PRODIGIOUS WHALES. 



89 



had Nearchus been at this spot in midsummer, he would have 

 seen shadows of very respectable length. Upon the coast of 

 Gedrosia he found a people called Icthyophagi, or Fish-eaters. 

 The mutton here tasted of fish, and Nearchus discovered that 

 the sheep eat fish as well as the inhabitants, for the land yielded 

 no pasturage. 



In one of the villages of the Fish-eaters Nearchus engaged 

 a pilot who undertook to guide him as far as Caramania. The 

 aspect of the coast now became less repulsive, and palm-trees, 

 myrtles, and flowers grew wild upon the hill-sides. Such was 

 the delight of the Macedonians at this sight, that they landed 

 and wove garlands and wreaths of the foliage for the wives and 

 daughters of the natives. Farther on, at a spot where the in- 

 habitants made them presents of roasted tunny-fish — the first 

 cooked fish they had yet received from the Icthyophagi — and 

 where they noticed wheat-fields, they landed, and, after taking 

 possession of the village, demanded the surrender of all their 

 wheat. The people made a feeble resistance, and then gave up 

 all the flour they possessed, — not wheat flour, but fish flour, — 

 flour made by reducing fish to powder, as we make flour by 

 pulverizing the kernels of wheat. 



The coast again becoming almost desert, the crew were obliged 

 to eat the tender buds of palm-trees, and on one occasion 

 were glad to devour seven camels which they were fortunate 

 enough to encounter. Besides the dangers of famine, Nearchus 

 had to contend with legions of whales, many of them one hun- 

 dred and fifty feet long, — a prodigious size for inland seas like 

 the Persian Gulf. One day he noticed a jet of water of great 

 height and violence, and soon the air was filled with spray 

 tossed up by a sportive herd of these monsters. The frightened 

 sailors let drop their oars : but Nearchus encouraged them and 

 dissipated their fears. He placed the vessels of the fleet abreast 

 in a single line, and ordered them to advance simultaneously at 

 full speed, as in a naval combat, and, upon approaching the 



