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E. Maelagan — On Early Asiatic Fire Weapons. 



[No. 1, 

 juniper" 



arrows is in Psalm cxx* 4. The word there used " coals of 

 (more properly broom) seems to refer to actual burning matter. 



Between the ancient Hindu writings whiph mention fire- arrows in early 

 days in India, and the Muhammadan historians who tell of naphtha-throw- 

 ing, in the time of the first Arab invasions of Sind, we get some indications, 

 from a different source, of the use for similar purposes of the petroleum of 

 the north-west districts of the Pan jab, about fourteen hundred years before 

 it was used in Mahmud's battles in that quarter. The oil mentioned by 

 Ctesias as used in the attack of cities, which was launched against the gates 

 in earthen vessels, and set fire to everything around, with a flame which 

 could not be extinguished by any ordinary means, is obviously petroleum, 

 though his story is that it was obtained from a large animal found in the 

 Indus. And the animal described, though called a worm (crKtoXrji;), is as 

 obviously (in spite of errors and exaggerations with regard to it as well as 

 to the oil) a crocodiled It was seven cubits in length, and had a skin two 

 fingers thick, and remarkable teeth. It used to come up on the land at 

 night, seize any animals it could find, and drag them into the water to 

 satisfy its hunger.f Philostratus repeats the story, noticing also, as Ctesias 

 does, that the oil was prepared only for the king. $ He transfers the animal 

 to the Hyphasis ; but from the nature of the materials for his work some 

 inaccuracies may be expected. The story is essentially the same and is 

 probably taken from Ctesias. It is not difficult to see in these accounts a 

 confusion of separate facts. The petroleum obtained in the districts on 

 both sides of the Indus below Atak is for the most part gathered from the 

 surface of water. Ctesias refers in another passage to the oil which floats 

 on certain lakes or ponds in India, and springs discharging oil.§ Again, 

 the highly inflammable mineral oils and other products of the same class 

 have been very generally believed to be of animal origin. || In discussing 



* That it should be called a worm, is perhaps not very surprising. Long after 

 that time, people did not know exactly what kind of animal it ought to be reckoned. 

 Thomas Herbert, (A. D. 1638) writing of the "hatefull crocodyle" of Sumatra, calls 

 it "this detested beast, fish, or serpent, by seamen improperly cald Alligator." {Some 

 Teares Travels, p. 323.) 



f Ctesice Ind. Historice Excerptce, Gronavius, p. 664. 



% Vit. Apollon. Tyan. Ill, 1. The petroleum collected from a spring in the south 

 of Persia, we are told by Dr. Fryer, who travelled in that country in 1674, used to be 

 carefully guarded, and taken for the king's use only. {Nine Tears' Travels. J. Fryer, 

 M. J). Cant., p. 318.) The story of its discovery, on one of king Faridun's hunting 

 parties, and of its being reserved for the king's use, is given in Honigberger's Thirty- 

 five years in the East, s. v. Asphaltum Fersieum, p. 238. Also in the Makhzan i Adwiyah 

 by Muhammad Husain of Dihli, A. H. 1180. 



§ Ctes. by Gronov., 666. 



|| Modern researches on the nature of some of the great deposits of petroleum in 

 the United States and Canada, and elsewhere, have led to the conclusion that they are 



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