which enters the Mediterranean near Ptolemais 

 in Palestine), and in the lake of Apameia, where they grow 

 to a large size." (Nat. Hist. xii. 29.) 



^lian is probably correct in all that he has stated here. 

 The Sihiridaj are still found in the Syrian rivers, as we learn 

 from Russell, in his 'Natural History of Aleppo,' and from 

 Hiickel, who enumerates three genera. The lake of Apameia, 

 in which the siluri are safd by ^lian to grow to a large size, 

 appears to be identical with Ayn el Taka ("a large spring 

 issuing from near the foot of a mountain, and forming a small 

 lake which communicates with the Orontes"), visited and 

 described by Bm'ckhardt in 1812. This traveller says that 

 the temperature of the spring is "like that of water which has 

 been heated by the sun in the midst of summer ; it is probably 

 owing to this temperature that we observed such vast numbers 

 of fish in the lake, and that they resort here in the winter from 

 the Orontes ; it is principally the species called by the Arabs 

 the black fish, on account of its ash-coloured flesh ; its length 

 varies from 5 to 8 feet." The fishery was in Burckhardt's 

 time in the hands of the governor of Kalat el Medyk {i. e. 

 castle of Medyk) , the ancient Apameia, capital of the province 

 of Apamene, which Seleucus Nicator fortified and called after 

 the name of his wife. The fish were principally caught during 

 the night in small boats, with harpoons, in enormous quantities ; 

 they were salted on the spot and carried all over Syria and to 

 Cyprus, for the use of the Christians during their fasts. The 

 governor of Kalat el Medyk derived income from this fishery 

 amounting to about £3000. The lake is about 10 feet deep ; 

 '' its breadth is quite irregular, being seldom more than half 

 an hour ; its length is about one hour and a half." There 

 seems to be no doubt that the, species of Siluroid spoken of by 

 ^lian as inhabiting this lake is the Silurus anguillaris figured 

 by Russell (Aleppo, ii. pi. 8), who says the market is plentifully 

 supplied with this fish from winter till March ; it comes, he 

 says, from the (Jrontes and stagnant waters near that river. 

 " Though it has a rank taste, resembles coarse beef in colour, 

 and by the doctors is considered unwholesome, it is much 



