SUMMARY OR RESULTS. 
35 
produced by the Tigris and Euphrates ; he cites the case of the city of Hira, formerly a 
seaport, which, after the lapse of three hundred years, was situated far in the interior . 1 
The same author devotes a chapter to setting forth the ideas current at that time with 
reference to the origin of the sea and the cause of its saltness. Side by side with purely 
hypothetical conceptions, one meets with interpretations and comparisons which show that 
the Arabs were possessed of tolerably correct notions on many cjuestions relating to the sea. 
MasTidi admitted the spherical form, of the earth and of the surface of the ocean ; when Ma-^uia 
one sails on the open sea the low-lying land first disappears, then the mountains sink 
gradually, and, at last, the summit is lost to sight . 2 He thus supports his views by 
reference to the classical example; indeed, in all this the Arabs simply followed the 
Greeks, and especially Ptolemy. 
In speaking of marine animals Mas'udl merely relates marvellous accounts of certain 
creatures ; he says that some seas contain animated beings, while others, the Great 
Ocean for instance, have none . 5 The naturalist appears to better advantage in the 
passages relating to the origin of the ocean and its saltness, to which reference has been 
made. “ Some maintain,” he writes, “ that the sea is a remnant of the primitive 
1 MasTidi, op. cit. See, in particular, the anecdote of Khaled and Ahd-el-Mesih, vol. i. ch. ix. pp. 248-253. 
3 Mas‘udl, op. cit., vol. i. ch viii. p. 213. This demonstration was formerly used by the ancients (see Almagest, 
lib. i. ch. iii. p. 12, ed. Halma). 
3 Mas'udl, op. cit., tom. i. ch. viii. p. 185. See, for example, his account of the unicorn, whale, dragons, and crabs. 
Notwithstanding all the improbability of the narration in which the Arab writer gives his imagination free play 
it may not be without interest to quote a passage relative to marine monsters. It shows, at least, the preoccupation 
they had with reference to animals living in the sea, and the speculations in which they indulged regarding the 
exploration of the ocean. The following is the legend reported by MasTidi relative to the foundation of Alex- 
andria : — “The building of Alexandria was commenced, and the foundations laid, when, protected by the night. 
animals rose out of the depths of the sea, and destroyed all that had been done Just at the same rate as the 
work advanced, and in spite of the presence of the guards charged to drive them away as they came out of the water, 
the work in the city was every morning destroyed. Alexander was seized with anxiety at this spectacle ; he meditated 
on what he should do to free. the city from this great calamity. One night, while he reflected in solitude on these events, 
a stratagem occurred to him. The next day he called his workmen, and ordered them to construct a box of wood ten 
arms’ lengths long and five wide. All around in the interior of this box plates of glass were fixed, and layers of pitch, 
resin, and other substances were applied to the wood to prevent the water from penetrating into the interior. They 
also reserved a place for attaching ropes. Alexander then entered it along with two of his secretaries, clever artists — 
and commanded that the cover of the box should be closed, and stopped up with similar coatings of pitch, &c. Two 
large vessels now put to sea. Weights of iron and lead and heavy stones had been fixed to the lower part of the box in 
order to carry it to the bottom, for, being filled with air, it would otherwise have floated. Then the box was attached 
by cables between the two ships, which were presented from separating from each other by planks placed between 
them ; the cables were now allowed to run out, and the box descended to the bottom of the sea. Thanks to the trans- 
parence of the glass and the limpidity of the water, Alexander and his companions saw marine animals and species of 
demons having a human form and a head like that of ferocious beasts. Some held hatchets, some saws or hammers, 
resembling workmen with tools. Alexander and his fellow-adventurers traced and figured on paper all these monsters, 
reproducing their exact aspect, their stature, and varied forms. He then shook the cords, and at this signal the box 
was drawn up by the sailors of the two vessels. Alexander then came out of the box and returned to Alexandria. 
There he ordered the workmen who wrought in iron, copper, and stone to reproduce these animals according to the 
drawings he had brought. The figures being finished, he caused them to be placed on blocks along the shore, and pro 
ceeded with the construction of the city. Night arrived. When the marine monsters came up out of the water, and 
found themselves face to face with their own images placed along the edge of the sea, they immediate y look to 
open ocean, and never showed themselves again.” 
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