100 FROM THE COUNTRY OF THE CICONES, 
inhabitants annually collected the sand for the 
goldit contained '. Perhaps the old mythological 
story respecting the head of Orpheus^, and. of 
the Serpent which was converted into stone\ 
originated in an appearance presented by one 
of those extraneous fossils called Serpent-stones* ^ 
or Ammonitce, found near this river. Such local 
superstitions, as connected with natural phae- 
nomena, are so frequent, and remain so long 
unaltered, in every country, that it is highly 
probable a person residing upon the spot 
would find the fable itself, or something simi- 
lar to it, traditionally preserved among the 
(l) " Les habitans des villages circonuoisins de la riuiere Hebrus 
ODt la practique de tirer de grands morceaux de sablon en temps d'est^ 
quandle riviere est petite, scachants qu'il y' a leans quelque petite 
quantity de grains d'or : et les recullent assez loing du rivage, a fin 
que quand elle desgorge, ne les emtncine. Car en separant I'or, et le 
lauant d'auec le sablon, ils assemblent des aix trouez pour le lauer 
aTec I'eau de la riuiere : s'ils trouuvent quelque petite portion d'or, 
c'est avec moult grand' peine, et despense, et longueur de temps ; et 
aussi que sans vif argent ils ne peuvent rien faire qui vaille." — B^lon, 
Observat. en Grece, p. 63. Paris, 1555. 
(2/ " Membra jacent diversa locis : caput Hehre, lyr&mque 
Excipis." Ovid. Metamorph. 11. v. 50. ed. .VWi, 1534. 
"Tum quoque marmorea caput h. cervice revulsuni, 
Gurgite cum medio portans CEagrius Helrns 
Volveret." firg. Georg. lib. iv. p. 90. L. Bat. I6'3o. 
(3) Vide Servium, (ex Ovid, ad 4 Georg.) " Saiie (iuquit) alludit ad 
id quod dicit Ovid, quia cum caput ejus ad ripam delatum serpens mm- 
dei-e iiiiluisset, est conversus in lapidem." 
(4) See Hill, on Extraneous Fossils, p. 649. Nat. Hist. Land. 1748. 
