ii Cornell University Library r^'*!* The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924079619411 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 924 079 619 411 In compliance with current copyright law, Cornell University Library produced this replacement volume on paper that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-1992 to replace the irreparably deteriorated original. 1997 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE EXDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1S91 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE PHANTOMS OF THE Deep OR LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS OF THh SEA AND OF SAILORS ILLUSTRATED Chicago W. B. CONKEY COMPANY COPyRIGHT. 1903. BY W. B. CONKEY COMPANY CHAPTER I. THE SEA, THE WINDS AND THE WEATHER. " The tales of that awful, pitiless sea. With all its terror and mystery. The dim, dark sea, so like unto death. That divides and yet unites mankind. " Longfellow. — Golden Legend, " Winds that like a demon Howl with horrid note, Round the toiling seaman In his bonny boat," *MONG the many wonderful changes wrought in the various conditions of life by the progress of scientific investigation and modern achieve- ment, there are none so complete as those affecting the man of the sea. The swift journey to Europe has become an affair of so little moment to many that it is hardly thought of until Jand fades from sight, and the modern traveler sets out on his voyage around y/ the world with less trepidation than the Roman poet felt and described, when he left his native city for the short journey that carried him across a narrow sea into temporary banishment. It is dif- ficult, then, for us to realize the terrors which the ocean possessed for the ancient mariner — almost impossible for us to understand the implicit belief which he evidently held in the many monsters, fiends, physical dan- gers and curious phenomena fhat would now only serve to provoke laughter or astonishment. Not only was the sailor in ancient times exposed to greater sea peril by deficiencies in the construction of his vesse.l, but, in addition, his imagination created a host of u 13 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS fancied dangers to terrify him. The dangers of the sea voyage are often portrayed by classical writers. Horace, in his third ode, "in lamenting the departure of Virgil for Athens, paints these terrors in vivid colors; speaking of horrid sea-monsters and terrific waves, Andocides, accused before the courts at Athens, said, " The dangers of accusa- tion and trial are human, but the dangers encountered at sea are divine." "Sea voyages among the Egyptians were looked upon as sacrilegious." * Nor did these imaginary terrors disappear with antiquity. The first charts had portrayed on them numbers of huge monsters, horrible dragons, and terrific giants, scattered here and there like the ships marked on charts of more recent date. The land-locked ocean known to the ancients had been filled with unknown terrors, and the distant lands bordering on it, with wonders and strange inhabitants. Monsters abode in the waters, gods of monstrous shapes ruled them, en- chanting sirens, horrid giants, and terrible dragons inhabited the islets and rocks, and on the dry land beyond, there dwelt strange enchantresses, fire-breathing bulls, dwarfish pigmies, and man-eaters. The crude ideas concerning geog- raphy, making the earth now a disk, now a drum, a boat or a flat surface surrounded by water, aided in perpetuating to later ages these curious beliefs. Thus sailors as well as landsmen, in all ages, have been prone to indulge in fancies of all kinds concerning the winds and waves. Such notions are naturally directed to the weather, the object of so rhuch care and solicitude to the mariner. In antiquity, the Great Ocean was thought to be unnavi- gable. Flowing around the world like a river, it became, as we shall see, a river, then a sea of death. This circumambient ocean was not peculiar to the Greeks. We find it in other cosmogonies, as the Norse and Arab geographers, about 1300, revived the idea. As men became more and more acquainted with distant waters, their ideas concerning this unknown ocean ex- panded. At first it was the Central Mediterranean in which were located all the Homeric dangers of the ocean. This was gradually extended to the westward, and finally into the Great Western Sea, after the French discovery of the Canaries (1330). * Mure.— Hist. Gr. Ut. 1, p. 17. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 13 Another thing assisted the growth of the myths of sea dan- gers and perils. Many ancient tribes feared and detested the sea, as do some castes of Hindoos at the present day. Early navigators, when driven by stress of weather or impelled by love of gain or adventurous spirit beyond the usual limits, reported such things of the unknown seas, that others were often deterred from following in their footsteps, and thus profiting by their discoveries. To these tales we owe many of the myths of sea and wave; others are doubtless em- bodiments of religious belief, or explanations of natural phenomena. It is thus with the first great sea epic — the Odyssey.* In its entirety it probably embodies a myth, but its details are undoubted traditions of dangers encountered or related by early mariners. At first, then, these Homeric sea perils lay no farther west than the Sicilian isle. But gradually they were re- moved toward the setting sun. Scylax says the Straits of Gibraltar are the end of the world, and ships can navigate no farther. Later traditions perpetuated this idea, even after ships had ventured beyond these gates. Edrisi,| an Arab writer, says there was at Gibraltar a stone pillar, one hundred cubits high, with a brass statue on it, arid an inscription stating this to be the limit of navigation. So El MasudiJ says these pillars of King Hirakl carried an inscription warning mariners that no vessel could safely venture beyond into the sea of darkness. Ulysses tells Dante § that he had tried the voyage beyond these pillars, and had perished in sight of a mon- strous island, " for out of the new land a whirlwind rose, and smote upon the fore part of the ship." Thus of the region beyond. And more yet. II Carthaginian sailors said that the South Atlantic be- yond Cerne was not navigable because of floating seaweed and shallows. Herodotus says Sesostris was stopped by shallows in the Red Sea, which was long thought dangerous because of its red color. To the time of Columbus these fancies prevailed, and his crew were terrified on entering the Sargasso Sea by the weeds and calms. ♦Keary.— Outlines of Primitive Belief. 299. + Geoffraphy.— In Jaubert, Kes. des Voyages. *Golden Meadows. (ftW A.D.) Ch. XII. §Purg:atorio. II Soylai.— PeriplQS 112. 14 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Plato * had long before said that whole continents sank into the Atlantic, and had rendered it so shallow that it was difficult to navigate. Sataspes, a noble Persian, condemned by Xerxes to cir- cumnavigate Africa, reported that he could not, saying that his ships were stopped by the mud in the shallow ocean.f Pytheas, the early Massilian explorer, reported that the neighborhood of Thule was a mixture of mud and air, re- sembling jelly-fish, where one could neither walk nor sail. This reminds us of the Magonia, or cloud-sea of the Middle Ages. Plutarch says a ship could with difficulty advance in the sea to the west of Great Britain. Athenseus says the Western Ocean is dense by reason of its saltness, sea-weeds and huge beasts; Aristotle and Seneca speak of the calms and muddj'^ shallows of the ocean. Himilco,J the early Carthaginian navigator, was stopped by sea-weeds and monsters on his voyage to Cornwall. " He looked to where, amidst the seething waves, Were thickets vast, of dense and loathsome weeds Which held his ship, nor scarcely let it float. In ocean's depths, but held it buoyed up." § It was afterward reported of St. Amaro, a mediaeval saint, that he was encompassed by sea-weeds in the Western Ocean. The ne plus ultra of Portuguese mariners was long at Cape Nun. I ^ "Whoe'er would pass the Cape of Nun, Shall turn again, or else be gone." These southern waters were, in popular belief, unnavi- gable, and the bold mariner venturing beyond the **equator would be turned into a negro. After the Canarv- Islands were discovered, a giant was figured standing on them, brandishing a huge club, and threatening all who should venture further westward. Later, the Arabians represented the huge hand of Satan as rising out of the water ready to seize any one venturing out on the Sea of Darkness (Mare Tenebrosum) as the At- lantic was then called. ♦Tlmffius. + Goodrich.— Man Upon The Sea. p. 69. X Festus. A vlenus, m Heeren. Com. Af . Nations. SHerrera Hist, del Almirante, c. 19. I Goodrich.— p. 115. « Goodrich,— p. 16. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 15 After Gonzalez and Vaz,* in 1418, had discovered Porto Santo, they feared to advance farther, terrified b}'' the dark cloud hanging over Madeira, and it was only after much urging, and amidst the terrors of their crews that they finally reached that island. The sailorsf of Pinzon's fleet were terrified at the absence of the pole-star on crossing the equator in 1499. So the first adventuresome navigators brought fabulous accounts of the inhabitants of the lands visited by them, such as the land where dwelt the Lotus-eaters, and where the tree grew whose fruit i" Which whoso tastes Insatiate riots in the sweet repasts. Nor other home nor other care intends, But quits his house, his country, and his friends; " and the more terrible Cyclopean land, the cave and island of Calypso, and JEx, the abode of Circe, — ■■ A dangerous coast! the goddess wastes her days In joyous songs; the rocks resound her lays." These were in the narrow Western Mediteranean, and the Cimmerian Land of Darkness lay beyond, pictured in the following words by Ulysses, — §" When, lo! we reach'd old Ocean's utmost bounds. Where rocks control his waves with ever-during mounds; There, in a lonely land and gloomy cells, The dusky natioi) of Cimmeria dwells. The sun ne'er views the uncomfortable seats. When radiant he advances or retreats." These dangers, whether fancies of the brain or real tra- ditions, of impediments to navigation, were ever present to the Greek and Roman sailor. 1 There were the Sirens, too; — " Their song is death and makes destruction please." These fabled daughters of Achelous and Calliope had 'charmed all navigators until Ulysses approached the coast, — j " And lo! the Siren shores like mists arise; Sunk were at once the winds; the air above And waves below at once forgot to move; Some demon calmed the air and smoothed the deep, Hush'd the loud winds, and charmed the waves to sleep." •Goodrich.— Man Upon the Sea. p. lU. S Pope's Odyssey. Bk. xi. + Goodrich.— Man Upon the Sea. p. 165. I Pope's Odyssey. Bk. ix. i Pope's Odyssey, Bk. xii. 16 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS These charmers were anciently represented as having the bodies and wings of birds, with the face of a beautiful maiden. Ceres had given them wings to aid in her search for Proserpine. * " With golden wings o'er foamy waves you fled." I AppoUonius thus describes them: " And fallacious shew A virgin face, white-wing'd like fowls they flew; On a bright eminence the charmers stand. And watch the vessels as they tug to land; Full many a mariner their songs betray, Who lists and lingers till he pines away." The oracle condemned them to die when a man should pass without stopping. Ulysses, warned of the danger, stopped his ears with wax, and safely passed them, bound to the mast. So they were changed into rocks, off Sor- rento, where they still exist, a terror to mariners. J Another legend says they became rocks because Orpheus surpassed them in singing. The sirens were three in number, and their names betray their nature: § Ligea is harmony, Leucothea is white, and Parthenope is virgin face. The latter was buried at Naples, according to later tradition, and the city was first named after her. They were especially venerated on the south- west coast of Italy. Pliny sa)'s Dinon,|| Clearchus' father, asserted that sirens existed in Indian waters, and lulled mariners to sleep by their songs. In antiquity they were never maidens in form, but in later times they became confused with the nereids, and were given a fish-tail and green hair. These seductive forms, while typifying in the Odyssean voyage the usual idea of death, doubtless received their characteristic nature from natural phenomena. They repre- sent the white and shining surf, whose harmonious mur- murs and seductive brightness allures, but destroys the mariner who attempts to land (for this is always required for the success of the spell). Eustathius' saying that their song stills the wind, and Homer's lines, given above, indicate the fact that after the rushing wind, comes the sound of the sighing surf, only growing in the calm that ensues. * Ovid'e Metamorphoses. § Cox.- -Aryan Mythology. t Argonaatics. — Fawkes' Tranp.IV, 1055. I] Landrin.— Les MonstreeSfarins, 261- i Cox.— Aryan Mythology, Bk. ii, 245. or THE SEA AND OF SAILOR! 17 It is the same with the Cyclops, those terrible one-eyed monsters that nearly destroyed the crew of Ulysses' ship. Their names betray their meaning. Brontes* is the roll, Steropes the flash, and Argis the whiteness, of lightning, and they represent the Storm-fiend, whom we shall again encounter, raising hurricanes and tempests against the mediaeval mariner. Polyphemus f is the stormy sky, and his one eye is the sun (Kuklos — a circle); or it is the weather-gall (Ochsen- auge, CEuil de Bceuf) still seen by sailors, a clear spot in a cloudy sky. So the gray-haired Graije and the snaky Gorgons were doubtless, say modern mythologists, figurative representa- tions of the white-capped and angry waves. But further tales were told of unmistakable maritime dangers. The trembling Argonauts feared the moving Symple- gades, fabled to crush ships passing between them. The waves dashed up the Cyana, so as to endanger passing ships. Two similar wave-beaten rocks on the Illyrian coast were also reported to threaten destruction to the passing ship. Festus says that the waves dash upon the rocks at the Canaries with so much violence that it is dangerous to approach, and the islands tremble from the shock. The poet of the Argonauts again speaks: X "Two rocks will rise, tremendous to the view, Just in the entrance of the watery waste. Which never mortal yet in safety passed; Not firmly fixed; for oft with hideous shock Adverse they meet, and rock encounters rock." Here, too, a literal interpretation is impossible, while we may allege a rational foundation for the myth. Lubbock says it is possible that in these moving islands we have a tradition of the floating ice-masses, which, in the glacial period, must have issued from the Black Sea. But we' must not forget that we are talking yet of mythical voy- agers, and are considering another soul journey, or sun voyage — this time to the eastward and not west mto the Sea of Death. These rocks are the gates of hell, t)'pified b}' the moving cloud-barrier to the sun's journey. We learn tKeary.— Outlines of Primitive Belief. 307. *Cox.— Aryan Mythology, Bk. ii, oh. ill. t Appollonius Ehodius, Argonautica.— Fawkes' Translation. II, 438. 18 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS from comparative mythology that similar opening and shutting rocks are encountered "by the soul-bark in Mexi- can,* Burmese,! and Mongol J legends. Fiske,§ then, rightly interprets the myth: "In early Aryan mythology, there is nothing by which the clouds are more frequently represented than by rocks or mountains. Such were the Symplegades, which, charmed by the harp of the wind-god Orpheus, parted to make way for the talking ship Argo, with its crew of solar heroes." So a rock, said to have resembled a woman in form, was, traditionally, Scylla, daughter of Typhon, changed into the rock-monster with twelve feet and six barking dogs about her waist. In this locality, says Homer, — I " Here Scylla bellows from the dire abodes: Tremendous pest, abhorred by man and gods. Hideous her voice, and with less terrors roar The whelps of lions in the midnight hour." Twelve feet, deformed and foul, the fiend dispreads. Six horrid necks she rears, and six terrific heads; Her jaws grin dreadful, with three rows of teeth, Jaggy they stand, the gaping jaws of death." And Virgil, — " But Scylla from her den, with open jaws, The sinking vessel in her eddy draws." Greek artists never pictured so horrid a monster, whose portrait here drawn might serve for a poetical description of the devil-fish of Victor Hugo's narrative. One** pictures her as woman to the waist, fish below, with a fish head and snout below the waist, horned and toothless. In another representation she is figured as a ter- rible woman with a fish-tail, under which are sea monsters who seize three men. Others show her a woman with a fish-tail, and dogs at her waist. Virgil, Lucretius and Sta- tius place her with Cerberus and the female Centaurs at the gates of hell, so here we again find repeated the gates of hell with Scylla on the one hand and Charybdis on the other. It was death by drowning, the most terrible of all, that awaited the ancient mariner who was engulfed in ♦Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana. XIII 47, in Tyler, P. C. + Jour. As. Soc. of Bengal, 1865. P. ii, 233-4. tGesaer Chan.— Bk. iv, in Tyler, P. C. S Myths and Jfj'th-makfM-s. UPope's Odyssey, Bk. lii. ** Bianchi.— Mytholog)- of Greece and Rome. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 19 these dangers, and beyond lay hell. So here were the gates. Nor was the real physical element of danger wanting in this representation. These dangers are located by Plutarch at the straits of Messina, where we find to this day a formidable whirlpool, and its opposing wave-beaten rock. So the tale of some venturesome sailor was deftly woven into the mythical soul- voyage by the ancient singer, as other dangers, perhaps as real, had served as instruments for his muse. These dan- gerous rock monsters are not uncommon in maritime beliefs. In fact, every dangerous rock had its legend to the ancient and mediaeval navigator. So early navigators called the Bermudas the Devil's Islands, because of the storm- fiends supposed to haunt them; and a Hell Gate exists on our own coast. * Two rocks near the Cornish coast are called the Parson and his Clerk. The story goes that they sold themselves to the devil, and move about occasionally as his steeds. ^ The parson exclaimed to his clerk who had misled him: " I would rather have the devil for a guide than you! " The devil appeared and changed them into stone. Cornish legends declare that if anyone landed at a rock called the Ness, near Westray Firth, with iron about him, the rising and dashing waves would endanger him, until the iron was thrown overboard. Iron controls the water fiends, so would be supposed efficacious against them here. A rock dangerous to ships was removed to a point nearer the shore by St. Baldred, and is still called by the name of St. Baldred's boat. f Indians believed that a rock in Corlear's Lake was under a spirit's control, and that when the waves dashed up he was angry, and so they sacrificed to him. Offerings are made to a dangerous rock in a river in North Africa, and Indians offered tobacco to appease the spirit of the Missis- sippi, at a rock in the upper river.J The Delawares § showed Marquette a steep rock in the river, swept by powerful currents where the evil spirits tried to wreck their boats. Natives of Hawaii feared to approach a certain rock, ' Bo ttreU.— Traditions and Fireside Storiea of West Cornwall. ■tSee Chapter xi. t Losklel.— Indians of North America, p. 145; 8 Brinton. — Myths of the New World. 20 LSGEKDS ASD SUPERSTITIONS Kaveroka, where a jealous husband threw his wife down the cliff, deeming it hatinted, and that their boats would be wrecked. Beliefs similar to these existed concerning other dangers to navigfation. Whirljxxsls were long an object of dread to the smaller vessels of antiquity. The mariner escaping from ScyUa's rocks, was threatened by the whLrlp>ool of Charybdis, famed as the transformed thieJF of Hercules' oxen. It was thus seen by Ulysses. * ■ ' Close by a rock of less enormous height Break the wild waves, and form a dangerous strait; Full on its crown a ng's green branches rise, .\nd shoot a leafy forest to the skies-: Beneath, Charybdis holds her boisterous reigo 'Midst roaring whirlpools, and absorbs the main, Thnce in her griifs the boiling seas subside. Thrice in dire thunders she refunds the tides." The fig-tree ser\'es as a landmark to avoid the abyss. This was more dreaded than Scylla, for JEneas is told, — f "' Ahl shun the horrid gulf! by Scylla ny. Tis better six to lose, than all to die. " The Syrtes, on the African coast, were also regarded with ^ear and jiread. Appoilonius savs: J"' Burst from iis black abyss, the boiling liood. Upheaves its shaggy- weeds, involved in shoals of mud. With the far spreading spray the sands arise." Early Xo.-se li^ends represent whirljxtols as the boiling kettle of Hymer, a sea-god. In Austrian tales they are spirits of evil. Strudel and WirbeL St. Bruno is said to have narrowly escap>ed the clutches of one of these at Ben Scrudel, on the Danube, being warned in time by an angel. The devil's mother came on earth to reside near here, and a fine palace was built for her, but she coveted di\-ine honors, so her dwelling was swept into the river and over it is Ben Strudel.5 St. Bruno, in another tale, sailing with Henrv III., heard a voice saying. ■■\^~hither art thou travel- ing? Thou s'nalt saii wi'h me :o-nig"nt! " He was killed bv a rafter of the house, while at a banquet that night. "Pope's Odvssev. Bk. xii. - Dryden's JEneid. m. ; Argonautics.— Fawkes" Tratis. IT 145S. S See Chapter viiL OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 21 *Beattie tells us of Ben Strudel: "The first sight of 'his used to create no little excitement and apprehension on board. The master ordered strict silence to be observed, the steersman grasps the helm with a firm hand, the pas- sengers move about, etc. Each boatman with head uncov- ered muttered a prayer to his guardian saint." The devil is also said to exhibit false lights in an old ruin near Wirbel, and decoys ships to their destruction. The great Maelstrom has been the subject of various stories, although but one of many celebrated whirlpools. It was once thought to be a subterranean abyss passing into the centre of the earth. We are reminded by this legend of " Symmes' Hole," the theory of a latter-day genius, that the waters rush through from pole to pole, f The Saermundr Edda tells us that Mysing, the rover, carried off two maidens grinding corn with a quern, Grotti. While at sea, they con- tinued their task and ground salt until the ship sank; the ocean was made salt, and the quern still continued its mo- tion, causing the great whirlpool. Pentland Firth was the fabled location of this great whirlpool, but it was variously placed, now in the Faroe Islands, now on the Swelkie near the Orkneys. It is situated near the Loffoden Islands, on the Norway coast. J In a folk-tale, "Why the Sea is Salt," a captain buys this quern of an old man who got it from the devil, and sets it grinding. It grinds what he wishes, but when he sets it to work grinding salt, it fills the ship full, sinks it, and makes the sea salt. Another version says the quern was given to a younger brother by the devil in exchange for a shoulder of beef, and he can always obtain food from it by the charm: ' ' Grind both malt and salt. Grind in the name of the Lord. ' His elder brother cozens him out of the treasure, puts to sea with it, but forgets the charm, and says: " Grind both malt and salt. Grind in the name of the Devil," when it fills the ship, sinks it, and thus makes the sea salt. But there is no mention of the maelstrom in the folk-tales. •Wm. Beattie.— The Danube, in Conway, Deinonology, I., p. 115. + Gratta Song.— Saeraundr Edda, In Thorpe I., p. 208. t Dasent.— Tales of the Norse. 22 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Olaiis Magnus * gives another legend of the great whirl- pool. " The whirlpool or prister, is of the kind of whales, two hundred cubits long, and verj' cruel. This beast hath a large and round mouth, like a lamprej', whereby he sucks in his meat or water, and will cast such floods above his head that he will often sink the strongest ships. He will some- times raise himself above the sail)'ards, and cruelly over- whelm the ship like any small vessel, striking it with its back or tail, which is forked, wherewith he forcibl)'^ binds anv part of ship, when he twists it about." He says a trumpet frightens it, but a cannon-ball is of no use, by reason of its great rampart of fat! ! Palsgrave, an old English etj'mologist, defines thus: "Whirlpool — a fissche — chaudron de mer — chauderon — dolphin." Earl)' accounts all grossly magnify the terrors of this whirlpool. It can endanger no ship of any size, but when at its height would probably engulf a boat As to the quern, it is the sun, the mill of the summer god' Fre3'r, that grinds food from the earth. Drayton tells us that, — f " One Nicholas of Lyn The whirlpools of the sea did come to understand. For such immeasured pools philosophers do agree r the four parts of the wind undoubtedl}' there be. From which they ha%-e supposed Nature the winds doth rain, And from them, too, proceed the flowing of the sea." Nicholas was an Oxford scholar who maintained these absurd beliefs. El KazwiniJ tells us that a ship was embayed near a certain whirlpool in the Persian Gulf. One man was chosen by lot for sacrifice, and was left on a desert island near by, when he successfull}' conjured the demon of the place b\- beating a drum, and the ship then safely emerged from her peril. In Russian legend,^ a whirlpool exists over ever)- Vod)-- anny's (water-sprite's) house. An offering of bread or salt must be thrown in to appease the spirit of the place. Man)' Indian traditions relate to whirlpools. | Marquette and Joliette relate that they saw Indians at various times ' History of the Goths (1(»S)- •tPolyolbion nffiSi. t Marvels of Creation. § Ralston. — Songs of the Russian People. t Loskfel. — Indiana of North America, 1-45. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 23 offer sacrifices to the spirit of whirlpools in rivers. An eddy in the upper falls of the Mississippi was thought to be haunted by a demon, to whom sacrifices were made. Ca- nadian Indians thought the spirit of a drowned man haunted an eddy, and that it drew down sticks that were thrown in. In Mexico, children were offered to TIaloc in a whirl- pool.* The bore, that sometimes is found in tidal rivers, has been the subject of many fancies. f A bore on the southwest coast of Ireland is called the avenging wave. A man killed a mermaid here, and the wave suddenly rushed to engulf him (the next time he ventured out); and so each time until he was drowned; and it even chases his descendants, the story tells us. The bore that occurs in the mouths of some rivers has been thought a demon or dragon. Its name. Eagre, is thought by some to be a corruption of Eagle.\ The Egyptians had a tradition that that bird caused whirlpools in the Nile, and the Phoenix was fabled to appear with the inundation. § Chinese fire cannon-balls at the bore in Canton river, while some shoot arrows. A certain gov- ernor, not succeeding in these methods, threw himself in, and_ exists as a water-spirit. The bore at Hangchow is thought to be caused hy a spirit. The bore is called Hygra in Gloucester and in the Humber.|| Blind ** thinks this a corruption of ^gre, from Qigir, the Norse sea-god. Carlyle says: "Now to this day, on the river Trent, the Nottingham bargemen call it ./Egre. They say, 'Have a care; the .^Eger is com- ing.' The older Nottingham bargemen had believed in the god CEgir." It is so named by Drayton in " Polyolbion." A legend of St. Patrick says the waves are caused by serpents, which that redoubtable saint inclosed in a box, when he cast them out of Ireland. If we are to believe modern mythologists, breakers are often personified in Greek tales as wild bulls, and the exploits of heroes, from Perseus to St. George, are, most of them, traditions of the defeat of waves beating on the coast. ' Bancroft.— Native Races, vol. iii. + Jones.— Credulities, 8. to. Massey.— Book of tbe Beginnings. 8 Dennys.— Folk-lore of China. I Brewor.— Header's Handbook.— Hygra. •• Contemporary Review, ISSl. 24 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS *A Norse tradition reports that the noise of waves on a certain beach is the whisper of an old king and his queen, buried in mounds near there. The "moan of the sea" at Elsinore, in Denmark, is said to portend death, or to "want some one." In "The Fisherman," Phoebe Cary says: "And I hear the long waves wash the beach, With the moan of a drowning man in each." In Moray Firth, the fishermen call the noise of the waves "the song of the sea."f The sighing noise of a wave on the coast of Cork is believed to portend the death of some great man. So,J not more than thirty years ago, the hollow, mourn- ful sound of the waves on the coast of Cornwall was said to be a spirit, Bucca (Puck), and foretold a tempest. The sound of the Ndsjoir, or death wave, of Icelandic legend, was said to resemble the struggles of a dying man. The waves are still called in French " Moutons " (sheep), when whitened by the coming breeze. § So in Ariosto, — "And Neptune's white herds low above the waves." So, in Scotland, the waves preceding a storm are " dogs afore the maister"; those following, "dogs ahin' the mais- ter." El Masudi || tells us the Arab sailors believed that the "blind waves," or high seas of the Abyssinian coast were enchanted, and they said verses to charm them, as they were lifted up on them. Cambrj'** says the inhabitants of Finisterre divined events by the movements of the waves. Fishermen on our own coasts call the swell sometimes seen during a fog, the fog-swell, and believe it is caused by the fog. It is really the swell caused by the incoming tide. An idea long existed that the ninth or tenth wave was greater and more powerful than others. This belief existed in Ovid's time, who says,ff " The wave that is now coming * Dasent.— Popular Tales from the Norse. + Kennedy.— Fireside Stories of Irelond- J Hunt.— Romances and Drolls of the west of England. % Hoole's Translation. IGQl4en Jfeadows, 954 A.D. Bk. I, Ch. X. ** voysige Dans )a Finisterre. ti;'='aHll. 1,11,50. OF THE SEA ANB OF SAILORS. 25 o'ertops all the others; 'tis the one that comes after the ninth and before the tenth." T\\& fluctus decumamms, or tenth wave, was then preferred. THE NINTH WAVE. Allatius* writes thus, during a voyage from Messina to Malta, " I saw the captain, who was accounted an experi- enced and skillful mariner, standing at the bow, while he muttered and pointed at something with his finger. I ap- proached, and inquired what he was doing. The old man, with a cheerful countenance, answered, ' I am breaking the force of a "fatal wave, and am making the sign of the cross, and saying the prayers proper for the occasion.' I said ' Do you, then, know, amongst all these waves, which is the fatal 'Allatius.— De Greeeorum Hodle qimndonim opinatlonlbus (1645). 2 26 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS one ? ' ' Yes,' he said, 'by so many waves by which the ship is tossed, none but the ninth can sink it/ And as the ship was immediately driven more violently, and the water sud- denly beat high over it, 'This,' said he, 'is the ninth, take the number count on.' Strange it is that every ninth wave was much greater than any of the others, and threatened the ship with immediate destruction. This wave, however, whenever it approached, the captain, by his muttering and signing of the cross, seemed to break, and the danger was averted." Forbes* says the ninth is thought the greatest wave by the Hindoo boatmen. The Welsh bard, Taliesin,f refers to it as greatest. An old Welsh sea-poem says the dead are buried "where the ninth wave breaks." In a Bardic story, " a fleet is destroyed by the ninth wave." WelshJ fishermen called the ninth wave the " ram of Gwenhidwy," the other waves her sheep. Sir Thomas Browne § refutes the tenth wave superstition. 11 Tennyson thus speaks: — " And watched the great sea fall Wave after wave, each mightier than the last, 'Till last, a ninth one, gathering half the deep, And full of voices, slowly rose, and plunged, Roaring, and all the wave was in a flame." Hone** says: "A common affimation is that the tenth wave is the greatest, and always the most dangerous." In an account of the loss of the ship " Fanny," in this century, the tenth wave is said to have risen above the rest. A modern novelist ff says, "Our fishermen (in England) call it the death wave, not always the ninth." In a late tale, a sailor says: " I made de sign of de holy cross, an' de wave broke before it reached us." Xt In Scotland a distempered cow could be cured by being washed by nine surfs. In the trial of Margaret Ritchart, witch of the eighteenth century, we read of the further efficacy of the water from the nintli wave.§§ " Go thy way to the sea-syd, and tell n}fne heave of the sea cum in, that is to *Orientiil Memoirs. + G-. Massey. — Boole of The Beginniuf^s. t Brewer.— Readers' Han'^ Book. g Vulvar Erroi-s, 1B44. Bk. VI, 27. 1 Holy G rail " Gregor. —Folk-lore of Scotland. ++Mary C. Hat. KCnpt. HtUl.— Adrift in ibe Ice Fields. 6§ The JLancashire Witches. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 27 say, nyne waves of the sea, and let the hind-most go of the nyne back again, and the nixt theraifter, take three looffuls (spoonsful) of the water, and put within the stoupe, and quhen thou comes hame, put it in thy kime, and there will get thy profit back again." * There is a belief among Shetland fishermen, that water out of the " third die," if gathered up, had great medicinal and mischief-working power. So old fishermen believed they could find their way in a fog by their knowledge of " da moder-die," or wave tending toward land. Icelandic f fishermen say there are three great waves that follow in succession, in which boats should not be launched. These waves are called Oldg, and boats should put to sea in the Idg, immediately following them. Should a boat's crew be wrecked in the operation, they say a great calm comes over the sea, called Dauthaldg (death's calm), during which other boats are safe. Breakers called Naoldur (death's breakers) are often seen at sea, redder or bluer than the surrounding waves. When two of these waves clash together, they make a sound called " death's clash," and portend wreck. These curious beliefs have no foundation in fact. It was doubtless noticed that there were waves greater than those preceding and following, but no regularity can be observed in these. The mystic numbers three, nine (3 x 3), and ten, were not unusually chosen when any doubt existed. Massey thinks the idea is connected with the nine months or ten moons of gestation, and the new birth or resurrection thus typified. We need not, however, go so far as this in our imagery. The tides, those mysterious pulsations of the ocean, have been the theme of many curious speculations. JAristotle and Heraclitus say they are caused by the sun, which moves and whirls the winds about, so that they fall with violence on the Atlantic, which thus swells and causes the tides. Pliny § believed in tides of extraordinary height. Pytheas said they were caused by the increase of the moon, and II Plato accounted for them ps caused by an animal living in a cavern, which, by the means of a mouth or orifice * K. Blind.— Contemp. Review, September, 188a + Maurer.— Islandiscne Sagen. III^ pt. S. t Plutarch.— Morals. Goodwin's Trans., Vol. IIT. § Bk. II., Ch. 99. 1 Plutarch.— Morals. Goodwin, Vol. lU. 28 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS causes the alternations of ebb and flow. He also says th< winds, falling from the mountains of Celtic Gaul into th( Atlantic, causes a tide. * Seleucus said that the motion o the earth and moon produce a wind, which, pressing on th( Atlantic, causes a tide, f Vegetius says they are a natura movement of respiration of the sea. J El Masudi records the Mediaeval beliefs among ihf Arabs. He says some think them caused by the moon'; heating the waters so that it swells and rises higher; others that the)' are caused by vapors generated in the bowels o1 the earth; others, that its movements were like the tempera- ments of men, without rule and reason. Others said they were caused by the alternate decomposition of the sea by the air, and of the air by the sea, thus causing the ebb and flow. § Brunetti Latini, in the 13th century, said the tides are caused b}- the efforts of the earth to breathe. This had been asserted in antiquity, and refuted by Pytheas. St. Jerome says they come from caves by a law of Nature. II Bede (the false) says they are caused by a great serpent which swallows and vomits the water. ** Another old author says they are caused by the ice melting at the poles. ffBlind says Shetlanders believed they were caused by a monster living in the sea, or in the words of an old fisher- man, " a monstrous sea-serpent that took about six hours to draw in his breath, and about six to let it out again.'' J J The Chinese believe that supernatural beings cause the tides, and Japanese legends of the " ruler of the tides," still exist. § § The Malay Nias say they are caused by the move- ments of a huge crab. Ill Respect to the god Somnath causes the tides, say mod- ern Hindoos. *** Michael Scott, the great wizard, was popularly said to have controlled the tides. He sent a man to run on the ♦Plutarch.— Morals. Goodwin, Vol. III. + In9t. E. Millt, t Golden Meadows, 954 A.D. ch. XI. i Tresor. 11 De Mundi Constitutione in Theo. Martin Notices des AncieoB, sur la mar^, 186«. ♦* B. de St. Pierre, Enides dc la nature. tt Contemporarr Review, September, 1882. $$ DennvE>— Folk-lore of China. 85 Rosen berg.— Q, in M61usine, November, 1884. OTarikh Mahmud in Panjata Notes nud Queriea. 1—1436. •*♦ Conway^-DemOnology and Devii-Iore. I., 118, OF THE 3EA AND OF SAILORS. 29 banks of the Wambeck, the tide following up, so long as he did not look behind. Terrified by the noise of the advanc- ing waves, he disobeyed the injunction, and the tide stopped. In Russia the tides are popularly said to be controlled by the water king's daughter. There is a superstition in many places that people die on the ebb of the tide. This is as old as Pliny, who says, ♦"Aristotle says that no animal dies except at the ebb of the tide." He further says it has been proven true only as regards man. Dickens alludes to this notion in "David Copper- field." So, in another part of England, it is believed that a child born at the rising of the tide will be a male, and in Scot- land,! good wives set eggs for cocks at flood, for hens at ebb. I At Hull, in Cornwall and in Northumberland, it is be- lieved that people wait for the tide. So Shakspeare makes the hostess say of Falstaff, — § " 'A parted even just between tvvelve and one, even at the turning o' the tide." I Marryat thus chronicles the belief. " Dr. Mead has ob- served, that of those who are at the point of death, nine out of twelve quit this world at the turn of the tide." ** "In Brittany death usually claims his victims at ebb." ft On Cape Cod, and in many other districts along the New England coast, it is firmly believed that a sick man can not die until the ebb tide begins to run. Watchers by beds of sickness anxiously note the change of the tides, and if the patient lives until the flood begins to set in again he will live until the next ebb. The most intelligent and best ed- ucated people born and brought up on the New England coast are not entirely free from this superstition, and to them there is a weird meaning in the words of Dickens in describing the death of Barkis: " And it being high water, he went out with the tide." Water spouts, destructive to the smaller vessels formerly used, have always been objects of dread to the mariner. They were called Prester§§ b)- the Greeks, whence prob- ably the name prister, used by Olaus Magnus for the whirl- pool. Lucretius says: *Bk. II., Ch. lOL •^ Gre,Eror. — Folk-lore of Scotland. t Choice Notes, p. 104. from N /m Sterling — " The Mariner." HE sea, no less than the land or the air, has been peopled with many imaginary beings, some inhabitants simply, others ruling or controlling spirits for good or evil. Not only in antiquit)- have these beliefs prevailed, but traces still linger in maritime language and tradition, of these wide-spread ideas of good and evilspirits, — of thinking and sentient beings, having a home be- neath the wave. In the present chapter appear the Deities and Demons who ruled or con- trolled the waves, and to whom the _. . _. prayers, fears, and hopes of the mariner have ""^^-v- been specially directed. It is not possible to treat fully of the subject in the limits of a single chapter, so little more will be done than to mention these deities and relate their principal attributes. It is among the nations of antiquity, as also among the less cultivated peoples that now inhabit the globe, that we find the greater part of these legends. The first of these beings, is found in the meagre accounts of the nations that first inhabited the plains between the Eu- 54 OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 56 phrates and Tigris rivers. *Prominent among Babylonian deities was Hea, or Hoa, called " Deity of the Abyss," who had temples in Ur and other maritime cities. He was also lord of arts, and taught them to men. Sennacherib, when about to undertake a maritime expedition down the Tigris, offered to this god a golden boat, a golden fish, and a golden coffer. Akkad inscriptions call him Nukim-nut, "great inventor," " Lord," " Great Master," etc. He was also ruler of Hades and the lower world. Daokina, his spouse, was goddess of the deep. Lenormant says Hea means fish. Nor is this the only tradition of this semi-divine sea- monster. Assyrian records tell of a similar deity. On, or Cannes, who possessed like attributes. Alexander Polyhistor,f quot- ing from earlier writers, says, " In the first year there made its appearance from a part of the Erythraean Sea an animal endowed with reason, who was called Cannes (according to the account of Apollodorus). The whole body of the animal was like that of a fish, and had under its fish head another head, and also feet below similar to that of a man, subjoined to the fish's tail." Six such monsters are said to have after- ward arisen from the Persian Gulf, and Berosus tells that a semi-demon, Annedotes, very like Cannes, arose from the sea during the historical period. J "In his time (King Amnemus) a monster named Idotia again issued from the Erythraean Sea, with a form which was a mingling of man and fish." " During hi^ reign (Daronos) there again issued forth from the Erythraean Sea four monsters." "And under him (Edoranchos) appeared one more, rising from the Erythraean Sea, and being a mixture of man and fish, whose name was Odala." Abydenus also tells of them, but calls them by different names. We also hear of them through Pindar, Hj'ginus and Helladius. Photius Byblius says: "He (Helladius) relates the fable of a man named Ces, who came out of the Erythraean Sea, having the perfect body of a fish, with the head, arms and feet of a man, and who taught astronomy and letters. Some say that he had come out of the primeval egg, whence his * Lenormant. — Ancient History of the East. Eng. Trans. + Lenormant. — The Beginnings of History, 1883. Appendix. X Berosus, in Lenormant. — The Beginnings of History, p. 99, 56 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS name, and that he was altogether a man, but resembled a fish, having dressed himself in the skin of a whale." * Berosus again says, "This being (Cannes), in the day- time, used to converse with men, but took no food at that season, and he gave them an insight into letters and sciences and every kind of art. He taught them to con- struct houses, etc. In short, he instructed them in every- thing which could tend to soften manners and humanize mankind. When the sun set, it was the custom of this be- ing to plunge again into the sea, and abide all night in the deep, for he was amphibious.' The account of Helladius probably hints at a solution of the whole mystery, which is important, as here is doubtless the birth of the whole generation of mermen and tritons. f Gesenius thinks the story typifies the arrival of a more cultured race through the Red Sea; Neibuhr, that the de- scription is of a man clothed in a fish-skin. In a succeeding chapter,]; we shall find an analogous case, where the arrival of a conquering race is concealed under a tradition of sea-men or sea-monsters. Here, doubtless, the same thing is meant. These traditions preser\'e the memory' of invasions of superior races, probably coming through the Persian Gulf. Portions of their dress might consist of the skin of the shark or other fish. § Layard and Botta found, among the remains of Nine- veh and Babylon, huge statues of divinities ver}' like these just described. They represented a man with a fish-skin covering his back, the head forming a kind of mitre above his head, and the tail protruding below. Nin, the chief Nineven deity, was a sort of Hercules, Saturn and Neptune. I A hymn also exists to Kho-tum-ku-ku, daughter of the Ocean. **Another marine deity of the Babylonians was Derceto, or Atergatis. The moon was her emblem, and she plunged into the sea to escape the god of evil. Semiramis was tra- ditionally her daughter. Derceto became a Syrian deity, and Damascus and Hie- ropolis were chief seats of her worship. 'Blind.— Scottish, Shetland and other Water-gods. Cont. Rev., Sept., 1881. + Cory.— Ancient Fragments. 4: See Chap. iii. § See Layard's Nineveh- flRecords of the Past. «* Cox.— Aryan Mythology, Bk. II., Ch. 2. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORa 57 *Berosus tells us that a goddess, Homoroka, reigned over the fish in the sea, and she was called in Chaldaic Thalath, or in Greek Thallassa (the sea). The Assyrian fish-god became the Phoenician and Syrian Dagon, which Milton thus characterizes, — " Dagon his name; sea monster, upward man, And downward fish." Dagon, philologists tells us, is from a word meaning fish {Dag). The ancient Egyptians were not sea-faring, so we find few water deities among them. Isis, the Egyptian Moon-goddess, spouse of the Sun, closely resembled Derceto. Although not strictly a sea- goddess— for the ancient Egyptians feared and detested that element — she was patroness of navigation; her cult was borrowed by the Romans, and her feast, on the 5 th of March, was made the chief festival of navigators. ^ Num was the Egyptian lord of the water, god of the Nile, their ocean, and to him were dedicated the sacred barks, and festivals were held in his honor by the boatmen of the Nile.f It was believed that he appeared in the river as late as the sixth century. The Phoenicians, the chief mariners of early antiquity, had numerous gods of the sea. Derceto has been spoken of, and also Dagon, whose worship among the Philistines is often alluded to in Holy Writ. Astarte was the chief Sido- nian goddess. She was the Venus of Semitic lands, also called Ishtar, or Ashtarolh, and was venerated by mariners. The Cabiri, famous gods of learning and arts, were, in Syrian legend, inventors of navigation. Some writers affirmed them direct descendants of Noah, hence naturally protectors of navigators. There were several of them, and figure-heads, called pataikoi, were placed on the prows of Phoenician vessels to represent them. Many of the attri- butes of the Cabiri were transferred to the Dioscuri, or twin sons of Leda. On the coins of Ascalon, Derceto was figured with the moon above her head, and at her feet a woman with fish-tail. Diodorus says, " The goddess, which by the Syrians is called Dercetus, has the face of a man, but the rest of the image is" the figure of a fish." Lucian says, " The upper * Cory.— Ancient Fragments. + Simocatta, VI, 16, in Maury.—" Magie." 58 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS half was the perfect figure of a man; the lower part, from the thighs downward, terminated in the tail of a fish." The Greeks were, of all antiquity, chiefest nation at sea, so we may readily expect to find among their pantheon of gods, a great number of deities of the watery element. * Coming, then, to the better Greek sea-gods, we have Poseidon first of all, god of the sea and master of the watery element. He was fabled son of time, (Kronos), and flood (Rhea). Herodotus says he came from Libya, but some philologists say his name is connected with Si-don (Ship of On); others with potamos (river). He was god of the sea (Mediterranean) and ruler of the water, whether of cloud or of earth streams. He gathered clouds, raised and calmed the waves, sent storms, but granted safe voyages, and all other divinities of the sea were subject to him. He was inventor of . the ship, and, curiously enough, created the horse and bull — carriers on land. Arion, Scyphios, Pegasus and the golden-fleeced ram of Phryxus were his offspring. He dwelt with the ether gods on Olympus,- but had a pal- ace at ^gea under the waves. Numerous temples were dedicated to him, but chief among them were those on the capes of Sunium, Taenaria and at Corinth. He was repre- sented as a severe old man, bearing in his hand a long tri- dent, and riding in his car, drawn by horses or dolphins, and attended by Tritons, Nereids, and other marine mon- sters. Black and white bulls were favorite sacrifices to him, as says Virgil, — " There hecatombs of bulls — to Neptune slain, High flaming, please the monarch of the main,' for to Neptune, the Latin god of the sea, were transferred in later times most of the attributes of Poseidon. Virgil gives us this picture of the marine monarch,— f " Where'er he glides His finny coursers, and in triumph rides. The waves imruflle, and the sea subsides. His finny team Saturnian Neptune join'd. Then adds the foamy bridle to their jaws. And to the loosen'd rein permits the laws. High on the waves his azure car he guides; Its axles thunder and the sea subsides. And the smooth ocean rolls her silent tides; The tempests fly before their father's face, Trains of inferior gods his triumphs grace, And monster whales before their master play, And choirs of Tritons crowd the wat'ry way." •Cox.— Aiyan Mythology, n., 262. Dryden.— .^Sieid, Bk. V OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 69 Prayers and sacrifices were made by Greek, Roman and Phoenician mariners to him, not only before setting out on a voyage, but also in case of calms, and after safely return- ing from a voyage. Menelaus, in "iphigenia in Tauris," says: "O Neptune, Who in the ocean dwell'st, and ye, chsiste daughter Of Nereus, to the Nauplian coast convey Me and my consort, from this hostile land! " He is represented as occasionally warring with deities of the shore, thus typifying the changes wrought by the waves of the sea; and from his realm come those marine monsters, the Bellerophon, the Andromeda monster, and others, cer- tainly representing the incursions of breakers and waves. Amphitrite is his consort, and Triton, one of his sons, always attended upon him. Many legends were, in course of time, gathered together concerning him by the later poets and mythographers. When .iEolus wrecked the Trojan fleet, Neptune thus rebuked him: * " Hence to your lord my royal mandate bear. The realms of ocean and the fields of air Are mine, not his. By fatal lot to me The liquid empire fell, and trident of the sea." fAmphitrite, Poseidon's fair consort, was also powerful at sea. She was figured as a beautiful woman, with a net on her hair, and crabs' claws on her forehead. She gener- ally appeared in Neptune's car, but sometimes rode a ma- rine animal. Her statue was in Corinth. JOceanus resided in the ocean-stream that was fabled everywhere to encompass the known world, and his palace was far to the westward, toward the setting sun. From him proceeded all the watery element — rivers, lakes and seas. He was the ocean personified. He was rather a powerful monarch than a god, but to him mariners sacri- ficed with great care on going on long voyages. He is represented as an old man, seated on the sea, and dwelt in its depths. " 'Where aged Ocean holds his watery reign." * Dryden«..iEneid. Bk. I. i Cox.— Arj'an Mythology, II, 6. i Diad, XIV, 3« ; XXI, 195. 60 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS * Tethys was his consort, and the Oceanids, three thou- sand ocean nymphs, his daughters. Libations and sacrifices were made to them. I Oceanus is the personification of the sea itself, first imagined to surround the earth like a river, never ending. J Proteus und Nereus were two divinities residing in the deep sea, only inferior to Neptune. Both were gifted with wisdom, but Proteus could change his shape at will. (Apollodorus asserts this of Nereus, also.) " Proteus, a name tremendous o'er the main, The delegate of Neptune's watery reign " says Homer; and Virgil further tells us: § " In the Carpathian bottom makes abode The shepherd of the sea, a prophet and a god; High o'er the main in watery pomp he rides. His azure car and finny coursers guides, - Proteus his name." He traditionall}' kept the seals belonging to his father (Neptune's) herds. To him Telemachus resorted for ad- vice. Camoens speaks of J " The consecrated waters of the deep Where Proteus' cattle all their gambols keep." Proteus possessed this power of changing his shape at will (a characteristic of all the water-people) to the greatest extent; hence our -wovA protean. ** Nereus, son of Pontus, was a prophetic sea-god, and father of the Nereids, the nymphs of the wave, fift}' in nurhber. Amphitrite and Thetis, both ocean queens, were among the number. Nereus is represented as an old man. with long flowing hair, and he dwelt in the .(Egean Sea, in a beautiful palace. If The Nereids were ocean-naiads. The names are from the same root, and are connected with naval, nix, Niobe, and other maritime words. The Nereids represent the qualities and properties of the sea, and are represented as half woman, half fish. The}' are, therefore, the ancestors of ♦ Cox. — Aryan Mythology, II, 6. + Keary. — Outlines of Primitive Belief. t Cox.— Aryan Jlythology, II, 236. 8 Georgics IV. — Dryden's Translation. ILufiad, I, 19. *» Cox.— Aryan Mythology, Bk. II, p. 256. tt Cox.— Aryan Mythology, Bk. II, Ch. 6. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 61 a tribe of mermaids, such as we sliall meet farther on. They attended the superior gods, and had altars on the sea- shore, where sacrifices were made to them. They came out of their dwellings when the waves arose. Anciently they were represented as very beautiful. Polybius first gave them the fish-tail. They assisted the Argonauts, when sent by Juno. * " Here o'er the sailing pine the nymphs preside, While Thetis' forceful hands the rudder guide, As oft in shoals the sportive dolphins throng. Circling the vessel as she sails along." Panope and Thetis were especially invoked by sailors. f Aphrodite possessed limited powers over the waves. Her name is derived from Aphros, foam, and, like Derceto and Atergatis, she sprang from the sea. Hesiod says:! " Her gods and men Name Aphrodite, goddess of the foam. Since in the sea-foam nourish'd." " Thy imperial sway extends O'er the wide seas." § She represents the dawn, and, in her car, is attended by the Hours and Graces. She first landed at Cythera, and Cyprus was the chief seat of her worship. She became the goddess of love, and, as Venus in Rome, lost many of her maritime attributes. Temples were numerous to her, espe- cially at Athens, Sparta, and among the islands of the Gre- cian Archipelago. A rude stone first represented her, but later artists carved those beautiful representations, a few of which still exist. She had various surnames as goddess of the sea, all connected with it, as Pontia, Epipontia, Eualia, Marina, Pelagia, Thalassia, and Pontogenia. Living sacri- fices were seldom offered to her. Phorcus was another sea-divinity. He represents the whitening sea-foam. He was keeper of marine monsters, and his consort was Keto (whale). Zeus, or Jupiter, as great god of the heavens and air, was powerful above all other gods on land or at sea. Storms were sent b}' him, and mariners sacrificed to him. At the Bosphorus was an altar to Zeus Quirnos, serfder of favor- able winds. * Appolonius Rhodius.— Ar. U GilL- Myths and Songs of the South Pacific (3>. 72 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS In a song, — " Oh! let the storm be restrained, Vatea, god of winds." He lived in a mysterious land. His brother, Timiran, is lord of fish,* and half sprat. He lives in the sacred isle. Tikokura is the storm-wave. His home is in the ocean. Raka (trouble), the god of winds, lives there also. The winds and storms are his children, each one blowing through a hole in the horizon, and he controls them. f The Fijian fishermen's god is Roko Vona; another is Vosavakandua, and they have many minor gods, called Luve-ni-mai (children of the water). Little flags are set up when they are about to land, to prevent them from taking to the woods. The fisherman's god in Ranatonga is a cocoanut-leaf, bound up with sennit, called Iku-ko-kua. At Mangaia, it was the frond of a cocoanut, bound with sennit. This is supposed to be powerful in allaying storms, and is called a Mokoiro, and is affixed to the prows of the boats. A cer- tain priestly family perform this ceremony, and no one thinks of going to sea without these attachments. In Ranai, one of the Sandwich Islands, two large stone im- ages, seen by Ellis, represented Raeapua and Kaneapua, sea-deities worshiped by fishermen. Another sea-god was Mooarii, a shark. On each point of land, temples were erected to him, and the first fish of the catch were given to him. The)r had other sea and weather-gods, and during a storm at sea they offered up a. pule kurana, a kind of prayer. A shell-fish called Uva was also a Fijian deit)^ A Hawaiian god was Kunra, and Hina, a goddess, who we're supposed to drive the annual shoals of fish to the island, and hence were adored by fishermen. JHiro was a Tahitian sea-god. While asleep in the ocean, the wind-god raised a storm, but he was aroused, and lulled the waves to rest. Kahai Khani is a Tartar " Prince of the Sea." Maui- Megala is a Pegu divinity, daughter of the lord of the sea. Burmese sailors and fishermen dedicate fruits, rice, etc., to Nat, or the spirit of the waters, who would otherwise destroy the fish. Riu-to is Japanese god of the bottom of the sea, and is •GiU.— Mj-ths and Songs of the South Pacific (5). + GiU.— MVths and Songs of the South Pacific. ♦ Grey.— Polynesian Mythology. SANDWICH ISLANDERS EQUIPPED FOR HEAVY WEATHER. 78 74 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS shown as a dwarfish figure, bearing a lantern on his head. He, as well as Midsumo-Kami,* a water-god, and Jebisu, a sea-god, is adored by fishermen. Tusannoo-no-Mikato, brother of the sun-god, is also god of the sea. In Japanese legendary history, the gods of the sea and air assembled to assist a great queen against Corea. Kai- Ku-O, dragon-king of the sea, sent his messenger Isora, with jewels that controlled the tides. fThe Chinese god of the sea, Tsuikvan, was one of the three spirits attendant on Fo or Cang-Y, god of the lower heaven. Navigators sacrificed to him. Kemung is a god of storms in China. Ma Chua is a great sailor-goddess. She is figured as a grotesque idol, and has numerous temples. One at Ningpo is very large. Her image is also kept in exchanges. She was the daughter of a seafaring man. She dreamed she saw her father in a storm and in danger, and exerted herself to save him. She is called queen of heaven, holy mother, and other titles. Sailors take ashes from incense- lamps in front of her shrines, and carry them in a red bag, or hang them about the junk. |When storms occur, they kneel at the bow (the sacred part of their junks), and burn incense before her image, imploring her to save them. They make offerings to her on arriving safely from sea. Among her attributes are Favorable-mind ear, and Thou- sand-mile eye, seeing and hearing danger afar off § Tien -how is another tutelary goddess of sailors. In every large junk her shrine is placed, having her image in a glass case, and inscriptions to her. Homage was paid her, and especial honors in sailing and landing. Staunton says, " Foong-ah-Vanny is a sailor's god." Sailors in Canton junks worship a goddess with the formid- able name of Chao-Chao-Laong-Koo, who saved many junks from wreck. A recent writer says: || " Kwun-ing (Kemung? or Marehu ?) is their chief divinity, seemingly amalgamated with the 'queen of heaven,' and as a goddess her peculiar delight is to save those that are in danger by sea. She can assume thirty-two different shapes, and proceed to different parts of the world on her missions of mercy. In Buddhism, she holds the highest place as a savior of mankind." •Siebold.— Nippon, Part V., p. 9. + Grant. — Mysteries of AH Nations, p. 54. tDoolittle.— Manner and Custom of tlie Chinese, 1-263. % Jones.— Credulities, p. 44. II Gibbons.— Boxing the Compass. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 75 * River sailors are devotees of Loong Moo, the dragon- mother. Shrines are placed along the banks, and cere- monies and sacrifices of fowls made in the boats before sailing. The origin and development of these ideas with regard to the gods of the watery element are plainly apparent. The primitive mind deals not in abstract ideas of a deity, but requires some typical representative constantly before it. Thus nature worship was prevalent among our ancest- ors, as it still is among savages and half-civilized people. So the sky, the air, the earth and the sea are at first them- selves deities, and the names of many primitive gods dis- cover their identity with the objects they represent: Dyaus (the sky), Varuna (the coverer), Thor (the thunderer), are examples of this.f At first the gods of the elements are the gods of the watery sea. So among the early Aryans, Varuna is lord of atmospheric and ocean seas. But as the Greeks especially became acquainted more and more with the sea in all its aspects, these gods were multiplied, and a chief god of the sea was created or borrowed from some other maritime nation. Every characteristic of the ocean depths was reproduced in some god, and so the Greek Pan- theon abounded in maritime deities. In the Norse the- ogony, parallels to these are found. The chief difference is one of climate. There in the North, the terrible sea had a greater impression on the mariner than the mild, sunny wave of the south, and thus the gods are more fierce and terrible, and CEgir and Ran had perhaps more worshipers than Niord and Frey. The first effects of Christianity upon these heathen ideas were two-fold. For, while the vows and oblations paid to Neptune, CEgir, or some inferior deity were by the teach- ings of the church transferred to the virgins and saints, not immediately was the memory of these heathen gods lost. So, not being able to suppress them, the church set to vvork to degrade them. We consequently find many of the gods are become demonized, and Odin, the beneficent wind- giver, is Nick, the demon of the sea, and the Devil himself, who is in fact a degraded god (the Indian Deva) has his representative in the ocean depths, under the name of Davy Jones. "Jones. — Credulities, p. 47. + See Max MUUer.— Essay on mytholoey lu " Chips from a German Work- shop." 76 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS To the many gods of antiquity, then, succeeded the one god of Mohammedan and Christian religions. But the con- servative mariner still retained memories of the once pow- erful gods of the sea. Not only did the .Catholic mariner believe that Christ stilled the waves, and still possesses power to save from peril, but he also attributed to the Virgin and saints unusual powers over the winds and waves. To this day he trusts in their aid in time of peril and to them he makes his vows, and dedicates his memorial tablets or votive offerings. The Virgin is patroness of innumer- able sea-side temples and chapels, and "Our Lady of the Waves," and of Blachernes, are only ready examples of a class. *As early as 200 A.D., we find her aid efficacious. The Varangians, under Askold and Dir, attacked Constantinople about that time, with a Russian fleet, and the good Bishop Photius was able to raise a storm and destroy this fleet with the mantle of Our Lady of Blachernes, by spreading it on the waves. I A legend of Boulogne, in 663, relates that while the in- habitants were at prayers, a ship without guide or pilot came sailing in with the Virgin on board, and she indicated to the people a site for her chapel. J The Virgin, as related in the account of spectral lights and apparitions, saved from shipwreck jEthelsiga (in the i ith century), the Earl of Salisbury (1220), Edward IIL, and Edward IV. of England. The former monarch, overtaken in the English channel by a storm, exclaimed, " Oh! blessed Mary, holj' Lady! why is it, and what does it portend, that in going to France I enjoyed a favorable wind, a calm sea, and all things prospered v/ith me; but on returning to Eng- land, all kinds of misfortunes befall me?" The storm, the account says, immediately subsided. The latter sovereign " pra)'ed to God, our Lad)-, and Saint George, and amonges other sa3'nts he specially prayed Seint Anne to help him." § Joinville says a sailor who fell overboard during the voj'^age of St. Louis to France, was asked why he did not swim. He replied that it was only necessary to exclaim, " Our Lady of Valbert! ", and that she supported him by the shoulders until he was picked up. 'Jones— Broad, Broad Ocean, p. 233. i Collin de Plancy. — Legendes Pieuses du Moyen Age. t Jones. — Credulities, p. 34. IJones.— Credulities, p. 35. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 77 There was a statue at Venice, according to Fynes Mory- son, that performed great miracles. A merchant vowed perpetual gifts of wax candles, in gratitude for being saved by the light of a candle on a dark night. This statue and that of St. Mark were saluted by ships. Erasmus says of the people in the shipwreck, "The mariners they were singing their Salva Regina, imploring the Virgin Mother, calling her the Star of the Sea, the Queen of Heaven," etc. " In ancient times Venus took care of mariners, because she was supposed to be born of^ the sea, and because she left off taking care of them, the Virgin Mother was put in her plaqe." He says one sailor tried to float ashore on a rotten and worm-eaten image of the Vir- gin. The Virgin sent a wind to aid the wind-bound fleet of Orendel in the Kleber Meer, according to Middle-age legend. * De Plancy .says a tradition at Havswyck, in Holland, is that a boat laden with fragments of a church, in 1188, was mysteriously stopped at a certain "spot, and could not be forced farther on until a chapel to the Virgin was com- menced on the spot. A tradition existed in Belgium »that an image of the Vir- gin was found on the beach by sailors, and became at Lom- buzyde an especial mariner's shrine. Benecke says a statue of the Virgin was of old placed in a niche in Hamburg wall, near a certain landing. Sailors and fishermen particularly addressed their vows to her, and made offerings in return for successful ventures. In 1470, a chapel was built there, and the statue transferred to it. f The shrine of Notre Dame de la Garde, at Marseilles, whose apparition to boatmen in peril is related in another chapter, is the object of great veneration to the Provengal sailor. The image of the Virgin was formerly ablaze with diamonds, and a silver statue now adorns the altar. J Norman sailors, in 1700, particularly believed in the saving power of Notre Dame de Deliverance, whose chapel stood between Caen and Bayeux. A legend is told of a ship coming into the port of Havre, in 1700, whose crew, in great peril, vowed their penances to her, but these were of no avail, until they were joined by those of the Protestant captain and his heretical crew. * C!oUiD de Plancy. — Legendes Pieusos du Moyen Age + Collin de Plancy.— Legendes Piciu.ses d\i Moyen Age. 4 Collin de Plancy. — Legendoe Pieuses du Moyen Age. 78 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Another Norman legend relates that Notre Dame des Neiges. in Havre, obligingly sent a concealing snow storm to prevent blockaded ships from falling into the enemy's hands. * Kingston says: " I am assured that formerly, before the days of insurance offices and political economy, mer- chants frequently insured their ships at the highly esteemed shrine of Matozimbo, by presenting a sum equal to the pay of captain or mate, and that, too, without stipulating for any. equivalent should the vessel be wrecked." Nor were the saints accounted far inferior to the Virgin in their wonder-working powers at sea Of these saints, St. Anthony was accounted one of the most powerful. He was a priest of Padua, and is said to have preached a sermon to the fishes, hence is especially a fisherman's saint. Accordingly, we find the padrone, in Longfellow's " Golden Legend," appealing to him, — And ' Now all is ready, high and low. Blow, blow, good Saint Antonio." ' With the breeze behind us, on we go. Not too much, good Saint Antonio! " f Pietro delle Valle, a sixteenth-century traveler in the East Indies, tells us that the Portuguese kept an image of Saint Anthony in their ships and made it responsible for the winds. They prayed to it, then, if this were not effect- ual, resorted to lashing the image to the mast, as detailed in another chapter. St. Nicholas was, however, pre-eminently the sailor's guardian. He was a saint of Myra, in Italy, and is said to have restored a sailor to life, and to have allayed a storm while on his way to the Holy Land.| § A company of pilgrims was sailing along on its way to Jerusalem, in 900. one of whom had engaged to carry to the sacred spot a cruse of oil, given him by an old woman just before leaving port. A great storm arose, and St. Nicholas appeared, saying: "Fear not, but throw the cruse of oil which you carry with you into the sea, for the ' woman ' who gave it to you was the devil." They did as * Ltmitanian Sketches. + Jal. Gloss. Nautlque.— " St. Antoine." t Lappeloo and Gras. — Vita Sanctorum. Q. by Brand, I, US 8 Liber Dlctus Paradlsus. — Malaphrastes. — Brewer In Notes and Queries, August, 1881. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 79 commanded, and the oil swelled and blazed like sulphur, while the storm ceased. * In the Norman French life of this saint, sailors in a storm cry out, "Help, O Lord Saint Nicholas, if thou beest such as men say ! " and he appeared and saved them. The same life also records these lines: " Hear you who go by sea Of this Baron we speak, Who is in all so kindly And at sea so mighty." Peter of Langtoft calls him, "The Bishop of St. Nicholas, whos help is ey redie, To shipmen, in alle seas, whan thei on him crie." Mariners in the ^Egean are also said to have called on him when in danger of wreck, and he aided them to port. The St. Elmo fire was called by Italians, Fires of St. Nicholas. Bishop Hall says a Grecian sailor prayed to St. Nicholas not to press too hard with his wings on the sails. Greek sailors in the seventeenth century took to sea thirty loaves of bread, consecrated and named St. Nicholas' loaves. In case of a storm, the}'^ were thrown into the sea, one by one, until they were efficacious in calming the waves. There were some three hundred and seventy chapels in England alone to this saint. His church at Liverpool was the most celebrated, and was consecrated in 1361. A local author says, f "In the vicinity there formerly stood a statue of St. Nicholas, and when the faith in the intercession of saints was more operative than at present, the mariners were wont to present a peace-offering for a prosperous voyage on their going out to sea, and a wave- offering on their return; but the saint, having lost • his votaries, has long since disappeared." I A mariner in the " Absurda " of Erasmus says he is going to dedicate a piece ^of sail-cloth to St. Nicholas, in gratitude at having escaped shipwreck. § St. Nicholas' Chapel, near Hythe, England, is thus alluded to by an old Kentish author; " This is one of the places ' Where such as had escapt the sea Were wont to leave their guif ts. ' * In Hampton.— Medii ^vi Kalendarium. t Lambarde.— Perambulations of Kent, in Jones' Broad, Broad Ocean, p. 235. 4: Jones.— Credulities, p. 40. i Lambarde. — Perambulations of Kent. 80 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Inasmuch as if any of the fishermen on this coast had hardly escaped the storme, then should Sainct Nicholas nol have only the thanks of that deliverance, but also one oi more of the best fishes for an offering." * There is a legend of a certain altar-screen in the church at Arboja, in Sweden,- that testifies the great power of St. Nicholas. It had been sunk during a siege by the people of a foreign town to escape capture. The Swedes found it, however, but found it too heavy to raise. Some one suggested to name over all the saints, but all failed to assist until St. Nicholas was invoked, when the screen came up. It was sent to Arboja, and St. Nicholas became the patron of that church. f Armstrong in 1756, writes: "Near the entrance to the harbor (of Ciudadella) stands a chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas, to which the sailors report that had suffered ship- wreck, to return thanks for their preservation, and to hang up votive pictures representing the dangers they had escaped, in gratitude to the Saint for the protection he vouchsafed them." J Kanaris, the Greek hero of the fire-ships in Chios harbor in 1828, went immediately to St. Nicholas' Church, after the success of his undertaking, and presented two wax tapers to his shrine. St. Nicholas is shown in paintings as patron of sailors, with an anchor b}- his side, and a fleet in the background. In other representations, he is seen on board a sinking ship in a storm at sea, and sometimes has a light on his head. Hospinian (1531) says the invocation of St. Nicholas by mariners took place from the accounts of Vincentius and Mantuanus (B. xii. ch. i). " Cum turbine nautae Deprensi Cilices claraore vocavant Nicolai, ^iventes opei'a^ desccndere quidam, Coeli tuum visus saiicti sub imagine patiis:— Qui freta depulso fecit placidissimus vento." §In the Salisbur)- Missal (1540) he is shown resuscitating two children who had been cut to pieces and put into a tub. Hampton thinks this tub was taken for a boat, and the chil- dren for sailors, and in this wa}', he becam.e a maritime saint. But we do not need to go so far for the origin of ♦Jones.— riroad. Broad Ocean, p. 235. + Ann5lin;ij. — History of jMinorca. *.J(>nc?. — (^-etlulities. p. iZ § Hampton.- Medii j'Exi ivalenduriiun. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 81 his power. The legend doubtless owed its origin to the degradation of semi-deities alluded to above, by the church. As Farrar* says: "The Scandinavian water-spirit Niken, inhabitant of lakes and rivers, and raiser of storms, whose favor could only be won by sacrifices, became in the middle ages St. Nicholas, the patron of sailors and sole refuge in danger." St. Peter, as the fisher-apostle, became a maritime saint, and was often invoked in storms. The St. Elmo light was called St. Peter's fire, as we shall see. f Cortez chose him as patron saint; "and beying at sea, Cortez willed all his navie to have St. Peter for their patron." St. Peter is said to have entered a fisherman's boat on the Thames, which at once carried him without oars or sail, to the spot which he chose as a site for Westminster Abbey I The patron saint of gunners was Santa Barbara, who once saved a dwelling from lightning, and the gun room in Mediterranean ships as well as the powder-room is still called " La Sainte Barbe." St. Anne was also powerful to aid in great danger. Ed- ward IV. called on her for aid, and we shall see the St. Elmo light called St. Anne. Some of her miraculous deeds were performed on this side of the Atlantic.§ There are in the church of Beaupre, in Canada, votive pictures showing ships in distress, with this saint hovering over them, to rescue them. She was the especial patron saint of Canadian mariners. St. Bartholomew is invoked by boatmen on the turbulent little Koenig sea in Bavaria, and they cry before embarking: " Hoi}' Bartholomew! shall I return ? Say yes." The echo responds affirmatively in fine weather, but if it is thick and misty, no echo is heard. I Brand says St. Hermes was of old a mariner's saint in England. He, as well as St. Erasmus, and St. Gonzales de Tuy, was connected with the legends concerning the St. Elmo light. **Fournier says: "It is a custom to invoke St. Telme, and to recite an orison. This saint was, during his life, greatly devoted to instructing sea-faring men of things per- taining to their safety, and likewise in assisting them in * Primitive Customs. + Jones. — Credulities, p. 109. t Brewer.— Readers' Hand Book. i Harper's Magazine, 1881. n Popular Antiquities. 1, S64, ** Hj-drographie, 1643. 82 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS their necessities, and since he died at Tuy, a city of Gallicia, and showed himself so favorable and benign to those who have invoked him, sailors have taken him as their protector." * Victor Hugo says sailors in Guernsey formerly believed that St. Maclou lived in a square rock called Ortach, near Les Casquets, and they were accustomed to kneel there in passing. I St Ronald was a favorite maritime saint in the North. Scott says sailors paid their vows to him, to St. Ninian and to St. Ringar. St. Cyric was invoked by Welsh mariners. | Southe)' says: " The weary mariners Called on St. Cyric's aid." § Lambarde writes: "For within memory there were standing in Winchelsea, three parish churches, St. Leonard, St. Giles and St. Thomas, and in that of St. Leonard there was erected the picture of St. Leonard, the patron of the place, holding a fane (or .^olus sceptre) in his hand, which was movable at the pleasure of any that would Jurne it to such pointe of the compass as best fitted the return of the husband or other friend, whom they expected." II St. James the Greater came to Spain from Palestine in a mysterious marble bark without sail or helm. He was a patron saint of Spanish sailors. St. Genevieve is said to have destro3'ed a tree in a Span- ish harbor that, with two attendant demons, wrecked many ships. She was tutelary saint of the harbor. ** St. Mark calmed the sea when his own dead body was conveyed from Egj'pt, says Leo Antonio More, in the " Description of Africa" (1600). He is patron of Venetian fishermen. ff St. George was appealed to by Sardinian fishermen to drive away enemies of the tunny, as being general dragon-sla^'er. They also appeal to St. Michael, who was with Peter fishing. St. Michael, as god of the wind, has been alluded to in another chapter. t + A Slavonic legend relates that this ♦ Les Travailleiirs de la Mer. i Scott.— Notes to Pirate. f'Madoc." § Perambulations of Kent, in Jones' Ci-edulitiea, p. 30. ( Baring Crould.— Legends of the Saints. St. James. ■"Jones.— Credulities, p- 36. tlJones. — Credulities p. 70. ttConway.— Demonology and Devil-lore. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 83 saint had a contest with the devil as to which could dive the deepest in the sea. When it came Satan's turn to dive, the saint caused the sea to freeze over him by making the sign of the cross. Many saints have had power over the sea, or have caused miracles at sea, who were not regarded as maritime saints. *Sit. Clement was reverenced by some mariners. The anchor is his emblem. He suffered martyrdom', and was cast into the sea with an anchor about his neck. The waters were driven back, and a chapel appeared over the spot. f St. Vincent was also cast into the sea with a millstone about his neck, but returned his own body to the shore. While on the way to Spain, the body sunk near the cape named after him, in the wreck of the ship. .In 1147, Alonzo I. returned it, and a crow is said to have perched on the prow, and one on the stern of the ship, and guided it safely into port. Hence the crow is figured as his em- blem. St. Benedict made iron float, embarked on a mat, and saved drowning men. He was invoked in shipwrecks. St. Christina floated with a millstone about her neck. This is shown in a picture at Venice. So St. Kea,J surprised at rising tide while at his prayers, sailed to shore on the rock on which he was kneeling. St. Marculf, in France, in 1558, is said to have destroyed a pirate fleet, raising a storm by prayer, and St. Hilarion, attacked by pirates at sea, stopped their ship while in full headway, so was invoked against pirates in the Mediterra- nean. St. Leonore is said to have saved a sinking ship by wav- ing a bishop's letter at it. At Etretat, in Normandy, is a chapel to St. Sauveur, the Holy Savior, who is the fisherman's patron there, as well as in many other places. § St. Helena, who allayed a storm by throwing a piece of the holy cross overboard; St. Asclas, who stopped a boat in the Nile by his prayers; St. Loman, who sailed on the Boy ne against wind and tide,|| St. Germanus, who is said, in 429, to have allayed a storm at sea by pouring a few drops of oil. on it, and St. Rosalia, who was a Sicilian saint, were vener- * Jones. — Credulities, p. 56. + Mrs. Clement. — Legends of the Madonna and Saints. i Dunn.— Legends of Saxon Saints. S Jones.— Credulities, p. 72. I Grant.— Mysteries of all Nations, p. 1S5. 8.4: LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS ated by mariners, and some of them had numerous chapels dedicated to them. * St. Columba was a favorite marine saint with North- ern nations. His image, stolen in 1355, caused a storm, and it was in his chapel in the Hebrides that a moist stone was kept, to raise a gale. St. Cesarea was exposed to drown in a cave on the Italian coast. Mariners still say a light is seen there at times, sup- posed to be her luminous body. f St. Patrick is said to have had great power over the sea. He cast a stone altar, consecrated by the pope, into the sea, seated thereon a leper who had been refused passage in a ship, and made the chair sail in company with the ship. He also caused a ship carrying his nephew, St. Lumanus, to sail against the wind. Legends of Sainte Adresse, in Normandy, relate that sailors in danger, after an invocation of the Virgin had failed, succeeded when they invoked the saint's aid. St. Thomas of Canterbury, St. Edmund, and St. Nich- olas were united in saving one of the fleet of Richard, in 1 1 90. Sailors generally, in the Mediterranean, venerate the saints of their own town or district, and pay their vows at their shrine. ' J Cetti says Italian fishermen chose by lot a saint for each day. and fish were dedicated to him, — an impartial method, to say the least. § Klemm says Neapolitan fishermen, if their saints did not respond to their appeals, threw their images over- board. A giant statue of St. Christopher stood on a promontor}'' in Granada, so that sailors, seeing it from afar, would make their vows to it. He was a ferrj'^man who rowed Christ across a river. So there stood a colossal statue of this saint at Monte Pellegrino, in Sicily. St. Francis Xavier was long esteemed a powerful mari- time saint, and St. Phocas was a patron of Greek sailors, St. Elias of Slavonic mariners. II Flemish fishermen caught a whale that was too large for the small bay into which tliey towed it. They final!) ♦ Jones. — Credulities, p. 37. + Jones. — Credulities, p. 42. $ Jones. — Credulities, p. 3*5. g Kulturgeschichte. fi Translations and Miracles of St. Vaast. or THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 85 appealed to St. Arnould for help,. and, by his assistance, landed the monster. *Quallee Walee Sahib, a great Mahometan saint, was in- voked by a captain to stop a leak in his ship. The saint was under the barber's hands, but sent the mirror which he was holding. It flew to the ship, and stopped the leak by stick- ing to the ship's side. When the captain came to thank the saint, he bade him bring the glass, and showed the aston- ished man where it had adhered to the ship's side. fA favorite maritime saint in Japan is Jakushi Niurai, whose emblem was the cuttlefish, often seen cut on his stat- ues in seaside temples. In a great storm at sea, a huge fish attacked a junk, and mast and rudder were broken. A priest on board prayed to the saint, who appeared and bade him throw overboard his image, which the priest possessed. He did so, and the storm ceased. The image was afterwards restored to the priest by a cuttlefish. Saints not only sailed the seas in curious crafts, but many walked on its surface. So St. Peter of Alcantara, St. Hya- cinth, St. Marinus, St. Columba, St. Blaise, St. Peter Telme and St. Francis de Paul are asserted to have quietly walked the waters. As St. Scothinus J walked on the Irish sea he met St. Barras, his brother, sailing in a boat. To an inquiry of the latter, he answered that he walked in a beautiful meadow, and to prove it, stooped, and gathered a handful of flowers. Not to be outdone, the other saint immediately scooped up a handful of fish, to prove that they traversed the sea. The captain of a Venetian ship said to Loyola: " Why do you sail with me? A saint has no need of such vulgar means. He walks the waters and imitates Christ." The good offices of the Virgin and saints were necessary to overcome the evil machinations of the devil and Jiis subject demons, who were thought to dwell in ocean, lake, -sea, and river. "Spirits, that have over water gouvernement. Are to mankind malevolent; They trouble seas, floods, brooks, and wels, Meres, lakes, and love to inhabit wat'ry cells; Hence noisome and pestiferous vapours raise. Besides they men encounter divers ways. At wrecke's some present are; another sort Ready to cramp their joints that swim for sport." * Jones. — Credulities, p. 42. + Mitford.— Tales of Old Japan. t Jones.— Credulities, p. 56. 86 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITION? Among the sun-worshiping nations of antiquity, it was thought that his splendor was obscured at night by the machinations of evil demons, who opposed his passage in the waters of the lower world. This demon in Egyptian representations* is Typhon, or Apophis, the "lord of the deep," etc. Thence grew up a host of legends concerning a demon who had his abode in the sea, unclean to these people, and Typhonic influence was thought to cause the storms and tempests of the deep. Typhoeus in Greek legends was a dragon-monster, who warred against Jupiter, and was imprisoned under Mount JEtniu The name indi- cated the whirlwind in Greece and Rome. "Ty-foon" in China still designates the revolving sea-storm; "to-fan" the hurricane in Hindoostan, and " tuphon " the whirlwind in Arabia. " Typhceus was father of the winds that bring ruin and havoc," says Hesiod; and he was also parent of the Hydra, Cerberus, Nemaean Lion, and other monsters fabled to have come out of the deep. Captain St. John saj-s the Chinese consider Tyfoon " the mother of winds." The name is perpetuated in the appellation for a circular storm, current in nautical language. Satan, in early ages, figured as Leviathan, and in an old gem is so shown, with the church, in the guise of the ship of St. Peter, triumphant over it. f In Hindoo legend, Panchayana is a demon living in the sea in the shape of a conch-shell, and the Maruts were verit- able storm-fiends. Argunas saved his brother from a marine demon. Jin an old Persian manuscript, the devil appears in the guise of a fish, and an old middle-age Inferno picture figures him as a cat — the malevolent animal at sea. Bad was a Persian demon of winds and storms. In Arabian belief, %/itms or giants caused disaster at sea. In one story in the Arabian Nights, a Jinnee wrecks ships. I Bechard, according to the " Clavicle of Solomon," was a storm-demon. In an old Jewish legend, the devil is angered because God gave man dominion over the things of the sea, deem- ing that his region; but he was allowed to possess a certain * Wilkinson. — Ancient Egypt. + Mali libra rata. JCoUin de Plancy.— I>i<'t. Infprnale. I lyane.— Arabian Ni^lif;. iCIollin de Plancy.— Diet. Inf. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 87 power over the winds and waves. This is much like Phito in the "Iliad," when Neptune was made lord of the seas, — * " Pluto, the infernal, heard alarmed. And, springing from his throne, cried out in fear. Lest Neptune, breaking through the solid earth. To mortals and immortals should lay bare His dark and drear abode of gods abhorred." When the devils were cast out and entered the swine, they entered the sea; Micah says, "Thou wilt cast all their sins into the sea." f Marcus, the Eremite, in recounting the six classes of demons, says the fourth class is the water-demons, drown- ing men, raising storms, etc. Alvinach was a middle-age demon of the western sea, causing shipwreck and disaster, and appearing in female guise. X Wierus sa\*s a demon, Forneius, in the shape of a marine monster, existed in the middle ages, aud another, Ganygya, sought the souls of drowned persons. Luther thought the devil raised storms, and said he laid some twenty caused by him. St. Thomas Aquinas says the same. St. Nicholas saw him at sea, sword in hand. He figures as storm-raiser in numerous other saintly legends, and Dante and Tasso testify to his power. § Du Cange says the devil is called Hydros in a Latin manuscript, and that Neptunus, under the name of Aquati- quur, became a personification of the devil. Remegius and St. Augustine say the devil was evolved from water. II Duchesne says; "In the year 1148, a frightful whirl- wind arose, overthrowing houses and rooting up trees, when it was asserted that fiends were seen fighting, in the shape of wild animals." William of Malmesbury says of fiends; " Sometimes they seize the sailor." Various legendary demons are encountered in northern lore. Grendel's** mother was an aquatic demon; and Beo- wulf slew another one. The wives of the northern Nep- tunes. Ran and Skade, were, as we saw in the last chapter, regarded as evil deities of the sea. • Pope.— niad. + Jones. — Credulities, p. 73. X De Praestigiis Demonium. 8 Dictionary, I Norman Chronicles. "Ludlow.— Popular Epics of the Middle Ages, Vol. I. 88 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS In the story of Frithjof, Helgi, the northern Pluto, sends the storm-spuits, the witches Heyd and Ham, against the liero's ship. So Tegner, — *" Now two storm-fiends came Against EUide's side; One was ice-cold Ham, One was snowy Heyd." " Loose they set the tempests' pinions, Down-diving in ocean deep; Billow's from unseen dominions To the gods' abode they sweep." And these demons are thus more minutely described, — "A whale before Eilide gliding Like a loose island seeth he, And tw^o base ocean-demons riding Upon his back, the stormy sea. Heyd, in snow-garb, shining brightly In semblance of an icy bear. Ham, his loud wings flapping widely. Like a storm-bird, high in air," f Certain demons called Landvasttir were believed, in Denmark, to threaten ships from the shore, and a law of Ulfliote, in the thirteenth century, required that the figure- heads then carried at the prow must be taken off on approaching shore, so as not to frighten these malevolent spirits. In the Issefiord (a part of Cattegat Strait) a sea- demon formerl)' dwelt, who stopped each ship and de- manded a man from it. But it was found, by consulting the priests, that he could be exorcised, and this was done bj' procuring the head of Pope Lucius (beheaded at Rome) and showing it to the demon. Three winged fiends attacked the crew of one of Gorm'sJ ships, in his voyage to the Isle of the West, and were onl}' appeased by the sacrifice of three men. § In the romantic legends of William of Orange, Des- rame's head is thrown into the sea, and demons so haunt the spot that sailors dare not approach it.|| There is an old legend that Satan got into the ark, and tried to sink it by cutting a hole. *B. Taj'lor.— Tesrncr's Frithjof Saga. tFoi-mHuiia Pag-a, ]05; Thorpe.— Northern Myth., II, U7; Grimm.— Teut. Mjlh., 877. 1 Keary. — Outlines of Primitive Belief, 444. Saso Grammaticus, Hist- Danica, 420. § Cox and Jones. — Komances of the Middle Ages. IJ Conway.— Demonolog^- and Devil-lore, I, 122. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 89 *It was asserted that a demon of the flood was wont to be seen, on the breaking up of the Rhone glaciers, sword in hand, riding on the swollen stream. Sometimes, in female shape, he came to make the river overflow the land. Du Cange says a demon lived in the Rhone, called Dracus. f Anton says a sailor on board the French brig Due de Grammont, at Zante, while blaspheming and calling on the devil, was borne off by Satan in the shape of a horrible monster. To these accounts of maritime demons in the middle ages, we may add a story of a more tangible shape, beli,eved to be demoniacal in character. The Abbe de Choisy tells the tale: J "Great noise among the sailors; some one suddenly cried, 'There is the devil! we must.have him!' Soon all is in motion; everyone took arms; naught is seen but pikes, harpoons, and muskets. I ran myself to see the devil, and I saw a large fish, which resembled a ray, except it had two horns, as a bull. It made several bounds, always accom- panied by a white fish, which from time to time came to attack it, and then went under it. Between its two horns it carried a little gray fish, which one calls the pilot of the ' devil, because it conducts it, and it sticks it when it sees fish, and then the devil goes like an arrow." We may find legends of maritime demons among modern sailors. § In Icelandic belief, if an oarsman leaves a little of the handle of the oar uncovered, the devil will use it. The devil, according to a story from Schleswig-Holstein,|| still ferries people across Cuxhaven bay. He does this to liberate himself from the consequences of a certain compact. He had procured a ship for a certain captain, the latter to yield himself up with the ship, which was to be kept busy so long as there was a cargo. This Satan tried to find, so as to keep the vessel cruising until the compact expired, but he was outwitted at the end of the first cruise by the captain's son, who crowded sail on and let the anchor go. The fiend tried to hold the anchor, but went overboard with it. A Dutch captain, proverbially lucky, was thought to have sold himself to the devil, who one day appeared, in a coach-and-four, and carried away his victim. •ronwaj'. — DemonologT and De\'il-lore, 1-117. 4 Life of Louis Xlir. i Itelation of an Embassy to India.— Collin de Planoy. g Folk-lore Record, 1879. ■■ Schmidt.— Seeman's Sageu. 90 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS *In a German story, a demon pilot boards a doomed ship, whose crew have given themselves up to a desperate carouse. He conducts them through a cleft in the rocks into the mouth of hell, himself escaping in a phantom boat. Demons haunt many lakes in Bohemia, Austria, Hun- gary, and the Tyrol.f One, in the guise of a frog, decoyed a maiden to his palace below the water, where she found jars filled with the souls of drowned persons. She was able to liberate them. Water-demons are, in Bohemia, believed to float on the waves in the shape of a red flower. They walk on earth nine times a year, clad in a green coat, and claim a victim each time. Balarnu J is a Wallachian water-demon, living in marshes and water-falls. The devil, in a folk-tale, changes himself into a fish, to pursue a young man. In a Russian tale, the devil's imp drags down men boat- ing,§ and in Lake Kerikoff is fabled to live a demon, who upsets boats and seizes victims. A sort of mai me demon appears in several |{ Breton tales, related by old sailors. In one he is distrusted and set ashore from his ship, returns in a pirate, and captures his late captain. In another, as a common sailor, he performs prodigies of valor, and enriches his captain. In another, the devil enlists as a common sailor, is dis- covered and tormented by the crew, and finally disappears. Red Beard is a demon who stirs up storms at St. Pol de Leon. **Jochmus, a dwarf goblin, is seen by Guernsey mariners on Ortach Rock, and such a vision portends drowning. He is a sea-green monster, with finny feet and claws for hands. He knows the names of the drowned, and the spots where they lie. Kiihlebom is a demon of the waves, in Fouque's Undine. In an old woodcut in Lacroix,f| the devil with horns and hoofs holds the stern of a merchant ship that is just start- ing from the shore. Satan is said to have raised a storm at Bongay in Eng- land, in 1597, coming out of the waves in the shape of a dog. ♦ Schmidt.— Seeman's Sapen und Schiffer Mlihrchen. t Grohman. Aberijlauben aus Buhmen. J^cliott. — Wa!liu;hisclie Miirchen. SCoUin de Plancj'.— Diet. Internale. ISebiilot. — rentes des Mariiis. ** Victor Hiipo.— Trav. rie la Jler. ft- Military and Religfious Life in Middle A^es. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 91 English children in Lancashire* were formerly told that if they went near the water, Jenny Greenteeth would get them. The water demon is also "Greenteeth" in Bohemia. Satan at sea is encountered in many early ballads. In one, "The ship roU'd in the heavy deep. The wind no longer blew, And over them, greedy to sink them all The fierce wild raven flew." For satan had assumed this garb. f In Scotch legend, the devil and his demons infest deep pools and streams, and it is dangerous to bathe there. A diver going down to get some plate, water-demons told him to go up and not come back. He went down a second time, and never re-appeared. The witches alleged that they were aided by the devil, as recorded in another chapter. In an old Scotch legend, the devil appears in seaman's dress. Norwegian sailors still fear an evil spirit, Draug, and say his spittle is the froth of the sea. J Davis tells a sailor legend of a Captain Folgerus, a daring seaman, whose luck was proverbial. In a gale off Cape Horn, he bargains with the devil to assist him. Satan holds on to his masts until a clear spot is seen in the sky, when he begs the captain to release him from his bargain. This being done, he lets go, and the masts are lost. " The De'ill himself can't hold to a bargain if he has a Cape Horn gale against him." A story is told by Thatcher,§ originally from German sources. In this, a certain sailor binds himself to serve Satan after fifty years, on condition of certain services. When his Satanic Majesty comes to claim his own, the shrewd mariner gets rid of him by engaging him to pump the sea dry, and by so placing the pump that the water all ran back. Sailors in the sixteenth century || firmly believed in the appearance of Satan at sea, in the Western part of the Atlantic. Denis says a demon was fabled to rise from the waters in the neighborhood of St. Brandan's Isle. Sailors testify their regard for Satan's power by the frequenc}- * Henderson.— Folk-lore of the North Counties. 265. + Gregor.— Folk-lore of Scotland. tTlie American Nimrod. § Superstitions (1821). • Goodrich. — Man Upon the Sea. See Frontlspieoe. 95J LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS with which his name is used in naming geographical locali- ties, as well as familiar objects on shipboard. Hell Gate on our own coast, and the Devil's Current in the Bosphorus, are examples of the first kind. " Busy as the Devil in a gale of wind " is a well-known adage. The devil-fish is the Lophis, or fishing-frog, as also the Rana, or cuttle. "Devil's smiles" are the deceptive gleams of fair weather, or the scowl on an angry captain's lace. The " Devil's table-cloth," reminiscence of the Cape- spectre, is still seen spread in threatening weather. Devil- bolt, Devil's-claw, and other names are met with, and the difficult seam at the margin of the deck is a devil, giving rise to the adage, " The Devil's to pay and no pitch hot," among calkers. The Devil as a water-fiend is also encountered among uncivilized people. Rock demons appear in numerous legends of the African tribes, as well as in the beliefs of the Indians of our Northern lakes and rivers. In *Australia, demons are said to haunt pools, and afflict bathers at times. They particularly desire females. The native doctors are believed to control them. Nguk-wonga is a demon who causes erj'sipelas . in the limbs of boy-bathers, and a stone amulet is carried, to counteract his evil influence. \ In V^an Diemen's Land, Burryup is a water-demon that is said to carry away native women to his palace. NauganaugaJ is a Fijian water-demon, who dashes into pieces celibates who try to steal around the rocks at low tide. Another marine-demon, Adrum-bu-Sambo, steals fish from nets. In Polynesian belief, a still-born child, when thrown into the sea, becomes an evil spirit. Phillippine Islanders believe in a water-demon, Nonos, who raises storms and wrecks boats. A vampire water- demon js encountered in Malacca. Muibura has a dog's head and alligator's body. A Japanese water-demon is § Kappa, who swallows bo5's who go down to swim without leave. Chinese believe in the devil's influence in causing storms. A sudden squall is called by Chinese sailors Tin-Foo-Foong, JDevil's head-ti'ind. • Eyre.— Australia, Vol. VI, p. 343. +Taylor.— New Zealand, p. 48. iTylor. — Primitive Culture. t Conway. — Deinon«logy and DeTil-Iore, I, IIS. OF"' THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 93 Numerous water-devils are found in Ceylon. Cinghalese " Devil-plays," constantly allude to them. " Oh thou black devil, thou livest constantly in streams and drains. Come, thou black devil, out of the lake." Offerings are also made to a black female devil, said to linger among the rocks at the bottom of the sea. *Pniik is a Siamese water-demon. Nyang is a Madagascar demon, who is prayed to keep the sea from upsetting the boats. Abue is a Dahomey " King of the Sea." Dacotah Indians thought demons lurked beneath the waters. ■j- We find these lines in " Hiawatha," — "Give our bodies to be eaten By the wicked Nee-ban-aw-baigs, By the spirits of the water." And when the Indian hero sailed across the lake, — t ".But beneath, the •;vil spirits Lay in ambush, waiting for him. " Algonquins and Winnebagoes believed in the existence of water-demons in lakes and rivers. § Greenlanders think water-demons exist, and say the oldest man must drink first so as to avoid them. Gigantic demons, in the shape of gulls, seals, bears, etc., are found among their beliefs. ||The Atalit are certain evil spirits, that have their homes beneath the waves, and drag people down. The Tornit are certain other demons, seen at sea in bad weather, gliding over the surface of the water, without a boat. ** Carib legends say souls of the wicked go to the sea shore and capsize boats. Curumon is a Carib water-demon. f f Shoshones believe in water-demons (pahonahs). Brazilian Indians believe a water-fiend catches children who are sent to draw water. Xt Ovalle sa3's there are bad angels who infest the sen^ and wreck boats. Mosquito §§Indians said Wihwin a demoii in the shape of a horse, came out of the sea to devour men. 'Bastian.— CEstlich Asien, p. 24. + Lonff fellow.-^Hiawatha, t Longlellow.— Hiawatha. S Tyler.— Priniiti\-e Culture, I, 216. I Rink.— Tales and Traditions of the Esquimaux p. 46. **De la Borde.— Oribs, .532. ++ Bancroft.— Native Kaces, Vol. Ill, p. 157. ft History of Peru. §8 Bancroft.— Native Races, p. 497. 94 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS The name Devil suffered some strange transformations in the seaman's mouth. It was an adaptation from Div, Divus, Jove, Deva, etc. The God of antiquity, became in the course of time deva, a Satan, and afterward Devil, the Satan. It finally became, in sailor phrase, Davy. *Dj'ved is a fabulous Welshman of Taffy, the thief of evil spirit, and Duffy is a West India spirit. So " Davy Jones' locker " is became the ocean, the deep, the sea-bottom, the place to which the body was committed, and to which the souls of the wicked fled. Jones is for Jonah, whose locker was the whale's belly, and who, in view of his sacrifice to the storm-fiend, is the embodiment of malevolence at sea. "He is a Jonah," marks the un- lucky wight for figurative sacrifice, and ''gone to Davy Jones's locker," is synonymous with lost at sea. Smollett says in his day Davy Jones was " the fiend who presides over all the evil spirits of the deep, and is seen in various shapes, warning the devoted wretches of death and woe." f Collin de Plancy says he sometimes appeared, a giant breathing flames from his wide nostrils, and having big eyes and three rows of teeth. Another name for the maritime devil, perhaps more widely known than the last, was that of Nick, or Old Nick. The name, in the north of England, is used to denote Satan, especially among seafaring people. He is so named in a Devonshire proverb of a remote date. We mayj safely trace the name for this evil spirit of the waters through the Anglo- Saxon Nicor, Danish Nokke, Old Norwegian Nikr, Swedish Neck, Icelandic N5'ck, German Necker, Nocca, Belgo-Gallic Neccer, Old Norse Nikar, Old High German Nickus, to the Norse Hnickar, the seizer, the robber, one of the twelve names given to Odin, Norse god of all, who was the Jupiter Pluvius, or rain-god, of the North, and whose offspring are the Nixies, Northern naiads of the deep sea. Various other etymologies of the name occur, but need not detain us. Various origins of the name are also pro- posed. Lenormant suggests, with great reason, that Nix and Nick are from the same root as Naiad, Nymph, Neptune, etc., the Greek word Naein, to flow, being the primitive origin of them all. Hampson§ would trace the words farther back to the Anak or A7iactes, or Castor and Pollux, whom v. e ♦Gerald Massey.— Book of the Beginnings, t Dictiounaire Infernale. tttrimm.— 'Teut. Myth. Vol. II, p. s<,' ' Afeilii -Evl Kaleodarium. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 95 have encountered as maritime deities. But this is a doubtful conjecture. * Morley says Odin under the name of Nikarr, gets his title from a word signifying violence, as it appears in the Greek Nik/, victory, and in the Latin necare, to kill. So " Nuecen, to kill, English, knock, having been cut up to Nicken, has become the Old Nick of more recent times." f A recent writer carries the name Nickar back to the Egyptian Nika, or Naker, — a name of the Apophis serpent of the lower world, the Typhonic enemy of the sun in his night journey. In Goa, Africa, Neck is a devil. . J Grimm says the Life of St. Matthew, written in German in the thirteenth century, translates Necken — Neptune. ~ Lenormant's derivation of the word is perhaps the nearest to the truth. But as to Odin's connection with the name. " He only appears as Nikar once," says Grimm, in the Snorra or Younger Edda, 3. He there visits Sigurd's ship at sea as Hnickar. § Norse legends say he often appears in this guise, in the shape of a sea-monster (Ger- man Nikhus is crocodile), presaging shipwreck and drown- ing to seamen. Scott, in "Demonology," says, "Nixas, or Nicksa, a river or ocean-god, worshiped on the shores of the Baltic, seems to have taken uncontested possession of the attributes of Neptune. The Nixa of the Germans is one of those facinating and* lovely fays whom the ancients termed Naiads. The Old Nick known in England is an equally known descendant of the Northern sea-god, and possessed a large portion of his powers and terrors. British sailors fear him, and believe him the author of various calamities of their precarious life." Odin was called as Fisherman's deity Hvael, or whale, and as the whale and walrus were caught with great danger, so Odin, as maritime spirit, became diabolic. II The Danish Nokke is seen and heard often on the coasts. He is represented as an old monster, or as a young or old man. A knife is carried, or a nail, in a boat when going to sea, as he fears steel. ■ In the song, " The Power of the Harp,"— "The foul, ugly Nick sat and laughed on the wave." ♦English Writers. + Massey.— Book of the Beginnings. tTeut. Myth., 11,497. 8 Thorpe.— Northern Jfythology, 11, 20. I Thorpe. — Northern Mythology, Vol. II. 96 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Olaus Wormsius saj'S he was said often to appear to sailors on the deep sea, presaging immediate storms and disaster. Me says the redness of drowned people is owing to this demon's having sucked their blood through the nostrils. *In Norway the Nokke are said to abound in rivers, firths and lakes, and require an annual human sacrifice. One was commonly reported to rise in a certain river when any one was drowned, and cry "Saet over!" (cross over!) They are said to be able to transform themselves into various shapes, sometimes appearing with half the body like that of a fish, or of a horse, or a boat. If any one touches them he is in the Evil One's power. Particularly were thej- greedy after children, catching them and drag- ging them beneath the water, but they were only dangerous after sunset, f On appearing, it was deemed best to say, '•Nyck! Nyck! needle in water! The Virgin Mary cast steel into the water! Thou sink! I float!" for the appear- ance of steel in the water was thought to control them. They also were called Soetrold (sea-trolls). When they appear at sea they are considered very powerful, and if one in danger of shipwreck would promise a son or daughter, he would escape the calamity. Frequently the Nok changed his form or abode. J He may be bridled when Tie comes as a horse, and he is known b}' his hoofs being turned backward. At one place in Norway he is fabled to appear as the water-horse when stormy or threatening weather is impend- ing. At another place he is called the Vigtrold (harbor- troll), who shouts to warn mariners when danger is jiear. A Nok in Svend waterfall is fabled to have caused the death of many persons. A priest tried twice to cross the river, but onl)' succeeded the third time, by catching the spirit, in tlie shape of a dog, and drowning it. § In Swedish, Neckan is the musical sprite of the water. Rudhechius says Neckar assumed various shapes and gov- erned the sea. In Sweden, when you bathe, you should carry a piece of steel or iron into the water, for they sav that sometirrfes Nick appears as a young man on the sur- face of the sea, and he is said to be especialh* severe on voung m.aidens who have not treated their lovers well. *F!VVO.— Norsk Bagen. p. 57. +Tliori)e.— Xorthei-n Mythology, II, 20. t Grimm.— Teut. Slj-th. § Thorpe.— Northern Jlvthology, II, 39. OF -THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 97 In all these countries he is thought to be very anxious about his soul. So his children, when told " You have no soul, and will never be saved," ran shrieking into the sea. * German legends of Nick and the nixies are abundant. In old works, Necca, Necco, Nickar, or Neckar, is governor of the sea, assuming the name and form of some animal, or of a man in a boat. Nixen, or Nickers, are water-fairies of the sea, streams and lakes. Males are called Nix, females Nixie. Some say their ears are slit, others say they have fish-like backs. Some are represented clothed, others cov- ered with moss and sea-weed. Nickelman or Hackelman, sits on the water with a long hook, to drag children down below. He often appears in the evening calling for help, and dragging down the person who comes to assist him. Stories of Nick are told, with variations, of nearly every lake, river and stream in Germany- Austria and Bohemia. Nick ap- pears as a serpent, in a story from the Black Forest, drag- ging a maiden down with him below the water. I A water-fiend in Bode required an animal sacrifice, so a black hen was thrown in as "a substitute for a mortal. When the water is disturbed, Nick frequently clasps his hands and laughs, for some will drown. The metal nickel is said to have been named after Old Nick, who stole silver and sub- stituted the baser metal. Neckar, or Nick, kills the maidens who disobey his orders, or who marry mortals. So with Undine, after her return to the Rhine depths, and a similar story is told by Grimm. Another Rhine story is told of a Nick carrying off a woman who was washing linen on the bank. He always devoured his children. The services of midwives were said to be frequently required in the Rhine depths.J The messenger of Nix is Nixcobb, who communi- cates with mortals. He is a short, deformed dwarf, covered with shells, sea-weed and moss. In a German story, " Nix of the Mill-Pond,'' a man is carried away by the Nix. An old witch bids his wife comb her hair by the pond. Her husband's head appeared. The next day she played a flute when half his body arose from the water. The third da}"^ she turned a golden spinning-wheel, when he reappeared and emerged from the lake. This tale is believed by Cox to symbolize the sun breaking up the winter-sleep of nature. *Wiittke. — Deutsche Aber^lauhen. + Wolf .—Deutsche MHhrchen und Sagen. * Legends of the lihine. 98 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Stones thrown in the Nick-haunted lakes raise a storm. At Blankenburg, a ship ran ashore, and the crew could not get her afloat, until a Nix came and assisted, with a long hook. In Hesse, children are told to keep away from the water, or " Nocken will get you." * A nick is said to have carried a fisherman's boat from a lake on Riigen to the top of a tall tree. Another was said to have been seen near Marburg, in 1615, and they were frequently seen, according to old chronicles, in the Elbe near Magdeburg, where they were fabled to have prevented the construction of an acqueduct. At Leipsig, they were fabled to require- a victim each year, and were thought especiall)- to desire children. An old legend of 1664, told by Pratorius, says a maiden served a Nix for three j'ears. Sailors and fishermen at Neumark say that the Nix requires a sacrifice every three years. One in the Rhine requires a midwife's services, and repays her with a lot of ashes, which turn to gold. f In Austria, Donaufiirst asks all who came to the river what they wish most, and then ducks them in the river, where is all, and everything. The rivers, springs, and lakes in Belgium and Holland are haunted by the Necken. Near Ghent, it is said that he has been seen on the banks of the Scheldt. In Brabant, it is thought that he cries like a child to attract people, and that he sucks the breath and blood of drowning persons. A story is told of nixies dancing on the strand, and a jroung man got possession of the glove of one of them, and she plunged into the water, but it was soon stained red, for Nick had slain her for conversing with a mortal. I The " Water-king of Wangerong " came to Dort to claim a bride. Not being able to get her, he buried in sand a part of the coast. In the Faroe Islands, Nikar drags people down occasion- ally. Scotch seamen formerly believed in " Nigg of the Sea." Storms gathered while he slept. The Celtic water-god Neithe is conjectured a Nick. Nyck. in Iceland, is a water-kelpie who carries off a maiden who foolishly mounts on his back. * Kuhn and Schwartz. — Deutsche Sagen. + Simrock — Deutsche Mythologie, p. 130. 4: Schmidts — Seaman's Sagen und Schitfer MS,hrchen. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 99 * Nock is said by some to have fish extremities. The nixies, his children and subjects, are sometimes naked, hung about with shells and sea-weed, anfl when clothed, betray their presence by dripping garments. They love to dance in the moonlight, and, like mermaids, foretell the future, and are possessed of protean wisdom. The Anglo-Saxon knew him. f Turner says: " Neccus, a malign deity, who frequented the waters, was feared in the North. If any perished in whirlpools, or by cramp, or by bad swimming, he-was thought to be seized by Neccus. Steel was supposed to expel him, and therefore all who bathed threw some little pieces of steel in the water for that purpose." Beowulf says the Nicor were supernatual elves in lakes, rivers and seas, ever ready to injure, and able to raise storms. He says they were fiendish and savage enemies of the sailor. " Brother Fabian's Manuscript," quoted by Hardwick,J says, — " Where by the marishes bloometh the bittern, Neckar the soulless one sits with his ghittern. Sits inconsolable, friendless and foeless. Waiting his destiny, — Neckar the soulless." And SO in Matthew Arnold's poem, — " In summer on the headlands, The Baltic sea along, Sits Neckar, with his harp of gold, And sings his plaintive song." Thus we have seen the devil borrowed by the sailor from his terrestrial abode, and made to do duty in ocean depths. During the middle ages, a belief in Satan's power was uni- versal, and this was fostered by the priests; he, sometimes, as in the case of Nick, being a degraded heathen god. "Amphibia," says a German writer, " appear as bad and demonical animals," and thus the water-king is malevolent. But Satan, as prince of the air and sea, had, in popular lore, a bad character. The mediaeval conception of the maritime devil, transmitted to more modern times, is thus aptly summed up by Fiske; "Like those other wind-gods, the psycopomp Hermes, and the wild huntsman, Odin, he is prince of the powers of the air. . . . Finally he takes a •Thorpe.— X. Mythology, Bk. Ill, p. 87. + Anglo.SaAOn History. t lancashire Traditions. 100 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS hint from Poseidon, and from the Seven Maidens, and ap- pears as a water-nymph or nixy, and as the Davy (Deva) whose 'locker' is situated at the bottom of the sea." There he now remains, no longer terrifying the practical modern mariner. As the bearded god, Odin becomes the giver of the rain, the Zeus Ombrios of the Greeks, the Indra Parjanya of the Hindoos, the Jupiter Pluvius of the old Latins. As such he is Knickar, the old English Nicor, or water- god, whose offspring are the Nixes or water sprites. All these names, like those of the Naiads and Nereids, come from the same root with the Sanscrit Sna, the Greek necho, the Latin nave, to float or swim. Old Nick, it is scarcely necessary to say, is merely an abbreviated form of Nicor. Another name, denoting a water-god, from the same root, which has given us the names of many streams, Taff, Tavy, Taw, Tay, Tagus, etc., is seen in the phrase " Davy Jones locker."* In folk-lore, the figure of Odin Nikor, or Woden- Nichus has been diffused into a host of water sprites, male, and female, whose names — Necks and Nixes, that is Nickses;orNeckers, Nickers, N6ckens,7W(:y^^/j, and Nockels — all point to the same root, from which the names of Nikar, as well as that of the mystic water horse, Nuggle, is derived. In English demonology, when the Christian creed came in, the once powerful Nicker was pushed into the dark background as " Old Nick." In the legendary lore of the Roman church, he was replaced by St. Nicholas, t ♦Grimm. Tentonic Mythology. tK. Blind. Scottish, Shetlandic and Icelandio Water-Gods. CHAPTER III. THE STORM-RAISERS. " I think I'd like to be a witch. I'd churn the sea, I'd tether the winds, As" suited my fancy best. I'd wreck great ships, if they crossed my path, With all the souls on board." Old Cornish Song. "Oh! sing and wake the dawning! Oh! whistle for the wind! The night is long, the current strong, Thy boat it lags behind!" Kingslty — A Myth. u. WQ. § Hazlitt.- Pop. Antiq. of Great Britain. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 123 and is always unlucky on board ship. She " carries a gale in her tail," and is *thought particularly to provoke a storm bj' playing with a gown or apron, rubbing her face, lick- ing her fur the wrong way, etc. f In Sicilian belief, the mewing of a cat while telling a rosary for sailors, presages a tedious voyage. Provoking a cat will certainly bring a gale, in sailor belief, and drown- ing one will surely raise a tempest. | Fielding says, " The kitten at last recovered, to the great joy of the good captain, but to the great disappointment of some of the sailors, who asserted that the drowning of a cat was the very surest way of raising a favorable wind." § Cheever saj's: "We took on board' at Gibraltar a large and beautiful cat. We were bound to , and, as it happened, had a tedious succession of light head winds and dead calms. The sailors at last began to look on our new comer as a sort of Jonas on board. The next morning, the black cat was missing, and suspicion fell very justly on an old sailor who had been heard to threaten her life. I asked this old sailor what could induce him to commit such an act of cruelty. He acknowedged that he sank her to get a breeze." II Brand says: "Sailors, I am informed on the authority of a naval officer, have a great dislike to see the cat on board ship, unusually playful or frolicsome; such an event they consider prognosticates a storm, and they have a say- ing on these occasions that ' a cat has a gale of wind in her tail.' " ** In Newcastle, England, throwing a cat overboard pro- voked a storm, and sailors' wives in Scarborough, some years since, kept a black cat in the house to insure their husband's safety at sea. Marryat tells a sailor-story of the murder of a cat, where great disasters followed. The captain and first lieutenant, in opposition to the wishes of a crew, shot a cat, and are killed shortty afterward in a boat expedition. f f In " The Honest Penny," a cat causes a stormi at sea. II There is a storj- told on Block Island, of a man who •Grant.— Mysteries, p. 396. + Gubernatis.— Zoological Mythology, VoL H, p. 64. t Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon, 1775. § Sea and Shore. I Popular AntiquitieB, III, p. 7. ** Folk-lore Record. +t Dasent.— Tales from the Norse. tt Livermore.— HistotT of Block Island. 124 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS shut a cat up in a barrel to prevent a skipper from sailing, against whom he had a grudge, and no wind came until the cat was released. * In a Chinese tale, an iron cat. General Mao, appears floating on the water, sent by the water-king to raise a storm. Flaws on the surface of the water are in sailor-lore " cat's- paws." f There is a Hungarian proverb that a cat does not die in water, hence its paws disturb the surface. A larger flurry on the water is a "cat-skin." So it rains "cats and dogs," and the stormy northwest wind in some parts of Eng land is the "cat's-nose." In Chinese-lore, tigers cause storms, and the Japanese wind-god has steel claws and a tigerish countenance. In Germany, there is a proverb that any one making a cat his enemy, will be attended at his funeral by rats and rain. \ In Lancashire belief, stormy and wet weather is coming when the cat frisks about the house. § It is said in Iceland if she stretches so that her paws touch each other, bad weather will ensue. II Scotch fishermen declare that if the cat sneeze or licks her paws, rain will surely come. ** In Shetland, the cat "gaanin in da luft," foretells wind, and "sleepin' upon her hams," (with the back of her head down) indicates calms. ff " If the cat washes her face over the ear 'Tis a sign the weather'll be fine and clear," says an old proverb. But if she only washed it over one ear, it was a sign of bad weather. |;J Melton, an old writer, says; "When the cat washes her face over the eare, we shall have great store of rain." Cats were, as we have seen, used by witches in raising a gale, and are said to smell a wind, while pigs see it. On shipboard, the malevolent character of the cat is shown in nautical nomenclature, and the song lately popular, — " It was the cat," * Giles. Tales by Ping Sung Ling. + Gubematis.— Zoological Mythology, Vol. II, p. 64. X Notes and Queries. Choice Notes, 189. \ } Powell and Magnus^on.— Icelandic Legends. I Gregor.— Folk-lore of Scotland. •• Blind.— Contemporarr Review, September, 1683. ++ Swaingon.— Weather-lore. Vi Astrologaster. OF TM£ SKA AN1> Or SAILUKS. J^il is liable to more than a double interpretation. The cat-o'- nine-tails is not a desirable acquaintance, nor do sailors have a love for the miscellaneous gear connected with raising the anchor, such as the cat-head, cat-fall, cat-tail, cat-hook, cat- back, etc. The lubber's hole, through which it is thought derogatory to the able seaman to pass, is in French, " Trou de Chat." Weak tea is called by sailors "cat-lap," an un- satisfactory sleep, a "cat-nap." * " The cat in folk-lore is commonly 'diabolical," says Gubernatis, " and in the bag of proverbs has probably a dia- bolical allusion. The popular idea that it has nine lives, ex- presses its mystic character." Cats see better at night, are conneeted with the moon in many legends, are witches' familiars, and hence are eyed askant by many. f The Egyptian goddess of evil, Pasht, was a cat-headed goddess. X Hecate transformed herself into a cat to escape Typhon, and Diana became a cat. Hellenic cosmogony declared that the moon created the cat. Freya, the Norse goddess, was attended by cats, and thus Friday, her day, was thought unlucky. § In Hungary, every cat was thought to be a witch from its seventh to its twelfth year. The nightmare often comes as a cat in Germany, where also the sea was popularly called a cat.\\ ** Blind thinks the cat's sensitiveness to meteorological changes may have helped the formation of these ideas in regard to her connection with the weather. This is doubt- less true, but the chief cause of the superstition was, perhaps,, her connection with the moon, and her supposed diabolical character; especially true, it was believed, of the black cat, the representative of the cloudy, moonless night. ft A spectral dog " shony " is said to predict a storm when appearing on the Cornish beach. To mention the name of a dog will bring on a storm, saj' Scotch fishermen, and the dog when he howls fortells the tempest, in common belief. J|" The wind will come from * Zoological Mythology, Vol. IT, p. 65. + Zoological M5-thology, Vol. II, p. 66. t Ovid.— Metamorphoses, V, 32.5, 32. § Gubernatis.— Zool. Mythology, Vol IT, p. 67. a Simroch. — Deutsche M^^hology, 217. ** Contemporary Review, S> pteniber. 1S.S1. ++ Hunt.— Komances and Drolls of the North of England. STenne.— Volkssagen aiis Poniinem. p. 247. 126 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS the direction in which a dog points his nose when he howls." He is connected with the Wild Hunt in nearly all folk-lore — is a psychopomp, or soul-bearer, and is gener- ally diabolical. On board ships, however, he is not usually disliked, probably by reason of his usefulness on watch, in port. Many birds were thought to have dealings with the storm-spirits. Fishermen in the English Channel thought the east wind caused by the flight of curlew, or herring- spear, on dark nights. In an old ballad they are called "the seven whistlers," and portend storm. Seven is a num- ber suspiciously mystical. *They were thought to announce great disasters, when passing over Yorkshire villages. In Lancashire they are called " Wandering Jews," and there is a tradition that they are the souls of Jews who assisted at the crucifixion, and hence are doomed ever to wander. Wf: have seen that the Wandering Jew was a storm-bringer, in folk-legend. f An old fisherman said to Buckland: " I think no good of them. There's always an accident when they come. I heard 'em once one dark night last winter. They come over our heads all of a sudden, singing ' Ewe, Ewe,' and the men in the boat wished to go back. It came on to rain and blow, and was an awful night, and sure enough, before morning, a boat was upset, and seven poor fellows drowned. I know what makes the noise, sir. It's them long-billed curlew, but I never likes to hear them." I The cuckoo is, in England, a noted weather-bird, and fishermen listen for its first notes in the spring, as an indi- cation of the weather and luck for the year. Cuckoos are thought in parts of England to appear before an equinoctial gale, and such a storm is a. gowk-storm, — after that' bird. The swan floating in the waves is a harbinger of good weather, in many places. Sea-fowl are regarded as furnishing indications of con; ing storm or sunshine in various localities. " \Vhen sea-birds fly to land, A storm is at hand/' is the general expression of this belief. § In England, in 1790, it was said that rain and high winds •Notes and Queries. + Curiosiries of Naturnl History. 1. 288. t I).Ter.— English Folk-lore. § Grant.—Mysteries of all Nations, p. 396. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 127 from the south-southwest follow the appearance of sea-mews, within twenty-four hours. A Scotch rhyme says, — *" Sea-gull, sea-gull, sit on the sand, It's never good weather when you're on the land." So the chattering and chuckling of sea-gulls, and flutter- ing of all sea-fowl in calms, cleaning their feathers, says Pliny, is a sign of bad weather, and later traditions report the same. f " Sea-gulls in the field' mean a southeast storm, when it is over, they go back on the beach," is a belief in Scotland, also alluded to by Scott, — "The sea-birds, with portentous shriek Flew fast to land." We find the same ideas in three old English works. Wilsford J says, when sea-mews piake more than ordinary gurgling in the morning, wet weather will follow. This is corroborated in another old work, which also says that when fowls fly low over the sea, or high over the land, bad weather will follow. Again we read, " Some have observed evil weather to follow when watery fowls leave the sea, desiring lande; the fowles of the land flying hygher, the crying of fowles above water, making a great noyse with their wynges, also the seas swelling with unaccustomed waves." These ideas may be traced back to antiquity. Virgil says, — § " When crying cormorants forsake the sea. And stretching to the coast, wend their way; When watchful herons leave their wat'ry stand, ^And mounting upward, with erected flight Gain on the skies and soar above the sight," wet weather will come. The celebrated little bird, the Mother Gary's chicken, was also supposed to appear before a storm, as its name, the Procellaria, would indicate. It is also called alamottie and storm-fish. Its name Mother Gary's chicken means the bird of the Mater Gara, the Aves Sanctos Marias, or the Oiseau de Notre Dame, of French sailors. Its name of petrel is from the Italian Petrello, or Little Peter, as it is » Dver.— English Folk-lore, p. 100. + Sir J. Sinclair. Statistical account of Scotland, in Brand.— Bk. Ill, p. 218. ♦ "Nature's Secrets." Q. By Brand, 111, 218. § Dryden. — Georgia, I. 128 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS supposed, like that saint, to walk the water. The tradition of its storm-foreboding character is shown in these lines from a modern poet, — * " The petrel telleth her tale in vain. For the mariner curseth the warning bird, Who bringeth him news of storms we heard." And Mrs. Howitt says, — f "Oh, stormy, stormy peterel! Thou art a bird of woe, Yet would I thou couldst tell me half Of the misery thou dost know." J Pennant thinks these birds gather from the water sea- animals, or their broken bodies, and hence find them in greater abundance before or after a storm, when the deep sea waves stir them up, and that thus mariners are warned of approaching storins. The goylir, another sea-bird, is thought to appear before a storm, and was named by Spanish sailors "malafigo," or evil-bird. It is thought b}' sailors a bad thing to kill a gull, and especiall)'^ an albatross, and the "Ancient Mariner's " ill luck thus arose: g " At length did cross an albatross, Through the fog it came. As if it had been a Christian soul, We hailed it in God's name. ******* "And I had done a hellish thing, And it would work 'em woe. For all averred I had killed the bird That made the breeze to blow. 'Ahl wretch,' said they, 'the bird to slay, That made the breeze to blow! ' " But when the fog cleared away, the)' recant and say, — ' ' Then all averred I had killed the bird That brought the fog and mist; , ' 'Twas right, ' said they, ' such birds to slay. That bring the fog and mist.' " \ De Quincey says Coleridge got the idea of the weather- *Barrv Cornwall.— Poems. + The Stormj- Petrel. t Zoology. § Coleridge.— The Ancient Mariner. I See Chap. VII. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 189 bringing qualities of the slain albatross from a passage in Shelvocke's voyages, where the mate attributes a long spell of bad weather to the presence of an albatross. A wide-spread tradition exists in many lands of the king- fisher. * This is, as Pliny tells us it was in Roman times, thus: " Halcyon days, days that are favorable to navigation. It is for this that the halcyon is more especially remarkable to the sea and those who sail on its surface. They hatch their young- at the time of the winter solstice, from which circumstance these days are- known as the ' halcyon days.' During this period the sea is calm and navigable, the Sicil- ian sea in particular. They make their nest during the seven days before the winter solstice, and sit the same num- ber of days afterward." In another place the same author says, " For seven days before the winter solstice, and for the same length of time after it, the sea becomes calm, in order that the kingfishers may rear their young. From this cir- cumstance they have obtained the name of halcyon days; the rest of the season is wintry." Virgil says, in the " Georgics," among stormy weather prognostications, — " Nor halcyons bask on the short sunny shore." f Theocritus writes thus, — ' May halcyons smooth the waves and calm the seas, And the rough southeast sink into a breeze." JSimonides tells us: "When Zeus in the winter season creates twice seven mild days, mortals sa\', ' this tepid weather is nourishing the variously painted halc3''ons.' " § Plutarch bears testimony to the same tradition. He says, " Bttt when the halcj'on brings forth, about the winter solstice, the whole ocean remains calm and undisturbed, without the wrinkle of a wave. So that there is not any creature for which man has so great an affection, seeing that for her sake for seven days and seven nights together, in the depth of winter, they sail without fear of shipwreck, and may thus voyage on the sea with greater safety than they travel on the land." He also says she makes a floating nest of thorns, and sits on it. • Nat. Hist., Bk. X. Ch. 47. + IdyUs.— Fawkes' Trans. VII, 73. tin Plutarch's Morals, Goodwin's Trans. 5 Plutarch.— Morals. 180 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS * Ovid reports the ancient tradition, — "Alcyone comprest, Seven days sits brooding on her floating nest, A wintery queen. Her sire at length is kind. Calms every storm and hushes everj" wind, Prepares his surface for his daughter's ease, And for his hatching nephews smooths the seas." The Greeks gave the bird the name of Alcyon, saying that the daughter of .^olus, so named, drowned herself, and was changed into a bird, along with her lost husband, Ceyx. Later writers kept up the superstition. Ariosto says, — ■ Along the coast the mourning halcyon's heard Lamenting sore her spouse's fate." And Camoens, — f " The halcyon birds their words of mourning told Along the roaring coast, sad scene of woe." JWilford tells us: "The halcyon, at the time of breed- ing, which is about fourteen days before the winter's sol- stice, foreshows a quiet and tranquil time, as it is observed about the coasts of Sicily, from whence the proverb is trans- ported of halcyon days." And Wild,— §" The peaceful kingfishers are met together About the decks, and prophesy calm weather.'' Dryden says, — . " Amidst our arms as quiet you shall be As halcyons breeding on a winter's sea.'' And Southey, — \ " The halcyons brood around the foamless isles, The treacherous ocean has foresworn its wiles." And Shenstone, — ** " Why o'er the verdant banks of Ooze, Does yonder halcyon speed so fast ? 'Tis all because she would not lose Her favorite calm that will not last." ♦ Jletaniorphoees. XII. +0s Lusiados. — Mickle's Trans. t Nature's Secrets. § Iter Boreale, Vol. IL B Epipschrcodrion. "Ode to the Winds. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 131 Milton also, — " The winds with wonder whist, Smoothly the waters kissed, Whispering new joys to the mild ocean, Who now hath quite forgot to rave. While birds of calm sit brooding on the charmed wave." And Shakespeare, — t " Expect St. Martin's summer, halcyon days.'' J Sir Thomas Browne is disposed to doubt the agency of the halcyons. " For at that time, which happeneth about the brumal solstice, it hath been observed, even unto a prov- erb, that the sea is calm and the winds do cease, till the young ones are excluded and forsake their nest, which float- eth upon the sea, and by the roughness of the winds, might otherwise be overwhelmed." " But how fare hereby to mag- nify their prediction, we have no certain rule; for whether out of any particular provision they choose to set at this time, or whether it be their custom by concourse of care and providence of nature, is not yet determined." This ancient tradition may perhaps be derived from one still more ancient. The Ribhus of Ar3'an mythology, storm- demons, slept for twelve nights about the winter solstice, as we know from translations from the Aryan writings; and one of Weber's texts reads, " The 12 nights are an image of the year."§ And a:nother: " The Rhibhus sleep for 12 nights and days in the house of the sun-god Savitar." Peasants of Lancashire say the weather for the year is foreshadowed by that of the twelve nights between Christ- mas and Epiphany. II In Northern Germany, it is said that as the weather is during each of these twelve days, so it will be during each month of the year. ** Lloyd tells us it was so thought in England in his time, ff Forster says, " The fact, on which they (these beliefs) founded their existence, was the calm weather, which at that time of the year, on the shores of the Mediterranean, usually succeeds to the blustering winds of the early autumn." * Cliristmas Kymn. + King Henry VI, Act I, Scene 2. i Pscudosica Epideniica. Bk. Ill, ch. 10. § Kelly.— Ourios-ities of Indo-European Tradition, p. 16. ! Kulm. — Nord Deutsche Sa^en, p. 411. ** Dial of Dales, 1590. +t Natural History. 132 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS It was also believed in England, that if it blew on the fifth night of the twelve, there would be peril at sea for ships that year. * The Ojibways had a tradition that the thunder-bird sat on her eggs during fair weather, and hatched out her brood in the storm. Birds, as inhabitants of the air, and long supposed to commune with angels, were naturally chosen as oracles, and, as we shall see in another chapter, were chosen as augurs of future events. The extreme sensitiveness to atmospheric changes shown by many birds aided these ideas, and the real indications sometimes furnished by land and sea-birds of the coming storm or calm, were doubtless magnified by the anxious sailor. These indications, however, are not trustworthy, and seldom precede the changes more than a few hours, or sometimes even minutes. The killing of a sea- bird, as an albatross or a gull, would naturall)^, as a conse- quence of this regard for their supposed oracular character, be regarded as an ill omen, and as a presage of coming dis- aster. Certain of the finny inhabitants of the deep were thought also to be able to portend storms.f Sailors yet say, when a shoal of porpoises or dolphins come along, diving and sport- ing in the waves, that a storm is impending, and that it will come from the direction taken by the fishes. This, also, is a very old superstition. Plutarch says, " When porpoises sport and chase one another about ships, expect then some stormy weather." It was said that when dolphins carried Arion to the shore the winds ceased, or as Spenser has it, — J "And all the raging seas forgot to roar." Caesar's pilot says, — §" In various turns the doubling dolphins play, And thwart, and run across, and mix their way." 11 Bede says he had often noticed the frequent leaping of the porpoise, and had connected it with the rise of the wind and the clearing of the sky. ** Stow tells us, "A Dolphin came forth of the sea, and * Brinton.— Myths of the New World. t Jones.— Credulities, p, U. ' t Marriage of the Thames and Medway. § Rowe. — Lucan's Pharsalla. D De Rerum Natura. •♦ Chronicles. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS 133 played himself in the Thames at London to the Bridge; foreshewing happily, the tempests that were to follow with- in a week after. These, when they play in rivers with hasty spnngings and leapings, doe signifie tempests to follow." * We read in an old play: " For the sky is overcast, and there was a porpoise even now seen at London Bridge, which is always the messenger of tempests, the watermen say." fAnd Shakespeare again illustrates the subject: "Nay, master, said I not as much when I saw the porpus, how he bounced and tumbled ? They say they are half-fish, half- flesh! a plague on them! They never come, but I look to be washed." In Ravenscroft's " Canterbury Guests," we read, — X " My heart begins to leap and play like a porpoise before a storm." §An old traveler tells us: "We saw several Porpises, playing with their heads above water, which I mention only because the seamen look upon them as forerunners of a storm." II Wilsford writes: "Dolphins, in fair and calm weather, pursuing one another in one of their waterish pastimes, fore- show wind, and from that part whcTue they fetch their tricks; but if they play thus when the seas are high and tumbled, it is a sign of fair and calm weather." And again, " Porpoises, or sea-hogs, when observed to spoH and chase one another about ships, expect then some stormy weather." ** " Dolphins as well as porpoises," says Forster, " when they come about a ship and sport and gambol on the sur- face of the water, portend a storm." And Pennant remarks: " The appearance of the Dolphin and the Porpoise are far from being esteemed favorable omens by the seamen, for their boundings, springs and frolicks in the water, are held to be sure signs of a gale. " So we find in Crabbe, — ff " The unwieldy porpoise thro' the day before, Had roll'd in view of boding men on shore, And sometimes hid, and sometimes showed his form. Dark as the cloud and flashing as the storm." * Eastward Hoe. — Chapman. Johnston and IVlarstona. + Pericles, Act n, scene 1. $ Jones. — Credulities, p. 14. S Smith's Voyage to Constantinople. G Nature's Secrets. ** Natural History. tf Poems. 134 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Modern sailors do not, however, give these animals so malevolent a character. * " Mellville saj'S, " Their appear- ance is generally hailed with delight by the mariner. Full of fine spirits, they invariably come from the breezy billows to windward. They are the lads that always live before the wind. They are ahuays accounted a lucky omen." This is still a doctrine of sailor belief, and modern sea- men would seem to have revived the ancient idea that the dolphin is favorable to man. Perhaps the porpoise, whose name, sea-hog, would seem to indicate a diabolic character, gave its bad reputation to its gentler companion. Sailors also think that it will storm when dolphins come into port, f Scotch fishermen call the porpoise " louper dog," and say when they tumble with a forward motion, a breeze is coming, and also assert that they swim against the wind. Perhaps the mythical character of the dolphin aided in giving it its malevolent reputation. It is generally under- stood to typify the moon. \ Gubernatis says, " The lunar horn announces rain; thus the scythe-shaped iin of the dol- phin, appearing on the waves of the sea, announces a tem- pest to navigators, and saves them from shipwreck." All the animals connected in folk-lore with the moon are dia- bolical, a relic probably of the antipathj'of the sun-worship- ers to the queen of the night. § Plutarch says the cuttle-fish, appearing on the surface, is a sign of the coming storm; that " when the polypus ^ts to shore and embraces the rocks, it is a sign the wind is rising; but the cuttle-fish jump up to show the cold and the trouble at the bottom of the sea." 11 Wilsford says, " Cuttle-fish, with their many legs swim- ming on top of the water, and striving to be above the waves, do presage a storm." Also, " Fishes, both in salt water or fresh, are observed to sport most against a rain than at any other time." He further says, " Cockles and most shell-fish are observed against a tempest to have sand sticking unto their shells, as a provident nature to stay themselves." "Floating sea-pulmones," says Pliny, " are portents of stormy days to come." • " Moby Dick." tGregor. — Folk-lore of Scotland. $ Zoological Mytholog-j-, Vol. II. § Morals. — Goodwin's Trans. I Brand.— Nature's Secrets, Vol. Ill, p. 185. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 135 * Pliny says, concerning the sea-urchin, " It is said that these creatures foretell the approach of storms at sea, and that they take up little stones with which they cover them- selves, and so provide a sort of ballast against their volubil- ity. As soon as sea-faring men observe them, they at once moor their ships with several anchors." f Forster also: " Urchins of the sea, when they thrust themselves in the sand, and try to cover their bodies with sand, foretell a storm." J In Icelandic belief, the fledermaus, a fabulous sea-ani- mal, would cause great tempests, etc., if not thrown into the sea before the death of its captor. From these animated storm-signals and weather-indicat- ors, the transition to inanimate forms that may furnish, by their presence or absence, indications or provocations of the tempest or the favoring breeze, is easy. >. Many inanimate objects were long reputed wind-raisers. Dead bodies on board were regarded as certain to cause disaster, which might ensue from the presence of portions of the skeleton, or the dried mummy of the corpse. § We read in the travels of an early writer the following example of this belief: "Another miracle happened as I was going by sea with the bones (of four martyred friars) to Polumbrum, . . . when the wind totally failed us." After relating that prayers, etc., were said, he continues: "But as time passed on, and no wind came, I gave one of the bones to our servant, whom I ordered to go to the head of the ship, and cast the bone into the sea; which he had no sooner done, than a favorable gale sprang up, which never failed us until we had arrived at our destined port in safety, owing entirely to the merit of these holy martyrs." II Shakspeare illustrates this superstition, — " First Sailor. — Sir, your queen must overboard; the sea works high, the Tyind is loud, and will not lie till the ship be cleared of the dead. Pericles. — That's your superstition. First Sailor. — Pardon us, sir; with us at sea it hath been still ob- served, and we are strong in custom. Therefore, briefly, yield her; for she must overboard straight." ** Fuller thus speaks of St. Louis: " His body was carried into France, there to be buried, and was most miserably ♦Natural History. + Natural History. t Powell and Magnusson.— Icelandic Legends. 8 Travels of Oderic, 1318-30. I Pericles. Act III, scene 2. ♦* " Holy War." Jones.-- Credulities, p. 9L 136 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS tossed, it being observed that the sea cannot digest the cru- dity of a dead corpse, being a due debt to be interred where it dieth, and a ship cannot abide to be made a bier of." St. Louis, then, was not so powerful as St. Mark, who calmed the storm in his passage from Africa. * A quaint old work, "A Helpe to Memory and Discourse " (1639), asks whether " doth a dead body in a shippe cause the shippe to sail slower, and if it doe, what is thought to be the reason thereof?" Answer: "The shippe is as insensible of the liv- ing as of the dead, and as the living make it goe the faster, so the dead make it not goe the slower, for the dead are no Rhemoras to alter the course of her passage, tho' some there be that thinke so, and that by a kind of mournful sympa- thy." f Radzovillius relates that he brought two mummies from Egypt, in a ship that was attacked by a fearful storm. The priests said masses and prayers, but asserted that they were haunted by two spectres. The storm not subsiding, the mummies were thrown overboard by the servant of Radzo- villius, who alone was in the secret of their presence on board. J Another old traveler tells us, "I had, among my bag- gage, the hand of a S5'ren or fisherman, which I threw, on the si}', into the sea, because the captain, seeing that we could not make way, asked me if I had not got some mummy or other in my bags, which hindered our progress, in which case we must return to Egypt, to carry it back." "Most of the Provenfals have the opinion that vessels which trans- port the mummies from Egj'pt have great difficult}' in arriv- ing safe at port; so that I feared, lest, coming to search among my goods, they might take the hand of the fish for a mummy's hand, and insult me on account of it." We also read, . in the chronicle of the monaster}' at Durham: "And so the bushop, the abbotte, and the reste, being weirye of travellynge, thought to have stoulne away and carried Sancte Cuthbert's body into Ireland, for his better saifftie. And being upon the sea in a shippe, by myricle marveillous, iij waves of water were turned into blood. The shippe that they were in was dreven back by tempeste, and by the mightie powre of God, as it should seeme, vpon the shore or land." * Jones. — Credulities, p. 93. ■f Hierosolyroie Perigrriniitio. t Bouillaye le Goviz.— Travels, 1657. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 137 * Captain Warren, of an English merchant ship, found a derelict vessel, in August, 1.775, that had long been ice- bound, with her cabins filled with the bodies of the frozen crew. His own sailors, however, would not suffer him to search the vessel thoroughly, through superstition, and wished to leave her immediately. f Captain Basil Hall tells us: "This is a superstition easily accounted for amongst men whose entire lives are passed, as it were, on the very edge of the grave, and who have quite enough, as they suppose, to remind them of their mortality, without the actual presence of its effects." " The loss of a mast, the long duration of a foul wind, or any other inconvenience, is sure to be ascribed to the same influence." X Chaplain Rockwell says that his ship was driven unex- pectedly to sea, with the coffined body of a man ready for burial on board. The man was buried at sea, but the crew insisted that the coffin should be cut into fragments, and thrown likewise into the sea, as it was deemed a bad omen to keep it. § Nelson was presented with a coffin made from the mainmast of the French ship Orient, his antago- nist at the Nile, and, at first kept in the cabin, but the superstitious feelings of his crew caused him to stow it away out of sight. II Du Chaillu says he brought a box of negro bones on board ship with him in Africa. The sailors found it out, and were very reluctant to allow him to keep them on board, imagining that storm, wreck, and disaster were thus courted. Collin de Plancy says that French fishermen and sailors, but a few years since, thought the presence of a dead body on board ship would bring a storm. Canadian legends relate that the body of Father Labrosse, a priest who died on one of the islands of the St. Lawrence, protected the fisherman who conveyed it to the shore, safely leading his boat amid perils of storm and floating ice. ** There is a German tradition that suicides by hanging raise a storm. This is doubtless from a Norse legend that Vikarr, a pirate chief, was wind-bound on a cruise, and cast ♦Westminster Eeview, q. by Jones— Broad, Broad Ocean, p. 27. + Voyages (1811). t Sketches of Foreign Travel (1847). 8 Jones.— Credulities, 92. I Sly Apingi Kingdom. ♦♦Kuhn and Schwartz.— Deutsche Sagen. 188 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS lots to see who was to be sacrificed. The lot fell on the chief himself, and he attempted to evade it by hanging himself symbolically, but Odin caused it to be real. So Odin comes in the storm to claim his suicides, and he hanged himself for nine days on Yggdrasil, the famous ash-tree. * In Markland, when a storm arises, it is said that some one has hanged himself in the forest. The traditional appearance of a mermaid, or of anjr such apparition, was thought enough to insure a gale. f " The fishers have heard the water-sprite Whose screams forbode that wreck is nigh." i " 'Tis a mermaid Has toU'd my son to shipwreck." And this brings us naturally to bells. The ringing of bells was long thought to conjure up storms. Bells, on the contrary, are rung in some parts of Europe to calm the winds. Bacon says " the sound of bells will disperse lightning and thunder; in windj it has not been observed.'" §In the " Golden Legend " we read: " It is said that evil spirytes that ben in the region of th' ayre doute moche when they here the belles ringen, when it thondreth, and when grete tempeste and rages of wether happen, to the end that the feinds and wycked spirytes should be abashed and flee, and cease of the mov3mge of tempests, and this is the cause wh}"^ the belles ben rongen." II A legend related by Jones runs thus: "Several sets of bells belonging to the churches in Guernsey, sank on their passage to France, where thej' were going to help pay the cost of war. Fishermen of St. Ouen's Bay still say they ring before a storm, and when they pretend to hear them, will not venture out." ** The legend of Tintagel bells in Cornwall, is that when a rival set of bells was being conveyed into the harbor, and vespers sounded, the pilot thanked God for the speedy voy- age, but the captain scoffed, when his ship was wrecked, and still the bells sound in storms, — ' ' Still when the storm of Bottreaux' waves Is waking in his weedy caves, Those bells that sullen surges hide Peal their deep tones beneath the tide.'' • Kuhn.— Markische Sagen.' § In Jones' Credulities, p. 104. + Scott.— Lay of the Last Minstrel, xxiii. I See Ch. xiv. i Mlddleton.— ' ' The Eoarlng Girl.' ' ** See Ch. xlv. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 139 Christened bells were particularly efficacious, and many are still found in Euroj>e, bearing inscriptions testifying to their power. * Googe says, — " For in these christened belles they thinke, doth lie such powere and might. As able is the tempest great, and storme to vanquish quight." Many seamen believe that the ships' bell will toll just as she is sinking, even if it be securely lashed in place. f A legend of Helgoland tells us that a bell came to the island mysteriously floating on a crucifix, during an east wind-storm. When an east wind was thereafter desired, it was only necessary to go to the church, pray before the crucifix, and drink out of the cup, when the wind would come, within three days. Stones were also endowed with wind-raising qualities. J In one of the Hebrides was a chapel dedicated to St Co- lumba. A blue stone in it was always moist. When fish- ermen wanted a fair wind, they wet this stone. A similar stone existed in a chapel on Fladda Chuan,§ in the Western Islands. Stones in a well in Gigha Island are believed to raise a tempest if removed. I CoUin de Plancy says it was believed in ancient times that the Getae had certain stones, Gedi, that would cause storms when plunged into water. This is like the stone " Yadah " of Polo's Mongol weather-makers. A certain fog-bank across a cove in Cornwall is called the Hooper, or Hoola, and is thought to portend a storm. Norfolk fishermen believe that when any one is drowned, a voice is heard from the water, and portends a squall. It was formerly believed in England that storms arose on the death of a great man, and did not subside until he was buried. **" Chinese sailors observe various customs for producing a fair wind. On leaving port, they attract the attention of their divinity by the loud beating of a gong, and burning of fire crackers and incense sticks, and casting food offerings in the water." Northmen had resort to runes, or magical verses, en- • Naogeorgros. tNobloek, 1643. J Jones.— CreduU ties, p. 70. § Grant.— ITysteries, p. 432. I Dictaonnaire Infernale. •• Gibbons.— Boxing the Compass. 140 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS graved on bow, stern, rudder, etc., to propitiate the gods of wind and waves. One of these is alluded to in one of the Sagas: "Sea runes thou must know. If thou wilt have secure Thy floating steed. On the prow they must be carved. And on the helm blade. And with fire to the oar applied. Nor surges shall be so lowering, t Nor waves so dark But from the ocean thou safe shalt come." * And the ancient Edda thus speaks of them: " I know a song of such virtue that were I caught in a storm, I can hush the winds, and render the air perfectly calm." f Blind gives us a Shetland charm, doubtless a degraded tradition of some old rune, — " Robbin cam over da vaua (water), wi' a shU ntl Twabbie, Toobie, Keelikin Kallikin Palk trick alanks ta robin, Guid! sober da wind! X We also read of charms to raise storms or allay the winds, used in Greenland by the Esquimaux. § The Italian traveler, Nicolo da Conto (1419-44), tells us how Arab mariners then controlled winds. A table was placed near the mainmast, with a brazier of coals on it, the crew assembled near by. Incantations, addressed particu- larly to Muthiam,king of wicked spirits, were repeated by the captain, while the crew stood tremblingly b}^ Sudden- ly, a sailor was seized with a frenzy, rushed to the table, seized a live coal, and swallowed it. He then said he must have the blood of a cock, to quench his thirst. One of these, kept for the purpose, was given him, and he sucked the blood and threw the body into the sea; then declaring to the crew that he was able to promise them the desired wind, he indicated its probable direction, and fell on the deck exhausted. II Before Barbarj- corsairs sailed, a Marabout, or holy man, was visited and prayers sought, and a sheep purchased for sacrifice. When a storm arose, this was cut, and the entrails * Stemundr Edda, Haramal, p. 157. + Contemporary Review, September, 18SI. JRink.— Tales and Traditions of the Esquimau X. JRenard.— Les Merveilles del' Art Naval, 2S2. Jal. Gen. 1405 & 1538. IP. Dan.— History of Barbary, p. 33L or THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 141 nearest the head thrown to the right to propitiate good spirits, and the others to the left to appease evil ones, these being accompanied with groans, cries, and incantations. Oil was also poured on the water, all the candles lighted, etc. If these all failed, the Christian captives in row-galleys were beaten, and made to pray to the Virgin and saints. At other times, they blew the breath to the right and left, lit no pipes nor performed necessary acts until the weather changed, repeating the sacrifices. Sacrifices were made universally in antiquity, to obtain a wind. We shall recur to the subject of sacrifices in a later chapter; but we may say here that Virgil's picture is often repeated: * " The shouting crew their ships with garlands bind. Invoke the sea-gods and invite Jhe wind." f Hebertstein, a sixteenth century traveler, says that Russian sailors in the Baltic averred that a certain deity at ' a rocky promontory, the " Holy Nose," must be propitiated in order to get a wind. They were ridiculed by others, but one did get on shore, and poured on the cliff a libation of oatmeal and butter.. Savages, too, sacrificed to obtain a breeze. In Lake Su- perior, Indians sacrificed two dogs and some tobacco to the spirit of the waters, for a good wind. J A traveler in the Indian packet " Lahore," in 1853, relates that the Indian crew and passengers gathered a sum of money and placed it at the disposal of the wind-spirit, for a good breeze. So a recent traveler in Japan says coins were thrown into the sea to obtain a breeze, and again, to propitiate the god of storms. Instead of sacrifices, prayers were thought efficacious. An old woman named Scott, living in the Orkneys- half a century ago, prayed for winds for sailors' wives, § " About evening, the wind arose, after much invocating, whistling, many prayers and curses." In Hassan's story, in the Arabian Nights, prayer allays a storm. It would perhaps be rash to say that a belief in the efficacy of prayer to obtain a favoring breeze, or allay a storm, is entirely extinct. The subject will be treated more fully in a subsequent chapter. * Dryden's ^Eneid, IV. + Jones.— Credulities, 63. See Chapter XII. i Jones. — Credulities, 65. i Thombury.— The Buccaneers, p. 77, 143 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITION* * A he-goat's skin suspended to the mast-head was thought by Hebrides Islanders to secure a good breeze. f On board French ships, a game of cards was, a few years ago, thought to provoke a storm, and we can only imagine this to have influenced the late naval edict against playing on shipboard, except in the sacred precincts of the cabin. Playing on a musical instrument was long thought provocative of a storm, and a seaman's prejudice against a "wind-jammer" is not yet extinct. Chinese, when desiring a favorable breeze, woo the winds to the din of tom-toms and cymbals. I French sailors once thought it only necessary to flog a boy at the mast, in order to obtain a fine breeze. § For a punishment, the boy received fifteen lashes of the whip. They took care to turn the negro's posterior from the side in which they desire the breeze. A mulatto called the married man, rubbed his head against the tiller, the stern of a boy, and the head of a cuckold being the best means to raise the wind. II Italian sailors believe they can change the wind, by showing it their posteriors. ** A Hamburg tradition says that if you have long had a contrary wind, and meet a ship bound in the opposite direc- tion, throw a broom before her, and you will get a fair wind. In Altmark, if you want a wind, you must burn an old broom, in ff Pomerania, cast the broom in the fire, with the handle pointing toward the desired wind. The winds are represented in popular ideas as sweeping the sky, as the witches' broom, which, long their favorite courser, on which they ride the wind, now represents it. Thus Van Tromp's broom, which typified his ability to sweep the English fleet from the channel, may, in the opinion of his sailors, have brought to him fair winds to aid him in reaching Cromwell's fleet. A northwest gale on our coast, that clears the sky of clouds, was called "sweeper of the skv," and the French name such winds " balai du del." II Dr. Kuhn says the light scudding clouds, which are • Grant.— Mj-steries, 433. + Jones.— Broad Broad Ocean, p. 239. t Choice Notes, N. and Q., p. 60. 8 B; Corbiere.— Le Negrler in M^lusine, 1884. I O. Jahn.— Q. in Myusine, 1884. *» Thorpe.— Northern Mythology, Vol. m, p. 188. HTenne.— V. Sag. v. Pom., 349. )$Marldsche Sagen. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 143 represented by the witches' broom, are talismans " in Ger- many and Lancashire." These, in sailor lore, are the " mare's tails," where, — " Mackerel skies and mare's tails Make tall ships carry low sails." * At Roscoff, in Brittany, fishermen obtained the dust swept out of the church De la Sainte Union, so as to obtain a favorable breeze by blowing it seaward; fand a Danish fleet on the Scotch coast is said to have been wrecked by a witch, who emptied a holy well, and swept out the church. Sardinian sailors obtained a good breeze by sweeping a chapel after mass, and blowing the dust from it after depart- ing ships. Old sailors have not yet forgotten to scratch the mast for a breeze, — some say the foremast, others the-mizzen; others say, stick a knife in the ijiizzen-mast, pointing the handle in the desired quarter. J" Scratch the foremast with a nail; you will get a good breeze." Frazer says water from a well in West Scotland was scat- tered in the air, with invocations, to raise a storm, the cover being put on the well to prevent hurricanes from ensuing. Benjamin of Tudela says the planet Orion caused storms in the China Seas, and wrecked junks. A Russian story declares that a storm arose because a captain put to sea without paying a debt, contracted on a relic of the cross. He finally calmed it by throwing over- board a chest with the money, which, we are assured, floated safely to the claimant. § In a Norman tale, the violation of an oath causes a storm. A young man promised his mother not to go to sea, but afterwards shipped in a man-of-war. A storm arose, destroying all on board. I In a Russian tale, a sin planned causes a storm, which is only allayed by repentance and prayer.** ff So the Fuegian taken on board ship by Fitzroy thought any wrong thing done or said would provoke a storm. A Fiji mode of getting a wind, was to wish aloud for it, after taking a drink. * Grant.— Mysteries. 396. + Jones.— Credulities, 70. t Kuhn and Schwai-tz. — N. Deutsche Sagen, 454. § Schmidt — Seenaan's Sa^en und Schiffer Jliirchen. I Afanasiefl-In Ralston— Russian Folk-tales, p. 43. ** See also Froude. — Short Studies, 158. tt Fitzroy.— Voyage, p. 183. 144 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS * Natives of Vancouver's Island, in passing a certain mountain, would not name it, lest their boats be wrecked. f lo cut the hair and nails during a calm was formerly '.hought to provoke a gale. This belief is very old. Hesiod says the nails must not be pared before the gods. Petro- nius Arbiter says, however, that hair and nails should only be cut in a storm. J He also says that forty blows were thought necessary to remove the evil effects of cutting off the hair and beard, when done at night by two fugitives in a Roman ship, who wished to escape detection. § Propertius says it is a bad omen to cut them at sea. Juvenal says that, as they are only given as a final offering to the gods, it will offend them to yield up such offerings at other times. Kirchman says, to dream of cutting off the hair, portended shipwreck to the ancient Roman. Ij In Scotland, it was formerly said that if you combed your hair by candlelight or at night at all, your friends at sea would be lost. Many superstitions are recorded in folk- lore legends concerning the nails ** But none of these means were thought so effectual as whistling — a superstition not yet extinct, that "Whistles rash bid tempests roar." f f Longfellow makes the Padrone in the " Golden Le- gend" saj% — " Only a little while ago I was whistling to Saint Antonio For a capful of wind to fill our sail, And instead of a breeze he has sent a gale.'' U Basil Hall, speaking of the sailors during a calm, says " One might have thought that the ship was planted in ,'. grove of trees, in the height of springtime, so numerous were the whistlers. This practice of whistling for a wind is one of our nautical superstitions, which, however ground- less and absurd, fastens insensibly on the strongest-minded sailors at such times." §§Dr. Pegge, writing in 1763, says: "Our sailors, I am * Sproat, — Farrar. +Jal. Diet. Nautique.— Cheveux. t Fn Jal. — Glossaire Nautique. SBrand.— in, 221. II Grcgor. — Folk-lore of Scotland. *' Hailirr. — Popular Antiqmties of Great Britain. •H Part VI. itVo.vagcs, 1811. 5§ Gent. JIag., q. by Jones.— Broad, Broad Ocean, p. 239. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 145 told, at this very day (I mean the vulgar sort), have a strange opinion of the devil's power and agency in stirring up winds, and that is the reason they so seldom whistle on shipboard, esteeming it to be a mockery, and consequently an enraging of the devil." *Dr. Andrews, an i8th century writer, says: "Superstition and profaneness, those extremes of human conduct, are often found united in the sailor, and the man who dreads the stormy effect of drowning a cat, or ot whistling a country dance, while he leans over the gun- wale, will often be most profane." I-n the "Ancient Mariner," the phantom woman, after ruining the souls of the crew, whistles thrice, and " Off shot the spectre bark." Yorkshire fisftermen do not like whistling at sea; they say it brings both bad winds and poor luck. Scarbro' fish- ermen allow no whistling in their boats, f Fishermen of St. Ives do not like whistling at night. Yoi; may whistle for a breeze, but do not do so in a storm. I Holcroft says, during his voyage on the English coast: " I believe it was here I first remarked one of those many superstitious habits of seamen — that of whistling for the wind. I find it is common to them all, from the captain to the cabin boy. Irish fishermen think whistling bad at sea. They say you should not even whistle for a wind in a dangerous place, for fear of a storm. A man traveling in a boat on the Irish coast some years since, came near getting a severe beating for whistling. § Filey boatmen say: "We only whistle while the wind is asleep, and then the breeze comes," and they do not allow passengers to whistle in their boats. In Swedish belief, whistling at sea brings storms and whirlwinds on shore. French sailors have similar beliefs, and II Germans say a storm comes, when you whistle at sea; a fresh breeze only, if you hug the mast at the same time. In a Greenland story, a man raises a storm by blowing a whistle to the four points of the horizon, thus invoking the four winds. ♦Brand.— Antiquities, Vol. Ill, p. 239. + BottreU. t Memoirs, Vol. I. p. 281. § Jones. — Credulities. t Ijebrecht, Volkslrunde, 332. 146 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Williams says Fijian fishermen, when not whistling for a wind, entice it with playful words. * "Whistling in bad weather makes it worse, for it attracts wind. Whistle a lively tune in good weather, and, to insure a wind, say flattering words, such as, 'Come, brother wind,' 'Come, old boy.'" "Some old sailors can even get a wind by saying, ' Come, come, arouse thee, old boy! ' but they must flatter it well." f Bishop Heber also tells us, of the boatmen in the Ganges: "I was amused to find that these boatmen have the same fancies with our English sailors, about whistling for the wind." J A Yorkshire fisherman forbade a 3'oung lady from entering his boat, saying, " Not that j^oung lady; she whis- tles." §In "Notes and Queries" is an anecdote of a Catholic, who said to ra lady, "Don't whistle, ma'am; every time a woman whistles the Virgin's heart bleeds." This notion is closely connected with the adage, — I "A whistling girl and a crowing hen Will surely come to a bad end." The possession of a pilot's thumb by witches and others would seem to indicate their power of controlling storms, as we have seen by the witches in "Macbeth." Eric's thumb, stolen by pirates, raised such a breeze that they were glad to return it. ** In China, a southerly (or favorable) breeze can be ob- tained by holding a cap high up against the wind; and the lives of a boat's crew would be endangered by repeating the word feng, or wind. So Esthonians, to get a favorable breeze, hang up a hat, turned in the direction a wind is desired, and whistle in that direction also, f f A snake's skin hung up in the same manner was thought to procure a breeze. JJ Kamtchatdales would not cast sand out of their huts, nor sharpen an axe or knife while on a journey, for fear of raising a storm. * Tenne.— Volkeaagen aus Pommern. + Journey Thro' India, p 423. $ Henderson. — Folk-lore of Northern Counties of England (44). ! August 2, 1879. IChoice Notes, Notes and Queries, p. 13. ** Dennys. — Folk-lore of China. ++G-rinini.— Teutonic JJrthology 14 Ty lor .—Primitive Culture. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 147 A colonial writer says that certain passengers in a ship, incited' by a sermon by Cotton Mather against a petition to the crown, firmly believed that a storm overtook the ship carrying the document, and demanded that it be thrown overboard. In Icelandic belief, says Armanson, to obtain a favorable breeze, it is only necessary to pull out your shirt, pick the insects off it, and put them on the foresail. We may imag- ine this remedy would not, in some ships, want for material for its application. In Sweden, a favorable wind is obtained by fastening a spoon made out of stolen wood to the prow of the ship. * On French vessels, in the Newfoundland fisheries, when the wind dies out, the men assemble on deck, and call out together the name of the desired wind — to call it dowa.t AubinT[ says a number of rounds fired from ship's guns during a battle cause the wind to fall, but many sea- men believe that this will bring on a blow. In J Brittany, sailors blow on the mainsail to get a breeze. French sailors used to fire a gunshot into the clouds, and call ■ upon the wind they wished, and blas- pheme by saying "Little Peter, send us a breeze." It was also said among whalers that it was only necessary to speak of light-mannered women on board ship to cause a breeze. || A Caroline Islander embarked on Kotzebue's ship believed he could control the winds by certain magic songs. He was astonished to find them of no avail in the tropics. " In the islands whence I come," said he, " the wind cannot last longer than a song."* " Our pilots had recourse to a thousand superstitions to obtain a favorable wind; sometimes they cast a small ship filled with rice into the sea, amid cries of the crew; sometimes a small flask of perfume was broken over the tack; sometimes the dream of a slave or sailor caused them to cast water on the masts, to wash the ship, or to run the figure of a horse about the deck."-*- This is said of Mahometan sailors in Malasian waters. •Hildebrandson, Samlmg at bemerkelee Dager. tS^billot, Groyances et Superstitions de la Mer, 11-247. ^[Dictionairede Marine, tli. F. Starve, in S^illot. Croyances. 236. CHAPTER IV. WATER-SPRITES AND MERMAIDS. " Thus on life's lonely sea, Heareth the marinere Voices sad, from far and near. Ever singing, full of fear, Ever singing, drearfully." " The Mermaid on the roclcs she sat With glass and comb in hand, " Clear off, ye livery lads! ' she said, " ' Ye be not far from land.'" /. R. Lowell. Old Ballad. HE powerful deities and malig- nant demons described in a former chapter were not deemed the only inhabitants of the deep. In the traditions of many peoples, there existed be- low the waves races of mortals, some resembling the -human dwellers on earth, others possessing varied forms and attributes. In the sea also abode huge giants, diminutive dwarfs, cun- ning fairies and wonderful goblins — beings analogous to those believed formerl}' to exist on land, and form- ing a link between the powerful dei- the ordinary inhabitants of the sea ties and depths. * Norse tradition says that when giants and trolls were driven from the earth by Christian priests, they took refuge in the sea, and are seen by mariners on distant strands. Such an one is described in the old Norse " Book of Kings." f " It is tall and bulk)', and stands right up out of * Thorpe.— Noithern Mythology. + In Jones' LEGENDS OF THE SEA. 149 the water. From the shoulder upward, it is like a man, while on the brows there is, as it were, a pointed helmet. It has no arms, and from the shoulders down it seems light and more slender. Nobody has ever been able to see whether its extremities end in a tail like that of a fish, or only in a point." This monster was called Hafstramb. " Ita color was ice-blue color. Nor could any one discern whether it had scales or a skin like a man. When the mon- ster appeared, the sailors knew it to be the presage of a storm. If it looked at a ship and then dived, a loss of life was certain, but if it looked away and then dived, people had a good hope that although they might encounter heavy storms, their lives would be saved." * According to the Eddas, Hymir, a fabled giant, boiled his kettle when the storms raged. His name is from humr, the sea, and is connected with our word humid. In the ancient Finnish Kalevala, a dwarf arises from the sea, and becomes a giant as high as the clouds. These are like the giants (Jinns) in the Arabian nights, which are imprisoned in bottles, and which, says Lane,f were called in Arab-lore El GJiowasah, " divers in the sea." Other giants, although not always abiding in the sea, were fabled to have more or less power therein. I Ligur is a giant fabled in Helgoland as having sepa- rated the island from the mainland. Many stones strewn about the coast were dropped by him. Walcheren, a Dutch giant, when pirates stole his flocks, waded out into the sea, sank the ships with his little finger, and recovered his sheep. § A giant formerly lived in a cave near Portreath, Eng- land, who waded out and seized boats, dragging them in,v and who seized drowning people sucked in by currents. II More wonderful stories are told of Gargantua, whose deeds are renowned on many parts of the French coast. Many huge rocks and boulders on the coast, as at St. Just, St. Jacob, Plevenen, etc., were fabled to have been placed there by him. Others are said to be his tooth, his cradle, his bed, or the tombs of his limbs. Legends of his ex- ploits are numerous. He drank of the sea, stepped over to Great Britain, and at numerous times swallowed ships, ♦ Thorite.— Northern Mythology. + Notes to Arabian Nights. t Grimm.— Teut. Mythology, Vol. II, p. 536. i Bottrell.— Traditions of West Cornwall. iSebillot.— Gargantua dans les Traditions Populatres, 1883. 150 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS and even fleets. In some of these tales ships are blown up in his capacious stomach, and in others, whole fleets continue their combats, after he has swallowed them. An English fleet, thus absorbed, so disagreed with his gallic taste that he went in disgust to India, and threw them up. * Mausthorpe, a famous Indian giant, was equally cele- brated about Vineyard Sound. The rocks at Seaconnet are the remains of his wife, whom he threw into the sea there. He turned his children into fishes, and emptying out his pipe one day, formed Nantucket out of its ashes. Dwarfs also went to sea. f St. Brandan met a dwarf a thumb long, floating in a bowl, during his wonderful voy- age. I El Masudi tells us of the China Sea: " When a great storm comes on, black figures arise from the waters, about four or five spans long, and they look like little Abyssinians. They mount in the vessels; but, however numerous, they do no harm. When sailors observe them, they are sure that a storm is near, for their appearance is a certain sign of a gale." Fairies figure' in many tales of the sea and of seamen. Fishermen in the Tweed believe they affect their fishing. Nets are salted, and salt thrown into the water to blind the sea-fairies. Perthshire seamen believe in them. § A Cornish tale says a fisherman found "piskies" play- ing, and watched them, but they detected him, and he was near being taken and destroyed. Another tale, that of John Taprail, is that he was awakened by a voice telling him that his boat, moored alongside another, was in danger. He arose to see to it, but found that a trick had been played on him, and his boat was all right. While on his way back he found a group of piskies distributing monej' in their hats. Slyly introducing his own, he obtained a share, was discovered, and barely had time to reach home, leaving the tails of his coat in the hands of the fairies. According to the Irish Bardic legends, the King of Ulster was almost carried awaj- by sea-fairies. II Among Welsh fairies are the Gwragedd Annwn, or fairies of lakes and streams. These are not mermaids, nor are they sea-maidens. Some are said to inhabit Crumlyn Lake, and live in a fabled submerged town. They are said ' Drake.— Leffends and Folk-lore of New England, p. 444. i Grimm.— Teut. Mj'tholOEy, Vol. II, p. -Sol. * Golden Jlcadoivs. ch. SVl. g Jones.— Credulities, p. 30. ISlkea.— British Goblins and Welsh Folk-lore, 35. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 151 to be descendants of villagers condemned to sink below the waters for reviling St. Patrick on one of his visits. * Other localities are haunted by these subaqueous fairies, and a young farmer obtained one of them, who was in the habit of rowing about in a magic boat with golden oars, by drop- ing bread and cheese in the water. She left him on his striking her three times. Another lake-bride disappears when struck with iron. In another locality, lake-fairies inhabit beautiful gardens under the water. In the Hebrides, sea-beans are supposed by some to be fairies' eggs. In Holland it is said that elves are in the bubbles, seen on the surface of water, or that they will use eggshells thrown into the water, for boats. f A French (Breton) story is told of a fairy who presented a sailor a rod that saved him from shipwreck, gave him a good breeze, and brought him a fortune. J Dieppe fishermen say they hold an annual bazaar on the cliffs, and attempt to decoy men there. If one went, and listened to their music, he would be drowned from the cliffs. Breton stories are told of fairies who dwell in the Houles, or grottoes in the cliffs. A fisherman once saw them rub their eyes with a salve, and then take the shape of mortals. Obtaining the ointment, he used it, and was thereafter able to distinguish these people, even when, in the shape of fish, they were robbing the nets. The fairies sometimes married men. They have flocks and herds, sometimes obtaining those of mortals by theft. They are generally beneficent, bringing riches in return tor favors, and possess supernatural powers. They are gener- ally beautiful, but are invisible by day, except to those whose eyes are anointed with the magic salve. Some are clothed like human beings, others covered with barnacles or shells. In some tales, they are endowed with the powers of Circe, metamorphosing men into animals. It was formerly said, in He et Vilaine, that a fairy inhab- ited a certain grotto, and was seen sailing on the river in a nautilus shell, accompanied by other fairies. In Polynesian mythology, fairies taught them how to net fish, and make reels. ' Sikes.— British Goblins and Welsh Folk-lore, 63. +Sebillot. — C!ontes des Paysauset des Pechems. X S6tiillot. — Coutes Pop. de la Haute Bretagne. 152 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS We also find at sea one of these familiar mischievous goblins, such as in German lore, under the name of Koboid, annoy the housewife and hostler. He is a beneficent demon, taking his turn at the capstan and grog-tub. *To French sailors, under the name of Gobelin, he is well known, and Norwegian sailors believe in his existence. He singes their hair in sleep, raises the anchor in a calm, tears carelessly- furled sails, knots ropes, etc. fin the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, he was called Kobalos, in Germany. Now he is known as Klabauter- mann_, or Klabautermannchen, as he is a small man, with large, fiery red head, and green teeth. He is dressed in yellow breeches, horseman's boots, and a steeple-crowned hat. He is a beneficent visitor, and is on good terms with the crew, as long as he is treated well, often assisting in their tasks. These characteristics are aptly illustrated in the following lines: t" About Klaboterman That Koboid of the sea, a sprite Invisible to mortal sight, Who o'er the rigging ran; Sometime he hammered in the hold. Sometimes upon the mast; Sometimes abeam, sometimes abaft. Or at the bows, he sang and laughed. He helped the sailors at their work. And toil'd with jovial din, He helped them stow the casks and bales. And heave the anchor in; But woe unto the lazy louts. The idlers of the crew. Them to torment was his delight. And worry them by day and night, And pinch them black and blue. And woe to him whose mortal eyes Klaboterman beheld, It is a certain sign of death!" § In North Germany, it is said that his favor must be care- fully courted. His favorite position is on the capstan, and he will occasionally take a glass of wine with the Captain, whose interests require him to be on favorable terms with this sprite. He is given food, but must not be offered old * Jal.— Glossaire Nautique, " Gobelin." + Grimm.— Teut. Mythology. 500. * Longfellow.— Tales of a Wayside Irm- SThorje.- NortbemMythologj. Vol. I. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 153 clothing. * Schmidt says Plymouth fishermen aver a belief in him, and say he was not always visible until the time of danger. Should a fisherman lose his luck, he saw Klabau- terman go over the bows. On account of the noise he sometimes raised on board, he was called Kliitermann (clat- terman). f In French accounts of him, he originally appeared on board of a ship in the Somme. He is there called Goguelin. j Brewer says he is seen sitting on the bowsprit of the spectre ship, dressed in yellow, and smoking a short pipe. In many places water-spirits assumed the shape of a horse, of a cow, or a bull. §" Mythic water-horses, water- bulls, or cows are to be found in the religious systems of many nations of old. And they still haunt the imagination of living men, in the shape of Scotch water-kelpies, or of dapple-gray stallions and brown steers, that still rise from some German lake." In Iceland, Hnickur appears thus, but with hoofs turned backward. He tempts people to mount him, and is then off. II He was also called Vatua-hestur, Nennir and Kum- ber. Gray was the usual color seen, and sometimes other shapes were assumed. One came through the ice, and had eight feet and ten heads. When the ice splits in the win- ter, it is said to be the sea-horse coming up. He somtimes induces persons, especially young girls, to mount his back, when he rushes into the water. He can be caught and tamed, and the horses reared from him are stronger than others, but more mischievous. When tamed, his bridle must not be taken off, or he will rush into the river. **Arnanson tells a story of a water-horse who was caught and bridled by a young girl. Just as she was about to mount him she said, "I feel afraid; I'm half inclined not to mount him." He rushed forthwith into the water, not liking to be called Nennir, or "I'm not inclined," nor can he bear to be called by the Devil's name. In the Orkneys, the water-sprite appears as a handsome little horse, with his mane covered with weeds; and one is * Seeman's Sagen und Schifler JIarchen. + Jal. — Glossaire Nautique. " Gobelin." t Readers' Hand Book. Klaboterman. S Blind. — Contemporary Eeview, August, 1881. I Blind.— C!ontemporary Bevlew, August, 188L ♦» Icelandic Legends. 154 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS described in Bevis's " Orkney." In Shetland, the handsome httle horse is named Shoopiltree or Shoopultie. He aided Graham of Morphil to build his castle. When overloaded he said, — * " Sair back and sair banes Duven the Laird o' Morphil's stanes. The Laird o' Morphil '11 never thrive So long's the kelpy is alive." f Blind says an instance of a water-horse, yoked and worked during the day, is reported in the Landnama bok. In Shetland, says Blind, he is also called Njuggle, Nyogle Neogle, or Niagle, all words of the same sort as Nockel (Ger.), and derived from Nick, chief water demon. He is defined as " a horse, somewhat akin to the water kelpie." But in popu- lar accounts, he differs from a horse in having a tail like a wheel. He is generally mischievous, stopping mills, etc. Stories are told in Shetland lore, of men mounting these water-horses, who were nearly being carried into the sea, only escaping by killing the horse. I In Norway, w-hen a thunder storm is brewing, the water-sprite comes in the shape of a horse. § Numerous tales are told of the Scotch kelpie, who was usually black. He would, if possible, decoy travelers to mount him, then rush into the water with them. He could be caught bj' slipping over his head a bridle on which the sign of the cross had been made, and then would work. A horseman saw one, attended by an old man. A blacksmith killed one with, hot irons, by thrusting them in his side, when he became a heap of starch. Burns says, — I "When thowes dissolve the snawy hoord, An' float the ginglin' icy-boord, Then waier-kelpies haunt the foord." Nearly every Scottish lake has its water-horse. ** Gregor tells a stor}- of a Scotchman who caught a kelpie, mounted his back, and nearly lost his life thereb)-, the water-horse rushing at once toward the lake. His rider escaped by •Scotch and Irish Legendary Ballads. + Oontemponiry Eeriew-, August, 188L t Faye — Norsk Sagen. p. 55. § Gregor.— Folt-lore of Scotland. ITamO'Shanter. *• Folk-lore of Scotland. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 155 , Striking the bridle from his head. * Another writer says of the water-sprite: "Sometimes it is described as wholly or partly human, as merman or mermaid, but more commonly the shape assigned to it, is that of a horse or a bull. The sounds of the kelpie, when heard during a storm, whether wild neighing, or hoarse bellowing, is reckoned a sure presage of misfortune." Every lake in Perthshire has its kelpie, swelling the torrent to drown the traveler, and decoying women and children into the water. f In Irish legend, water-horses are called Phookie and Aughisky, and are said to come up out of "the lakes to graze; but some are carnivorous, one in Lough Mask de- stroying cattle when he came out. Another, that had been tamed, ran into the lake when he saw the water. Another in Loch Corub had a serpent's body, with a horse's head. It is usually said of these water-horses, that their hoofs turn backward. Blind has pointed, out that the wheel- shaped tail indicates the sun, or that here in these legends we have another phase of sun-worship, closely connected . with water worship in many particulars. Bryant further argues that their backward-turned hoofs mean the crab, or the sun in the southern or Tartaric constellation; hence the water-horse is malicious and diabolic. His name, derived from Nick, indicates this character. In the Isle of Man, we find the water-horse called Glash- lan, Glashan, or Enach-I-Kibh, fairy stallion I In North Germany, Jagow is the water-horse, who, in a story, came out of the water, harnessed himself to a harrow, and worried the other horses nearly to death. It is gener- ally said there that the water-sprites possess herds of cattle. Near New Schlemnin, in Mecklenburg, is a lake called the Devil's lake, whence issue on St. John's day the cries of a man. He is a peasant, who called on the devil, when his horses were exhausted in traveling. A black horse came out of the lake, jumped to the harrow, and assisted in the task, but when the peasant mounted him, he rushed at once into the lake. § The nixies that dwell in the waves are, in the Illyrtan tales, of surpassing beauty. Often it happens that a youth * I/t.-Col. Leslio.— Early Eaces of Scotland and Their Monjiments. + Blind.— Scottish and Shetland Water Tales, Cont. Eevlew, August, 1882. tKuhn.— Nord Deutsche Siigsn. SPTof. Grlesdorier.— Letter to H. Blind., Cont. Eeview, August, 1881. 156 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS inspires them with love, and then they change themselves into water-horses, in order to carry him on their backs into their crystal realm. * Stories of sea-horses are found in eastern lore. King Mihraj's mares are visited by one producing a superior breed. El Kazwini says sea-horses are larger than those of the land, have cloven hoofs, and smaller mane and tail. Their colts are spotted, he says. In the historical legends of the Indian Archipelago, Parar-al-Bahrri is a sea-horse who carries the hero over the waves. The horse is connected with the sea in many legends, f Neptune created the horse, and Centaur, sprang from the sea. Perseus' horse, Pegasus, is supposed by many to have been a ship. Caxton, in the " Book of Troy," and Boc- caccio, in the "Genealogia Deorum," say the same. J So Sh'akspeare likens a ship to Perseus' horse. The mother of Dyonisius was Hippos. Many heroes travel over the waves on the horse. Odin's horse Sleipnir thus conveyed his master, and various folk-lore tales make the hero imitate him. The ship is usually, in the Eddas, likened to a horse, and two of a famous Welsh triad of vessels were the black horse of the seas, and the horned horse. Sailors evidently recognized the analogies between the steed of the land and the courser of the seas, since we find nearly everj' part of the horse's anatomy, and much of his harness and fittings represented in nautical nomenclature. So with the cow. In Aryan mythology, cows represent clouds, and clouds were, as we shall see, widely represented as ships. " Die Bunte Kuh " was a famous German flag-ship in the middle ages. Certain marine mammals, as the walrus, sea-lion, etc., resembling cattle and horses in form, would aid the legend in its progress. Water-cattle are also found in the folk-lore of many people. The Merovignan kings of France traced their descent from a water-bull, the direct ancestor of Merovasus. A shepherd, in a French story of the eleventh century, finds beautiful herds of cattle at the bottom of the sea, and drives them out. An old Icelandic natural history reports that the bellow- ing of sea-cows and bulls makes people mad. *Lane. — Arabian Nights. ■t Cox,— Aryan Mythology, U, 203. t Trollus and Cn^ida, Act I, eoene 8. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 157 * Breton tales of the flocks and herds of the sea-fairies are numerous. fin Scotch belief, water-bulls are friendly, and are inim- ical to the diabolic water-horses. In an old tale, a water- calf, who has grown into a young bull on shore, attacks a water-bull who has deluded a young girl into his power by assuming the shape of a young man, and kills him. J There are many Welsh tales of water-cattle, issuing from the lakes, etc. KafBrs say the sea-people have cattle beneath the waves. Clouds reflected in the waves were often thought to be sheep and cattle. So in the Norse story, " Big Peter and Little Peter," § in the Gaelic tale, " The Three Widows," and in the German legend of the "Little Farmer." These are the Cattle of Helios, and Herds of Neptune; and such fancies doubtless aided in spreading these myths of water- horses and cattle. But the water-sprites usually appeared in human form. From the naiads, nereids, and nixies sprang a crowd of fabulous inhabitants of the ocean, lake, river, and stream. We have seen that the ocean, the streams and lakes, and even the fountains were fabled, in ancient Greece, to be peopled by these semi-deities — the Oceanids, the Nereids, the Naiads, and the Nymphs. |{ These, with the sirens, the harpies, the centaurs, and other demi-gods and demons, were the undoubted ancestors of the host of forms, angelic and demoniac, that have been fabled to haunt the streams of the ocean and the air. The ancestry of many of these have been traced back to older Aryan days, and the nymphs found to be none other than the Apsaras, the centaurs but the Gaudharvas, and the harpies, or sirens, representatives of the Maruts. But the effects of the Greek conceptions of these inhabitants of sea and air were more marked than of the older primitive ideas. ** As Tylor says; " Through the ages of the classic world the river-gods and the water-nyrnphs held their places, till, within the bounds of Christendom, they came to be classed with ideal beings like them in the mythology of the North- ern nations, the kindly sprites to whom offerings were given * Sdbillot.— Litt. Orale de Haute Bretagne. + Gregor.— Folk-lore of Scotland. tSikes.— British Goblins and Welsh Folk-lore, p. 36. § Dasent. — Noi-se Tales. Grimm Campbell. H Kelly.— Curiosities of Indo-European Folk-lore. p. 2t. =• Primitive Culture. II, 213. 158 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS at springs and lakes, and the treacherous nixies who entice men to a watery death." In spite of the opposition to water worship, made by the Christian priests, these beliefs prevailed, just as the belief in the more powerful sea-divinities endured, so that all the priests could do, was to degrade or maintain in their de- graded pKDsition, the nymphs of the waves and the spirits of the deep. The Sirens, at first bird-shaped, were afterwards, as we have seen, imagined beautiful maidens.* There finally grew up in mediaeval conception, two classes of sea-beings. The first, the water-sprite, appeared in human shape, but was endowed with the facult}' of assuming other forms at will. The second, the mermaid, had always the fish tail which ancient legends gave to many goddesses and water-beings. Water-sprites were usually endowed with wisdom, often brought gifts or good luck, but were sometimes malicious, and even diabolic. All these qualities were inherited from their ancestors. Nick was diabolic, the nj'mphs often bene- fited mankind, and the Sirens were malicious and hurtful. f According to the Eddas, Urda, who knew the past, Verande, skilled in present affairs, and Skulda, who proph- esied the future, were all water-nymphs. Egeria of the fountain, who taught wisdom to Numa, had her represent- atives and followers in nearly everj' land. Water-sprites appear in all countries, in ocean lake, river and fountain. I Wilkina, the Viking, found one in a forest, and carried her away. She afterwards appeared, climbing upon the poop of his ship at sea, and stopped it, by putting the helm hard over. The sagas have other stories of water-sprites, and one sings,— ' Cold water to the eyes. Flesh raw to the teeth, A shroud to the dead, Flit me back to the sea Henceforward never Men in ships sailing. Draw me to dr>- land From the depths of the sea.'' The Drowning-Stol; a rock on the Norwegian coast, is 'Chapter I. + Thorpe. —Northern MTtholog-v, Vol. IT, p. 13. tWUkma Saga. OF THK SEA AND OF SAILORS. ' 159 fabled to have been the seat of a " Queen of the Sea," who used to sit there, combing her locks, and bringing luck to fishermen. * In Norwegian story the Grim, or Fossegrim, is a myste- rious water-fairy, a musical genius, who plays to every one, and requires a white kid every Thursday. In Norway, also, was the Roretrold, or Rorevand, sometimes appearing as a horse, at others as a human water-sprite, f When people drown at sea, a water-sprite appears, in the shape of a headless old man. J The Swedish Stromkarl sits under bridges, playing wonderful melodies on the violin, which cause everybody hearing them to dance. He will teach his tunes to anyone, for a consideration. He greatly desires salvation, an idea emanating undoubt- edly from the priests. §The "Lady of the Boundless Sea" figures in an old Norse fairy tale, bringing benefits with her. In Icelandic legend, water-sprites make holes in the ice, called elf-holes. |Arnanson tells an Icelandic story of a fisherman, who is always granted good luck by a " sea-troll.'- whom he has benefited, so long as he waited to set out on his day's journey, until the troll had passed his hut. Other legends say these elves go out fishing, and their boats are seen. ** The Danish water-sprite has a long beard, green hat, green teeth, shaggy hair, and yellow curls and cap. He was often malicious. f f ' ' They launched the ship into the deep, The sea growled like a bear, The White Goose to the bottom sank. Some trold was surely there," says an old ballad. In another, — " The good King of Loffer had launched his ship. And sail'd the billowy main, There came a trold and his daughter seiz'd. And bitter his grief and pain. " In Holland, it is believed that water-sprites or elves float * Thorpe.— Northern Mythology, Vol. II, p. 23. + Grimm.— Teutonic Mythology, Vol. I, p. 491. tAfzelius.— Swedish Folk-Tales. § Dasent.— Popular Tales from the Norse. I Icelandic Legends. ** Grimm.— Teutonic Mythology, Vol. 1, p. 49L +t"Kosmer Hafmand."— Northern Ballaos. 160 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS in bubbles, or in egg-shells that are thoughtlessly thrown into the water. *A Dutch legend of 1305, reports that a knight who found a water-sprite, but afterwards killed it, died himself in consequence. f In Germany, a crowd of various water-sprites is found. Frau Hulde, or Holde, is the spirit of fountains, and when the sun shines, she is combing her hair and when it snows, she is making her bed. She is frequently seen bathing at noon. She is thought to take all drowned persons. During the twelve days near Christmas, she joins the Wild Hunt with Odin and his gang. At Ilsensten, Use is seen often in long white robe and black hat, and she is also called Jung- fern (maiden). In many places these water-sprites inhabited lakes, and raised storms, if stones were thrown in. These water-sprites inhabit every lake, river and pond in Germany, and innumerable stories are told of them. Some bring fort- une, others ill luck. Many come on shore to dance with the peasants, and are known by the wet hem of their gar- ments. Others are bloodthirstj' and covetous. Should a water-maiden dally too long with the shore mortals, she is sure to suffer death on her return, and the waves appear red, above her abode. In Markland, children are told that the water-man will drag them in. A party of fishermen found a lump of ice in the sea, and gave it to St. Theobald, their bishop, to cool his gout}' feet. He heard a voice inside, and succeeded, by saying thirty masses, in saving and liberating the sprite within. J Bohemian fishermen believe in a water-sprite, who sits on shore with a club, and destroys children. They fear to aid a drowning man, for fear of offending the water-sprite, who, in revenge, will draw the fish from their nets. These sprites are shaped like a fish, with human heads. The folk tales of Austria, Bohemia and South Germany, are full of tales of these water-sprites, that inhabit ever}' lake, river and stream. One comes out of the Teufel sea, in the shape of a white lady. The services of a midwife are often required beneath the waves, and such ser\'ices are usually well rewarded. A young girl lost in the woods was found by a water-man from the Teufel sea. Water-men are sometimes beneficial, women always malicious. *Hagen.— Deutsche Gedichte des Mittelalters. + Grimm.— Teut. Myth. Kuhn and Schwartz.— Deutsche Sag:en. t Wuttke — Deutsches Aberglauhen. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. . 161 * Boatmen say a water-sprite lives in the Traumsee, who requires a yearly sacrifice. A young miller, in love with a nun in a convent near by, was wont to swim the lake, to see his lady, but was claimed as a victim, along with the recre- ant nun. The deep and rock-bound lakes of the Tyrol are inhabited by maiden-sprites, whose songs are often heard. Offerings are frequently left on the banks of streams for them. They requite favors with benefits, and one struck dead the person who attempted to harm her. Water-sprites abound in the Danube and Vienna rivers, and old clothes are given to propitiate them. f Bohemians will pray on the river-bank where a man has been drowned, and offer bread and wax candles to the spirit of the tt. — Lay of the Last Minstrel. t Tempest, Act I; scene 3. 5 Farrar.— Primitive Civilization, p. 306. fl Popular Science Monthlr, 1875. « Mitford.— Tales of Old Japan. ■ttChinese Tales. By Pu Sing Ling.— Giles' Translation. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 167 anchorages after a time. Lin, a boatman, fell asleep in his boat, and on awakening, found his boat in the possession of these sprites. The Water King, who lives beneath the waves, appeared, and gave his subjects lists of people to be drowned, two hundred and twenty-eight in number. In the storm that ensued, Lin was saved by virtue of a crystal square, given him as a talisman. Lin afterwards married one of the sprites, and she was able to revisit her friends when desirous of it, always returning with rich presents. * Esquimaux fear the spirits of the waters. A water-sprite haunted Pend d'Oreille lake, and in Lake Winnipeg, the Indians feared to speak for fear of offending them. Mexi- cans and Peruvians believed in water-beings, evil and benefi- cent. Algonquins believed in water-sprites, Nee-ban-aw- baigs. f In Ottawa legend, the spirits of Lake Michigan caused great storms. An Ojibway tale relates the seizure of a woman by a water-sprite in Lake Superior, who appeared in the shape of a tiger, and carried her to his water wig- wam. J Among Guiana tribes, Orehue is the water-spirit. He is like a merman, but not always malignant. Sometimes he has the head of a horse or other animal. He sometimes seizes bathers, and drags them beneath the waves. He is be- lieved especially to frequent. a cove washed in the banks of the Pomeroon river. Many Indians would noiselessly row on the opposite banks at night. A dance in his favor is called the water-mawa dance. They carefully distinguish between this imaginary being and the manatee. Among other South American tribes, Gamainha is a spirit of the water. § Mae d'Acqua is a lovely female on shore, a fish in the water. II Leewa is the water-ghost of Musquito Indians. The Suaranos say Wahua appears, rising from the water, and seizing maidens. ** Kaffirs say people live beneath the waves, and have herds and dwellings. Zulus also believe in semi-human beings, who live in the ocean. Theal says Xosa Kaffirs believe in a water-spirit in the * Bancroft.— Native Eaces, Vol. Ill, pp. lti-6. •t Schoolcraft— Algic Eesearches, vol. I, p. 131. t Jones.— Credulities, p. 26. 9 Verne.— Giant Euft, ch. XI. I Bancroft.— Native Hacea, Vol. Ill, p. 497. ♦♦TheaL— Kaffir Folk-lore. 168 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS shape of a crocodile. A water-sprite, in a Kaffir tale, calls a woman and pulls her down. *Ashango people say a water-sprite existed in the river Ngouyou, who made the rapids. This spirit, Fougamon, is a worker in iron. Fanti negroes say people used to take iron and leave it near the river, for the spirits to work up into useful articles. The water-sprite figures most in the guise of a sea- maiden, as her name, mermaid, literally signifies, whether we speak of the German Meerfrau, Danish Moremund, Ice- landic Margyr, or Breton Marie Morgan, Welsh Morva or Morreth, Dutch Zee-wjf, Swedish Sjotrold, Anglo-Saxon Merewif, Cornish Morhuch, Irish Merrow, or by any of the special titles their class receives. The idea of creatures beneath the wave, possessed of a human form with fish-like extremities, is not a modern one. Aside from the many fish-gods of antiquity, as Cannes, Dagon, and others, we are told by f Megasthenes that a creature like a woman inhabits the seas of Ce5'lon, and .^lian assures us there are whales formed like Satyrs. Tritons and Sirens were also figured half fish, in ancient representations. Demetrius saj's the Western islanders who died in hurricanes, were mermaids. Pliny says they came on board ships at night, and sunk them, and that Molos, making free with a sea-maiden, lost his head. l That ancient naturalist gave more circumstantial ac- counts of them. " Nor are we," sa)'s he, " to disbelieve the stories told of Nereids, completely covered with rough scales, as one has actually been seen in the , and the inhabitants heard at a great distance her lamentations, v.'hinings, and bowlings, when she was dying, and his lieu- tenant wrote to Augustus that a number of Nereids had been found dead on the coast of Gaul. Several distinguished persons of Equestrian rank have assured me that they them- selves have seen off the coast of Gades a merman, whose body was of a human form. He was accustomed to appear on board ships in the night time, and the part on which he stood gradually subsided, as if sunk down by his weight." He also asserts their existence in India, and Solinus and Aulus Gellius speak of them. These accounts of Plin)' are the first of the appearance of the real mermaid, although he ♦ Du Chaillu. — Equatorial Africa. + Jones. — Credulities, p. 25. t Nat. HisL. Vol IV. d, i. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 169 does not speak of the fish-tail. This idea, however, as we have seen, was not a new one. * The Nereids, daughter of the Oceanid Doris, and of Nereus, and mothers of many heroes, were at first imagined beautiful rnaidens. A mural painting in Pompeii shows such a one. Later they were given the fish-tail, thus becoming mermaids. Achelous, brother of Nereus, and Calliope, were parents of the Sirens, and as we have seen, they, too, were gradually transformed from human-faced birds to fish-tailed maidens. So also with the Tritons, offspring of Neptune and Am- phitrite, who, at first regarded as men in form, were after- wards given the fish-tail and monstrous form, usually seen in art. In the middle ages, stories of mermaids increased, and their characteristics were definitely settled. Arabian writers often speak of them. fEl-Kazwini says the Arabs believed that certain fish-men lived in islands in the Indian Ocean, and ate drowned men. Abou Muzaine says a Siren named the Old Man of the Sea, often ap- peared, prognosticating the good harvests. It spoke an unknown tongue. A similar animal caught a woman and married her, and their son spoke the language of both. Another similar animal, the Old Jew,I came to the surface in the Mediterranean, on Friday night, and played about ships all the Jewish Sabbath. Ibnala Bialsaths says sailors in his time caught on foreign shores marine women, with brown skin and black eyes, speaking a strange tongue. Ibn-Batuta, an old Arab writer, says he saw fish in the Persian Gulf with a human head as large as that of a child. § Theodore de Gaza saw several Sirens on board ship, in the Peloponnessian sea, which were put back in the water, after being kept on board some time. They were beautiful maidens. George of Trebizonde saw one in the open sea. Gyllius says the skin of sea men taken in Dalmatia is so tough that it is used to make saddle covers. II In the Nibelungen Lied, Hagen steals a mermaid's gar- ments, but she foretold him good luck if he would give them back again." . Another story is that a mermaid told Hagen's fortune, but he, dissatisfied with it, cut off her •Landrin.— Les Monstres Marins, 262. + Landrin. — Les Monstres Marins, 282. t Bochar. — Hierozoicon. SLandrin. — Les Monst'es Marins, 265 etpeq. ILudJow.— Popular Epics of Middle Ages. II, 131. 170 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS head, which mysteriously joined the body again, and a storm thereupon ensued. The old poets allude to them. Tasso makes two knights walk by a lake in a pleasure garden where, — ' ' Two blooming damsels on the water lave And laugh and plunge beneath the lucid wave. The blood of a mermaid was then thought a prophylactic. Ariosto relates that Orlando smeared his casque with the blood of a Siren; — " Naught resists his touch of flame e iron Save what has drunk the life blood of a Siren." * Gower thus sings, — " Sirenes of a wonder kind Ben monstres as the bokes telleth And in the gret sea they dwelleth. Oi body both aAd of visage Lik vnto women of yonge age, Up fro' the navel on high they be. And down benethe as men may see They bene of fishes the figure." f Spenser says they are, — "Transformed into fish for their bold surqueedry." J And Guyon shows two maidens disporting in a fount- ain. An old verse of " Sir Patrick Spens " speaks of them, — " Upstarted the mermaid by the ship, Wi' a glass and a kame in her hand, Says, ' reek about, reek about, my merry men. Ye are not very far from land.' " § Vincent de Beauvais sa3's mermen were avoided by throwing a bottle overboard, when they will stop to play with them. So learned a man as Joseph Scaliger believed in them. Two Epirote sailors told him they had seen a Siren. Valerio Tesio, a Valencian, told him one was taken in Spanish waters, but was restored to the sea soon after. Many heroes, like the demi-gods of old, claimed descent from sea-maidens. ♦Ckjnfessio Amantis, 1393. + Faerie Queene. t Bower of Bliss. SLandrln.— Lee Monstres Marlns, p. 366. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 171 Wieland, or Waylund, a mythical Vulcan of the middle ages, is said to have descended from a mermaid. So the French Counts of Lusignan, ancient kings of Cypress and Jerusalem, still claim as their ancestor and founder a water-maiden, Melusina, whom an ancestor saw bathing in a fountain, and whom he wedded. The romances of the middle age often speak of them. Such are the maidens of the Rheingold, celebrated in Wag- ner's melodious strains. *In the romantic legends of William of Orange, a mer- maid is caught by a cavalier, but liberated. In gratitude therefore, she saves her captor, when his ship is wrecked. When mermaids appeared " then began they all to sing so high, so low, so sweet, and so clear, that the birds leave off flying, and the fish leave off swimming." The ballads of Chivalry extolled their beauty. Doolin says, of a beautiful woman, " I thought she was an angel, or a sea-siren." fin a Sicilian tale, a maiden treacherously thrown into the sea, is carried off by a merman, and chained to his tail. A similar story is told by Gubernatis, but the maiden is here liberated, her brother feeding the siren meat, while seven blacksmiths sever the chain. These mermaids particularly desire a human soul — a thing denied to them by the churchmen. -J Paracelsus says: " So it follows that they woo men, to make them industrious and homelike, in the same way as a heathen wants baptism, to save his soul; and thus they create so great a. love for men, that they are with men in the same union." This of the maidens, but mermen were not so friendly, often dragging people down, like Nick. §In "The Eastern Travels of John of Hesse" (1389), we read: ''We came to a smoky and stony mountain, where we heard sirens singing, proprie mermaids, who draw ships into danger by their songs. We saw there many horrible monsters, and were in great fear." II In 1 187, a merman is said to have been taken near Suffolk, England. It resembled a man, but could not speak. It escaped one day, fled into the sea, and was not again seen. *Cox and Jones.— Romances of the Middle Ages. + Gubernatis. — Zoological Mjrthology, II. t Treatise of Elemental Spirits. SJones. — Credulities, p. 30. I Hiatolre D' Angleterre, in Jones' Credulities, p. a(X 172 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS But the accounts of the early appearances of the mer- maid are more circumstantial in northern countries. Here, where Nick dragged people down, where Ran sucked the breath of the drowned, and where the Stromkarl and the Kelpie flourished, the mermaid was often seen, sitting on the rocks, combing her hair, and predicting disaster to the mariner. * Pontoppidan, Bishop of Norway, tells us much of the appearance of mermaids on the coasts of that country. Near Landscrona, on the Danish coast, three sailors in a boat saw something floating. On approaching it, it sank, then arose, and swam waist-deep. It appeared like an old man,' with broad shoulders, small head, deep sunken eyes, thin face, black beard and hair, with fish-like extremities. A minister, Peter Angell, of Sundmoer parish, told the bishop that he saw a merman lying on the strand dead. It was about six feet long, dark gray in color, with the lower part like a fish, and a tail like a porpoise, a man's face, and arms joined by membranes to the body. f We have earlier notices of them in the " Royal Mirror,'' which speaks of mermen and maids, calling the latter Mar- gyra, and ascribing to them the attribute of a fish-tail, but . saying nothing about its possession by the merman, or Hafstrambr. JA later writer says: " Seamen and fishers in very tran- quil waters sometimes see mermen and mermaids rise to the quiet top of the sea." These are described as fair maidens, with fish-tail, long j^ellow hair, etc. Their chil- dren are called Marmaeler, "Sea-talkers." "Sometimes the fishermen take them home, to get from them a knowledge of the future." "Seamen are very sorrj' to see these creat- ures, thinking they portend a storm." § Norwegian stories are numerous. When the sea is calm they say the mermen (Marmenill) and mermaids (Margyr) rise to the surface. The mermen are described as being oldish men, with long beard and black hair, man from the waist upwards and fish downwards, and the rher- maid is described as usual. The appearance of these beings forebodes a storm, and it is thought dangerous to hurt them. A sailor enticed one to his boat and cut off her hand as it lay on the gunwale. He nearly perished in the storm ♦Natural History of Norway, q. Baring: Gould. — Curious Myths, p. 508. tKonigs Skugg, 1170. tFaye.— Norsk Sagen. JThorpe.— N. Mythology. Paye.— Norsk Sagen. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 173 that arose in consequence. If in diving they turn toward a ship, it is a bad omen; if from the ship, no evil will result. St. Olaf, on one of his piratical cruises, met one of these sirens, who was wont to lure sailors to destruction. * Icelandic chronicles relate that three sea-monsters were seen near Greenland. The first, seen by Norwegian sailors in the water, had the body of a man, with broad shoulders, stumps of arms, and a pointed head. Heavy storms suc- ceeded its appearance. The second was like a wornan to the waist, with large breasts, disheveled hair, and large hands on the stumpy arms, webbed like a duck's foot. It held fish in its hand and ate them, and the usual signs with regard to the manner of its eating or using the fish are then told. fThe "Speculum Regali," an Icelandic work, tells us: "A monster is seen also near Greenland, which people call the Margyr. This creature appears like a woman as far down as her waist; long hands and soft hair, the neck and head in all respects like that of a human being. The hands seem to people to be long, and the fingers not to be parted, but united by a web, like that on the feet of water-birds. From the waist downward, this monster resembles a fish, with scales, tail, and fin. This prodigy is supposed to show itself more especially before heavy storms. The habit of this creature is to dive fi'equently, and rise again to the surface with fishes in its hands. When sailors see it play- ing with the fish, or throwing them toward the ship, they fear they are doomed to lose several of the crew; but when it casts the fish, or, turning from the vessel, flings them away from her, then the sailors take it as a good omen that they will not suffer loss, in an impending storm. The monster has a very horrible face, with broad brow and piercing eyes, a wide mouth, and double chin." This excellent account embodies most of the traditions regarding the appearance and prognostications from the sight of the mermaid, current since that time. J The " Landnama," or Icelandic records of land, tells us of Mar- menill, or mermen, caught off the island of Grimsey, and other annals tell us of their appearance there in 1305 and 1309. §We also read in the Chronicle of Storlaformus, of the * Iceland, Its Scenes and Sagas.— B. Gould, p. 349. + Jones. — Broad, Broad Ocean, p. 263. t Jones.— Credulities, p. 21. gChronicle of Storlaformus (1215), q. by Landrin, *'Lea Monstres Marins." 174 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONg Hafstrambr: "It resembles a man from the neck, in its head, its nose, and its throat, except that the head is extra- ordinarily high, and elongated in front. It had shoulders like a man, and attached to them two stumps of arms without hands. The body tapers below, but it has never been seen how it is formed below the waist." He also describes the Marguguer. "It is formed like a woman, as far as the waist. It has a large bosom, thick hair, large hands, with fingers webbed like the foot of a goose, at- tached to its stumpy arms." * Modern Icelandic folk-lore divides these beings into two classes. First, there are the Margyr, Hafgyr (Sea and Harbor-troll) or Haf-fru (Sea-maid), the seductive maidens of the sea, who have long yellow hair, often sleep in the boats, and occasionally drag them down, and who can be prevented from doing harm by the repetition of a sacred hymn. Then there are the Marmenill, or mermen, who never appear on the surface, but are occasionally caught in the nets, and who then become quite homesick, and ear- nestly beg to be put back into the water, f These make the millepora, coral, called in Iceland, Marmenill's Smi thi. In a folk tale, a sea-troll appears in a stone boat, bring- ing luck to a ship, in good breezes and fine weather. Mermaids are said still to be seen near Grimsey. They will pull men out of boats, but a credo will control them. \ Mermaids are seen on the Swedish coast, sitting on a rock combing their hair, with a glass in their hands, or spreading out linen to dry. They are said to be fatal and deceitful, and storms and tempests follow their appearance. If a fisherman sees one, he should not speak of it to his comrades. They are said to dwell at the bottom of the sea, and have castles, palaces, and herds of brindled cattle. A certain knight, Gunnar, dwelt by a lake in Sweden (Anten). He fell in one day, was rescued by a mermaid, and used thereafter to meet her weekly. Failing to do so once, the water rose and drowned him out of his castle, and he sank to the water-maiden's abode while escaping in a boat. The stone near which his boat tradi- tionally sank, is still called Gunnar's stone. Fishermen rowing by it, salute by raising their hats, else they would have no luck. * AmaDSon. — Icelandic Legends. + Thorpe.— Northern Mythology, Vol. II, pp. 27-8. t Thorpe.— Northern Jlrthology, Vol. II, pp. 27-8. THE PEASANT AND THE MERMAID 175 176 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS These mermaids are said to entice young men, prognos ticate storms, and fortell the future. Often they carry ; harp. One flung away her harp on hearing that sh& woulc not be saved like a Christian. ' * In Sweden, the door of a fisherman's hut was opened ai night, and a woman's hand appeared. The next night i bold fellow watched, seized the hand, and disappeared Some time afterward, when his wife remarried, he cam€ back, saying that he had dwelt with the mermaid mean- while, but was allowed to revisit the earth on condition ol not entering the house. He did so, however, when the rool of the house was blown off, and the young man soon aftei died.f Another legend, given in a poem by Smaland, is of Duke Magnus, son of Gustavus Vasa, who saw a mermaid, who promises him, if he will marry her, among other thing, a fine ship. But he resisted her importunities, whereupon she declared he would always be crazy. He died insane. I It is deemed unlucky by Swedish fishermen to meet a meerwife. One story is told of a party of fishermen who were doubtingly joking about such beings, when one ap- peared and flung herself into the water. They caught no fish that day. § These Hafsfru are said to appropriate the bodies of drowned men that do not rise to the surface. Swedish folk- tales concerning them are numerous. ]| In one, a maiden jumps overboard to save a ship in a gale, and is protected by the "mermaid who rules over all those that perish by sea." She is allowed to return to earth. In a variant, the " sea-troll " bores a hole in the ship, changes the maiden into a serpent, then into a mermaid, and thus obtains her. In another tale, the troll raises a storm and wrecks man}"- ships. In another, a Havviatid appears to Svend, closes his ears and eyes, and carries him down to his habitation below the waves. Another mermaid stops a ship, obtains from a queen the promise of one of her sons, and then only allows the ship to proceed. The prince is one da)' riding on his horse near the sea, when suddenly the animal plunges in, and carries his rider to the sea-palace. After perform- ing many herculean feats, the hero returned to earth, * Jones. — Credulities, p. 23. -t Jones. — Credulities, p. 26. JThoi-pe.— Northern Mvthology.Vol. II, p. 76. e Grimm.— Ti;ut. Myth. II, 497. II Ddseut.— Fop ular Tales from the Norse. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 177 whither thie maiden follows. In a variant, it is a king who promises his son, and substitutes for him various animals^ which are in turn cast on shore dead. In other stories, people assume the forms of fish, to escape from pursuing mermaids. * Danish legends are also numerous. In the neighbor- hood of Assen, many sea-people appeared on the strand, and fishermen often saw them with their children. In Nordstrand, a merwife grazing her cattle was captured by some people, and in revenge, covered the town with sand. In Aarhuus parish, a merman enticed a maiden to the bottom of the sea. But one day, after she had raised many children, she heard the bells and would go up. He allowed her to go on promise of returning, but she did not, and his wails from the depths are often heard. A ballad "Agnete og Harmandar," and two others, were written on this tale, which is the original of the " Forsaken Merman," of Matthew Arnold. An old Danish ballad says a mermaid foretold the death of Dagmar, queen of Frederick II., and the story goes: "In the year 1576 there came, late in the autumn, a simple old peasant from Samso to the court, then being held at Kalundborg, who related that a beautiful female had more than once come to him, while working in his field by the sea-shore, whose figure from the waist downward resembled that of a fish, and who had repeatedly and strictly enjoined him to go and announce to the king that God had blessed his queen, so that she was progressed of a son (after- ward Christian II.), and would be safely delivered of him." H. C. Andersen tells a story of six mermaids, who were allowed to rise to the surface at sixteen years of age. The youngest saw a ship, and fell in love with a young prince on board. She was changed into an earth maiden by a water- witch, but the prince failed to marry her. Given a knife by her sisters to kill him, she fails to use it, plunges into the water, and is drowned herself. f John Philip Abelinus related in the first volume of his "Theatre of Europe," that in the year 1619 two councillors of Christian IV., of Denmark, sailing between Norway and Sweden, discovered a merman swimming about with a bunch of grass on his head. They threw out a bait to him with a fish-hook concealed therein. The merman was fond of good living, it seems, and was caught with a slice of * Thiele. — Denmarks Folkes Sagen. + Thorpe.— N. Mythology, VoL III, p. 170. 178 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS bacon. When caught, he threatened vengeance so loudly, that he was thrown back into the sea. Abelinus gives a picture of this merman. In 1670, mermaids were seen on the islands off the Dan- ish coast. * Resenius says a mermaid prophesied and preached against drunkenness. Ferrymen testified in 1723, to having seen a merman be- tween Hveen and Ssedland. It was an old man, with black hair and beard, small head and broad shoulders. Popular tradition asserts that children frequently find little animals on the coast, a mixture between a man and a fish, but as soon as they have fed them, they set them into the water, for fear of misfortune, should the sea people be harmed. The malignant character of the mermaid appears in an old ballad, — " Drowned at sea Seven ships of mine she has." In another ballad, a mermaid steals a bride away, but her lover, — " Sail'd Norway's shore along, And there, at her cave, the mermaid found Who wrought so grievous wrong." In the " Power of the Harp," Sir Peter loses his bride in crossing a stream, but calls for his golden harp, whose dul- cet tones charm his mermaid bride and her two sisters from the waves. A mermaid in a certain tale, assumes the human form, but warns her lover never to approach her while she be- comes a fish, as she is then very fierce. fin the Faroe Islands, there was a superstition that every ninth night, seals cast off their skins, assumed human forms, and danced on the beach. A fisherman found a skin one night, and obtained a wife thereby, but she got possession of the skin after years, and disappeared. Other stories similar to this are told, only it is a red cap, instead of a seal's skin. The possessor will be transported over seas by it. t In 1670, mermaids were seen at the Faroe Islands. g Among Shetlanders, there was a firm belief in mermaids, and the seal-skin story is there told as in the Faroe Islands. • life of Frederick II. + Folk-lore Record. t Gould. — Curious Mj-ths of the Middle Ages. Melaaina. 8 Hibbert' s Shetland. Thorpe.— Northern Mythology, Vol. II, p. 173. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 179 A fisherman of Unst saw a group dancing on the strand, picked up a seal-skin, and found a beautiful maiden in tears, who begged the skin, but perforce married him, when re- fused it. She often conversed with sea-people; one of her children found the seal-skin, showed it to her, and she was afterwards seen by her husband as a seal, diving from the rocks. They are thought to dwell in coral caves, resemble human beings, but are more beautiful. Wishing to come on earth, they cast off the hair garment. They are said particularly to love to revel about Ve Skerries (sacred rocks), are mortal, and are said to have been taken and killed by superstitious fishermen. * The mermen were, as Blind shows, known by the name of Finns, and were said to possess great nautical skill, row- ing boats nine miles an hour. Sometimes they pursued ships, when nothing should be said to them, but silver pieces thrown overboard would prevent them from doing harm. Another authority says these men alone doffed the seal-skins, and could only resume the seal form by retain- ing possession of the skin. One tale is told of a merman caught by a fisherman, who grew larger and larger, until the fisherman complied with his request to throw him over- board, when he promised him luck. The stories of sea- brides obtained by mortals are numerous, and the mermaids are always endowed with a fish-tail. Fishermen in the Hebrides are said to have caught a mermaid during the present century. Scotch stories of them are not wanting. An old tale, the " Master of Weemys," is of a ship encountering one at sea, — f ' ' She held a glass with her richt hande. In the other she held a kame; And she kembit her hair, and aye she sang, As she flotterit on the faem. Sayle on, sayle on, said she; Sayle on, and ne'er bluine The wind at will your sayles may fill But the land ye shall nevir win." In another legend a mermaid decoys a knight out to sea with her. In another, a fisherman catches a mermaid in a net. She ties two knots, and darkness comes; three, and a ♦ Blind. — Scottish and Shetlandish Water-tales. Contemporary Keview, August, 1S81. + Scotch and English Legeuddry Biillads. 180 LiEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS tempest. He shakes her off by a spell, and the storm ceases. Here we have the magic storm-causing witch-knots. We find in an old Scotch poem these lines, — "A mennaid from the water rose And spaed Sir Sinclair ill." A sea-maiden promised luck to a Scotch fisherman if he would give up his son in three years. She got him, but his mother finally obtained him from the sea-depths by playing music to the mermaid. * Sometimes the visits of mermaids were considered ben- eficial. A mermaid is said to have asked a Scotchman, who was reading the Bible, if there was comfort there for her. He said there was mercy for the sons and daughters of Adam, when she screamed and disappeared. In the ballad, " Rosmer Hafmand," the merman carries a maiden to his sea-palaces, but she finally deceives him, and is carried back in a chest along with a young lover, whom she has passed off as a relative. fA mermaid, who vi'as accustomed to sing while seated on a stone in front of Knockdolin House, predicted disaster when the stone was removed, on account of her disturbing the young heir with her songs; — " Ye may think on your cradle, I'll think on my stane, And there'll never be an heir to Knockdolin again." Mermaids were often dangerous. "The young Laird of Lorntie was about to rush into the water, to save a 3'oung creature whom he saw struggling there, but was restrained by his servant, who said, " That wailing madam was nae other, God sauf us, than the mermaid," As they rode off, she exclaimed: " Lorntie, Lorntie, Were it na for your man I had gart your hairt's bluid Skirl in my pan! " X Leyden's poem, " The Mermaid," is based on a tradition that a certain McPliail of Colonsa)' Isle, was carried off by a mermaid, and married her, but afterwards deserted her. She sang to him, — * Gregor.— Folk-lore of Scotland. + Folk-lore Record. t Scott.— Jlinstrelsy of the Scottish Border. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 181 " The mennaids sweet sea-soothing lay That charmed the dancing waves to sleep, Before the Bark of Colonsay. And ever as the year returns The charm-bound sailors know the day For sadly still the mermaid mourns The lovely chief of Colonsay." Many other ballads celebrate the adventures of these sea- maidens, who entice mariners into the sea, are sometimes caught in nets, can raise storms by singing, or by knotting their hair, and can be conquered by certain spells. *In the Aberdeen Almanac of 1688, it was predicted, that if people should go to the mouth of the Dee on the ist, 13th, or 29th of May, they would see "a pretty company of mermaids." A school-master of Thurso, testified in 1797, that he saw a mermaid on the rocks, combing her long hair, and twelve j'ears afterward, others were seen in the same place. In 1871, John Mclsaac, of Kintyre, whose testimony was sup- ported by others, averred he saw one on the coast of Scot- land. They are often seen, by the islanders, sitting on the rocks between Jura and Scarba. f A Dr. Hamilton wrote to the Edinburg magazine, some _ ears since, of the finding of a mermaid near the Shetland Islands, by two fishermen. They had it in the boat some two hours, but becoming superstitious, threw it overboard. It was gray in color, and had a fish tail, but neither scales nor hair on its body, nor webs nor fingers on its hands. JWaldron says: "Mermen and Mermaids have been fre- quently seen. Many surprising stories of these amphibious creatures have I been told." § A young mermaid fell in love with a Manx shepherd, and in embracing him, held him so tight, that he feared she \vould do him harm. He accordingly repulsed her, when she flung a stone at him, and mortally wounded him. II Fishermen caught a sea maiden, but let her go, fearful of evil consequences. She was afterward asked what strange things she saw above the water, but the only thing she had particularly remarked, was that the water in which eggs were boiled was thrown away. * Baring Gould.— Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, Melaaina. + Gregor. — Folk-lore of Scotland. i Waldron. — History and Description of the Isle of Alan, 1744. % Scott. — Demonology and Witchcraft. 'Scoft.- -Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. 182 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS A Manx diver reported that he found " below the fishes,'' palaces of mother-of-pearl, with floors of inlaid stones, and inhabited by mermen and maids. * Gervase of Tilbury reports the appearance of mermaids in English seas: "They attract sailors by their sweet songs, and lead them to wreck and destruction." {Sir Thomas Browne says: "They are concieved to answer the shape of the ancient -syren that attempted upon Ulysses, which, notwithstanding, were of another descrip- tion, containing no fish)' composition, but made up of man and bird." JCoad says. " The mermaid, I take it as I find it, whether it were a realitj' or a spectre. I can promise spectres are seen at sea some times, and I believe also that there are such Mockage of Humane Nature seen, as an ape is on the mountain." The early English poets occasionally allude to them. Shakspeare was well versed in the mermaid lore, as he speaks of them in many plays.§ 11 John Taylor, the " water-poet," thus sings of one, — " Four miles from land, we almost were aground, At last, unlook'd for, on our larboard side, A thick turmoyling in the sea we spyed. Like to a Merman, wading as he did. All in the sea his nether parts were hid. Whose brawny limbs and rough, neglected beard. And grim aspect, made us half afraid." He spoke to them in good Kentish, and finally guided them out of danger. Sabrina, goddess of the Severn river, was aided by them when she took refuge in the river depths, — ** " The water-nymphs that in the bottom play'd. Held up their pearled wrists, and took her in." The fish-exhibition alluded to by Autolycus, in " Winter Tale," " Here's another ballad of a fish that appeared upon the coast of a Wednesday, the fourscore of April, forty thousand fathoms above water, and sung this ballad against * Schindler.— Aberglanben des Middelalters, 20. + PseudoJdca Epidemica. Y, 19. $ Astro-Meteorologica (1686), p. 204. JMidsucnmer Ni.ifhts Dream, Act lil, scene 2. Comedy of Errors, Act III ecene 2. Winters" Tale. Antony and Cleopatra, Act II, scenes 3 and 3. Henry VI, Act TH, scene 2. I " A New Discovery by Sea," 1023. ** Milton.— Poems. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. . 183 the hard hearts of maids. It was thought she was a woman, and was turned into a cold fish, for she would not exchange flesh with one that loved her," is paralleled by one in the "City Match,"* " Why, 'tis a man-fish, An ocean centaur, begot between a siren And a he stock-fish." An old mariner's song runs thus, — "One Friday morning we set sail. And, when not far from land, We all espied a fair mermaid With a comb and a glass in her hand; The stormy winds they did blow." Thus embodying the storm-raising omens of sailing on Fri- day, and of seeing a mermaid f The Stationers' Company published, in 1684, an account of " a strange reporte of a monstrous fish that appeared in the form of a woman from the waist upward, scene in the sea." Early navigators chronicle their appearance. Columbus, in his "Journal," relates the appearance of three, raising themselves above the waves. He says he had previously seen them on the coast of Africa. He does not represent them as beautiful maidens, and they were probably manatee or dugongs. Hudson tells us: "This morning, one of our company looking overboard saw a mermaid, and calling up some of the company to see her, one more came up, and by that time she was come closely to the ship's side, looking earnestl)' at the men. A little after, a sea came and over- turned her. From the navel up, her back and breasts were like a woman's, as they say that saw her, her body as big as one of us, her skin very white, and long hair hanging down behind, of color black. Seeing her go down, they saw her tail, which was like that of a porpoise, speckled like a mack- erel." In i8t2, a gentleman of Exmouth saw a creature like a mermaid sporting in the water. One was seen on the Argle- shire coast, on June 4, 1857, rising three or four times out of the water. Other appearances of them in 181 7 and in 1863, near the Suffolk coast, are recorded. The skeleton of a so-called mermaid found on one of the islands, was ascer- tained to be that of a dugong. * Mayne.— City Match, 1639. t Jones.— Credulities. 184 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS *A Story is told among seafaring men that a diver once saw a beautiful mermaid outside of his glass diving-bell. She told him she would protect him, if he would always recognize her in any shape. He promised, but, some days afterwards, he crushed a polypus with his foot. The next time he went down, the mermaid told him it was her whom he had injured, and he soon after met his death in consequence, f Cornish fishermen call them merrj'maids, or Morgan (sea-women). At a place on the coast, a sudden lifting of the fog disclosed seals on a rock, and these were said to be mermaids. Another rock on the Cornish coast, called Mer- maid's Rock, is said to be a haunt of these maidens just be- fore a wreck. Certain }fOung men visited these rocks at such a time, but never reappeared. Senten Harbor was tra- ditionally choked up by a mermaid. One is said to have been caught by an old man, and, in return for carrying her to sea, she gave him the power of dispelling witches, and also bestowed on him her comb. A family in Cornwall still display this comb (really a piece of a shark's jaw) in proof of this visit. A story entitled " The Mermaid's Revenge " tells us that a certain poor couple bathed their child daily in the sea. One day it slipped from their hands, was exchanged for a mer- maid, which grew up in their family. She was afterwards betrayed b}' a lover, and he was dragged into the water, while walking on the strand, some time after- wards, as a punishment for his crime. So-called mermaids have been exhib- ited several times in England. |In 1755, a carefully made imposture representing a mermaid, said to have been captured in the Grecian seas, was exhibited in London. Another, said to have been captured at sea by a Captain Forster, was shown at Covent Garden at the same time, and there is an account of the exhi- bition of one in Chamber's " Book of Days," in 1809. In 1S22, a figure made in the East Indies, and brought to Lon- barnum's MERMAm. don, consisting of a fish-tail joined to an • Bottrell.— Traditions of West Cornwall. + Hunt.— Romance and Drollp of the West of England. t Gould.— Myths of the Middle Ages. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 185 ape's body, was exhibited in London, purchased at a high figure by Barnum, and brought to America. I believe it is now in the Boston Museum. * Scheie de Vere says a living mermaid was advertised in England, but was found to be a woman with a fish's tail sewn to her body. Welsh tales of mermaids are told by Sikes, and by other writers. f The story of the surgeons of Myddvai, relates that one of their ancestors, while sitting on the banks of the dark Lake Lyn y Van Vach, saw three maidens in the water, and courted them. They, however, called him " eater of baked bread," and refused to have anything to do with him. One day, however, he saw unbaked bread floating on the lake, ate it, and was thereby possessed of one of the mermaids. She declared that she would leave him, should he strike her thrice. He did so, in angry moments, and she left him. It is related that she visited her sons, and taught them medi- cine, in which their descendants are yet skilled. Welsh mermaids, however, are scarce, all the water-sprites and water-fairies of their stories being without the fishy tail that characterizes the mermaid proper. A mermaid, looking like a maiden of seventeen years, was seen at Ren-y-hold in 1782. JGwenhidwy, whose sheep are the waves and who, ' Drives her white flocks afield, and warns in time The wary fisherman," was fabled a mermaid. " Take the mermaid's advice, and save thyself; take shelter when you see the mermaid driving her flocks ashore," says an old Welsh poem. § The Irish mermaid is called Merrow, or Moruach (sea- maid). Mermen have green hair, red eyes and nose, and are fond of brandy. A man obtained a sea-wife, but on returning home one night, he saw two seals on the beach, and found that one was his wife, who had obtained her seal-skin. An old Celtic legend says Liban and her family were drowned in Lough Neagh, but she became a mermaid, mar- ried a knight, whom she fascinated, and was baptized. ]| The first merman was Fintan, who came to Ireland » WoQders of the Deep, p. 29. + Choice Notes, Notes and Queries, p. 33 and 34. t See Chapter I. § Croker. — Fairy Legends of the South of Ireland. I Popular Folk-lore of Ireland, Eclectic Mag., 1813. 186 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS before the deluge, was saved in the form of a fish, after- wards lived on shore, and was converted by St. Patrick, and became a saint himself. Old sculptures show him, like the Assyrian Dagon. In the cathedral of Omfert, County Ireland, a sculptured mermaid is seen, carrying a book in her hand. A story of the Lady of GoUerus, given by Croker, relates that a mermaid was caught by getting possession of her enchanted cap (cohuleen druith). She sa)'s she is daughter of the king of the waves, marries her captor, but, as usual, finds the cap and disappears. The tale of the " Last of the Cantillons " relates that deceased members of that family were left on the sea-side to be carried awaj' by sea-men, but that a curious fellow watched these people, and they de- clared no more should be thus carried away. In the story of the Lord of Dunkerron, he encounters a mermaid, — "For a beautiful spirit of ocean, 'tis said, The Lord of Dunkerron would win to his bed; When by moonlight the waters were hush'd to repose That beautiful spirit of ocean arose. Her hair, full of lustre, just floated and fell O'er her bosom that heav'd with a billowy swell." He follows her to sea-caverns, but, after a time, on visit- ing the earth and returning, he finds that she is dead, killed b}' the enraged mermen. * John Reid, of .Cromarty, caught a mermaid, who begged to be put in the water, promising to fulfill three wishes. He did this, and obtained what he wished. Rathlin Island is haunted by a mermaid: '"Tis said, at eve, when rude winds sleep, And hush'd is every turbid swell, A mermaid rises from the deep And sweetly tunes her magic shell." f In another legend, the daughter of the king of the land of youth appears to a j'oung hunter, and he follows her to her courts beneath the waves. A mermaid is said to have been found in a shark's -belly in Ireland, and is minutely described as being of the size of a nine-year-old boy, with long hair, olive skin, one thumb, webbed fingers, etc. It was thrown into the sea. J The Irish feared to kill seals, saying that they were the » Hugh JlillPr. — Scenes and Legends, p. 2<>3. -fr Croker.— FaiiT I^eifonds of the Scth of Ireland. *See Froude.— ■' Short Stories," pi 187. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 187 souls of those drowned at the flood, and that they can put aside their skin and appear in the guise of mortals, but cannot return to their watery element, if the skin is stolen. Among the many legends of the famous piper, is that version in the tale of Maurice Connor, the Irish harper, who pipes a mermaid from the waters, but is in time charmed by her and accompanies her. So Arion, in danger of sacrifice by the Greek crew, plan's first and charms the fish, until he is borne ashore to Corinth. The romantic historians of Ireland assert that Tuire, or sea-maidens, played about the Milesian ships on their way to Ireiand. 188 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS *Breton stories of mermaids are abundant, and fishermen say they often see them on the coast. One (a " Siren ") caught by a peasant, brought bread, clothing, silver and gold, to purchase her freedom, f Brantome says, " Nereids were abundant in French waters during the middle ages." The most celebrated one was Melusina, whose marriage to Raymond of Toulouse, was related above. She was said afterwards to haunt the castle on the death of any one, becoming thus a banshee. From the middle-age treatise of ParacelsusJ comes the legend of Undine, whose story is so charmingly told bj' Fouque. She is really a water-sprite, who visits her foster- parents, and on one occasion sees and loves a wandering knight, who marries her, when she becomes the possessor of a soul, and various vicissitudes common to mortals await her. She once revisits the water-depths, and strange enough, returns unharmed, but the knight soon after dies. There is a French legend of Poul Dahut, a rock on the Breton coast, where the daughter of a sea-king, Dahut, is said to sit in rough weather. §A Breton tale is told of a ladj', who found a mermaid on the beach, and put her into the water. The grateful sea-maiden brought her a shell, with a drink in it, telling her to give it to her son. Instead, she gave it to her cat, which became wise, but malicious, while her son was always half-witted. In Provence, a gold ring is thrown into the water, and verses repeated, to charm the water king. A negro mermaid was exhibited at St. Germain Fair in Paris, in 1758, and a shop in Ostend contained, in 1881, a figure said to be a mermaid, a cut of which was shown in Harper's Magazine. II In an old " History of the Netherlands," we find this account of the appearance of one in 1493, at Haarlem: " At that time there was a great tempest at sea, with exceeding high tides, the which did drown many cities in Friseland and Holland; by which tempest there came a sea- woman swimming in the Zuyder-Zee, betwixt the towns of Campen and Edam, the which, passing b}" the Purmeric, entered into the strait of a broken dyke in the Purmermer, where she * SJbillot.— Litterature Orale de Haute Bretagne. + Dictionnaire Historique. t Treatise on Elementar.r Spirits. % Gubematis — ZoologiciU MytUoloery. I Baring Gould.-Curioue Mj-ths, of the Uiddle Ages, MeloeiBa. OF THE SEA AND OF SAIT.ORS. 189 remained a long time, and could not find the hole by which she entered, for that the breach had been stopped after that the tempest had ceased. Some country women and their servants who did daily pass the Purmeric, to milk their kine in the next pastures, did often see this woman swim- ming on the water, whereof at the first they were much afraid; but in the end being accustomed to see it very often, they viewed it nearer, and at last they resolved to take it if they could. Having discovered it, they rowed toward it, and drew it out of' the water by force, carrying it in one of their barks unto the town of Edam. When she had been well washed and cleansed from the sea-moss which was grown about her, she was alike unto another woman; she was apparalled, and began to accustom herself to ordinary meats like unto other mortals; yet she sought still means to escape, and to get into the water, but she was straightly guarded. They came from fare to see her. Those of Har- lem made great sute to them of Edam to have this woman by reason of the strangenesse thereof. In the end they obtained her, where she did learn to spin, and lived many years (some say fifteen), and for the reverence which she bare unto the signe of the crosse whereupon she had been accustomed, she was buried in the churchyarde. Many per- sons worthy of credit have justified in their writings that they had scene her in the said towne of Harlem." There is no fish-maiden here. . If we are to believe the story at all, we may reasonably suspect this to be some out- cast like Caspar Hauser, a human being trained to the shal- low water of the pond, and placed to live there and be adopted by her finder, or we may account it the designed fraud of some sharp Hollander. In fact, more careful study has demonstrated that the earliest accounts of her only described her as a water-woman, and the mermaid myth was afterward invented. A mermaid is said to have appeared to Antwerp whalers and said, — * "Sailors, throw out a cask So soon you whales shall have." \A mermaid prophesied the destruction of Zevenbergen, a wicked city of Holland, in 1721, and also of Minden, — " Zevenbergen must perish And Lobbeken's seven towers still remain.' * Landrin.— Les Monstres Marins. 154—276. •t Scheie de Vere.— Wonders of the Deep, p. 25. 190 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS * Caspar Schott gives a curious sketch of a Triton with human body, arms and head, and fish tail. f Ludovicus Vivus relates that in his time a mermaid was taken in Holland, and carefully kept for two years; that she began to speak, or at least to make a very disagreeable noise in imitation of speech; that she found an opportunity, and got into the sea. The same writer saj's that Lieuten- ant Transmale saw at the time he was sent v/ith some men on an expedition in the Bay of Hodudela, as did all the people that were with him, in clear daytime, two mermaids, the one greater, the other smaller, which they took to be TRITON, FROM SCHOTT. man and wife, swimming together, and the hair of their heads hung over their neck, and that it appeared between a green and grayish color; and that they could see that the)' had breasts. They were all above the waists shaped exactlj' as a human creature, but from thence downward they seemed to go off tapering to a point. About six weeks afterward, near the same place, a like appearance was seen by upward of fift)' people. Holland afterward became celebrated for its mermaids, so much so that in that country, and its colonics, the mer- maid was deemed a native production. *Physica Ciiriosa, l«i2. Euysch.— Natural History. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 191 * Valentin, a curate of Amboyna, published in the Dutch tongue a large collection of facts, in support of the exist- ence of the mermaid." Many certificates accompanied his description, and the beautifully colored figures, in the curi- ous work referred to. fin 1611 it is said a mermaid or sea-woman was taken alive near the island of Boro, which was fifty-nine inches long. She lived four days and seven hours and then died, as she would not eat anything. She was never heard to articulate any noise. One Samuel Falvers, in Amboyna, preserved the body for some time, and made out an exact THE MOLUCCA SIREN. description of it, by which it appears that her head was like a woman's, properly proportioned, with eyes, nose and mouth, only the eyes, which were light blue, seemed to differ a little from the human species. The hair, that just reached over the neck, appeared of sea-green and grayish color. She had breasts, long arms, hands, and all the upper parts of the body almost as white as a woman's, but leaning somewhat to the sea-gra}'. The lower part of her body ap- peared like the hinder part of a fish. * Poissons, Ecrivisses et Crabea de divers couleurs et figures extraordinaii'es, q'on a trouve dans les lies Moluqnes, Amsterdam, 1717. + B. Gould,— Curious Mj-ths, of the Middle Ages, Melnsina. 192 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Dr. Kerschur, in one of his scientific reports, relates that another mermaid was caught in the Zuyder Zee, and dis- sected at Leyden by Professor Peter Pau, and in the same - learned report, he makes mention of still another, who was found in Denmark, and who was taught to knit, and foretell future events. This njermaid had a pretty face, mild, spark- ling eyes, a small, tiny nose; long, drooping arms; the fin- gers of her hands joined by a cartilage like a goose's foot; the breasts round and hard, and the skin covered with white shells. He asserted that the mermaids and mermen consti- tute a submarine population, which, partaking of the skill of the ape and the beaver, build their grottoes of stone in places inaccessible to all divers, and where they spread out their beds of sand, in which they he, sleep and enjoy their loves. The mermaid of the Royal Museum at the Hague was seen by Alexandre Dumas, during a visit there. He de- scribes it as quite dried and withered, and in color very like the head of a Caribbee. Her eyes were shut, her nose flat- tened, her lips sticking to the teeth, of which only a few remained; her bosom was conspicuous, though sunk; a few short hairs stood out upon the head; finally, the lower part of the body terminated in a fish's tail. There was no opening for dispute. It was really and truUy a siren, a mermaid, a sea-nymph. " If, after all this, there shall be found those who disbelieve the existence of such creatures as mermaids, let them please themselves. I shall give m}'- self no more trouble about them." * Dimas Bosque, physician to the viceroy of the island of Manara, relates in a letter inserted in Bartholdi's " His- tory of Asia," that walking one day on the sea-shore with a Jesuit father, a party of fishermen came running up to them to invite the father to enter their barge, if he wished to be- hold a prodigy. There were sixteen fishes with human faces in the barge — nine females and seven males — all of which the fishermen had just drawn up with a single cast of their net. Their teeth were square and close!}' set together. The chest was broad and covered with a skin, singularl)' white, which left visible the blood-vessels. Their ears were elevated like our own, cartilaginous, and covered with a fine skin. Their eyes were similar to ours in color, shape and position; they were inclosed in their orbiis, Landrin. — Les Monstres Marin.s. 271. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 193 below the forehead, furnished with lids, and did not pos- sess, like fishes, different axes ot vision. Their nose only differed from the human nose, by its being rather flatter, like the negro's, and partially slit up, like a bulldog's. In all of them the mouth and lips'were perfectly similar to ours. The females had round, full and firm bosoms, and some of them appeared to be suckling their young, as when the breasts were pressed upon, a very white and delicate milk jetted out. Their arms, two cubits in length, and much fuller and plumper than the men's, had no joints; their hands were joined to the cubitus. Lastly, the lower por- tion, beginning with the haunches and thighs, was divided into a double tail, as we see in ordinary fishes. * German tales of the mermaid proper are not numerous. Goethe's "Waterman" is a pretty version of a Danish tale of a mermaid. A merman visits the church, and weds a maiden who falls in love with him. He brings a ship for her, and they embark, — " But when they were out in the midst of the sound, Down went they all in the deep profound." In German legend, there is a queen of the sea, Merreimne (Norse Marmenille, mer-woman). She was fished up from the sea in a net, but the terrified fishermen hastily threw her overboard. Three men are said to have caught a mermaid at Wen- ingstede, in Schleswick-Holstein, but they put her back in the water, on hearing her cries. It is there believed that they foretell a storm, when seen about the bov/s of a ship. A " Waterman " is said to have stopped a ship at sea, and to have refused to let it go until the queen, a passenger thereon, should descend to his palace, where a midwife was needed. Goethe's ballad, " Sir Peter of Stauffen," depicts the power of the mermaid's song; and there is another old ballad, where a waterman " Drags her down to his ocean cave The gentle Amelie." The Lorelei, who is fabled to sit on the rocks in the Rhine, and lure boats to destruction, is celebrated in song by Heine and Doenninger, and mermaids are represented in Wagner's Rheingold. ' Baring Gould.— Curious Mj-th£, ot the Middle Ages. 194 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS An old German legend is told of a certain countess, who was seized while bathing, by mermaids and men, and stripped of her jewels. She expressed a great desire to recover her wedding-ring, at least, and on the seventh day thereafter, it was found in the stomach of a fish, caught near the spot where she had bathed. *A Hamburg skipper, Jan Schmidt, saw a mermaid in 1610, while at sea near Bayonne, just at daylight. He knew she would drag some one down, so had his men repulse her with long poles and pikes. When she found them prepared for her, she uttered a piercing cry, and dove down into the sea. At Nidden, in West Prussia, a mermaid sits on the rocks and deco3's persons to her, but they are drowned ere they reach her. Frisians say there are but seven mermaids, and that a man devoting himself to one of them, will suffer death, should he ever abandon her. In an Esthonian tale, a fisherman sees a daughter of the "Mother of the Seas," falls in love with her, and marries her. She leaves him on ever}' Thursda}', and, on watching her, he finds she has a fish-tail. fin the Finnish Epic, the "Hostess of the Sea," rises at the sound of Wainamolnen's harp (the wind), and combs her long locks by the seaside. That hero catches a mer- . maid, but as he is about to cut her open and eat her, she disappears. Wallachian, Wendic, and Russian stories of water- sprites are told, some of whom assume the shape of birds, and fly through the air. Many of these are a kind of a cross between mermaids and sirens. Mermaids are said to have been seen near Portugal in 1531, and Spanish and Italian stories of them are recorded. J Lamia is a water-maiden in modern Greece, who is represented as malicious, greedy, and sensual, dragging people into the water. Mermaids are not, however, so abundant in southern waters, as in the colder seas of the north. § Chinese say mermaids are of the shape of demons, and are ruled by a harp}', NUkira, who, when the heavens were torn, mended them, but left a hole in the northwest, whence * Schmidt.— Seeraan's Sagen und Schiffer Mfirchen. + Kaleva\a.— Le Due's Tranplation. f Halm.— Gn-icjhishe Jiarchen. iDenDys.— l<"olk-lore of Cbina. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 195 emerge the cold winds. They call mermaids sea-women (hai-nli), and numerous stories are told of them. One is said to have been captured at Nanchow in i8co, and many \saw her; and another was found at Niishan. A cabinet councillor is said to have found one on the beach in Corea, and carried her to sea, putting her in it. * In the Loochoo Islands also, one is said to have lived with a native ten years, but finally she climbed a tree, and disappeared. Here we have a nymph of the sky-sea. Japan is, however, the headquarters of these coy maidens of the sea. Here an old Dutch navigator obtained the first "veritable" mermaid, and they may still be procured of ingenious natives. Numbers have been shown in museums, etc., deftly made by uniting a child's head to a fish's body. At Bartholomew fair, in 1825, there was exhibited a mer- maid, obtained by a Dutch ship from Japan, and the Otto- man minister to Paris, in 1840, related that he had seen a veritable sea-woman, brought from Eastern seas. A Japanese legend relates that a mermaid prophesied an epidemic. f Ottawa Indians believed in the existence of a mermaid with two fish-like extremities, and called her daughter of the flood. Pascagoula Indians had traditions of a race emerging from the sea, who worshiped a mermaid. An Ottawa tale is told of a certain Wassaur conveyed by a spirit-maiden to the "Spirit of the Sand Dunes," in Lake Superior. X B. Gould tells a tale of an Ottawa chieftain who saw a beautiful woman arise from the water. She wished to have a human soul, but could only have one by marrying a mor- tal. The tribe drove her away, and the result was a war of extermination with another tribe (Adirondacks), and finally one w'as left, who was carried down by the water-maiden at St. Anthony's Falls. These maidens have often been seen on our shores. § Captain John Smith_saw, in 1614, off an island in the West Indies, a mermaid, with the upper part of the body perfectly resembling a woman. Slie was swimming about with all possible grace when he descried her near the shore. Her large ej-es, rather too round, her finely-shaped nose, * Conway.— DemonologT. II, 218. + Gould.— Myths o( the Jliddle Ages, Melaeina. t Gould.— Curious Myths, p. TM. § Landrin.— Les Monstres Marius. 270. 196 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS somewhat short, it is true, her well-formed ears, rather too long, however, made her a very agreeable person, and her long green hair imparted to her an original character by no means unattractive. Unfortunately the beautiful swimmer made a slip, and Captain Smith, who had already begun to experience the first effects of love, discovered that from below the waist the woman gave way to the fish. *Jocelyn also tells of them: "One Mr. Miller, relates of a triton or mermaid, which he saw in Casco bay ; the gen- tleman was a great fowler, and used to go out with a small boat or canoe, and fetching a compass about a small island, there being many islands in the bay, he encoun- tered with a triton, who, laying his hands upon the sides of the canoe, had one of them chopped off with a hatchet by Mr. Miller, which was in all respects like the hands of a man; the triton presently sunk, dyeing the water with his purple blood, and was no more seen." The following account from a newspaper, of a similar occurrence, is given, — "John Dilercy related a curious story of some American fishermen. One night, it being a perfect calm, they observed a mermaid coming into their vessel, and fearing it to be some mischievous fish, in the fright of one of them, cut the creature's hand off with a hatchet, when it sank immediately, but soon came up again and gave a deep sigh as one feeling pain. The hand was fouad to have five fingers and nails like a woman's hand. " The Richmond Dispatch, of July, i88i, published an ac- count of a negro woman who said that she, being pursued to death by some one in Cuba, jumped overboard, and was, after drifting for hours, rescued by a band of mer- maids, who took her to their sea-caverns, and finall}^ placed her on board a vessel bound for New Orleans. In a dail}' (Boston) paper of October 31, 1881, is con- tained the following account of a mermaid captured in Aspinwall Bay and brought to New Orleans, — "This wonder of the deep is in a fine state of preserva- tion. The head and body of a woman are very plainly and distinctly marked. The features of the face, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, arms, breasts and hair are those of a human being. The hair on its head is of a pale, silky blonde, sev- ei'al inches in length. The arms terminate in claws closely • Jocelj-n'5 Vojagee, 1673, p. 23. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 197 resembling an eagle's talons, instead of fingers with nails. From the waist up, the resemblance to a woman is perfect, and from the waist down, the body is exactly the same as the ordinary mullet of our waters, with its scales, fins and tail perfect. Many old fishermen and amateur anglers who have seen it pronounce it unlike any fish they have ever seen. Scientists and savants alike are ' all at sea ' respecting it, and say that if the mermaid be indeed a fabulous creat- ure, they cannot class this strange comer from the blue waters." Torquemada says that Mexican legends of the mermaid related that she, the tortoise and the whale, formed a bridge of their bodies for a man to pass the House of the Sun. * Herbert Smith says there are stories on the lower Amazon, of water-maidens with long black hair, who sing and entice young men into the water. Uangaia, King of the Fishes, assumes many shapes, and entices women into the waters. f Moravian missionaries in South America brought from thence wonderful stories of mermen and mermaids, some having seen these beings, with brown skin and long hair, in the water. The natives feared them and would not harm them, fearing disaster. Negroes of Surinam told English officers, in i8oi, that they often saw mermaids playing in the river on moonlight nights. The tradition of the mermaid will long survive in nauti- cal nomenclature. English fishermen call the frog-fish Meermaid, although no reference to the mermaid is in- tended. The Sfongia palmata is called the mermaid's glove, and the outer covering of shark's eggs, as well as the hollow root of the sea-weed Fucus polyschides, are named the mer- maid's purse. Having thus traced the history of the mermaid, and given an account of her in all corners of the earth, we are prepared to believe her origin not an unnatural one, but a development of ideas originating in antiquity, and fostered during an age of credulity and superstition. Her origin is undoubtedly rnythical, but various causes natural and legendary have assisted the myth in its growth. As before said, these maidens are originally cloud-nymphs. This an- » Brazil. + Scheie do Vere.— Wonden of the Deep, p. 22. 198 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS cestry has already been partially traced in the present chapter. Analogies between the mermaids and these an- cient mythical beings have been given. Like Proteus, they may (at least the water-sprites can) change their forms at will. This is an attribute of their primitive form, that of the Apsaras, or " formless ones," whose cloud bodies arose from the vaporous deep. Like Nereus, they are possessed of great wisdom. This is also an attribute of all the primitive beings who arose from the deep, as Oannes, Hea, Viracocha, etc. Like the ancient sea-deities, they are benificent, since they possess great wealth. This latter characteristic is al- leged of all the sea beings. The hoard of the Niflungs, the golden palace of Neptune, and of GEg^r, the Rheingold, and other instances of this wealth, will be remembered If they are malicious, or diabolic, they derive such a temper- ament from Nick, or from Typhon, from their ancestors the Sirens, or their prototypes, the harpies. The bad omen derived from their appearance may be traced at least to Melusinar, who, after her death, becomes a banshee or evil apparition. Perhaps the Christian influence in the degra- dation of heathen deities may have aided in establishing a diabolic character. The song of the mermaid, by which she often lures to destruction listening mortals, is but the dangerous lay of the Sirens, or the sweet attractions of Circe. *The Myth is ancient, as Hylas was so charmed in the Argonautic vo3'ages. This la}' is none other, as we have seen, than the sweet strains of Orpheus' harp, and here perhaps is the origin of the mermaid's comb, doubtless the ancient Ij're. Being thus always malevolent, when seen at sea, and ominous in ap- pearance, she would be naturally connected with the weather, a significant fact corroborating her cloud-parentage. The fish-tail peculiar to the mermaid is doubtless derived pri- marily from the Assyrian Oannes, and we have seen Tritons and Nereids thus represented. The Sirens, anciently birds, became, later, beauteous maidens, and were finally endowed with the scaly appendage. f Price has thus embodied these ideas: " The Nereids of antiquity, the daughters of the sea, born sfeers, are evidently the same with the mermaids of the British and Northern shores; the habitations of both are fixed in crystal caves or coral palaces, beneath the waters of the ocean; and the}' ' Ap. Ehodius.— " Argonauties," 1, 131. + Introduction to Walton's History of Poetry. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 199 are alike distinguished for their partiality to the human race, and their prophetic power in disclosing the events of futurity. The Naiads differ only in name from the Nixen of Germany and Scandinavian Nissan, or the water-elves of our countrymen .iElfric." Philologists find, however, that even this difference does not exist, since from a Sanskrit word S)ia, to flow, are de- rived the names for Naiad, Nereid, Nymph, Nick, etc. These beings require some recompense for their services, which represents the ancient sacrifices to the water-deities. The priestly influence is again visible in the notion that this gift is baptism, or salvation. The myth of marriage to mor- tals is of more difficult interpretation, and is closely con- nected with the legends of their having the power of chang- ing their form, and of the possession of some mysterious garment whereby the change is effected. This garment was originally a swan's plumage, but is sometimes a peculiar cap, a seal-skin, or even a girdle. The swan story is first told in the Kaiha Saj-it Sagatha. * Svidatta saw a swan in the Ganges, plunged in, and followed the maiden to her palace beneath the waves. The story is common to man)'^ lands, and is even known among the Mongols and Tartars. f.iEsch)'lus says the Phorkides were swan-shaped. In the Hymn to Apollo, the clouds are swan-nymphs, attendant on Phoebus, the sun. " Here, then, we have the groundwork of all those tales which speak of men as wedded to fairies, nymphs, nixies, mermaids, swan- maidens or other supernatural beings." " From the thought which regarded the cloud as an eagle or swan, it was easy to pass to the idea that the birds were beautiful maidens; and hence that they could at will, or on the ending of the enchantment, assume their human form." "Then would follow the myth that the only wa}' to capture these beings was to seize their garments of swan's or eagle's plumes, without which they were powerless." But while we may acknowledge the mythical origin of these beings, there are many natural causes whose influence aided in the formation and perpetuation of the mermaid myth. Much of the testimony recorded above is too cir- cumstantial to be accounted a mere trick of the imagination, or morbid fancy of the writers. Species of existing sea-animals have certainly aided in •Gould.— Myths of the Middle Ages. t Cox Myth. Ai. Nat, H. TJCL 200 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS perpetuating these many stories of maidens of the sea. The dugong and manatee especially have a human look, having large breasts and short, arm-like fins. * Scoresby says the front view of a young walrus without tusks resembles a hu- man face. Speaking of their habit of rearing the head above the water, he says, " I have myself seen a sea-horse in such a position, and under such circumstances, that it required very little stretch of the imagination to mistake it for a hu- man being; so like, indeed, was it, that the surgeon of the ship actually reported to me his having seen a man with his head just appearing above the water." French and Ger- man heraldic signs represent mermaids with one or two tails. The French call the maLnaXce. femme tnarine, and the Dutch name the dugong mannetje (little man) and Baardanetzee (little beard). Professor Owen thinks these animals are the mermaids of fable. In Oriental legend, the dugong is the mermaid of the Indian ocean, and their tears are pearls, and attract persons to them. Stories of mermaids singing or talking may also have arisen from hearing the cries of the seal, said by navi- gators to resemble those of an infant. The well-known friendliness of that animal to man, and its gentleness, would favor the current ideas concerning mermaids. Thus, while the mythical idea grew up in a superstitious age, the reports of mariners of these strange animals to a people equally ig- norant in science, would foster and preserve the growths of the myths. f Scheie de Vere, in alluding to the accounts given of mermaids by the Moravian missionaries, in South America, conjectures these mermaids to be the Canthoeirus, a race of savages who almost live in the waters of the great rivers of the Amazon valley, often attack boats, and are greatly feared by the natives. Here would be a natural element in the growth of the mermaid myth. \ Hone tells a story of a certain Vega, who, in 1675, leaped into the sea and was drawn ashore four years afterwards, covered with scales. He had forgotten his language, but was recognized by his fam- ily. He lived several years afterwards, but finally disap- peared. § Tieck pronounces the story authentic. 'Voyages. + Wonders of the Deep. % Hone.-Table Book, Vol. U, p. 188. SDas Waseerman, 183L OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 201 But a far more famous story was that of Cola Pesce. This has been current in Italy, says * Pitre, for more than five hundred years. An account of this wonderful being is given in many old chronicles, and versions of the tale are found in various parts of Italy. The legend is further perpetuated by. a great number of popular poems in vari- ous languages, concerning a diver who was lost in the sea. The main features of the legend are as follows: — Cola or Niccolo Pesce lived in Naples during the reign of Frederick II. " From his infancy he took pleasure onlyin the water, and his mother, irritated at this, condemned him to live there. He lived with the fish, appeared to sailors, and predicted storms." Popular traditions further relates that the king em- ployed him in satisfying his many whims. One day, wishing to know how deep the sea was, he cast a cannon ball into it, and asked Cola to bring it'back. "Your Maj- esty," said he, "I shall be lost, I shall never return; but^f you insist, I must try." He went down until he found himself in a garden, in an open space; where he' could not rise again, and there he died. It is said that he, like Jonah and Hiawatha, traveled in the belly of a fish, from place to place. In Mezzacamoni street in Naples, abas- relief in the wall of a house is shown as that of Niccolo Pesce, concerning whom there are many other stories. These, along with the other phantoms of the deep, no longer appear to the intelligent mariner of this scientific age. Yet in remote corners, and to skeptical vision, such apparitions still are recorded. But in spite of the occasional reports of such visions, we may reasonably conclude with the Swedish poet, Stagneli, that, — "The Neck no more upon the river sings, And no mermaid to bleach her linen plays Upon the waves in the wild solar rays." • Archivio dei Trad. Popolari, Vol. 1 &8. t Walter Ma pes, Nagse CurialanL. Gerrase of Tilbury, Otia Imperiala, &o., &o. H Scritti Ital., 9, 669: § B. Croce in M^lnsine I., Feb. 6, 1886. 13 CHAPTER V. SEA-MONSTERS AND SERPENTS. "Canst thou draw out leviathan with a hook?" Joh, xxxvi. "Of that sea-snake, tremendous curled, Whose monstrous circle girds the world. " Scott. — Lay of tlu Last Minstrel, vi. ' God quickened in the seas and in the rivers. So many fishes of so many features. That in the waters we may see all creatures, Even all that on the earth are to be found." U BARTAS but echoed the ideas of his own and of pre- ■ ceding ages. The strange I ^ catalogue of fishes which he proceeds to give, elsewhere repeated, by no means ex- hausted the fauna of the sea, according to the ideas of antiquity, and the beliefs of the middle ages. We have seen the waters of the globe peopled with deities, with demons, and with human or semi- human beings and sprites; with giants, dwarfs, elves, and trolls. It would have been strange, if the same fertile imaginations that fig- ^^^^^^:; ured these beings, to correspond with similar ~ creations on the land, had not placed in the waters other wonders, the parallels of similar land-animals commonly supposed to exist. Thus, then, as there had been imagined, throughout all antiquity, land-monsters, dragons, and serpents of pro- digious size, we may expect to find in the ocean, the scene of so much myster}- and dread, animals of a similar char- acter, proofs of whose fancied existence is evidenced by the »Du Bartas.— Divine Weeks and Works. 202 LEGENDS OF THE M;A. 203 names, sea-elephant (morse) Macrorhinus proboscidens, sea- horse (walrus), sea-swallow (flying-fish), sea-leopard {Sten- orhynchus Leofardus), sea-bear (Otarie), sea-cow (Manatee) sea-dragon (Coitus), sea-lion (Flaforhynchus), sea-wolf {^Ana- rhynchus lupus), and sea-hog (porpoise), terms still existing in marine nomenclature. * I have already described the strange half-fish monsters that were said to have appeared from time to time from the Persian Gulf. There were other monsters in those seas at that time, f Berosus says there were seen in Chal- dean waters, monsters with four-fold bodies of dogs, but with fish-tails, and men with fish-tails, horses with fish-tails, and serpents with fish-heads and fins. Omoroka, a mon- ster-woman, presided over these. Monsters of the deep are alluded to in" many places in the Bible. JA whole chapter of Job is devoted to the Levi- athan. Commentators have devoted much time to it, but have never agreed as to whether it is intended to describe the crocodile, the behemoth, the dragon, or the serpent. The subject will be alluded to again in the present chapter. Other monstrous sea-animals are spoken of, but are plainly fictitious. § A Talmudic tale assures us that a fish came ashore in the Mediterranean, so large that the people of sixty cities ate from, and those of sixty more salted down some of its flesh, and from one of its eyes, three hundred measures of oil were obtained. Classical authority has bequeathed us many monsters. Such, according to the mythographers, were the aquatic ■demons who attacked Andromeda, sent by Neptune to devour her, in revenge for a boastful speech. This monster, the Pistris, was paralleled by that which attacked Hesione,|| from which Hercules delivered her by jumping down the monster's throat, whence he emerged, after three days' con- finement, by hacking his way out. But Perseus and Her- cules were Sun-gods, and these monsters are therefore understood to be clouds sent from t' ; sea, dispersed by the sun's power. Other monsters were known in antiquity.** The Chilon had a man's head, and lived on its own humors. * See Chapter II. -f Cory. — Ancient Fraerments. t Job, Clmpter XLI. S Jones.— Credulities, p. 53. t Cox.— Aryan Mythology, p. 293. ♦♦Scheie de Vere.— Wonders of the Deep. p.KX 204 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS The Balena was like a whale, but was cruel to its mate. The Dies was a fish with -two wings and two legs, living only a day. The Hippocampus was half-horse, half-fish, and covered with scales. * Aristotle tells of a gigantic squid, or calmar, ten feet four inches long. Trebius sa3's one came ashore at Carteia, and ate salt meats. It climbed a high fence, was attacked by dogs, and only subdued with great difficulty. Its head was as big as a cask, its arms thirty feet long, and its-body estimated at seven hundred pounds. jElian says one de- stroyed warehouses in Spain, and was killed with difficulty. Pliny says a great mollusk, called Arbas, had such long arms that it could not enter Gibraltar Straits without ground- ing. Strange monsters attended Amphitrite and Poseidon. In Hindoo legend, Krishna slew a monster that lived at the bottom of the sea. Pali legend tells of a gigantic crab that lived there also.f Hanamaut slew a monster and was devoured by another, liberating himself by distending his body and bursting the monster open. Here is doubtless another cloud-myth, as Hanamaut is son of the winds. Varuna, god of the watery element was attended by animals having the heads of antelopes, and the tails of fish. Like Krishna and Apollo, Indus, Vishnu, Ahura Mazda, Feridun, Sigurd, and others slew monsters of the deep. But the accounts of sea-monsters became more circum- stantial and more numerous in the middle ages, as men became better acquainted with the great outer sea. Many of these fabulous creatures are borrowed from antiquity. J "The middle ages did not await the dream of Olaus to possess marine monsters. Antiquity had abundantly pro- vided them, and in joining to these conscientiousl)- those of the bible, they peopled the depths of the ocean with a thousand creatures. The Leviathan cleaved with his gigantic fins the eastern seas, the § Physeter, that Solin had borrowed from Pliny, rejecting so great an abundance of water that it could sink a ship easily, and, as a vast water-sprite, play with its debris," were among these. Perhaps the earliest and most marvelous accounts of these aquatic giants came from the. Arabs — the earliest mediaeval navigators. || El Kazwini gives us several ac- ♦ Landrin. — Les Monstres Marins, p. 26. + Eamayana. — Wiison'e Trans. t Denys de Montfort.— MoUusques, in Buffon's Natural History. i Pliny.— Natural History, Vol. IX, p. 3. - OF THE SEA AND OF = SAILORS. 305 counts of these: " In the sea of China is a fish more than three hundred cubits long; fear is entertained for the ship on account of it; and when the people know of its passing by, they call out, and beat with wood, that it may flee at their noises; when it raiseth its fin, it is like an enormous sail." He sa)^s further, that an enormous fish in the same waters beats and sinks ships with its tail, and that another has an owl's face. "As to the sea-tortoise, it is very enormous, so that the people of the ship imagine it to be an island. One of the merchants relates as follows regard- ing it. 'We found in the sea an island, elevated above the water, having upon it green plants, and we went forth and dug holes for fire to cook. Whereupon the island moved, and the sailors said, ' Come ye, to your places, for it is a tortoise, and the heat of the fire hath burnt it, lest it carry you away.' 'By reason of its bod}',' said he, 'it was as though it were an island, and earth collected upon its back in the length of time, so that it became like land, and pro- duced plants. ' " 'Another chronicler. El Wardee, corrobo- rates these statements of El Kazwini, and it is doubtless to their account that we owe the tales of monsters given in that veracious chronicle, the Arabian Nights Entertainments. Sinbad encountered the island-fish in his third voyage. He relates that they were becalmed near a little green island, and many landed on it, he among the number.* " We had not long landed, when, on a sudden, the island trembled, and shook us terribly. The people on board saw our situation, and called out to us to re-embark directly, as what we had taken for an island, was only the back of a prodigious fish." Again he says: " I saw fishes of a hundred and two hun- dred cubits long; far from being dangerous, they fly from the least noise. I saw also other fishes, about a cubit long, which had heads like owls." A monster, who has a human body with shark's head, while on shore, and is a shark in the sea, figures in the story Al Habib. Another monster fish opposed his progress, but was subdued by a magic charm. f El Masudi says there are whales in the sea of Zeudi 44,500 cubits long. J A Jewish work, the Bara Bathra, says a ship was three days in passing from the tail to the head of a whale. * Leine's Arabian Nights. — Sinbad's Third Voyage. + Golden Meadows, ch. IH- t Landrin.— Les Monstres Marins, p. 150. i Eisenmonger, Entdecker, Jndentham, 399. 206 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS El Wardee, Sinbad and El ,Kazwini all tell of fish the shape of a cow, and of one the shape of a camel. * Ibn Ba- tuta says that he saw a fish, whose head was as large as a mountain, and whose eyes were the size of two great doors. Arab cosmographers told of the island Kalken, where men lived, with the heads of marine monsters upon their shoul- ders. Christian writers related marvels equally great. Many of them have described the Bishop-fish and Monk-fish, — »IOP«K-FISH. RONDELET S BISHOP-nSH. + "And which I most admire, The mitred bishop and the cowled friar; Of which examples, but a few years since Were shown the Norway and Polonian prince.'' J Rondelet gives a more explicit description of them, " In our time there has been caught in Norway, after a great tempest, an ocean monster, to which all who saw it incon- tinently affixed, the name of the monk; for it had a man's * " Voyages." + Du Bartas.— Divine Weeks and Works. + Universum Piscum Historia (1J»4), in Landrin, p. 288. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 207 face, rude and ungraceful, with a bald, shining head; on the shoulders, something like a monk's hood; long winglets, in- stead of arms; the extremity of the body terminated in a tail." Rondelet says it was caught and taken to the King of Poland, but made vehement signs to be put in the water, and when this was done, plunged in and disappeared. * De Vere says Holland originated the stories of the bishop-fish and monk-fish. In 1305, a sea-knight was caught here, covered with a complete suit of armor. It died in three weeks. A tradition of this curious fish existed in later times, f Buchan says, "Among the prodigies of this time (874), they reckoned those sea-fishes then appearing, which are seldom seen, and after long intervals of time. But they never appear but in shoals, nor without some unlucky presage. The common people call them Monachi-marini, i.-e., Sea-monks." Probably a tradition of these notions remains in the name given the Squatina Angelus — of " Sea-monk," and the " Ca- puchin " (Stemmalopus Cristatus). Scandinavia abounded in these monsters. J Gesner tells 01 the Island-fish on which mariners landed. Olaus Mag- nus, in his chapter on "Anchors Fastened on Whales' Backs," says, " The whale hath upon his skin a superficies like the gravel that is by the seaside, so that ofttimes, when he rais- eth his back above the water, sailors take it to be nothing else than an island, and land upon it, and they strike piles into it, and fasten them to their ships; they kindle fires upon it to boil their meat, until at length the whale, feeling the fire, dives down suddenly into the depths, and draws both men and ship after him unless the anchor breaks." § Another old work gives us curious monsters. The Physeter has head and neck like a horse, and ejects water from a tube in his head. The Alcetre had a head and snout like a boar, and spouted water from a tube. Ariosto represents Astolfo as being carried on the back of an enormous whale, to the island of Fata Alcuna, — I"Among the rest, a mighty whale is view'd, The greatest, sure, that ever swam the flood, And as he lay unmov'd, by looks deceiv'd We all the monster for an isle believ'd." * Scheie de Vere.— Wonders of the Deep. + History of Scotland, in Mangin, p. 359. tDe Piscura U5S7) in Landrin, p. 148. § Wolfhart. — Prodigiorum ac URtentorum Chronica. Q. by Wood, ** Atlan- tic, "June, 1884. B Hoole's Ariosto, VI, p. 260. 208 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS * Francheval, in the " Bestiare d'Amour," tells us, " So there is had a kind of whale, which is so great that when it has its back above the water, the sailors who see it think it an island, because its skin is rough like sea-sand, so that the sailors land on it as if it were an isle, and lodge and dwell on it eight or fifteen days, cooking their meat on the whale's back. But when it at last feels the fire, it carries itself and the others beneath the waves." f Pere Fournier also tells us of a great monster, " In the reign of Philip II., king of Spain, there appeared one in the ocean, very different from others, for it appeared partly above the water, having two great wings, and sailing like a ship. Some vessel having seen it, and having broken one wing with a cannon-ball, this monster entered with great swiftness the Strait of Gibraltar, with horrible cries, and fin- ally came ashore at Valentia, where it was found dead. Its skull was so large that seven men could enter into it, and a man on horseback enter its throat; two dead men were found in its stomach. The jaw-bone, seventeen feet long, is still in the Escurial." The island-fish, under the name of the Kraken, became celebrated in northern annals, and is the Leviathan of Milton.t " Him haply slumbering on the Norway foam, The pilot of some small night-foundered skiff Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell, With fixed anchor in his scaly rind. Moors by his side." § Pontoppidan tells us: " Norwegian fishermen, without the least contradiction in their accounts, say that when they sail several miles out to sea, particularlj- during the hottest days of the year, the sea suddenly seems to become shal- lower lUnder the boats, and if they drop the lead, instead of finding eighty or one hundred fathoms' depth, it often happens that they only find thirty. It is a sea-serpent which thus interposes itself between the depths and the waves. Accustomed to this phenomenon, the fishermen cast their nets, assured that there will be in those parts an abundance of fish, especiall)' of cod and, ling, and draw them in richly loaded. But if the depth of the water ♦Bestiare d'Amour. Q. by Landrin, p, 149. + " Hjdrographie." Q. by Landrin, p. 148. t Paradise Lost. • § Natural History of :N"orway. Q. in Jones' B. B. O^ p. 254. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 209 continues to decrease, and if this movable and accidental shoal rises higher, the fishertnen have no time to lose; it is the serpent awakening and moving, rising up to tespire the air and extend its huge folds in the sea. The fishermen ply their oars lustily, and when at a safe distance they see, in fact, the monster, which covers a mile and a half of ocean with the upper half of its body. . . . Firom the floating mass issue numerous spikes or shining horns, which rear themselves like masts covered by their yards; these are the arms of the Kraken." * Eric Falkendorf, Bishop of Nidros, wrote to Pope Leo X. (in 1520), a letter on this subject, in which he alleged that he landed on one of these Krakens, and said mass, after which it sank into the sea. We have the following account of it from the voyage of St. Brandan: "But at the last they went upon an ylonde, weaying (waving) to them they had been safe, and made thereon a fyre to dresse theyr dyner, but Saynt Brandan abode styll in the shyppe. And when the fyre was hote, and the meet nigh soden, then the ylonde began to move; whereof the monkes were aferde, and fledde anon to the shyppe, and left the fyre and meet behynde them, arid mervayled sore of the movying. And Saynt Brandan com- forted them and sayd that it was a grete fiss, he named Jasconye, whiche laboureth nyght and daye to put his tayle in his mouth, but for gretness he may not." Saint Maclon is represented i'n legend as having per- formed a feat similar to that of the Bishop of Nidros, a whale obligingly coming up, and, after allowing him to perform mass on his back, sinking into the depths. f Olaus Wormsius (1643) says the Kraken is "an island rather than a beast, and is immortal," in which latter state- ment he is supported by Olaus Magnus, Bartholin, and other writers of his own and succeeding tirhes. The Kraken was the subject of a mediaeval Anglo-Saxon poem. JA " Kraken " is said to have stranded in the Gulf of Newangen, Norway, in 1680, and the odor of its decay- ing carcass tainted the air for miles around. Many govern- ment officers visited it, and deposed as to its presence. The sea at length washed away its remains. * Scheie de Vera. — Wonders of the Deep, p. 43. Landrin, p. 29. -frLandrin. — Les Monstres Marins, p. 29. i Landrin. — Les Monstreg Marins, p. 39. 310 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS *Denys Montfort gives a picture of a Kraken. He says the Danes call them Anker-trolls. Bartholemeus says there are two Krakens, existing from the beginning of the world, and their number will not increase. j- Scott says the Kraken was believed to haunt the waters about the Shetland and Orkney Islands. "The Kraken, that hugest of living things, was still supposed to cumber the recesses of the Northern Ocean; and often, when some fog-bank covered the sea at a distance, the eye of the experienced boatman saw the horns of the monstrous leviathan, welking and waving amidst the wreath of mist, and bore away with all press of oar and sail, lest the sudden suction, occasioned by the sudden sinking of the monstrous mass to the bottom, should drag within the grasp of its multifarious feelers his own frail skiff." "Some years since, a large object was seen in the beau- tiful bay of Scalloway, in Zetland, so much, in vulgar opinion, resembling the Kraken, that, though it might be distinguished for several days, yet the hardy boatmen shuddered to approach it, for fear of being drawn down by the suction supposed to attend its sinking." Fishermen averred they often saw its horns protruding rnast-high from the sea. The bones of an animal stranded in 1800, supposed to be a Kraken, were found to be those of a shark. J Many chapels on the coast of France have ex-voto pictures of contests of ships with the Kraken, and a large one exists at Notre Dame de la Garde, at Marseilles. §In 1834, Captain Neill, of the ship "Robertson," of Greenock, saw and took a sketch of a great monster, which appeared like a vessel on her beam-ends. On approaching nearer, its head and snout were plainly seen, its eye looking like a large hole. Its head above water was some twelve feet in length; its width some twenty-five feet. The snout was fifty feet long. Many of these accounts of the appearance of the Island - fish, or the Kraken, seem to refer to the cuttle-fish, or polyp. Curious stories are related of its appearance. II Captain John Magnus Dens told De Montfort that an enormous polyp appeared in- the ocean, and, stretching its * Landrin, op. cit, p. 34. + Notes to ■■' Pirate. t Landrin. — Lea Monstres Marins, 88. 8 Jones. — Broad, Broad Ocean, p. 255. EMoUusques in Butfon.— Hist. Nat. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 211 arms above the bulwarks of the ship, took ten men off a stage on which (it being calm) they were working, outside the vessel. It then seized the shrouds, pinning to them two more men. It was harpooned several times, but finally escaped, with the loss of a limb nearly twenty-five feet long. In the Chapel of St. Thomas .at St. Malo, France, there is an ex-voto painting of a ship in the act of being dragged down by an enormous cuttle-fish. This ship, according to the legend, was attacked by this monster, on the African coast, and was only rid of its foe by using hatchets vigor- ously, and by calling on St. Thomas for aid. Fishermen in the East Indies are said to have been so beset by these animals, and are obliged often to cut off their limbs to get rid of them. *In 1861, the French corvette Alecto, Lieutenant Bouyer, encountered at sea, between Teneriffe and Madeira, a mon- strous polyp, which was reported as being from sixteen to eighteen feet in length, not including its arms. A drawing was made, which was shown to the French Academy, repre- senting the animal. Its posterior portion was secured, and brought to France. f Holcroft says the sailors, in one of his voyages, told him many stories of appearances of the Kraken near Green- land and on the Scottish coast. J Wood thinks De Montfort's picture not overdrawn, and says the Kraken is an acknowledged fact. Other stories of sea-monsters were told. Olaus Magnus is responsible for many tales of these. § In his chapter "On Many Kinds of Whales," he tells us: "Some are hairy, and of four acres in bigness; the acre is two hundred and forty feet long and one hundred and twenty broad." An- other kind " hath eyes so large that fifteen men maj^ sit in the room of each of them, and sometimes twenty or more; his horns are six or seven feet long, and he hath two hundred and fifty on each eye, as hard as a horn, that he can stir stiff or gentle, either before or behind." He further tells of fish with horrible shape, some with square black heads, ten or twelve cubits long, with huge e3-es, ten cubits in circumference, having a red flaming iris, looking like a lamp at night, and with a hairy head, the hair much * Manein.— Mysteries of the Ocean, 28S, + Memories. t J. G. Wood, Atlantic Monthly, June, 1884. 8 In Jones' Broad, Broad Ocean. 260- 312 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS like goose-feathers. They easily drag down the strongest ships. He likewise says: "Round the shores of the North Sea are many caverns of unfathomable depth, whence issue monsters out of the deep." *He tells a strange story of a monster like the sea-elephant, that came ashore on the beach, where fishermen caught it "by raising the fat along its tail, and attaching to it strong ropes, which they fastened to rocks and trees on the shore. Then they waked up the huge animal by throwing stones at it with a sling, and compelled it to retire to the water, leaving its skin behind." Ariosto and Boiardo relate many tales of maidens bound and left on the sea-shore to be devoured by sea-monsters. Orca is the monster spoken of. This orca is certainly none other than our Ogre, the degraded sea-god Oegir, famous in Northern annals, f Angelina is thus exposed, and is de- livered by Rinaldo, who jumps into the monster's mouth, and fixes his anchor in its terrible jaws. He then wounds it grievously, and anchors it to the shore, until it expires. Boiardo represents Lucina so bound, and rescued by two knights. J Pongo, a terrible monster, half tiger, and half shark, is said to have so completely devasted a part of Sicily, that all the inhabitants within a radius of twenty miles were de- voured. A mediaeval French poem, by Philippe de Thaun, de- scribes an attack of a monster which he calls Cetus. Procopius says a gigantic sea monster destroyed many persons before he was killed. § Geoffrey sa)'s Morvidun, a Welsh king, was swallowed b}' a monster who came out of the Irish sea. Beowulf destroyed a sea monster by the aid of magic. I Lacroix gives a cut of a sea dog, covered with scales, having a dog's body and a fish's tail. ** Spalding says a sea monster appeared in the river Don, in 1635, with the head of a dog, arms, body and hands of a man, and tail of a fish. Paul Egede says, " The 6th of July we saw a monster, which raised so high on the waves that its head reached to * Landrin.— Les Monstres Marins, p. 249. + Hoole"s Ariosto. Bk. IX. i Brewer. — Reader't: Hand Book. gCk>nway.— Demonolog-y. Vol. I, p. 368. I LacrOLX, frdin Dyalo^ue des Creatures, 1482. *»Nordhoff.— Harper's Mag., Vol. XIV. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 213 the mainsail. Instead of fins, it had great ears hanging down like \Vings. It had scales on its body, which ended like a serpent." * Icelandic legends tell of a monster called there Skrimsi, living in a fiord at Grimsey, who bit off the heads of seals, and wrecked ships. f An account of one of these, seen by a farmer, gives it as thirty-six feet long, a succession of humps. An old ac- count of one seen in 1345, says, "At some times it seemed like a great island, and at other times there appeared humps, several hundred fathoms apart, with water between them." JArnanson says one appeared in 1749, thirty feet to forty feet long, with a hump on its back. Grimsey fishermen say it came ashore in 1819, and left traces. § These animal-monsters have often the shapes of men, sometimes they are like a horse without a tail, and some have a shelly coat of mail. Leaden bullets will not hurt it. Sometimes it rolls in the dust, and people are often made mad by its screams. We read in Smith's travels (1750), "On sailing along the coast of Corsica and Sardinia, June 9th, we saw a sea mon- ster, which appeared several times the same day, spouting water from its nose to a great height. It is called Caldelion, and is said to appear frequently before a storm. A storm came on Monday, which lasted four days." The traditions of sea monsters existed until after the great maritime discoveries. The early charts have monsters, huge whales, and serpents portrayed on them. || Camoens speaks of " The distant seas Where only monsters do abide." Shakespeare speaks twice of sea monsters, but his mean- ing is very vague.** The hippopotamus is by some sup- posed to be meant, as it was represented as unnatural and ungrateful to its progenitors. Others think the whale is meant. In the " Prayse and Reporte of Maister Martyne For- » Maurer.— Ifilandische Sagen. 34. + Gould. — Sceues and Sagas of Iceland. t Icelandic Legends. 6 Powell and Magnusson.— Icelandic Legends. I Lnsiad.— Mickles' Trans. •* King Lear.— Dyer Folk-lore of Shakespeare, 501. 314 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS bisher's Vo}^age to Meta Incognita " (1578), we read that the crew found " a strange fish dead, that had been cast from the sea on the shore, who had a boane in his head like an Unicorne." This is evidently a sword-fish. Two notices of exhibitions of strange fish are given bj' Jones, one *" The Description of a Rare or Rather Most Monstrous Fishe, taken on the east coast of Holland the 17th of November, Anno, 1566," and the other, "A moste true and marvellous strange wonder, the lyke hathe seldom been scene, of XVII monstrous fishes taken in Suffolke, at Donnam Brydge, within a myle of Ipswiche, the XV daye of October, in the yeare of our Lorde God, 1568." These are described bj' Stow. A reminiscence of such exhibitions are given in Shaks- peare, in The Tempest,f and the same act alludes to sea mon- sters. J Rondelet gives a curious figure of a sea-lion, with scaled body and four feet. He says he was told at Rome that one appeared after the death of Pope Paul III. A monster was seen from the "Osborne" yacht in June, 1877, like a turtle, with a head six feet in diameter, long neck, and two fins, fifteen feet long on each side. § Wilson believes it to have been a tape fish, specimens of which, sixty feet long, have been captured. As the further progress of maritime discovery displa3'ed these unknown seas to the gaze of the world, it was found that these monsters did not exist there, or, as Addison puts it, II "The sea is generally filled with monsters when there are no fleets upon it." **A popular legend reports that a sort of Kraken lives on Portland shoals, dragging ships down with its long and spider-like arms. ff A monster was found periodically to come out of Lough Derg, the Irish Purgatory, and devastate the country, until Finn McCail, a legendary hero, killed it, when its blood reddened the lake, thus giving it its name (Red Lake). Another tradition gives St. Patrick the honor of subduing this monster, by chaining it to the bottom of the lake. Such + Act II, scene 2. tHJstoire des Foissons, 1554. § A- Wilson. — Sea Serpents of Science. R Spectator, 27. ** Notes and Queries. +t Kennedy. — Fireside . Stories of Ireland. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 215 monsters are common in legend, and such are the Wantley Dragon, the Lambton Worm, the Dragon subdued by St. George — doubtless nature myths — the hero being solar, and the monster aqueous. *A mortster is said to have appeared in the Elbe at Ham- burg, in i'6t5, with a horse's body, and a pig's head, with four great tushes in his mouth. Another, with a stag's body and horns, appeared in 1638. An old harpooner went in search of it with his boat, but when he struck it, the electric fluid from its body passed through the harpoon line, para- lyzing him, and killing him. Depositions of the captain and surgeon of the British Steamship Nestor, set forth that a monster like a great turtle, with head twenty feet long, body forty-five feet and tail one hundred and fifty feet long, striped black and yellow, was seen in September, 1877, in Malacca Straits, in daylight. According to a Russian tale, a prince killed a water monster, who lived in a river, agitating the water for seven versts by his motion, f A monster pike figures in Lithuanian and Finnish legends. A monster shaped like a calf, is said to appear in Ostro Wittchen lake, West Prussia. It is said to be the embodi- ment of the souls of the drowned. JTarascon gets its name from a Rhone monster, whose overthrow was, not many years since, celebrated by the " Fete de la Tarasque." Legends of sea-monsters in other countries are related. Utah Lake and Bear Lake in Utah, are popularly said to be inhabited by monsters. A sea-monster is said to have been caught on our coast in 1869, thirty feet long, and being part beast and part fish. It was figured in Harper's Weekly. Another pretended sea-monster was exhibited at Wood's Museum, in New York, and the following account is the latest, of the appearance of these monsters: §" On the i6th of last October, when the vessel was forty-six miles south of Alaska, an object was perceived in the distance whose pro- portions and shape indicated it to be a monster sea-lion. A boat was immediately lowered. As the distance was decreased between the boat and the huge animal, they became con- vinced that it was the famed sea-serpent. When they came * Simrock.— Deutsche Sagen. . + Ralston-— Bussian i"oli:-lore, p. 26T. t Brewer. — Headers' Hand-Bpok. e Johnson.— Mate of Whaler Alaska la San Francisco Ohronicl&,'lSSi, 316 LEGENDS OF THE SEA. within a few hundred yards, the monster made a dash for the boat, striking out its immense tail against the craft. Several of the occupants were precipitated into the water, and were rescued with difficultj-. A harpoon and lance were fired into the body of the beast, and it disappeared be- neath the surface. Half an hour later it reappeared, float- ing on the water, dead. It was secured with ropes and towed to the vessel, and hoisted on the deck. There the capture was seen to be a villainous-looking thing. Its head closely resembled that of an alligator, while the body re- sembled that of a lizard. It measured thirty-three feet in length, the tail being nine feet long. The tail was cut off and stuffed and brought to this city, and is now on exhibi- tion." * Jourdan says a sea-monster in the shape of a man, was seen near the Bermudas during great tempests. Indian tribes had legends of aquatic monsters. Dr. Brinton relates the following story of a monster in the Con- necticut river. "While Aba and Jona were thus drifting down the stream in their birch-bark canoe, and supposed they were safe from all jealous interference, Walo, the deadly enemy of all true lovers, was lurking under the alders which fringed Deep Hole. As the canoe approached, he dove into the depths, where he lay silent until the canoe came to a pause in the quiet waters of the pool, and the lovers, lost to all but their happiness, were indulging in mutual caresses; Walo then rose suddenly to the surface, and, opening his enormous jaws, swallowed the canoe and its occupants at a gulp, and disappeared in the blackness of the unfathomable pool." f Marquette says a monster with a fish's tail was figured on the rocks at a certain point in the Mississippi. Henne- pin says a number of men were drowned here (at St. Anthony's Falls), and Indians sacrificed in passing, to this figure. Jin Algic legend, Hiawatha caught a fish so large that its oil and fat filled a large lake, and fed all animals. Swan tells a legend of Shoalwater Bay, of a certain man who was swallowed by a sea-monster, and who was cut out of him, but after he was dead, and a stone image on the rocks near the spot represents him. * Discovery of the Bermudas. + Brinton.— Myths of the New World. t Schoolcraft.— Algic Legends. -ist^ .'V- irf i s' \ 14 INDIANS AND ROCK NEAR ST, ANTHONY'S FAIX& 217 218 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS * Indians of California have a tradition that a monster was caught in their seines, while fishing at sea, but was afterwards lost, while towing him through a whirlpool. Haidah Indians believe in a sea-monster, Tchinnose. f Esquimaux believe in sea-monsters, that live at the bottom of the sea, aiid in great spiders, and monstrous gulls, which endanger the sailor's life. All priests of the higher order are supposed to serve a novitiate as a sea- monster. I Father Kircher tells of the following legend of a sea- cow: "There appears in the province of Kwangtung, a kind of fish which is called Swimming Cow (Vache qui Nage). This beast sometimes emerges from its element, and herds with the other cattle in order to fight them, and to give them blows with its horns, the same as if it had always abode with them, and had never done otherwise than they. But since it happens that this animal loses the hardness of its horns, some time after it has remained on the land, it is obliged to return to the water, to recover what it had lost, in refurnishing to these same horns the hardness which they had lost." The Japanese represented that a monstrous cod-fish stretched its length under all their islands. This fish, Jish- in-uno, seven hundred miles long, was formerly thought to cause the tides, as well as convulsions of the land. §A sea-monster was the traditional ancestor of the emperors of Japan. Kappa is a monster, with a monkey's head and body, and tortoise's claws. He seizes children and drags them into the water. He is fond of cucumbers, and these are often thrown into the water, to propitiate him when boys go in bathing. Griffis was warned not to bathe in a certain place in Fukin, as he would be dragged down by this monster. A woman was accidentally spilled out of a " jin-ricksha" into a pond, and drowned. It was said that Kappa got her. People in Tokio say they often see Kappa in the river, and one is said to have dragged a man down in the typhoon of July 6, 1874. In Siamese belief, there are giant crabs and great scor- pions in th£ sea, who drag ships down. In New Zealand waters, Tipua, a great monster, lives at •Bancroft.— Native Races, III, 377. + Kink.— Tales and Traditions of the Esquimaux. tLa Chine Iliustre, p. 271. in I^andrin, p. 251. SGrlfEis.- The Mikado's Elngdom. OF THE SEA AJfD OF SAILCMIS. 219 the bottom of the sea. *Taniwha is a river-monster, who drags people into the water, f Fijians say a monster clam and a huge octopus live in ocean depths. J The Barotse, an African tribe, fear a monster in the Lecambi river, who is said to drag canoes down, and they feared to pass a spot, where he was said to lie, after dark. Prayers and exorcisms were used to control him. § Cata Wangol was an Australian aquatic monster, with long teeth and large eyes. Stones found on the beach were its eggs. Of all the monsters of the deep, the sea-serpent has re- ceived the most attention, and accounts of its appearance are constantly appearing, while thousands implicitly believe in its existence. Accounts of a serpent-like monster living in the deep were given very early in the history of mankind. {| Akkad inscriptions allude to the "serpent that beats the sea." ** Typhon, the opponent of the sun, in his under-world jour- ney at night, is shown in Egyptian sculptures as a serpent, Apophis. Many commentators think a serpent is meant by the de- scription of the Leviathan in the Scriptures.ff In Amos IX. we read, "And though they be hid from my sight at the bot- tom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them." Pliny and Valerius Maximus tell us of monster serpents living in the sea. The former says serpents three hundred feet long came out of the Ganges. JJ He also says a mon- strous serpent, able to seize and draw down an elephant, was seen in the Indian ocean. Solinus says the sea-serpent inhabits the Eastern sea, and is twenty cubits long. §§ Pal- ladius, speaking of the Odonto-tyrannus of the Ganges, says it "swallowed an elephant without chewing it." Sea-serpents are spoken of in ancient Hindoo books. Vishnu and Nava Yama rides one, and, in later "writings, Bhimas also. Stories of them multiplied during the latter part of the middle ages. Du Cange quotes a Latin MSS., where the »H. Taylor.— New Zealand, p. 48. + Gill.— Jlyths and Songs of the South Pacific, 146. ^Livingstone. — ^Travels in .^L^'ica. 8 Wilkes.— Exploring Expedition, 254. 1 " Eecords of the Past," III. p. 129. *^RosellinL — I Monumenti del Egitto. ++See Isaiah XXVn, 6; Job ±p and XLI. ttLandrin, p. 112. 8S Landrin.— Les Monstres Marins, p. lis. 220 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS devil is called Hydros, or water-serpent. This is Typhon of old. * El Kazwini says that monstrous serpents came out of the China sea, to devour elephants. But it is to Norse accounts that we must turn for more circumstantial accounts of the sea-serpent, fin Eddaic mythology, Jormundgandr, the great Midgard serpent, brother of Hel, the northern Pluto, lies at the bottom of the seas, forever trying to bite his own tail, and is so large that he encircles the world. When he heaves up the coils of his immense body, storms arise. At the destruction of the world, he will burst over the land, and infect the very air. Thor, the northern Hercules, is said to have caught this ser- pent, and to have struck its head off with his hammer. PONTOPPIDAN S SEA-SERPENT. Mediaeval Norse traditions represent the seas as full of serpents, formerly living on land, and only taking to the sea after a visitation of the Black Death. Olaus Magnus thus describes the sea-serpent: J "All seamen say there is a sea- serpent two hundred feet long, and twenty feet thick, who comes out at night, to devour cattle. It has long black hair hanging down from its head, and flaming eyes, with sharp scales on its body." He says there is a " worm," on the coast of Norwa}^, over forty feet long, yet hardly so thick as the arm of a child. It is harmless, except that its skin is poisonous to the touch. * Marvels of Creation. + Thorpe. — Northern Mj-thology. * History of the Goths, 1658. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 231 * Pontoppidan describes the sea-serpent as being six hundred feet long; its body so large that its folds appeared like a string of hogsheads on the water. The earlier editions of his work give illustrations of this monster, seen rising mast-high from the water. They were called Soe-armen. In 1350, two are said to have appeared in the Fokso, and two years afterwards, one was stranded on the coast. Modern Norse accounts repeat these descriptions. A sea- serpent was fabled to appear in the Lister, to announce some great calamity, such as the death of a king, f Simi- larly, an ill-omened messenger of like shape, whose body was as thick as a calf, and whose tail was two ells long, ap- peared at Svansvikso; and one was said to arise from the sea at BoUarvatr, in Sweden. There is a folk-tale that a sea-serpent lies coiled about the great sunken bell at Hammer, in Norway. At Mios, serpents occasionally were seen, only to vanish immediately. One, brilliant in appearance, lay coiled on a rock, where it was killed. Tradition reports that its body lay there for many years.J Nicholas Lamius, a minister at Loudon, saw on the 6th of June, 1650, a great sea-serpent come out of the sea, during an inundation. It had lived in the rivers Mios and Branz, and crawled into the fields from the banks of the latter. It advanced like the long masts of a ship, overthrowing trees and huts in its progress. Its whistles and cries made all shudder who heard them, and the fish disappeared or died. Many fishermen of Odale were so terrified that they renounced their calling, and did not dare even to walk the beaches. Its head was like a great cask, its body great in proportion. The Archbishop of Bergen says he learned from sailors, who traversed northern seas, that the sea-serpent would cast himself in the tracks of vessels, rising suddenly and seizing one of the frightened crew or passengers as a, pre5^ Pichot gives us further details: "The movement of the sea-serpent is very swift, the Norwegian poets comparing it tij the flight of a rapid arrow. When fishermen see it at the surface, they row fast, toward the sun, the monster not being able to see them when his head is turned toward that luminary. It is said that he sometimes throws himself into . a circle about a ship, and then they find themselves sur- * Mangin. — Mj'steries of tlie Ocean, p. 297. + Thorpe.— Northern Mythology, Vol. II. p. 28. t Horpelius.— '■ Mundus Mirabilis." 322 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS rounded on all sides. Experience of the sailors has taught them not row toward the open places left by the folds of his body, for then he will move on and so overturn the bark. It is safer to steer for his head, for it is probable that the animal will plunge in and disappear, above all when one can spread on the deck the essence of musk. So the boats do when thej' cannot avoid it. But when thej- discover it at a distance, they proceed to the shore or the mouth of some creek inaccessible to the formidable enemj-." * Thorpe saj's it can hardl)- be denied that great snakes are sometimes seen on the northern coasts, and gives man)' instances. Commander Laurence de Ferry gives his sworn testimony that he saw a serpent in August, 1749, near Molder. It had a head like a horse, rising some two feet from the water, and was gray in color with deep brown mouth, black eyes, and long white mane about its neck. Its coils were about a foot apart, and it was moving verj' rapidly. Rev. P. W. Demboll, in 1845, obtained the testimon)- of several persons who had seen the serpent. Lars Jorenson saw one at Smolen from six to seven feet long, and two feet in diameter, with its head as large as a ten-gallon cask. Three men of Molde saw a serpent some forty to fifty feet long in the same year. fA sea-serpent, Turenfax, living in an island in the ocean, and devouring a maiden each year, appears in a folk-tale. JArnanson tells an Icelandic legend of a great serpent that grew from a heath-worm by the power of gold, until it filled the sea. Its appearance predicted great calamities. § Ruysch, a Dutch naturalist, figures and describes a sea- serpent, said by him to have been found and preser\'ed. He represents it as being twenty-six to thirty feet long, and says it changes its skin. II Landrin says a mariner, F. Legnat, wrecked and aban- doned on a desert rock in 1708, killed a sea-serpent. ** Bellforest gives minute accounts of the sea-serpent He says it clings to barks and small ships, striking men off the deck with its tail, and devouring them. Should the » Landrin.— Les Monstres Marins, p. IIS. tSnipp, Smipp. Snorson. t Icelandic Folk-lore. SHistoire NHturelle (171S); in Landrin. 112. 1 Landrin.— Lea Monstres Marins, 117, note. ** OosmoarraDhie. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 233 ship prove too great for its powers, it was accustomed to draw it toward the shore, and, when the crew tried to escape, it seized them. It is described as having a wolf- like head and scaly body. A serpent was seen from the French ship Le Havre, near the Azores, and one is figured in Le Monde Illustr^, of October 8, 1881, as having been recently seen at sea. Serpents of the sea figure in Sicilian stories, where they bring great gifts, and possess wonderful power. * In a Basque story, a sea-serpent tells the master-mariner to get a ship at any price, then embarks in it, saving it from a storm, and eventually proving to be a king's son. A monster serpent is believed to live in the Rhine. f In a Russian story, " The Water-snake," serpents in the land become men and women beneath the waves, and one gets a wife, by getting possession of her shift while she bathes. I Scott, speaking of Shetland and Orkney fishermen, says: "The sea-snake was also known, which, arising out of the depths of the ocean, stretches to the skies his enormous neck, covered with a mane like that of a war-horse, and with his broad, glittering eyes, raised mast-head high, looks out, as it seems, for plunder or for victims." " The author knew a mariner, of some reputation in his class, vouch for having seen the celebrated sea-serpent. It appeared, so far as could be guessed, to be about a hundred feet along, with the wild mane and fiery' eyes which old writers ascribe to the monster; but it is not unlikely the spectator might, in the doubting light, be deceived by a good Norway log on the water." § Hibbert describes them as seen by Shetlanders, and says that the skeleton of one that came ashore was sent to the Edinburgh Museum. This was found to be the remains of a shark. Rev. McLean, pastor of a Hebrides parish, describes, in a letter to the V/ernerian Society, a sea-serpent seen in 1808, while he was in a boat some two miles from the land. The serpent followed him, but he finall)' escaped to a rock. It had a large head and a slender neck, with no fins, and tapered towards its tail. It moved by undulations up and down. " Its length might be seventy to eighty feet." 'Webster. — Basque Legends. + Halston.— Russian Folk-lore, p. 116. t Notes to " Pirate." § Shetland Islands. 224 1.EGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Marryat makes Huckabuk say, in the "Pasha," "Nor has the animal been seen before or since, except by the Americans, who have much better eyes than the people of Europe boast of." But this statement is not borne out by the accounts given of its appearance.* The surgeon of an English ship, Davidson, testified that he saw one in India in 1829. A Dr. Barclay saw the body of one some months later, it being about fifty feet long, and eighteen feet in cir- cumference, with a mane on its neck, and fins on its shoul- ders. In 1867, the officers of the steam sloop " Halifax,'' saw one eighty feet long; and in 1848, a serpent was seen near the African coast b}' the officers of the " Daedalus," where captain McQuhae made and published sketches of it.f Ac- counts of this monster forwarded to the Admiralty, stated that it passed close under the vessel's counter, so as to be plainly seen bj' all. swimming rapidly. It was in sight some twenty minutes; was some sixteen inches in diameter, with no fins, but having a sort of mane on its neck. Its head and shoulders were some four feet in the air, its dark brown body on the surface. A sea-snake was seen by a Captain Steele, in 1852, and an account of another is given in the London Times of Feb- ruary s, 1857. The officers of the ship Castilian saw one near St. Helena in 1857. Captain Harrington says, J " While myself and officers were standing on the lee side of the poop, looking towards the island, we were startled b}' the sight of a huge marine animal, which reared its head out of the water with- in twenty yards of the ship, when it suddenly disappeared for about half a minute, and then made its appearance in the same manner again, showing us distinctly its neck and head, about ten or twelve feet out of the water. The diam- eter of the head was about seven or eight feet in the largest part, with a tuft of loose skin circling it about two feet from the top. The water was discolored for several hundred feet from its head, so much so that my impression was that the ship was in broken water: . . but the second appearance completely dispelled these fears, and assured us it was a monster of extraordinary length, which appeared to be moving slowly towards the land. . . . From what we saw 'Jones.— Broad, Broad Ocean, p. 256. + London Illustrated News, October 28, 1848. ±.lone.<5. — Rrond, Rrofid Oftfyin. n 2.*i7_ OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 335 from the deck, we conclude that it must have been over two hundred feet long; ... it was of a dark color about the head, and was covered with several white spots." * The captain, officers and crew of the bark Pauline of London, also made deposition before a magistrate in 1875, that they saw, in July, an immense serpent twined about a large sperm whale, that whirled the latter over as if it had been a toy, and finally carried it down to the sea-depths. Again, later, by a few days, they saw a similar monster, skimming along the sea, head and neck out of the water several feet. Another serpent was seen on the loth of August, 1881, by the Dowle}', an English ship. Sea-serpents have always been a treasured fancy of American sailors, manj' of whom, like Whittier's skipper " Had seen the sea-snake's awful form." He appeared as early as 1639. Josselyn says: f'They told me of a sea-serpent or snake, that lay coiled upon a rock at Cape Ann; a boat passing by with English on board, and two Indians, they would have shot the serpent, but the Indians warned them, sajang that if he were not killed out- right, they would all be in danger of their lives." The New England coast became a famous habitat of the strange monster.J; One was seen in 1809 by Rev. W. Cum- mings, in Penobscot ba}'. This one was some fifteen rods off, and was si.xty feet long. § Six years previously, three officers carried out into Halifax bay in a boat, saw one from eighty to one hundred feet long, with a black body, streaked with white. In 1781, a Captain Little encountered one in Broad Bay, some forty-five to fifty feet in length, and fifteen inches in diameter. In 181 7, it again appeared in Massachu- setts bay. A Mr. Nash testifies that it was some seventy to one hundred -feet long, in eight portions or bunches, each the size of a barrel, and rough and dark in appearance, with its tongue, that protruded some two feet, shaped like a harpoon. It was swimming some twelve to fourteen miles per hour, playing around in circles. Some ten depositions of its appearance were made. Several persons also saw one the same year, in Long Island sound. In 1819, man)' witnesses of its appearance near Marble- * Scheie de Vere.— Wonders of the Deep. + Josselyn's Voj-ages, in J[ai=s. Historical Coll., Vol. XXTTT, p. 228. tBaljson.— History of Gloucest<'r. 5 C- Nordhofl.— Harper's Monthly, Vol. XIV. 326 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS head, and at Nahant, gave their testimony. *Mr. N. D. Chase, of Lynn, writes: "At this time he was about £ quarter of a mile away; but the water was so smooth thai I could plainly see his head, and the motion of his body. Later in the day I saw him again, off ' Red Rock.' He then passed along about one hundred feet from where 1 stood, with his head aboiit two feet out of the water, and his speed was about the ordinary one of a common steamer. What I saw of his length was from fifty to sixty feet. It was very difficult to count the bunches or humps upon his back, as, by the undulating motion, they did not all appeal at once. The color of his skin was dark." Five reliable persons were with him at the time. One of these, Mr. Cabot, writes: " M}"^ attention was suddenly arrested by an object emerging from the water, at the distance of about one hundred or one hundred and fifty 3'ards, which gave tc my mind, at the first glance, the idea of a horse's head. It was elevated about two feet from the water, and he depressed it gradually to within six or eight inches, as he moved along. His bunches appeared to me not altogether uniform in size. I felt persuaded by this examination that he could not be less than eighty feet long." f James Prince, Esq., saj's: "His head appeared about three feet above the water. I counted thirteen bunches on his back. ... I had seven distinct views of him from the Long Beach (so called), and at some of them the animal was not more than a hundred }'ards distant." Other cred- itable witnesses stated the same. John Marston, a seaman, deposed upon oath that he saw, "within two or three hundred yards of the shore, a singular-looking fish in the form of a serpent." He was an old fisherman, and declared his belief that it was the veritable sea-serpent. I Drake tells us that whaling- vessels were fitted out, boats cruised after the serpent, and the revenue cutter's double- shotted nets were spread to catch the "fish," and one vent- uresome hunter fired a load of duck-shot into its e5'e. The Boston Linnaean Societj^ sent ten members to see it, who reported: "The monster was from eighty to ninety feet long, his head usually carried about two feet above water; of a dull brown color; the body with thirt}' or more pro- tuberances, compared by some to four-gallon kegs, by others to a string of buoys," etc. ♦I/etter to C. H. Holder, in Lippincott's Magazine. + C. H. Holder.— Lippincott's Alajrazir.e. tS. A. Drake.— Legends of Mew England. OF THE SKA AND OF SAILORS. 237 \ Brainard wrote an ode to the sea-serpent, in which he says, — " But go not to Nahant, lest men should swear You are a great deal bigger than you are." In 1830, a sea-serpent was seen by three men near the mouth of the Kennebec river, in Maine. Another was reported on our coasts in i860, and the mate of the sloop " Concord " * informed the Linnaean Society that he saw one in 1863, rising seven feet out of the water, its body being in sections, like a chain of casks. A recent account of the appearance of the serpent is given in this newspaper extract, — "While the boats of the bark Hope On, commanded by Captain Seymour, were on the watch for whales off the Pearl Islands, between foi ty and fifty miles from Panama, the water broke, a short distance away, and Captain Sey- mour made ready for a whale. But a head like that of a horse rose from the water, and then dived. The creature was seen by all the boat's crew. Captain Seymour de- scribes the animal as about twenty feet long, with a hand- some, horse-like head, with two unicorn-shaped horns pro- truding from it. The creature had four legs, or double- jointed fins, a bronzed hide, profusely speckled with large black spots, and a tail which appeared to be divided into two parts. It was seen on two different days, and, if whales had not been about at the time, an effort would have been made to catch it. Captain Seymour and his officers agree that the creature is peculiar to the locality, and that it could easily be killed with lances and guns. It is im- portant to notice that officers of the Pacific Mail Company state that the)' have seen the animal on several occasions, but not so closely as did officers and men of the Hope On." This story is credited by an authority as able as R. A. Proctor, the English astronomer. An officer long employed on the coast survey told me of the appearance of a serpent off Cape Cod. At first, it stood straight up out of the water, like a hogshead; then, on its re -appearance, some three hundred feet away, about thirty feet of its bod\' was seen out of the water, rising angularly from it, and moving with great speed. The sea-serpent has appeared in Asiatic waters. Chinese *MaBgin.— Mysteries of the Ocean, 360. 228 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Stories are told of them. *Denys tells a tradition of one so large that a ship was a whole day in sailing round it. A dragon-snake is thought to live in Kwangtung lake. Another, one hundred and twenty years old, appeared off Chapoo. It was one hundred feet long and twenty wide, showing ten feet of its length above the water. Giles tells a tale of a sea-serpent, that towered like a hill' out of the water. A serpent is said to live in the Chien Tang. Chen was the governor of the province, who, unable entirely to stop the leak in the dyke, threw himself into the lake. Chinese reports claim the capture of a serpent three hun- dred feet long, during the present century. Stories of sea-serpents and water-snakes occur in modern Hindoo folk-lore.f They also occur in the traditions of our American In- dians. Hundreds of water-snakes opposed Hiawatha's progress. J Creeks, Algonquins, and Iroquois believed that a monstrous serpent lived in the great lakes, and broke the ice, if irritated. Iroquois legends also tell of a horned ser- pent, who lived in the lake, and was slain by a thunderbolt. Ojibways sacnficed to a water-serpent, and Onondagas had a legend of a great horned water-snake. Huron magicians pretended that a great serpent, Angoub, dwelt in seas, lakes, and rivers. § The channel of the Fox river was tradition- ally formed by a gpreat serpent who passed from the Mis- sissippi to the lakes. II Piutes said a great demon-snake abode in Pyramid lake, and caused the wind-storms that sweep its surface. The Pueblos believed in a great water-snake, whose body was as large as a man's. In the sculptured front of Uxmal palace, is figured an animal, half fish, half serpent, covered with feathers. Araucanian Indians believe in a large water-serpent. **A great fierce serpent, Yaca-mana, is believed to lurk in the Amazon. Indians approach no nearer than a hundred yards in their canoes, and blow horns to frighten the monster. Smith says the Brazilian Indians, believe in another serpent monster, the " Mother of Waters " (Mai d' Agoa), and say she drinks the water from evaporated ponds. ffVerne * Folk-lore of China. + Lal Behari Day.— Folk-lore of Bengal, t Brinton.— Myths of the New World. § Schoolcraft.— Algic Legends. II Bancroft.- Native Races, VoL III, 135. ** Herbert Smith.— Brazil. ++ Giant Ho ft, Chapter XI. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 239 says it is called Minhocao, and the Amaeon rises when it plunges in. Notwithstanding the mythical element evidently present in the formation of these legends of sea-monsters and serpents — notwithstanding the evident readiness in the middle ages to find animals in the mysterious ocean similar to those on land, and the consequent incentive to the imagination tOi people unknown waters with monsters — in spite of the exr aggerations of seamen and landsmen, there is apparently some foundation for the belief in the existence of such . beings. I have alluded to the sun:imyths, that evidently, have had a share in originating the idea of devouring mon- sters. Mythologists generally agree that the many maiden- devouring monsters, man-swallowing fish, and rain-causing dragons, are but the vaporous clouds arising from the sea, and that the hero, be he Perseus, Apollo, Hercules, Sigurd, Rinaldo or St. George, is the sun himself, who vanquishes the cloud-monster. This element was doubtless assisted by., the representations of monsters accompanying Poseidon and , the other lords of the deep, which became common in lateri Greek art. Originally nature-myths, definite form was thus given them by the artist, who but transfers them to the stone. There is an obvious tendency in the human mind to ex- aggerate wonders. This has been especially true with re- gard to those wonders found in the great ocean, where a limitless horizon sets no bounds to thought, and where the smallest object, often by atmospheric causes, will easily, be magnified. Thus it must have been with the Island-fish, and the other giant fish, accounts of which have been given. It is improbable that sailors ever landed on such a fish, mis- taking it for an island. Doubtless larger whales existed in the ocean, before the days of whaling fleets. It is well known , that shells and sea-weed grow on the skin of the whale, and, this would aid in the deception. As to the Kraken stories, and those, of giant squids, and cuttle-fish, who shall say that they are not without some- foundation? The great Linnaeus, in the first editions of his work, avows his belief in tTie Kraken. *Pennant and Shaw think the cuttle-fish is meant, when the Kraken is described, fin 1824, Peron saw, near Van Dieman's Land, a calamary whose body was as large as a cask, and the naturalistsj of ♦Kent.— Gigantic Cuttle-fish, p. 13. + Mansin.— MyBteries of the Ocean, p. 390. t Landrin.— Leg Monstres Marins, p. 38. 230 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS the " Urania," found the remains of one, weighing one hun- dred pounds, and deposited them in the Paris Museum. * Steenstrup describes one, found in Jutland, whose body filled a cart, and there are accounts of the finding of other specimens of these monstrous Cephalapoda. Kent describes such an animal, who attacked fishermen in a boat, and whose tentacle, severed by them, measured some nineteen feet. Its body could have been no less than twenty feet in diameter, and its arms thirty feet long. Another was captured entire, in St. Johns, Newfoundland, and described in a journal of the date. Its body was eight feet long, five feet in diameter, and its long tentacles twenty- four feet in length. Reliable evidence of the finding of others, measuring forty, forty-seven and eighty feet in stretch of limb, are given by the same author. One, whose body was fifteen feet long, was found on the Grand Banks, by Captain Campbell, of the schooner B. D. Haskins. Another was found alive, whi.^se body was ten feet in length, and its arms forty feet in extent. Other interesting accounts of these veritable giants are given in the work alluded to, and Mr. Kent concludes: " It further appears obvious that the numerous tales and traditions that have been current from the earliest times, concerning the existence of colossal species of this race, though in some instances unscrupulously exag- gerated, had, in all probability, in the main, a groundwork of fact, and can be no longer passed over as the mere fabrica- tions of a disordered mind." \ There is certainly a basis of truth in the stories of curi- ous fish, although the imagination has played strange tricks with men. Such strange animals as the hammer- headed shark, the walrus, the poh-pus, and many well known varieties of fish, were doubtless seen in all ages, and lent a color of probability to the stories of the existence of the sea- monk, and other animals similar to forms terrestrial. Again, as a probable element in the origin and growth of these beliefs, comes the recent testimony of geology and paleontology, to the existence of monstrous and enormous marine animals in former ages, especially in the Mesozoic time. The elasomosaurus, had a body thirty feet in Jength, tapering to a long tail, propelled bj' paddles or flippers, and a neck twenty feet in length; surmounted by alarge, flat head, with terrible teeth and fierce eyes. The ichthyosaurus, or • Mangin.— Mysteries of the Ocean, p. 287. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS 231 fish-lizard; the plesiosaurus, and the teleosaurus, similar monsters, even surpassed this in size; and the mosasaurus was at least sixty feet in length, with a narrow, serpent-like body, and .a long and lance-shaped head. Who shall say that these monsters may not have existed in antiquity, or at least traditions of them, and may not their degenerate de- scendants even now exist at the bottom of the great depths of the ocean? All these things are to be borne in mind in the case of the much-derided sea-serpent. In antiquity, Oceanus was at first a river, easily imagined a serpent, and this is, as Keary shows,* the same as Jormundgandr, of Norse myths. But later accounts of the appearance of this reptile would seem to have an undoubted real basis. They are so circum- stantial, they resemble one another in their particulars, most of them come from seamen, more accustomed to the element in which these animals are found, and are in many cases supported by reliable testimony. Naturalists are now disposed to think that a foundation in truth exists, accord- ingly, for these tales. Remains of serpentine monsters have been found in the rock. | The titanophis was at least thirty feet in length, and another, the clidastes, was even eighty feet long, serpentine in body, and carnivorous in habits. Existing water-snakes of great size have been described. J Tape fishes (gymnetrus and regalecus) from thirty to sixty feet long, have been found, resembling a serpent. The basking shark attains a length of from thirty to fifty feet, and this, says Sir Charles Lyell, must have been thought a serpent. Some of these giant serpents have been seen by seamen. The master of the bark Georgina saw, on May 21, 1877, in the Indian ocean, a large serpent, forty or fifty feet long, and ten or eleven inches in diameter, of a gray and yellow color. Dawson, the Canadian naturalist, gives an account of a sea monster seen by many in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It was black, with a rough skin, and was from eight}' to a hundred feet long; and another seen in Nova Scotian waters, was sixty feet long, and three feet in diameter. Both these are described as having along the back a series of humps or protuberances. A recent authority says, " I have no idea that we shall * Outlines of Primitive Belief, p. 71-74. + Holder, in Lippincott's Magazine. ♦ Wilson.— Sea-6«pents of Science. sauria of various geological periods is possible but improb- able. Within a few years our imperfect apparatus has secured from great depths a host of strange creatures, but none of the largest or strongest. In fact, we have had scarcely more than mere suggestions of what may exist; and, in view of them, should not be surprised at anything that may come up. If there is a sea-serpent yet unknown to scientists, it is likely to prove a deep-sea fish or Sela- chian." * Finally, many accounts of the sea-serpent have perhaps been due to the presence of enormous sea-plants. Such a one was seen by the ship Peking, near Moulmain, in 1848.! This had been previously seen by another vessel, and re- ported as being an enormous sea-serpent. The Peking sent her boats, and found it to be a sea-plant, some one hundred feet long. These enormous plants, as thick as a man's body, floating on the waves, undulating, serpent-like, with their motion, may easily be taken for serpents. ♦Gorman, in Fish CtommissiOQ Report, 1884. + Mangin.— Mysteries of the Ocean, p. 303. CHAPTER VI. LEGENDS OF THE FINNY TRIBES. " His hook he baited with a dragon's tail, And sat upon a rock, and bobbed for whale.'' William King. " For seas, as well as skies, have sun, moon, stars, As well as air, swallows, rooks and stares. As well as earth, vines, roses, nettles, melons. Mushrooms, pinks, gilly-flowers, and many millions Of other plants more rare, more strange than these As very fish living in the seas." Du Bartas, Divine Weeks and Works. >ANY legends and curious tales have been current among mar- iners and fishermen concern- ing the finny inhabitants of the deep, from the huge whale to the smallest perch. These leg- ends, as far as they relate to enor- mous and curious whales and fish, have been reported in the last chapter. There existed in antiquity some very strange ideas concerning whales, apart from the general exaggeration in respect to size. *Nearchus en- countered a school of these animals, many of them very large, in the Persian Gulf, and they so terrified and alarmed his crews, that he formed his ships in line, and charged upon them, blowing horns to frighten them away. fAldrovandus figures some strange looking objects for whales. In one cut, such a monster is biting off the entire stern of a ship. It is spouting water out of the entire top of its head, in a cataract sufficient to submerge the vessel. * Groodrich.— Man upon the Sea, p. 77. + Landrixu— Les Monstres Marlns, p. 152 and 153. 16 333 234 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Another animal is pig-snouted and saucer-eyed, having a remarkable fringe or mane about its neck, and, projecting from the top of its head, two tubes or funnels, from which it spouts water. Another has a curious sort of external spine, with bag-like appendages along it. It is attacked by two smaller animals with pig's heads, and spine-like projec- tions from the middle of its back. *An old " Bestiare d' Amour " says the whale has a shell on its back, whose folds are like a valley, and that it attracts fish by its smell. jMunster says whales near Iceland destroyed ships. JArnanson reports many curious Icelandic notions concern- ing whales. There are said to be two classes of these ani- mals. Good whales spout high, and are favorable to men, defending them from the attacks of bad whales, which latter WHALE AND ORCAS. are known by their short, quick " spouts '' or " blows." Should the defender, in such cases, suffer harm, vengeance is sure to overtake the ungrateful person harming him. Gisli was thus attacked by a bad whale, and delivered by a good one. The ox-whale was said to be like an ox. The sword-whale had a fin on its back, like a sword. The ling- back has ling, or heather, growing on its back. The red- maned whale has a particularly bad name, and its thirst for human blood is said only to be quenched by that of seven brothers, but it also proves to be its destruction. The Rauthkembingr, or Red-comb, is also very malicious and blood-thirsty, and the Buhwahlr can easily bite a ship in two. * Landrln.— Les Monstres Marina, p. 150, + " Cosmography." t Icelandic Legends. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 335 *In the Norse Heims Kringla, a warlock assumes the shape of a whale, in order to carry news from Iceland to Norway, f So in an Icelandic folk-tale, a man is changed into a whale by a water-woman whom he had married and deserted. He causes death to many persons, and wrecks many boats. Finally, after swallowing the daughter of a priest, he is decoyed by him into shallow water, where he dies, and it is said that his immense skeleton is still seen on the sands. Ahts say the whale, Quahteaht, is the incarna- tion of a certain great deity. We have spoken of the whale that carried Astolpho. So in a Norse tale a youth is carried on the back of a whale. J A Miniako hero, Glooscap, was carried to the sunset land on the back of a whale. WHALE ATTACKING SfflP. § " Then the water grew so shoal that the whale heard the song of the clams as they lay under the sand, singing to her that she should throw him off and drown him. For these clams were his deadly enemies. But Bootup, the whale, did not understand their language, so she asked her rider — for he knew Clam — what they were chanting to her. And he replied in a song." Presently the whale ran high and dry on the beach, and begged him to get her off. " Then, with a push of his bow against her head, he sent her off into deep water. And the whale rejoiced greatly. But ere she went she said, 'O my grandson, hast thou not such a thing as an old pipe and some tobacco? ' " He replied, — * Conway.— Demonology and Devil-lore. Vol. I, p. 166. i Amanson.— Icelandic Legend?. See also Powell and Magnugeon, p. 409. $ Conway.— Demonoloey and Devil-lore, Vol. I, p. 46. i Leland.— Algonquin Legends, 18S4, p. 34. 236 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIOKS " ' Ah yes. You want tobacco, I behold you.' " So he gave her a short pipe and some tobacco, and thereunto a light. And the whale being of good cheer, sailed away, smoking as she went, while Glooscap, standing silent on the shore, and ever leaning on his maple bow, be- held the long low cloud which followed her until she van- ished in the far away." In an Italian folk tale, a whale teaches a man how to succeed in certain tasks. * There is a New Zealand tale of a whale that obligingly allowed a man to cut steaks from its body. A magician finally killed it, by stopping its blow- holes. According to the Norse "Book of Kings," certain whales drove the fish into the nets, so long as the fishermen did not quarrel, f Cardinal Maflei says a whale seriously menaced a ship, while on a voyage to the East Indies, until it was exorcised by a priest, when it went away. I In a Greenland tale, a girl is earned off by a whale, who is a man in disguise. Another whale is lured into shallow water by a magic lay. Esquimaux said that a cer- tain whale, having two black spots on either side, was re- served for the spirit of the moon, and must not be killed. A Waikato (New Zealand) story represents a whale as stranding on the coast, that contained, or was the body of a deified man. Any one eating of it became spiritualized. § In the Georgian islands, whales were sacred, and were not killed. Tongans and Kamtchatdales sacrificed to them. Whales also furnish prognostications. ||Aubrey sa5's a whale came up the Thames during Cromwell's protector- ate, and greatly alarmed that iron man, who thought it for- boded trouble. Fishermen on our own coast say that it is a sign of storms, if whales lie about, blowing and puffing. ** Swift says, " Seamen have a custom, when they meet a whale, to fling him out an empty tub, by way of amusement, to divert him from laying violent hands (sic) on the ship." This custom is also mentioned in Brandt's " Ship of Fools," » Grey.— Polynesian Mythology. + Jones. — Ci-edulities, } HinJs.— Tales and Traditions of the Esquimaux. I Tylor.— Primitive Culture, Vol. II, p. 270. I Miscellanies. "•Tale of a Tub, Preface, 1701. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 337 and there is a picture in Munster's " Cosmography," of men on board ship throwing a tub overboard to a whale near by. * Scotch whalers had a legend of an invulnerable whale, two centuries old, whose back was covered with algse and shells, f Melville says similar traditions existed concerning sperm whales, and a famous white whale, the hero of his story, " Moby Dick." Both the authors last quoted record a superstition long existing among whalers, that these animals had some exces- sively rapid means of locomotion; that they were able mys- teriously to transport themselves long distances, and that whales were found in the South Seas with harpoons in them, which had been struck in Greenland. Hovas of Madagascar say, when an earthquake occurs, " The whale is turning over." " The whales are playing with their children." WHALES FOLLOUTNG SHIP. — ALDROVANDUS. Tales of men swallowed by whales, sharks, and fish, are numerous. In Welsh mythology, the whale is Kyd (Cetus). * Taliesin says, " Who brought Jonas out of the belly of Kyd ? " Davies, the Arkite mythologist, says it typifies the Ark. §Pradyumna, son of Vishnu, was swallowed by a fish, and restored to life. According to a modern Hindoo story, a maiden jumped into a fish's mouth, and remained there twelve years, causing the monster so much trouble and dis- tress, that a crow, a jackal, and a serpent are sent down his throat, to liberate her. * Mangin.— Mysteries of the Ocean, p. 209 ^ + Moby Dick. i Celtic Mythology. S Gubematls.— Zoological Mythology. Cox.— Aryan Mythology, Vol. I, p. 26. 338 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS * In an Italian folk-tale, a little girl is received in the belly of an enchanted whale, where she finds a garden, pal- ace and people, f In a Roman storj', it is a queen who is thus swallowed, and who speaks, is heard, and liberated. In a Russian tale, a whale swallows a whole fleet, and a forest grows out of its back. It aids the hero of the tale to find a casket, and can then get rid of the fleet. In a Mongol tale, Ai-Kkan, a sorcerer, assumes the shape of a cup, and falls into the sea, where he is swallowed by a fish, but is eventuallj^ rescued from its stomach. Traditions of North American Indians tell of similar oc- currences. \ Boin, an Indian hero, like Glooscap, was car- ried to paradise in the belly of a whale, pa)'ing tobacco as a fee for his passage. Hence, say Nova Scotia Indians, when you see the whale spout, it is the smoke of Boin's tobacco. Indians of Shoalwater Bay had a tradition that a certain man was swallowed by a whale, and cut out by his brother. §So, in Ojibway legend, a g^eat hero, the Little Monedo, was swallowed by a great fish, and liberated by his sister. 11 Manabozho, the Algonquin hero (Longfellow's Hia- watha), was swallowed by a whale, but wedged his canoe across the monster's throat, and killed him. Gulls then pecked a hole in its body, and liberated him. Plutarch sa/s a Greek hero lived three days in a shark's stomach. Lycophron asserts that Hercules was imprisoned in a whale's belly, and Eneis de Gaza says Hercules' cup was a whale. In the first chapter of Jonah, we are told that a storm arose, and that lots were cast to see whose fault it was, and the lot fell on Jonah. He offered himself as a sacrifice, and was cast into the sea, where a great fish swallowed him. "And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three da3's and nights." He was finally delivered, by pra)'ing to the Lord. ** In Mussulman legend, the ship was mysteriousl)' stopped at sea, and lots were cast for a sacrifice, which fell on Jonah. He was accordingly thrown overboard. A huge fish swal- lowed him, and he remained inside it forty days, being finally delivered by prayer. •Pentamerone.— Bk. \ ill. + Gubernaris.— Zoological Jlj-thology, Vol. II, p. 837. JFarrar. — Primitive Customs. § Tylor.— Primitive Culture, Vol. I, p, 338. I Schoolcraft.— Algic Researches, Vol. I, p. 46. •• Weil.— Legends of the Koran. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 239 * These comparative examples conclusively show the man-swallowing whale to be a myth, and we are here, as mythologists agree, confronted by the same idea as was shown in the case of the sea-monsters — a conflict between light and darkness, or day and night. As the sun was swallowed up at night in the ocean, a monster was easily imagined as doing it, and the whale being the greatest monster, he was credited with these feats. All these heroes are solar heroes, and represent the sun. f The Narwhal is called in Iceland Nahvalhr, or Death- whale, and it is fabled only to appear above water to fore- tell destruction by wreck. In Greenland tales, it is the embodiment of the soul of a certain woman, condemned at death to do penance thus. This animal was by some fabled to be the unicorn, gen- erall)' deemed a land-animal. X Its horn was supposed to be an antidote to poison, long before the animal was known to exist. Its very presence was thought to detect the most subtle essences. Cups were made of it, and enormous prices were paid for the horn itself,§ six thousand ducats being mentioned. Ambrose Pare, a celebrated French physician, says that pieces of it were placed in the king's drinking cup, so late as 1606. Dekker tells us of — I " The Unicorn whose horn is worth a city," alluding to the great price paid for them. Many strange notions have been entertained concerning spermaceti, amber, and ambergris. Spermaceti, as its name indicates, was long supposed to be the sperm of the whale. ** Sir Thomas Browne says it was, in his time, thought to be a bituminous substance, floating on the surface of the water. El Idressee says ambergris flows from the bottom of the sea, and we are told by a Mahometan traveler of 851 A.D., tha^ the Hindoos then believed it was generated by the whale. Sindbad found a spring of crude ambergris, which, he says, fish swallow and then disgorge, after it has been congealed. In the seventeenth century it was used in the • Tylor.— Primitive Culture, Vol. I, p. 340. + Arnanson.— Icelandic Legends. t Landrin.— Les Monstres Marlns, p. 192. I Jones.— Credulities, p. 160, I Gull's Hornbook. ** Vulgar Errors, m, 26. 240 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS composition of love-powder. *A chemist, Nicholas Lemery, in 1675, says it is a sort of bitumen, found on sea-beaches. f O'Reilly mentions a legend current among whalers, that amber (ambergris?) is a petrifaction of some interior part of a whale. There were stories of whales that nearly turned to amber, such as he celebrates in " The Amber Whale." Josselyn in his " Second Voyage " says, "Amber-greese, I take to be a mushroom. Monardus writeth that amber- greese riseth out of a certain clammy and bituminous earth under the seas, and by the seaside, the billows casting up part of it aland, and fish devour the rest. Some say it is the seed of,a whale. Others that it springs from fountains as pitch doth, which fish swallow down; the air congealeth it." It is now well known that ambergris is the indurated faeces of the whale, deposited by disease. When the whale is struck, it vomits some of it up. Amber is the petrified resin of a tree, found on sea-beaches, but is often con- founded with ambergris. The shark has been connected with many superstitious ideas. Its French name requin, indicates its deadly nature, the requiem being often sung over its victims. J Sailors have long thought it an ill-ornened animal. § It was believed able to scent a victim, and would follow a ship for miles, in which a dead body laj'. || To see one follow a ship was an ill-omen. ** Cheever says, "A sailor always regards the presence of a shark about a ship a most fatal omen to the sick on board. The highest exultation I ever witnessed on board a man-of- war, was occasioned by harpooning a shark that was hang- ing about while a favorite was sick." f f Plutarch says, the shark is kind to its offspring, taking it into its stomach in case of danger. Pearl divers in Ceylon employ shark charmers, to pro- tect them while at work. ]X Marco Polo first told us of them. He calls them Brahmans or Abraemani. Their charms only operated in daylight, and they received as wages a twenti- * Landrin.— Les Monstres Marins, 221. + Song5 of the Southern Seas. % Cooper. — Homeward Bound. § Carnes-— Voyage to West Africa. « Grant.— Mi-steries, p. 399. ** Sea and .Sailor, 1827. tl-Landrin, p. 89. «Xule.— Marco Polo, Vol. II, p. 281. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 241 eth of the gains of the fishermen. Colonel Yule says the modern snake charmers have taken their places. They are called Kudal, or Timmal (sea-binders) or Haibandi (shark- binders). The chief operator is pensioned by the govern- ment, and receives ten oysters daily from each boat. At Aripo, these charmers all belong to one family. * Two go out, one in a boat, the other on the beach. The latter has a basin filled with water, and in it several silver fish. He shuts himself up with them, and declares that the fish will fight, should any harm come to the divers. The man in the boat performs certain incantations in the bows, while pro- gressing seaward. f Tahitians deified the blue shark, dedicating to it tem- ples and a priest. These were called akud maoo (shark gods), and were supposed to recognize their priests. |Afri- can negroes worship it, calling it Joujou, and sacrifice rab- bits to it. At certain times, they bind a child, ten years old, decorated with flowers, etc., to a post on the beach at low tide, and leave it to be devoured by sharks, drowning its cries with the noise of drums. § Sharks' teeth were formerly set in gold as a charm, and when powdered and mixed with the brain, became a medi- cine. 11 There have been many legends of its voracity. Labat, a French naturalist, asserts that it prefers white men, and Englishmen above all. A shark cut open at Marseilles is said to have contained a man, clad in armor, in its stomach, and another, a horse. The Dolphin and the Porpoise have long been associated with many curious legends. The dolphin was fabled to be fond of men, of music and of company, and had prescience of coming storms, .^lian tells of children riding on their backs and plaj'ing v^'ith them. **An ancient Roman tradi- tion averred that a dolphin in the Lucrine lake had a great fondness for a child, feeding from its hand, and carrying it on its back. Pausanias says he saw one at Paros, which, wounded by a fisherman, and aided by a child, afterwards came at its call, and served it as a vehicle. Many tales of its canning men ashore from wrecks were told.' Telemachus * Jones.— Broad, Broad Ocean, p. 148. + Ellis-— Polynesian Kesearches, Vol. I, p. 178. t Landrln.— Les Monstres Marins, p 90. §Landrln, — Les Monstres Marins, p. 89. BLandrin. — I>es Monstres Marins.jp. 78. *► PUny.— Natural History, Vol. rv, p. 8. 242 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS was saved by one, and Plutarch f recounts a similar tale of a certain Hesiod. He also tells a story of two lovers, one of whom leaped overboard to escape being sacrificed, followed by the other, when both were carried ashore, and saved by a dolphin. Arion, condemed as a sacrifice by the mariners, taking his harp and charming the fish, leaped overboard, and was carried safely ashore bj' a dolphin. So Spencer, — f "That was Arion, crown'd. Who, playing on his harp, after him drew The ears and hearts of all that goodly crew; That ere yet the Dolphin which him bore Through the jEgean seas, from pirates' view. Stood still by him, astonished at his lore. And all the raging seas forgot to roar." THE MONKEY AND THE DOLPHIN. And Ovid,- I " But past belief, a dolphin's arched back, Presenr'd Arion from his destin'd wrack. Secure he sits, and with harmonious strains. Requites his bearer for his friendly pains." In La Fontaine's Fables, a tale is told of a dolphin who picked up a monkey from a wreck, and carried him nearly to the shore, but suddenly dropped him, on discovering that he could not speak. * Morals. — Goodwin's Trans. + Marria^ ol the Thames and Medway. i Metamorphoses. See also Ford.— Lovers' Melancholy, Act I, scene 1. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. ^3 Other stories were told of the intelligence of man-loving animals.* Seneca tells a tale from Babillus, of a conflict be- tween crocodiles and dolphins at the Heraclite mouth of the Nile, in which the latter vanquished their formidable adver- saries by diving under them, and plunging the fin on their backs into the soft bellies of their opponents. f Pliny says they aided fishermen on the French coast near Nimes to catch tunny, by driving them into their nets, and by intercepting and devouring them, when they at- tempted to escape. For these services, they were rewarded with bread soaked in wine. Ptolemy Soter, when driven out of his course by contrary winds, is said to have been directed to the right course by a dolphin. Both dolphins and porpoises were attendant on Poseidon, Amphitrite, and the other sea-gods. Two dol- phins are said to have carried off Amphitrite, and brought her to Poseidon. J One of the titles of Apollo was Delphinios, given him after he had assumed the form of a dolphin, in order to guide a ship's crew to his temple at Delphos. Bacchus, when carried off by Tyrrhenian pirates, trans- formed the crew into Dolphins.§ "All my crew, transformed, around the ship. Or dive beloiv, or on the surface keep, And sport the wave, or wanton in the deep. A shoal of useless dolphins round her play." Pliny and .^lian assert that the dolphin sleeps on his back, sinking until he touches the bottom, then rising to the surface, thus being continually in motion. Later antiquity represented the dolphin as a sign of good fortune. They were to lead souls to happiness, to carry men on their backs to the Fortunate Isles. Thus in the middle ages, and in early Christian art,|| it became the symbol of Christ, who was to lead souls through the waters of baptism. So it is found on early Christian tombs, with the word "philanthropos," in keeping with its ancient character, as well as with the new ideas. It often accom- panies the Saints in earl}' representations, as an emblem of *Landiln.— Les Moustres Marins, p. 208. + Landrin.— p. -212. Pliny.— Book XIV, p. 9. t Cox.— Aryan Mj-tliology Book II, Chapter 2. § Ortd. — Metamorphoses. XV. I Lindsay. — Christian Art. 244 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS fortunate existence. It was still reported, however, to carry men on its back. *St. Arlan and St. Th6odique, martyrs, were said to have been carried ashore by them. The body of St. Lucien, of Samosata, was likewise thus transported, and the body of the dolphin who carried his remains was long exposed in a temple. A Persian author asserts its carrying propensity, and a Breton folk tale says a dolphin carried men ashore from a wrecked boat. The dolphin was a symbol of other qualities. Sir Thomas Browne says it is the hieroglyph of celerity, and Sj'lvanus Morgan, that of society. It was also an emblem of fortune, and became the symbol of certain cities. To dream of a dolphin, however, was to lose your lover, ac- cording to dream-lore. f Stow says: "A dolphin came forth of the sea. These dolphins are fishes of the sea, that follow the voices of men, and rejoice in playing of instruments, and are wont to gather themselves at musick." "The seas contain nothing so swiff nor nimble, for oftentimes, with .their skips, they mount over the sailes of the ship." I Olmstead records a modern sailor superstition, which is shown by the name common among them for the por- poise, of sea-hog (German Meerschweiti): "The mouths of all varieties of the porpoise have some resemblance to that of a swine, from which circumstance sailors have assigned a rather fanciful origin to this class of Cetacea. According to an opinion prevalent among them, when the evil spirits were cast out of the unfortunate man near the lake of Gen- esaret, and entered into the herd of swine, the whole herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and were changed into porpoises." The blood of a porpoise, mixed with a little of the heart, pulverized, and placed under the armpit, was, in the middle-ages, believed to bestow great judgment upon the wearer. § Cotton Mather assures us that it is the providence of God that sends these animals to be caught by people at sea, in distress for want of food. The dolphin is often figured along with the Chinese god of the sea. Esquimaux say dolphins were once men. *Lanclrin.— Op. clt. p. 214. i Chronicles. t Notes of a Whaling Voyage (1841). § Magnalift Christi Americana. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 245 Ruskin says that the dolphin in Greek art is the sea itself, and is also typical of the rising and setting sun, its arching back being taken as a sign of these. The dolphin in mythology and folk-lore typifies the moon, the weather-maker, and, as Gubernatis shows, is a symbol of the soul journey and of the new birth, as also above-stated.* ''The dolphin, that watches over Amphi- trite by order of Poseidon, in the Hellenic myth, is the same as the dolphin, the spy of the sea, or the moon, the spy of the nocturnal and misty sky. Inasmuch as the sky of night or winter was compared to the kingdom of the dead, both the dolphin and the moon, according to the Hellenic belief, carried the souls of the dead." As the dolphin and the shark are often seen together about the ship, the latter gloomy, watchful, and malicious, and the former playful and mild in appearance, there would naturally grow up, alongside of the tradition of the ill-omen of the one, that of the man-loving qualities of the other. This, with the notion of their usefulness as weather-indi- cators, has perhaps given rise to these many myths. With these animals was connected the seal, in many legends. Its peculiarly human look, its soft and mild eyes, and its child-like cry, were early noticed, and doubtless led it to be imagined a mermaid, who could, by rejecting the seal garment, assume the human shape, and dance on the strand. Many of the stories of the docility and friendliness of the dolphin may have arisen from confounding it with the seal, which is well known as susceptible of being well tamed. So of the music-loving qualities of the two animals. Captain Scoresby and other Arctic travelers remark on the acute hearing of the seal, and its fondness for music, one writer having drawn them out by a few notes of his flute, fin Iceland, the seal is a Sjovite, or animal that will come when called. They are also called Pharaoh's men, and are fabled to come ashore and dance on the strand, on St. John's night. On the west coast of Ireland,J fishermen fear to kill them, as they possess "the souls of them that were drowned at the flood." § Greenlanders also think that the souls of people inhabit seals' bodies after death. The Umi- arak, a spectral boat, is filled with seal-rowers, when too * Zoological Mythology, Book II. •fMaurer.— IslaidischeSageQ. 121. t Froude. — Short Studies. £ Bink,— Tales and Traditions of the Esqiiirqaiiy. 157. 246 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS many have been killed in a season. * Esquimaux believe that seals will be frightened away, if the heads of those taken are thrown into the water, so they burn them, or pile them up on shore. f Weddel says a man left temporarily on a rock in South Shetland heard a mournful cry, and, on looking up, saw a seal. He declared it was a sea-ghost, and begged to be taken on board ship, deeming the appearance of the seal an ill-omen. Melville also says that sailors considered the cries of seals an omen of disaster. A host of legends have been current concerning fish, and so remarkable have been many of these, that it has grown into a saying to characterize an unusually improbable tale, as a fish story. These legends are of various kinds, some mythical, others fanciful notions of fishermen and sailors, and others embracing false ideas of the shape, habits and characteristics of these animals. Fish have been the incarnation of various deities and heroes. X According to Hindoo lore, Agasti was born a fish. Vishnu, Buddha, Indra, and Adrika were at one time fish, and the sons of the latter were Matsyas (male fish), and her daughters Matsya (female fish). Vishnu was at first a small fish in a pond, and become gradually larger and larger, being transferred from tank to lake, and from lake to ocean, where he saved man from destruction, by towing the ark. Eros and Aphrodite, escaping from Typhon, became fish. In Norse legend, Loki became a salmon, and Andvari a pike. Oriental Mahisars, evil demons, had fish-heads, and fish, in the Arabian Nights, become efreets, or evil genii. Gavran, a Welsh sorcerer, transformed himself into a fish, to gain certain ends. Tuan McCorreal was three hundred years a fish. Isembart, a hero of the legends concerning William of Orange, was a fish, and was transformed into a man by a fairy. Fairies themselves became fish, in Hindoo, Greek, and French folk-tales. Japanese have a tradition that fish are the embodiment of the souls of naval ofiicers. Thorstein, an Icelandic magician, was condemned to be- come the greatest fish in the sea, and as such he wrecked nineteen ships. * Farrar. — Primitive Customs, 28. + Voyage to South SheUand (1825). t Oubernatis.— Zoological Mythology, Vol. II, p. 380. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS 247 *Fish in Clear lake are transformed from grasshoppers by a Coyote fiend. Xalote, in Mexican legend, became a fish, and a certain tribe claimed the fish of a river as their rela- tions, and would not kill them, f Tlailottakans rep- resented that all drowned at the- deluge became fish. A West Indian legend says that the prime minister of a certain revolted prince was turned into a flj'ing- fish, and the former inhabit- ants in the shapes of dol- phins chased him. African negroes think that magicians assume the shapes of fish, and come to their nets to work evil. JFijians suppose that certain deities reside in fish. Besides the Fish-gods and demons spoken of in' a previous chapter, many fish were sacred, and some de- monical. In ancient Egypt, they were Typhonic, and priests could not eat them, while in Catholic belief they are allowed to be eaten when flesh is forbidden. Jews of the middle ages cast a fish in the sea, to carry awa}' their sins. § T h e Oxyrhynchians worshiped the Oxyrhynchus, and the Latopolitans the Lata. Ten fish guarded the tree which produced the Soma, or heavenly nectar, according to the Vedaic beliefs. THE SHARK CHARMER OF CEYLON. * Bancroft.— Native Haces, Vol. Ill, p. ST + Bancroft.— lU. p. 67. t WilllamB.— Fyi, Vol; I; p. 817, g Tylor.— Prim. Cult., Vol. I,p. 238. 248 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS * Indians at Qu'Appelle river caught a strange fish, in 1858. They at once threw it back into the river, and sacri- ficed dogs to it, declaring it a manitou, or deity. Tahitians, Fijians, ancient Peruvians, and natives of other South Sea Isles, all worshiped or reverenced fish. Guinea negroes selected the bonito and sword-fish as deities. The turbot and halibut are still regarded with veneration by Shetland fishermen, f Blind says they are both holy fish. The turbot takes its name from the Northern deity Thor (Thor's butt). Folk-lore stories represent them as all- powerful. A fish-prince is brought out of the sea, in one of these tales, by the power of the charm, — " Little man, little man, Timpe Te, Little butt, little butt, in the sea." It is called in German Heiligen Fisch (holy fish). A cor- respondent in Shetland told Blind that fishermen there, when they get a " b;ie " from a turbot, keep perfect silence, not allowing anyone to speak. Should anyone pronounce the name of this fish, he was thought the cause of a day's ill- luck, and was punished for it. The halibut (holy butt) was the object of similar superstitions. J So the salmon is held in great veneration by Scotch fishermen. Its name must never be spoken, and it is called instead, "So andso's fish," "thespey codlin " or "the beast." To speak of it at sea, or to catch either it or trout in the nets, was a bad omen. § Fish typified the faithful in early Christian art, and were also symbols of Christ. Anciently they were placed on tombs as symbols, and also on baptismal fonts. Greeks put round dishes with fish on them in tombs to feed the dead. The word " Ichthus " (fish), was placed on charms, because its letters formed the initials of the words "Jesus Christ our Savior." Fish have also been consulted as oracles. Those in a fountain in Syria gave responses by leaping up, or floating upon the water. They are frequently said to predict storms. 11 Cornish fishermen place their fish in barrels, and they occa- sionally make a squeaking sound, when their air-bladders * Brlnton.— Myth3 of the New World. + Scottish and Shetlandio Water-gods. Cent. Kev., 1882. t Gregor.— Folk-lore of Scotland. 8 Lindsaj". — Christain Art. I BottreU.— Traditions of West Cornwall, ©F THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 249 burst. This predicts good luck. * Jinnu, a Japanese queen, fished for an auspicious omen on the first day of the fourth month, and caught a fish. Ladies fish on that day. In Tobit, a fish is boiled to raise a vapor charm, which drives away evil spirits. ' A mediaeval legend represents a magician as using the blood of a fish in his conjurations and incantations. Fish entered into the composition of the witch broth. Strange transformations of fish are spoken of. In the story of the Fishermen in the Arabian Nights, Mussulmen are transformed into white fish, Persians into red fish, Christians into black fish, and Jews into yellow fish. f The saints often worked transformations with fish. St. Augustine, in passing through a village, was reviled by some men, and so caused fish tails to grow on them. St. Ulrich turned flesh into fish. J An odd story is told of St. Patrick. He was quietly helping himself to a tender chop on a fast-day, when an angel unexpectedly came up. The saint, not wishing to be caught sinning, quickly popped. the chop into a tank, signed the cross over it, and it became fish. In many parts of Ireland, meat is dipped into water, christened " St. Patrick's fish," and eaten on fast-days. The same saint, when reviled by fishermen, cursed their stream, and thereby forever banished fish from it. § Glooscap changed a witch into a fish Kegunnibe, an evil fish, with a fin on its back. Many legends and tales record the intelligence of fish, and their gift-bringing and beneficial deeds. II There is an old Persian story that fish brought clay to build an island for Adam to live on. A Moslem instance of their sagacity represents them as coming out in crowds, on observing that no one fished on Sundays. St. Anthony, to convince certain skeptics, preached a sermon to a shoal of them, as any one may see by a picture in the Borghese palace at Rome. ** A Tal- mudic legend says Solomon tried to feed all the fish in one day. One hundred thousand came the same number of miles, and all were satisfied except the whale. Fish once gathered to choose a king, and did so by ac- » Mitford.— Tales of Old Japan. + Jon ^s. — Credulities, p. 57. i Jones.— Credulities, p. 51. § Leland.— Algonquin Folk-lore. n Baring Gould.— legends ot.tlie Prophets and Fatriardbs. ** Weil.— Legends of the Koran. 16 250 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS clamation. * A certain fish, the grunter, can talk, according to German legends. Its theme is a lament for its fish-shape, and for past happiness in another form. They were tradi- tionally inhabitants of Helgoland, transformed to fish for yielding to the devil. f Shoals of fish are said to have aided a Japanese fleet in their progress to Corea, by pushing their ships ahead. Indians of British Columbia were wont to meet the sal- mon in their way up the river, and make a speech to them to conciliate them. Marco Polo tells us a curious fish story, and its counter- part is told by Willbrand of Oldenburg, of a river in Cilicia, and by another author, of a lake in Georgia. J Polo says: " There is in this country a certain convent of nuns called St. Leonards; near the church in question is a small lake, at the foot of a mountain, and in this lake are found no fish, great or small, throughout the year, till Lent comes. On the first of Lent, they find in it the finest fish in the world, and great store thereof, and these are certain to be found till Easter eve. After that they are found no more till Lent come again." § Another old traveler tells us: " In the land of Siria there is a river having a great store of fish like unto salmon- trouts, but no Jew can catch them, though either Christian or Turk shall catch them in abundance with great ease." II An old Arabian writer says fish came out of the Red Sea, to tempt the Jews to violate the passover. David pun- ished them for it, by making them into apes. ** Hoare tells us: " The fish of a certain pool near Seez, in Normandy, fought so furiously that the noise attracted many people there, and many fish were killed, thus by a wonderful and unheard of prognostic, foretelling the death of one by that of many." Who that one is, we are not told. All fish were anciently reported to be fond of music. Plut- arch says: ff "Certain fish are caught by means of dancing, for during the dance they lift their heads above water, being much pleased and delighted with the sight, and thrashing their tails this way and that, in imitation of the dance." ♦ Schmidt. — Seeman's Sa^en und Schiffer MHrchen, ♦ Mitford.— Tales of Old Japan. tTule.— -Marco Polo, Bk. VI p. EO, Vol I. S E. Wetibe.— Travels (1590). I Al Zamokti, in Brewer's "' Readers' Hand-Book." *• " GiraJdus Cambrensis," in Jones' Credulities, p. 53. •t+ Morals. — Goodwin's Trans. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 251 iElian and Aristotle reported that fish, particularly skates, were attracted and caught by carrying in a boat a musical instrument and net. * Jones says this is said to be practiced yet by boatmen on the Danube, who use bells. Carp have been known to answer the call of a bell. Arion and Orpheus charmed fish by their lyres. Horant, in the Gudrun lay, charmed them when he sang, and later heroes have been accorded the same powers. Wainamoinen, the Finnish hero, charmed birds, beasts and fishes with his harp, made from the bones of a pike. Maurice, the Irish piper, piped fish from the water, and the lady of Pengers- wick, according to Cornish legend, still attracts the fish by the sounds of her harp. In a German tale, Tiberias, Emperor of Rome, finds a fisherman, vainly trying to charm the fish with his fiddle, and he teaches his unskilled hands how to do it. A fisherman in Cornwall whipped a hake, and put it bafk into the wSter. According to the legends, they never came any more. f Fish in a mill-pond, according to Russian stories, em- ployed a magician to remove an obnoxious mill. Fish often, in folk-lore tales, bring benefits in gratitude for being put back in the water when caught, or for other considerations. In a German story, it is a ring that a fish restores to a youth. J In a Norse tale, it is the egg at the bottom of a well that incloses a giant's heart. In a Russian tale they assist a man to find his friends, and in another, they guide ashore a cask in which a woman has been thrown into the sea, and liberate her. In a Wallachian tale, they carry a man to the" bottom of the sea, to shield him from pursuers. § In German and Italian tales, fish bring many benefits to fishe;-men who restore them to the water. I In another German tale, a man is almost upset by an enormous fish, who reproaches him for fishing in the pond, and only agrees to liberate him, by the promise of his daughter. The maiden is carried down to wonderful palaces below the sea, whence she is finally delivered by her brother, after many perils. Remarkable stories are also told of the regenerative powers of fish. In the Pseudo Callisthenes, a fish returns * Broad, Broad Ocean. 315. + Ralston.— Hussian Folk-lore. t Dasent.— Popular Tales from the Norse. § " Straparolo^' and " Der Kossat und Stine fru." I Wuttke.— Deutsche Aljerglauben. 262 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS. to life when nearly ready to cook. * Abd-ul-Cassim, an eastern traveler, says of a certain river near the Black Sea: " Every year, there arrives in this part of the river a great quantity of fish. The people cut off the flesh on one side of them, eat it, and let the fish go. The year following, the same creatures return, and offer the other side, which they had preserved untouched. It is then discovered that new flesh has replaced the old." f A more wonderful story is told by Dr. Walsh: "At the distance of a quarter of a mile from the walls is Balatka, or the church of fishes. The church is so called from a legend that has rendered it very celebrated among the Greeks. There stood on this place a small Monastery of Greek Calayers, when Mohammed laid siege to Constantinople, who, it seems, were not molested by his armj'. On the day of decisive attack, a monk was frying some fish, when news was suddenly brought to the convent that the Turks had entered the town through the breach in the walls. ' I would as soon believe,' said he, ' that these fried fish would spring from. the pan, and become again alive.' To reprove the in- credulous monk, the fish did spring from the pan into a vessel of water which stood near, and swam about as if they had never been taken out of it." An eastern story asserts that the Angel Gabriel restored a sole to life, to assure the Virgin Mary of the truth of the miraculous conception. JPurchas says: "In the Moluccas there is a river stored with fishes and yet so bote that it flareth off the skinne of any creature that entereth it." St. Corentin had a fish caught each day which miracu- lously renewed itself. § St. Neot had been told to take from a well one fish each day, for his support. During his illness, his servant cooked two. On his discovering it, the saint caused the extra fish to be thrown back into the water, when it came to life again. Probabl}' on account of its regenerative powers, the fish was anciently a remedy for diseases. The carp was a well- known remedy. Van Helmont sa)'s the Dutch used to apply a split herring to the bite of a rabid dog,|| and a live trout was, not verj- many years ago, used to lay on the ♦Jones. — Credulities, p. 51. + Travels of Macarius, in Jones' Credulities, p. 50. t " Pilgrims." e Jones. — Credulities, p. 50. I Hendersoni— Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of Eng^land, p. 154. THE EMPEROR TIBERIAS CHARilS THE FISH. 254 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Stomach of a child troubled with worms, in Cleveland, Yorkshire. Fish in many stories have an undoubted phallical "char- acter. These tales, numerous in folk-lore, represent them as causing women to conceive, when eaten, often at their own request. *The phallus is called in Neapolitan dialect pesce (fish). Eels share the same character with fish. fGubernatis says the French "poisson d'avril (April-fool fish) has a phallical meaning. This same idea would seem to be indicated by the accounts of their regenerative power. Miraculous draughts of fish are reported in many places. St. Bonita and St Anne were each favored with one. A clergyman in the north of England became unpopular in his parish, but regained his position by going out in the fishing-boats, when just one hundred and fifty-three fish, the miraculous draught, were caught.J Other miraculous supplies of fish are also recorded. §St. Thomas-a-Becket, when passing a certain stream, hearing that fish would be scarce, said, " the Lord will pro- vide," when a bream jumped out into his lap. | St. Peter is said to have visited Westminster at its foundation, crossing the Thames in a fisherman's boat. This man, complaining of the scarcity of fish, the apostle told him he should have plenty, if he would not fish on Sunday, and would pay a tithe to the church. A salmon was long presented annually to the church. A shooting-star is said to have rained fish in 519 A.D., and there are several later accounts of showers of fish. There are other miraculous occurrences recorded, as connected with fish. Pisces, the fish transferred to the constellations, reap- pears in the Esquimaux tradition that stars were once fish. **Greenlanders, however, said they were made from chips thrown into the water by a male sorcerer, and bits of cloth by a female. In the Finnish Kalevala, they are changed into foam by a magician, ff An Icelandic legend states that Christ created the stone grig by spitting into the sea, and St. Peter, in the same manner, the hake. Satan imitated them, but produced the devil-fish. * Gubernatis.— Zoological Jfythology, II, 247. + Gubematis.— Zoological Mythology, It, 250. t Henderson.— Folk-lore of the North of England. § Jones.^ri-ediilities, p. 50. I Jones.— Credulities. "Hans Egede. ttMaurer.— Islandische Sagen. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 355 * Mahometan writers say fish come ashore with their throats cut, since Mohammed blessed a knife and threw it into the sea. An Orkney conjurer fished up cooked fish from the sea, and St. Moet caught them on dry land. fA small fish, the Chrysofrus or Aurata, was said for- merly to allow women and children to take it out of the water, and handle it. It was sacred to Venus, and Guber- natis says this is why we eat fish on Friday, Venus' day. I Leonard Vair, an old writer, says that in 1583, there was a pond near a cloister in Burgundy, in which there were fish, corresponding in number to the monks. When a monk fell sick, a fish was observed to do the same, and, when the monk died, the fish was sure to be found dead on the shore. Closely connected with the stories of fish swallowing men, recounted in the present chapter, are the numerous tales in which fish swallow rings, pearls, or other valuables, and restore them, or are caught, and these gems restored. These tales are very ancient. §A Talmudic legend says Asmodeus, the evil spirit, stole from Solomon the signet- ring that conferred upon him so much power and wisdom. The evil genius threw it into the sea, but Solomon recov- ered it in the belly of a fish that was caught soon after. ||A Hindoo nymph, Sakuntali, lost her ring while bath- ing, but found it again in the belly of a fish. ** In "Aboo- Seer," a ring is found in a fish's throat, and in another tale, a diamond worth one hundred thousand dollars. fjAnother Talmudic tale is of a wealthy Jew, who bought a fish, con- taining a wonderful diamond. This had been the property of a neighbor, who had sewed it into the rim of his turban, to keep it, as it had been predicted that all his property would become Joseph's. He had dropped the turban into the sea, and the fish swallowed the gem. U Polycrates, being too fortunate, was advised to cast away some valuable thing, and threw his ring into the sea. It was found, some days afterward, inside a fish that came to his table. * Jones. — Credulities, p, 54. + Gul>ematls. — Zoological-Mytholo^. Ill, 1. * Jone3. — Credulities. § Al Zamoktl. — Brewer's Readers' Hand Book. UGubematls.— Zool.-Mythology. 111,1. ** Lane. — Arabian Nights. ■H Jones. — Credulities, 107. 'Brewer.— Readers' Hand Book, p. 353. 256 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS *A bas-relief in tlie church of St. Maria della Anima, at Rome, commemorates the following occurrence: St. Ben'no bishop of Meissen, closed the doors of the cathedral in 1075^ against Henry IV., who had been excommunicated, and threw the key into the Elbe. On his return from Rome, he is said to have recovered the kej-, by directing a fisherman to cast his net, and then cutting open a fish that was caught. St. Francis Xavier, according to Portuguese authorities, once dropped his crucifix while preaching, during a voyage to India, into the sea, but a lobster brought it to the surface in his claws, at the saint's earnest request. t So St. Cadoc is fabled to have lost his manual-book at sea, but it was restored by a salmon. § The key of the church door at Norham, on the Tweed, was thrown into the river by a boy, who wished to escape threatened punishment. St. Cuthbert appeared in a vision to the priest, to inquire why vespers had not been said, and, on learning the loss of the key, told the priest to buy the first haul of fish caught in the river the next morning. In the stomach of a large salmon was found the key. I A salmon with a ring in its mouth figures in the arms of the city of Glasgow. A certain woman gave her lover a ring belonging to her husband. The latter stole it, threw it in the river, and required her to find it. She, in her ex- tremity, applied to St. Kentigern. Spottiswoode adds, " Not long after, as the saint walked by Northern lakes said white-fish were the embodiments of a maiden, drowned in the- lake. The bream was called choke-children, in Cornish. || St. Levan caught two on one hook, three times in succession, after throwing them back into the water, and finally took them home to his sister, but they choked her children. This tradition is perpetuated by a carving in the Saints' Church. ** In Hungary, it is said to attack men vora- ciously. The perch is a favorite fish, in Russian legend. The hero, in one tale, is afraid of nothing, until a perch jumps into his boat, when he drowns himself. The \\Jorsh, or little perch, triumphs over many fish, in these legends. He gets the pike drunk, evades punishment, etc. Plutarch says, " In Gaul is a fish, the clupea, which is white when the moon increases, black when it wanes." JJiElian says the alopex swallows the hook, and then vom- its it up, with its own intestines, and Oppian says the trugon kills men with a dart. §§ The gold-fish were formerly sup- posed to live on gold. ♦ Jones. — Credulities. + Gubernatis.— Zoological Mythology, Vol. 11. t Deutsche Mvthologie, p. 56. 8 Schoolcraft- — Algic Researches, p. 190. 1 Jones. — Credulities, p. i9. *• Gubematis.— Zoological Mythology, Vol. H, p. 344. tt Gubernatis-— Zoological Mythology, Vol. II, p. 848. tt Gubernatis.— Zoological Mythology, Vol. II, p. 344. SS Conway.— Demonology, VoL I, p. 238. 262 tEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS. Kircher says flying-fish were fabled to come out of the sea in summer, and become birds. Eels are the subject of many legends. New Zealanders say they were once dwellers upon earth. It is a phallical animal. Fishermen of Folkestone formerly said, when they found conger-eels frozen on the snow, that they came out to look at the moon. Others say they are blinded by the snow. In the imaginary land of Cocaigne,* the beams of the house are made of sturgeons, and the house is wholly built of fish, — "With dabs, with salmon, and with shad The houses round are fenc'd, Whose beams of sturgeons firm are made." According to another romantic legend. Carnival and Careme had a battle, and all the fish and sea-animals assist- ed the latter. He was thus attended and accoutred, — "All, from the matchless whale's unwieldy form To the brook fry that in the shallows swarra, Fir'd at the summons, join, a vengeful host. And quit th' unpeopled waters for the coast. Armed cap-a-pie, on signal vengeance bent, On a short mullet rides imperial Lent, His shield a cheese, a trenchant sole his blade, His prick-spear of well-temper'd fish-bone made, A ray's sharp hide, his afmor'd corse adorns. With tubercules all rough and horned thorns." • ElUs.— Early English Poets, p. 83. CHAPTER VII. STORIES OF OTHER ANIMALS. ' The barnacles with them, which wheresoe'er they breed, On trees or rotten ships, — yet to my fens for feed Continually do come, and chief abode do make. And very hardly forc'd my plenty to forsake." Drayton. — Polyolbion. HE other animals of the sea were not forgotten in legend, and there were many supersti- tions connected with the ani- mals of the land, not hitherto recited. The Argonaut, or Pompylia, was fabled to rise to the surface, raise its tentacles for masts, spread membrances on them for sails, and use oars to propel itself along. * Pliny says it was favorable to men at sea, "Oh fish, justly dear to Navi- gators! Thy presence assures winds soft and friendly! thou bringest the calm and thou art the sign of it! " f Schmidt also says the sight of a Portuguese Man-of-War announces a calm. Sailors gener- ally believe that it floats on the surface of the sea. Scotch peasants believed formerly that sea-crabs danced at the witches' sabbats. Some Russians will not eat them, as they say they were made by the devil. The turtle is the subject of various myths. Vishnu was a tortoise. Many peoples believed that a tortoise supported the earth. \ Chelone was transformed into a turtle (Che- lona), for laughing at Jupiter and Juno. ♦Natural History, Bk. XI. c. 47. + Seeman'B Sagen und Schlfler MHrchen. t Ovid. — Metamorphoses. 263 264 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Maui, the Polynesian hero, was carried to the sea by a jelly-fish. * Moore says, — " Like the first air of morning creeping Into thin wreathing Red-sea shells. Where love himself of old lay sleeping.'' f Wilsford explains, " This idea was not unknown to the Greeks, who represented the youngest Nerites, one of the Cupids, as living in shells, on the shore of the Red sea." A Fiji god was a shell-fish, called Uva. Greenlanders have tales of enormous shell-fish. \ Carreri, a traveler in the Phillippines, in 1696, says .rings and chaplets made of certain shells are an antidote to poison, becoming shattered in its very presence. § In an old work, it is said that certain shells {valuta musicd) found at Cura9oa, are filled with musical notes, so that they may be used in singing. Moore refers to this superstition in his ode to a sea-shell, which falls from a siren's bosom. II Scollop shells are said in another old work to be engen- dered solely by the dews of the air. This was anciently affirmed of the oyster. Pliny says the pearl oyster feeds on dew, which the sun ripens into pearls. Another old author says, " These mussels, early in the morning, when the sky is clear and temperate, open their mouths a little above the water, and most greedily swallow the dews of heaven, and after the measure and quantity of the dew which they swal- low they conceive and breed the pearl." ** Pliny's words are, " The pearl is produced by the dews of heaven falling into the open shells at the breeding time; the quality of the pearl varies according to the amount of dew imbibed, being lustrous if that were pure, and dull, if it were foul. Cloudy weather spoils its color, lightning stop- ped the growth, and thunder made the shell-fish unproduc- tive, and to eject the hollow husks called bubbles." He also says they have a king who aids them to escape the div- ers, but if he is caught, they are easily entrapped. ff It is still believed in parts of the East that these pearls » Lalla Eookh. + Nature's Secrets. X Landrin.— Les Monstres Marins, i Histoire NatureUe dea Antilles, Notes to Moore. I Gmelin.— Display of Heraldry. Brewer's Reader's Hand Sock, ** Natural History, Bk. XI, c. 54. •tt Jones.— Broad, Broad Ocean, p. 16L OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 265 are drops of rain swallowed by the oyster. An Oriental poet, quoted by Jones, *says, " Every year, on the sixteenth of the month Nisan, the pearl oysters rise to the sea and open their shells, in order to receive the rain which falls at that time, and the drops thus caught become pearls." Shakespeare was well acquainted with the superstition. In Richard III. (Act IV, scene 4), he says, — "The liquid drops of tears that you have shed Shall come again, transform'd to orient pearl." Moore alludes to it also:f "And precious the Tear as that rain from the sky Which turns into pearls as it falls in the sea." J Drake's sailors reported that oysters at the Cape of Good Hope grew on trees. This was un old superstition. §A sailor who visited the island of Yezo in 1645, reported that great quantities of oysters were found on the coast which were, for the most part, one and a-half ells in length. In the reports of the voyage of Nearchus, it was said that they were found, a foot in length. II Pliny says of "another moUusk, " The sea-pen (pinna) flourishes in muddy bottoms, and is never found without its companion, called by some pinnatheres, and by others pin- nophylax. It is a little sea-leek, a sort of crab, and to nourish themselves is the object of their union. The shell- fish, blind, opens, showing its body to the little fish which play around it. Emboldened by impunity, they fill the shell. At this moment the crab, which is on the watch, warns the sea-pen by a little bite; it closes, crushing everything found between its valves, and divides its prey with its companion." Olaus Wormsius says (1865) that the Medusae are the seed or spawn of the Kraken, in the existence of which beast he devoutly believes. J J An old adage says, "Whoever eats oysters on St. James' Day (July 25th), will never want." But far more wonderful legends were related concerning the barnacle. **Sinbad is the first to chronicle this belief. "And I saw a bird that cometh forth from a sea-shell, and • History and Mrstery of Precious Stones, p. 116. tLalla Kookh. t Goodrich. — Man upon the Sea, p. 255. SLandrin. — Les Monstres Marins, p. IZ. I Natural History, Bl£. IX, c. 67. ♦* Lane's Aratian Nights. it Hampson, ilBdii ^ri Kal. 325. 17 266 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS layeth its eggs, and hatcheth them upon the surface of the water, and never cometh forth from the sea, upon the face of the earth." Although Lane thinks the Nautilus is meant, we shall see that this resembles the stories afterward told of the barnacle. * Boece, a Scotch author, makes an early allusion to it. " Some men believe that thir (these) claiks (fowls) grow on trees by the nebbis (bills)." f Holinshead, writing some forty years later says he saw the feathers " hang out of the shell at least two inches." JThe old chronicler, Giraldus, asks, " Who can marvel that this should be so? When our first parents were made of mud, how can we be surprised that a bird should be born of a tree?" The first complete account we have of this marvel is from Gerard: §" There is a small island in Lancashire, called the Pile of Foulden, wherein are found to be broken pieces of old and bruised ships, some whereof have been cast thither by shipwrackes, and also of the trunks and bodies, with the branches, of old rotten trees, cast there likewise; whereon is found a certain spume or froth, that in time breadeth into certain shells, in shape like those of a muskle, but sharper pointed, and of a whitish colour; one end whereof is fastened to the inside of the shell, even as the fish of oysters and muskles are; the other end is made fast unto the belly of a rude masse or lumpe, which in time cometh unto the shape and form of a bird. When it is per- fectly formed, the shell gapeth open, and the first thing that appeareth is the aforesaid lace or string; next comes the legs of a bird hanging out, and as it groweth greater, it openeth the shell by degrees, till at length it is all come forth, and hangeth only by the bill; in a short time after, it cometh to full maturity, and falleth into the sea, when it gathereth feathers, and groweth to a fowle bigger than a mallard, and less than a goose, having black legs and bill, or beak, and feathers black and white, spotted in such a man- ner as is our magpies, called in some places a pilannet; which the people of Lancashire call by no other name than a tree-goose, which place and all those parts adjoining, do so much abound therewith, that one of the best may be bought for three-pence." ♦ Cosmographie of Albioun (1541). + Chronicles of Englande, Scotlande and Irelande (1586). t Giraldus.— In Jones' Crediilities, p. 77. S Herbal (1597).— Jones' Credulities, p. 18. or THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 267 *Scaliger says; "There was brought to Francis I., a shell, not very large, in which was a little bird entirely formed. He hung to the shell by the end of his bill and his feet." The Abbe Valmont, Francis' confessor, thought these birds deposited their eggs on the surface of the water, where they were hatched, and then they clung to the wood. I Du Bartas, who records so many nautical superstitions of the age, thus writes: "So, sly Bootes, underneath him sees In y cycles, those goslings hatcht of trees, Whose fruitful leaves, falling into the water, Are turned (they say) to living fowles soon after. So rotten sides of broken ships do change To barnacles. Oh! transformation strange, 'Twas first a greene tree, then a gallant hull. Lately a mushroom, now a flying gull." Cardan and Munster tell of these goose-trees and shell- birds, and a certain CoQnt Mayer wrote a whole volume concerning them, which he named "Volucris Arborea," and in which he goes so far as to tell the food of the shell. Albertus Magnus, .lEneas Sylvius, and Roger Bacon had long before this contested these superstitions, but Aldro- vandus gave graphic representations of the goose-tree. Another old author says, when the leaves of the tree fall in the water, they become fish, but when on land, a bird. Barentz, the JDutch navigator, again refuted the notion in 1594-6. But people were still credulous. Marston, in the 5laIcontent (1604), says: " Like your Scotch barnacle, now a block, Instantly a worm, and presently a great goose." And Hall,— i ' ' That Scottis barnacle, if I might choose. That of a worm doth was a winged goose." §Baptista Porta tells us: " Late writers report that not only in Scotland, but also in the River of Thames, near London, there is a kind of a shell-fish, in a two-leaved shell, that hath a foot full of plaits and wrinkles. They com- monly stick to the keel of some old ship. Some say they come of worms; some, of the boughs of trees, which fall 'Landim^. 1S4. t Divine Weeks and Works. * Virgedemarium, Lib. IV, Sat. S. tNatural Magic. 288 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS into the sea; if any of them be cast upon shore, they, die, but they which are swallowed still into the sea live, and get out of their shell, and grow to be a duck or such like bird." Shakspeare alludes to this belief, in "The Tempest" (iv-i), where Caliban says, — " We shall lose our time. And all be turn'd to barnacles. "- Another old writer, quoted in the London Athenceum, tells us: "Fowles, lyke 'to wylde ghees, whiche growen wonderly upon trees, as it were nature wrought agayne kynde. Men of religion ete barnacles on fastynge dayes, bycause they ben not engendered of fiesche, wherein, as we thinketh, they are." An anonymous writer, quoted in a work cited by Land- rin, says: *"Near Pomonie, in Scotland, on the seashore, gather and breed certain birds called crabans or cravans, which birds are not hatched, nor have feathers, nor moult, but arise, grow, and are engendered by the rotting and decay of old timber, masts, and oars from ships, which rot in the sea, and breed them thus. When this old wrack of ships falls in the sea, it is rotted and corrupted by the salts of the sea, and from this decay breeds birds, hanging by the beaks to the wood; and when they are all covered with plumage, and are large and fat, then they fall into the sea; and then God, in his grace, restores them to their natural life." To prove the truth of these assertions, an old author published a book, in which he compares this miracle to the immaculate conception. \ Scribonius, Torquemada, and Parthenopex allude to the superstition. J Butler sarcastically speaks of those "Who, from the most refined of saints. As naturally grow miscreants As barnacles turned Soland geese In the islands of the Orcades." Southey defines the word "Barnacle: — A bird breeding on old ships' bottoms." § Sir Robert Moray, in a scientific paper, in 1678, writes: * Les Monstres Marins, p. 130. + Landriu. — Les Monstres Marins, 131. tHudibra3(1663). STransaotioQS of the Boyal Society. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 26S "In every shell that I opened, I found a perfect sea-fowl; the little bill, like that of a goose, the eyes marked, the head, neck, breast, wings, and feet formed; the feathers everywhere perfectly shaped and blackish-colored, and the feet like those of a water-fowl." * Another old writer says: " There is the bird engendered by the sea, out of timber by long lying in the sea. Some call these birds clakes, and soland geese, and puffins; others, barnacles; we call th&m girritin." Turner, an English naturalist, thus wrote: "When, at a certain time, an old ship, a plank, or a pine mast rots in the sea, something like fungus at first breaks out therefrom, which at length puts on the manifest form of birds." He also gives the testimony of a Scotch physician, Octavianus: " This clergyman then professed himself ready to take his oath upon the gospels, that what Gyraldus had related of the generation of these birds was most true, for he himself had seen with his eyes, and also handled, these half-formed birds." So late as 1801, there was exhibited in London the " Wonderful Goose-tree, or Barnacle-tree, a tree bearing geese, taken out of the water." Notwithstanding this mass of testimony, it is well known that the resemblance of the barnacle to a bird is very slight indeed, and, if closely observed, would fail to give rise to such beliefs. Whence then did they originate? Imperfect observation doubtless strengthened the notion, but could hardly have given it birth. Dr. Brewer is perhaps right in attributing the whole superstition to a linguistic error. The bird meant, in the greater part of these accounts, is the soland goose, although the writer in Duret says it is the Black Diver. This bird is in Latin bertiacula, while per- nacula means a small limpet. From these to the French bernacle, Portuguese bernaca, and finally to the Scotch bren-dake, the name of this goose, is not an unlikely transi- tion. Superstitions concerning birds, both of the sea and of the land, have been numerous. Many of these have been re- counted. Divination b}'' the flight of birds was a favorite method in antiquity. Sailors and nautical men, particu- larly, watched sea and land birds for indications of pros- perous voyages and favoring winds, f As Aristophanes says: *K. Flaherty.— DescriptiOQ ot V/est Connaught (168i). + Aves, I, 657. 270 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIOK8 " From birds in sailing, men instruction take. Now lie in port, now sail, and profit make." As they were imagined to fly through the air to heaven, they easily became messengers or diviners of the will of the gods. Du Cange says the custom was continued to the middle ages, and a Tuscan author says the peasants still augur the coming weather by the song of the birds. Their sensitiveness to atmospherical changes makes them good barometers. We have seen them prominent as storm makers and calm bringers, but there are other superstitions con- nected with them. * The kingfisher boded good or evil, as its cry was to the right or left, said negroes of West Africa. f In Oxfordshire, England, fishermen say that a king- fisher, suspended to the mast by its beak, will swing its breast in the direction of a coming wind. So Shakspeare, in "King Lear," — " Disown, aifirm, and turn their halcyon beaks With every gale and vary of their masters." I Dyer says it is still seen suspended in cabins on the sea shore, and Collin de Plancy says this is still a belief in France. §Stover writes in 1599, — " Or as a halcyon with her turning breast Demonstrates wind from wind, and east from west." And Marlow, in the "Jew of Malta" (1633), — " But how now stands the wind? Into what corner peers my halcyon's bill?" I Sir Thomas Browne, in " Vulgar Errors," remarks, "That a kingfisher hanged by the bill sheweth what quarter the wind is by an occult and secret property, converting the breast to that part of the horizon from whence the wind doth blow. This is a received opinion, and very strange, introducing natural weather-cocks and extending magnetical positions as far as animal natures— a conceit supported chiefly by present practice, yet not made out b}' reason nor experience." Kircher says the sea-swallow and the orbis hung up by * Burton. — Wit and Wisdom from West Africa, + Jones. — Credulities, p. 8. * English Folk-lore. $ Life and Death of Sir Thomas WolRoy, Cardinal. I Book in, Chapter 10. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 271 "^.e back will point the bill to the wind. He says the custom irose from hanging these birds up, expecting that they would renew their feathers, as if alive. * The kingfisher was formerly kept in chests to keep off moths. f Moore's lines, — "And weary as that bird of Thrace Whose pinions know no resting place," refer to the kingfisher. J A traveler at Constantinople says immense numbers of aquatic birds appeared on the shores of the Black sea, and were deemed a bad omen, being the souls of certain persons in purgatory, "Ames Damnees." §Cheever alludes to this: "If the spirits of those whom Moslem jealousy have murdered and sunk in the Bosphorus, still float the stream in the form of complaining birds, which never rest," etc. The Fish-hawk and the Gurnet were esteemed bringers of good luck to English fishermen. Wilson says: "God bless the Fish-hawk and the Fisher." ||So with the tern, among northern fishermen, " Let nimble tern, and screaming gull Fly round and round, our net is full." And the Osprey, on our own coast, — " The Osprey sails above the sound, The Geese are gone, the gulls are flying, The herring-shoals swarm thick around, The nets are launched, the boats are plying." This bird was also able to fascinate the fish, and Shaks- peare is supposed to allude to this in Coriolanus, Act IV, scene 7. ** While Drayton says, — "The Osprey, oft here seen, though seldom here it breeds, Which over them the fish no sooner do espy, But betwixt him and them by an antipathy. Turning their bellies up, as though their death they saw. They at his pleasure lie, to stuff his gluttonous maw." * Sir Thomas Browne.— Vulgar Errors. + Lalla Rookh. t De Morray.— Constantinople Ancient and Modem, Vol. I, p. 137. g Cheever.— Sea and Shore (1827). IJones.— Credulitiea, p. 9. " Polj-olbion, XXV. 272 LEGENDS OF THE SEA. There was an old superstition that gulls were never setn bleeding: " The stricken sea-mew dives that none may see her bleed." During the middle ages, shooting stars were supposed tq be the half digested food of winter gulls. On the Croisic coast of Brittany, women go to the sea. shore, dressed in their finest apparel, and, strewing the waves with flowers, say to the gulls: " Goelans, Goelans, bring us back our children and our husbands, from the sea." * Pennant says: "The great auk is a bird observed by seamen never to wander beyond soundings; and, according to its appearance, they direct their measures, being then assured that land is not very remote." The tropic-bird was reverenced by Fijians. Ellis says that, on one occasion, one of these birds perched on the mast of a boat, when all the natives fell down and wor- shiped it. The ancients believed that the petrel hatched its eggs under its wings, and never rested. The albatross is believed by sailors to sleep on the wing. The eider-duck is sacred to St. Cuthbert, and is not eaten in many parts of England. fA sea-bird called the lavy was thought to indicate the weather by its motions, and was watched by Hefcr-les islanders for that reason. J Chinese junks frequently carry at their sterns a broad and high board, having on it a representation of a bird, which thej' call Foong, a sort of phoenix. It stands on a rock in a stormy sea, and is regarded as an emblem of speed and safet)', materially aiding the ship in her progress. In Scotch legend, the water-spirit comes as a bird, the § Boobrie. The daughters of Lir, a Celtic Neptune, were traditionall}- turned into sea-birds. "And we live in the water forever, By tempests driven from shore to shore." So also Alcyon and Ceyx, and the Meleagrides were turned into sea-birds. Amber was said to be a concretion of the tears of the latter. ♦Zoology. + Smyth.— Sailors' Word Boos. t Jones. — Creilulitie^, 47. sCampbeil. — Stories of W. Highlands. ^ J^ / - BRETON WOMEN STREWING THE SEA WITH FLOWERS. >^ 273 274 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS ' 'Around thee shall glisten the loveliest amber That ever the sorrowing sea-birds have wept. " *The Ahts of Nootka Sound say the loon gets its plaint- ive cry from its being the soul of a young man, whost tongue was cut out by a mischievous fiend, so that he could only utter such a cry. We must not forget the Rukh or Roc, which, in Sindbad's third voyage, crushes ships with stones. El Wardee relates similar stories. Land-birds have also been the subjects of man)' super- stitious ideas, f Swallows were, in antiquity, thought un- lucky at sea, although they are lucky on shore. Cleopatra abandoned a voyage, on seeing a swallow at the masthead of her vessel. Mancinus, a Roman consul, presaged defeat from one of these alighting on the antenna of his galley; and a similar omen led soothsayers to predict the speedy death of Mark Antony. JShakspeare alludes to the superstition; " Swallows have built In Cleopatra's sails their nests; the augurers Say, they know not — they cannot tell; look grimly. And dare not speak their knowledge." It was at one time thought that these birds, in their migrations, passed under the waters in the shape of an animated ball. § Olaus Magnus says they fall down into lakes and pools during winter, and are sometimes- fished out by fishermen, in the form of lumps or clods of a soft, sloughing substance. II The Roman general, Fabian, regarded it as a favorable omen that a Buteo, or kite, perched on the mast of his galley. ** Pliny says crows were used as guides bj' navigators, as thej' were carried out to sea by the inhabitants of Tapro- bane, and then let loose, to indicate the direction of the land by their flight. Norsemen used them for this pur- pose. Flock, in his voyage from Shetland to Iceland, is said to have let them fly when at sea. The crow and the raven are proverbially birds of ill- • Bancroft.— Native Races, in, p. 97. + See Chapter XIII. X Antony and Cleopatra, IV, 13. t History of the Goths. •• Jones. — Credulities. ■H Natural History, VI, 24. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 275 omen. Cicero regarded it as such that a raven perched on the ship that bore him across the sea. * An old Scotch ballad illustrates this belief. The crow speaks: "As I sat on the deep sea-sand, I saw a fair ship right at hand; I waved my wings, I beat my beal£, The ship sank — and I heard a shriek." f In China, when crows perch on the mast, crumbs of bread are thrown to them, to gain favorable winds. This is illustrated by a tale in Giles' collection, where a man is changed into a crow, and is sustained by being fed, to insure good winds. JAnother old ballad shows the raven's bad character: " 'Ah! well-a-day,' the sailor said, ' Some danger doth impend; Three ravens sit in yonder glade, And evil will happen, I'm sore afraid, Ere we reach our journey's end.' 'And what have the ravens with us to do? Does their sight betoken us evil? ' ' To see one raven's lucky, 'tis true. But it's certain misfortune to light upon two. And meeting with three is the devil.' " § Archdeacon Gray says sailors on the Yangtze, in China, feared disastrous consequences in case the ravens were troubled, passengers having threatened to shoot them. The magpie shared this evil reputation with these two birds. Sir Walter Scott relates a story of traveling in a stagecoach with a seaman, who, seeing a magpie, said, " I wish we may have good luck on our journey; there is a magpie." Upon inquiring, he further said: "All the world agree that one magpie bodes ill-luck, two are not bad, but three are the very devil itself. I never saw three magpies but twice, and once I nearly lost my vessel, and afterwards I fell off my horse and was hurt." Bourne says that three magpies aug-ur a successful voyage. The wren was long a sacred bird in England. | A York- shire couplet runs thus: " He that hurts a robin or a wren, Will never prosper, sea nor land." ♦The Twa Corbies. + Tales by Sung Ping Ling.— Giles' Translation. $C. G. Lewis. — "Bill Jones," in Jones' Credulities, p. 10. § Jones. — Credulities, 47. D Folk-lore Record. 276 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS. *On the Isle of Man, it was formerly a custom to hunt the wren on a certain day. Feathers acquired at this time were treasured up as charms against shipwreck. McTag- gart, a local author, says: "Manx fishermen dare not go to sea without one of these birds, taken dead with them, for fear of disaster and storm. Their tradition is of a sea- spirit, that haunted the herring-track, attended always by storms, and at last assumed the figure of a wren, and flew away, so that they think that when they have a dead wren with them, all is snug." f We are told in an old work: "When there are great storms upon the coasts of Lybia Deserta, the sea casts up great tunnies on the shore, and these breed worms for fourteen days, and grow to be as big as flies, then as locusts, which, being augmented in bigness, become birds called quails." A small land-bird came aboard the Vanguard, Nelson's flag-ship, at the battle of the Nile, and was deemed a prom- ise of victor}', and a happy omen. J Miss Knight sa3's she saw it hopping about, petted and well-cared for. A notable instance of the belief in bird-omens is seen in the following story by Captain Johnson, of the Norwegian bark Ellen, who, in 1857, picked up forty-nine^ of the wrecked crew of the steamer Central America. §"Just before six o'clock in the afternoon of September 12, I was standing on the quarter-deck. Suddenly a bird flew around me, first grazing my right shoulder. It soon flew at my face, when I caught hold of it, and made it a prisoner. The bird was unlike any bird I ever saw, nor do I know its name. As it strove to bite everybody, I had its head after- ward cut off, and the body thrown overboard. When the bird flew to the ship, the bark was going a little north of northeast. / regarded the appearance of the bird as an omen, and an indication to me that I must change m)' course. I accordingly headed to the eastward direct. I should not have deviated from my course, had not the bird visited the ship, and, had it not been for this change of course, I should not have fallen in with the forty-nine passengers, whom I fortunatel)' saved from certain death." The dove was long a bird of good omen at sea. Among Roman sailors, it was the custom to let one fly after the * Dyer.— English Folk-lore. t Magick of Kirwan, King^ of Persia, and of Harpocratian (1685). tAutobiography, in Jones' Ci-edulitics, 14. § Jones. — Credulities, 12-13. CAPTAIN JOHNSON ATTACKED BY A BIKD. 277 278 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS sacrifice, when the ship was leaving port, as its " homing ' was deemed a certain omen of a speedy voyage. Cortez's sailors in 1590, augured well of its appearance. The ac- count says: "Their victuals waxed skant, and their fresh water wanted, so that they prepared themselves to die. Some cursyed their fortune, others asked mercie at God's hand, looking for death, and to be eaten of the Carives. And in this time of tribulation came a dove flying to the shippe, being on Good Friday at sunsett; and sat him on the shippe top — whereat they were all comforted and took it for a miracle, and good token, and some wept with joy; some said that God had sent the dove to comfort them; others said that land was neare, and all gave heartie thanks to God, directing their course the way the dove flew." * In the legends of Queen Radegonde, she comes in the shape of a dove, to rescue sailors from wreck. In an Italian folk-lore story, a dove perches on the crosstrees of a ship, and is received as a favorable omen. A dove, we remember, guided the Argonauts through the Symplegades, and another bore good tidings of land to Noah. Vellerus Paterculus says a dove guided Greek colonists to Cumae. Thus it an- ciently came to be a mariner's bird. That fanciful mythol- ogist, Bryant, thinks the dove typifies the ark (as do a hun- dred other things to him), and its name Jonah, is the same as Jonah, and also as the Yoni, the mother of all. It has always been a bird of mystery — the incarnation of the Holy Ghost, and the sign of immortality to the christian. Four-footed animals and insects are also connected witl superstitious beliefs among sailors.f Many things have al ready been said about the cat, the wickedest animal in folk lore. It was not only a storm-bringer, but could bring gooc? or evil luck. J Rockwell tell us: "Two men fell from the mast head (of a naval vessel) and were killed. The crew, finding that one of their number had killed a cat, regarded him as the bringer of misfortune, and he had to be flogged and finally set on shore to appease them." We have given some rea- sons for the cat's unpopularity at sea. §Karl Blind says much of it, in connection with Shetland Folk-lore. We know from Egyptian sculptures that the cat ancienth^ represented the"" sun and the moon, its glowing eye figuring them. So • Gubernatis.— Zoological Mrthology, Vol. 11, p. 303. + See Chapters II. Ill and XIII. t Sketches of Foreign Travels, 1842. i Contemporary Review, Septemtjer 1882. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 279 Freya, Norse Sun goddess, was drawn by cats. She is also a water-goddess, and in Shetland is called Vana-dis, water- goddess. Vanega is a Shetland word for cat, its true name being taboed at sea. It means "she that goes on the water." Thor must put a cat into Loki's dwelling. This cat is the sea itself, as it became the great Midgard serpent, the Oceanus of the North. There are Irish legends of sea cats, traceable to Teutonic myths, and degenerated to witch-familiars. Dogs are unlucky among fishermen, and even their names may not be mentioned among many of them. It is unlucky to meet the spectral dog Shony* that comes out of the sea on the Cornish coast, also " Shock," similarly appearing in Norfolk, and the Maauthe Doog (Gwylligi) in Wales. f Thevenot says of Baruch, in Syria, that there is "a river called the ' Dog's river,' beyond doubt because there is a ring cut into the rock, to which is fastened a dog, cut in the same rock, and which would bark by enchantment, when any fleet came, and he could be heard four leagues off." J The hare, as we have already seen, was also an unfort- unate animal to sailors. An old work tells us: §"The fishers look on all mankeens (hares) to be devils and witches, and, if they but see a sight of a dead mankeen, it sets them a trembling." Brand says it is unlucky still for fishermen to meet a hare, a wolf, or a pig. In Cornwall, fishermen say a white hare often appears on the pier, foretelling a storm. | Galway fishermen say that if the hare is seen sitting still, or running before them to the sea, it is a good sign, but if run across their path, it is an unfortunate omen. They will not go out in their boats if they see a fox before starting. So rival fishermen have been known to hang up a dead fox. Pigs share in all this ill character. Scotch fishermen do not want to hear them named. Certain fishermen of New Haven found a pig among their fishing-gear, and would not fish that day. ** Filey fishermen will not go out, if they meet a pig first. Plutarch, in speaking of the report that the skin of a sea-calf would keep off lightning, adds to " it the skin of a ♦Sikes.— British Goblins and Welsh Folk-lore. + Travels. t See Chapter III. § Brand. — Popular Antiquities, III, 201. B Folk-lore Record. ** Dyer.— English Folk-lore, p. 116. 280 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS lynx, that sailors cover the ends of their sails with, when furled." It was long thought that rats would desert a sinking ship. A writer in the Nautical Magazine (1875) says they have been seen leaving a leaky ship by a hawser tied to the dock, and by swimming. *Shakspeare alludes to this belief, — "A very carcass of a boat, Nor tackle, nor mast — the very rats Instinctively had quit it." And Swift says: ' 'And fly like rats from sinking ships. " It is quite reasonable to suppose that the instinct of these animals may have led them to abandon a ship that had much water in the hold, as then they would suffer from hunger. f A singular legend is reported of a mythical Icelandic sea-animal, the " fledermaus " (not the bat). It must be caught in a net made of maiden's hair, set where there is gold in the sea; and then, if put into a box, lying on maiden's hair, with a coin in it, a similar coin will be attracted each night. If not thrown away before the owner's death, it will escape to the sea, and cause storms and floods. J La Perouse says: "We found millions of cockroaches in the bread-room, so that the holy father, who officiated as chaplain, was obliged to have recourse to exorcisms to drive them out." Fleas were anciently reported to infest fish. § Shaks- peare is supposed to allude to this in Henry IV., Part i, and there is at the present da}-, a fancy among fishermen, on the Norfolk coast, that fish and fleas appear at the same time. II An old fisherman said: "Lawk, sir, times is as you may look in my flannel shirt, and scarce see a flea, and then there ain't but a very few herrin's; but times that'll be right alive with 'em, and then there's sartin to be a sight o' fish! " **A Berber superstition says God made gnats, to swallow 'Tempest, I, 2. •t Maurer.— Islandlsche Sagen. 92. " Flathmans." » Voyages. S Act II, scene 1. I Dyer.— Folk-lore of Shakspeare 0883), 499. •» D. Hay.— Morocco and its Tribes (18it), in Melusine, March, 1885. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 381 the water (then fresh) of the rebellious ocean; then, when it promised obedience, caused them to vomit it up; but it is, since then, salt. *Don Quixote says: "Thou must know, Sancho, that one of the signs by which the Spaniards, and those who trade by sea to the East Indies, discover they have passed the line of which I told thee, as then all the vermin upon every one in the ship die, nor, after passing it, is one to be found in the vessel, though they would give its weight in gold for it." *Don Quixote, Part U, Chapter 28. fin Brittany, butterflies flying over the sea announce a calm. When the catch of cuttle-fish is good, | Asturian fishermen say it is a sign of bad weather. , They also say that a certain kind of crab is nourished by the bodies of the drowned, and kill every one they take. ^ At Noirmoutiers, the salt curers say they will have little salt when the cuttle-fish are scarce. § In Sicily, it is believed that a small piece of cuttle- fish, thrown into the sea, will multiply into thousands of polyps. II There also, the hippocampus, pinned to a ribbon, is worn as a charm by recreant ones who seek to conceal their amours. The star-fish is also a charm in Brittany, being called St. Gildas' flower, and worn by children to keep them from being afraid. t Sebillot, Croyances ear la Mer, 222, Vol. II. ± B. Vignon, Folk-Lora de la Mar, 11, 24. 5 BoUand, Fanne de la France, III, 187. § PittiS, Vei e Coetumi III, 187. || Do., IV., 878. IS CHAPTER VIII. SPECTRES OF THE DEEP. " How, by some desert isle or key Where Spaniards wrought their cruelty, Strange nightly sounds of woe and fear, Appall'd the list'ning Buccanier, The groan of grief, the shriek of pain. Ring from the moonlight groves of cane.'' Scott,— Rokiby, II, 12. ' Does not the heart of the brave man fail. And terror blanch his countenance pale. As we sit on the end of the yard and the spar. In circles of fire, in the ominous air?" Ayres, — Legends of Montauk, HE sailor imagined the world of waters peopled with beings of an ethereal kind, unsubstan- tial spectres, ghostly appari- tions, and weird forms, animate and inanimate, shadow)- lands, and imaginary countries. Apparitions were formerly com- mon at sea. The ancient Greek navigators, accustomed to material- ize all physical phenomena, often beheld them on land and at sea. Their deities and semi-deities fre- quently appeared in times of danger. -j«» * Appolonius says the Argonauts _^'^^ became involved in a dense fog, when after yi- ^ praying to Apollo, he appeared among the clouds and lit up the way with an arrow from his bow. To Telemachus, Vi'andering in distress, appears, as Homer says, Eidothea, — * Jones.— Broad, Broad Ocean, p, 232. 282 LEGENDS OF THE SEA AND OF SAILO^a' 388 • " When lo! a bright cerulean form ap:-"^". The fair Eidothea, to dispel my ftars; Proteus her sire divine." And so to Ulysses, when shipwrecked, Leucothea came, bring-inga life-saving veil, that enabled him to reach the shore, — t "Swift as a sea-mew springing from the flood, All radiant on the raft, the goddess stood." Menelaus, in Euripides' " Orestes," is made to say, — ' ' for from the waves The sailors' prophet, Glaucus, who unfolds," etc. And ApoUonius, in the "Argonauts," says he was the comforting apparition seen by sailors in distress. In the "^neid,"Somnus appears in the guise of Phor-' das, and gains possession of the helm, by casting Palinurus overboard. Apparitions of the Virgin and saints on shipboard are recorded in numerous Middle Age legends. Jin the eleventh century, an angel appeared to ./Ethelsige in a storm, and enjoined him to keep the Feast of the Concep- tion. On his promising to do -so, the storm ceased. A crusading fleet set sail from Dartmouth, in 1 190, to carry the troops of Richard I. from Marseilles to the Holy Land. One of them had a visit from St. Thomas of Canter- bury, St. Edmund, and St. Nicholas, during a storm. A twelfth century legend of Marseilles § chronicles the appearance of Notre Dame de la Garde upon the summit of a rock in the harbor, to aid a fisherman whose boat was in peril, and the same luminous apparition is said to have been seen by others. At one time, she saved a storm-beaten ship, by taking the helm in her own hands. II In 1226, the Virgin is said to have appeared to Lord Salisbury at sea, in a storm, shielding a light. On his vow- ing a taper to her shrine, the gale abated. Saint Cuthbert appeared to the crew who were carrying his body away. ** " And also the same shippe that they were in, by the grete storme and strong raging of the sea, as is aforesaid, was turned on one syde, and the booke of the ♦Pope.— Homer's Odyssey, Bk. IV. + Pope,— Odessy, Bk. V. t Jones. — Oredulities of All Ages. Ch. 1. § Collin de Plancv.— Legendes Pieuses du Moyen Age, I Jones.— Credulities. Ch. 1. *♦ Oironlcles of the Monastery of Durham. 384 ' LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Holie Evangeliste-fell out of the shyppe into the bottom of the sea. The whicV. booke, being all adorned with guild and presious stones of />.? outsyde, and they being all troubled with great sorrow for the loe<;e of the said booke, one Hunredin, being admonished and commanded by the vision of Sancte Cuthbert to seeke the booke that was lost in the sea, iij (3) miles and more from the land, and as they were' so admonishede, they found the booke much more beautiful than before." We have already related the legend concerning the ap- pearance of Jakushai Niurai, a Japanese saint, to a devoted priest on board a storm-beaten junk, and further instances of apparitions of saints are given in the chapter devoted to them. * Archbishop Bruno, of Wurtzburg, saw a spectral visi- tant, while at sea with Henry III., which announced itself as his evil genius, and he died shortlj' afterward. f The crew of a French crigantine at Zante, averred they saw the figure of a horned and monstrous seaman plunge into the water with one of the crew, who had defied the Virgin bj' playing dice. In Norse legend, Thor appeared to King Olaf Tryggvason in the guise of a red-bearded man, boarded his ship, laughed and joked with the crew, and finally jumped over- board. We find among early navigators, an almost universal be- lief in a spectre at the Cape of Good Hope. The spectre appears thus in the immortal song of the Lusian bard, — X " Robust and vigorous in the air appear'd, Enormous and of stature very tall, The visage grim, and with squalid beard. The eyes were hollow, and the gestures all Threatening and bad, the color pale and sear*d." He threatens ships with destruction. "The next proud fleet that think my drear domain With daring hand t'invade, and hoist the streaming vane. That gallant navy, by my whirlwinds toss'd. And varying seas, shall perish on my coast." Thus this cape, the place of the punishment of the spectre captain, is also that of Adamastor, the cape spectre, * Grant.— Mvsteries of all Nations. 293. + See Chap. U. t Camoens.— LusJad. Canto V. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 285 and to this day, the mariner, beating about its windy head- lands, sees, spread over its flat tops, the "Devil's Table- cloth,'' cloudy premonitor of coming tempest and possible wreck. Around it and the opposite cape have for years clustered the legends of sailors, and many still refer to wonderful experiences in "coming round the capes." There were other spectres that terrified the mariner. *Scot says: "Innumerable are the reports of accidents unto such as frequent the seas, as fishermen and sailors, who discourse of noises, flashes, shadows, echoes, and other things, nightly seen or heard upon the waters." Ghosts are encountered at sea. fWe read in an old work: "I look upon sailors to care as little of what becomes of themselves as any people under the sun; yet no people are so much terrified at the thought of an appa- rition. Their sea-songs are full of them; they firmly believe in their existence, and honest Jack Tar shall be more frightened at the glimmering of the moon upon the tackling of a ship, than he would be if a Frenchman were to place a blunderbuss at his head." The same work tells us a tale of a ship's crew that had not only seen, but smelted a ghost. A few judicious lashes dispelled the belief, but the smell proceeded from a dead rat, found in the place indicated as a haunt of the ghost. JAn anecdote is related, in Moore's life of Byron, of a Captain Kidd. He told Byron that the ghost of his brother (then in India) visited him at sea, and lay down in his bunk, leaving the blankets damp with sea-water. He afterward fouiid that his brother was drowned at that exact hour and night. §We find a nautical ghost as early as the time of Columbus: " The prince would have gone there in person, if it had not been that one of the crew of the galley of the marquis had said, more than a month before, that there appeared' to him three times, in a nocturnal vision, a woman dressed in white, who said to him that he should say to the prince that he should take good care of his life, that he should not place his person in danger by sea, above all on St. Michael's day; or, otherwise that he should receive some harm." • Scot.— Diet, of Witchcraft, 1065, in Jones' Credulities, 7. + New Catalogue of Vulgar Errors (1761), in Jones' Credulities, 86. t Jones.— Credulities, 87. S Memoires de Guillaume de Villeneuve (1195). 286 lEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS * Cotton Mather tells us of a spectre that visited a colonial ship, carrying off, in a ghostly canoe, seven of the crew at a time. He also says: ''Many persons, who have died at sea, have been seen, within a day of their death, by friends at home." Mary Howitt relates a story of a remarkable vision, as seen by Captain Rogers, R. N., who, in 1664, was in com- mand of the " Society," bound from England to Virginia. He was heading in for the capes, and was, as he reckoned, after heaving the lead, three hundred miles from them. A ■vision appeared to him in the night, telling him to turn out and look about. He did so, found all alert, and retired again. The vision appeared again, and told him to heave the lead. He arose, caused the lead to be cast, and found but seveti fathoms. Greatly frightened, he tacked ship, and the daylight showed him to be under the capes, instead of two hundred miles at sea. In Sandys' Ovid (1632), a story is told of- an old Bristol quartermaster, who saw the spectres of four Bristol witches playing dice in the cock-pit of his ship, at Gibraltar. They, perceiving him, disappeared, leaving him lame, and the ship was said to have been mysteriously stopped at sea by their power. fSir Walter Scott has a story of the captain of an English ship, who was assured by his crew of the nightly visit of the ghost of a murdered sailor. The crew refused to sail, but a close watch resulted in catching a somnam- bulist. Scott relates another incident of a captain who killed a man in a fit of anger, and, on his threatening to haunt him, cooked his body in the slave kettle. The crew believed that the murdered man took his trick at the wheel and on the yards. The captain, troubled by his conscience and the man's ghost, finally jumped overboard, when, as he sank, he threw up his arms, and exclaimed, " Bill is with me now! " t Scott also tells us of a Mrs. Leake}"-, who was said to have appeared after her death, standing on deck near the mast of her son's ship, raising storms by her incantations, and eventually wrecking the ship. Glover, in a poem, "Admiral Hosier's Ghost," embodies an old belief concerning the wonderful appearance of the * Magnalia Christi Americana. ■t Scott.— Letters on Demonology and Witcberaf t, p. Xa t Notes to Rokeby, 16. OF THE "sea AND OF SAILORS. 387 brave old admiral and all his fleet, after the taking of Porto Bello, in 1740. He had been refused permission to assault the place, and, when his successor took it, — "A sad troop of ghosts appeared, - All in dreamy hammocks shrouded. " Many West India Keys were formerly supposed to be the haunts of ghosts of murdered men, and Coffin Key was especially feared by sailors after sunset. Sir Walter Scott says the Buccanneers sometimes killed a Spaniard or a slave, and buried him with their spirits, believing that his ghost would haunt the spot, and keep away treasure hunters. *" Trust not, would his experience say. Captain or comrade with your prey. But seek some charnel, when at full. The moon gilds skeleton and skull. There dig, and tomb your precious heap, And bid the dead your treasure keep. * * * * kill some slave Or prisoner on the treasure grave, And bid his discontented ghost. Stalk nightly on his lonely post." Caves in the shores of the Caspian were haunted by ap- paritions, in the belief of mariners of fifty years ago, and Moore says, — \ "And such the strange, mysterious din. At times throughout those caverns roll'd. And such the fearful wonders told. Of restless sprites imprison'd there That bold were Moslem who would dare. At twilight hour, to steer his skiff, Beneath the Gheber's lonely cliff." J An old traveler tells us; " There is in this neighborhood an extraordinary hill, the Kobe Guebr, or the Guebre's mountain. It is superstitiously held to be the residence of deaves, or spirits, and many marv^elous stories are recounted of the injury and witchcraft suffered by those who essayed in former days to ascend or explore it." § In Brand's "Antiquities" there is a ludicrous tale of a sea-ghost. The ship's cook, a lame man, died while at sea, and was thrown overboard. Some days afterward his ghost * Kokeby, II, Canto 18. See also II, Canto 12 and Note 19. + Lalla Eookh. t Pottinger.— " Beluchlstan." t Vnl TIT Ti S.1. 288 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS. was seen, walking on the water, ahead of the ship. On coming up with it, it proved to be part of a ship's mast, with the top attached, that simulated the lame man's walk by bobbing up and down on the waves. This nautical ghost is often a malevolent spirit, as in Shelley's " Revolt of Islam,"— " The captain stood Aloof, and whispering to the pilot, said, 'Alas! alas! I fear we are pursued By wicked ghosts. A phantom of the dead. The night before we sail'd, came to my bed In dreams like that.'" * Marryat relates a sailor story of a murdered man's ghost appearing every night, and calling all hands to witness a piratical scene of murder, formerly committed on board the ship in which he appeared. f There is an account of the appearance, to an officer of a man-of-war, of his sister's ghost. He became unaccountably insensible, when the spectre touched him with her cold hand. She died the same hour, and on the next cruise he said he saw her again, this time disappearing over the ship's side during a storm. He lost his life shortly after, in the same manner. JA similar tale is told of a brother's ghost visiting an officer, at the hour of his death. § Symondson tells of the visit of the ghost of a former captain of the ship, at one time, to certain members of the crew, to prescribe a change of course, at another in wet and calm weather, quietly seated in his usual place on the poop- deck. II Cheever says: "The sailor is a profound believer in ghosts. One of these nocturnal visitants was supposed to visit our ship. It was with the utmost difficult)^ that the crew could be made to turn in at night. You might have seen the most athletic, stout-hearted sailor on board, when called to take his night-watch aloft, glancing at the yards and tackling of the ship for the phantom. It was a long time, in the opinion of the crew, before the phantom left the ship." Cheever tells of another ghost, returning to warn the •Pacha of Many Tales. + Blackwood's Magazine, 1860. t Grant.— Mvsteries of all Nations, 694. § " Two Years Abaft the Mast." a " Sea and Sailor." BUCCA-VEERS OF THE SPANISH MAIN. 289 290 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS men to repent of their sins, and the captain to desist from severe punishments. *The crew of the ship Pontiac, not many years since, averred that they saw the ghost of a man that had been stabbed by a Greek. On one man's laughing at the notion, he was mysteriously stabbed. The men thereupon deserted the ship, on arriving in port, but the Greek was afterward convicted of both murders. f Melville tells us of a man who was accidentally burned in his bunk, after having died there. The berth was sealed up, but the superstitious crew would not remain in the fore- castle at night, nor sing nor joke while there. An account of a haunted ship is given in the Nautical Magazine.| On the last voyage of the Lord Clive, a num- ber of Lascars had mutinied, and were summarily hanged at the yard arm. Her story became known, and it was diffi- cult to get a crew. Shortly after she sailed, during a night watch, the mate insisted that he heard groans in an empty cabin,, and rushed terrified on deck. The crew afterward left the cuddy, likewise reporting a ghost, that of a Malay. Various accidents occurred, and the spectre was often seen in the rigging. Finally, the master saw the ghost on the yard arm, laid in wait for it, and captured a Lascar, who was playing these ghostly tricks, in revenge for the punish- ment of his comrades. The spectre of a lady, drowned on the coast, is believed by fishermen to appear on the beach at Lyme, England. §A similar spectre is said to haunt the beach at St. Ives, Cornwall, during storms. It is called " the Lady and the Lantern." She and her child had been saved from wreck, but the child was swept away and drowned, and she is supposed to be hunting for its body. She is dressed in silks, and coins are always found where she has been seen. I Popular tradition asserts that the ghost of a young man lost at sea appeared to his mother in Cornwall, and that of an officer of the navy appeared to his wife. At Morra, in Cornwall, the Lady Sybilla sits on the rocks, looking seaward for wrecks. The apparition of a smug- gling crew, dripping wet, was also seen, portending the wreck that followed. A pilot at St. Ives received a ghostly ' Grant.— Mvsteries, 584-5. + White Jacket. 11871. § Bottrell.— Traditions and Fireside Stories of ConiwaU. fl HunL—Romances and Drolls of the West of England. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. ' 391 warning, in the vision of a man, his mouth filled with seaweed, and his shoes with sand. * In a Cornish legend, the spectre of a privateer captain goes off in a thunder-cloud in a mysterious ship. In the same story, the ghost of a shipwrecked sailor appears. In another tale a similar spectre appears, and carries off his waiting bride. The ghosts of shipwrecked mariners are seen, and their cries heard, from the waves, in a certain bay, on the Cornish coast. Scotch fishermen and sailors have many stories of these ghosts. The ghost of a murdered lady appears to her lover at sea, in a tale by Gregor,-|- coming in the shape of a bright light, assuming the human form as it draws nearer. She finally calls him, and he springs into her arms, and disap- pears, in a flash of fire. In another legend, an officer sees, in a vision, two boatmen bringing in the body of a third. Soon afterward, this actually occurred, the boat in which they were having been capsized. The spectre of a woman, who died on the scaffold, is said to have appeared to her sailor lover, who had promised to be faithful to her, living or dead. It came in a gale, accompanied by a storm-cloud, accompanied by a gigantic figure. The vessel was mean- while sorely stormbeaten, but was delivered, when these apparitions obtained possession of the sailor. On Solway Firth, the ghost of a murdered lady appears in a blaze of fire. On a small island, near Windemere, Scotland, called Ledge's Holm, there is a quarry called "The Crier of Claife." An old legend says a ferryman was hailed on a dark night from the island, and went over. He came back, after a long absence, having seen some horrible sights, which he ever after refused to relate, and soon after he became a monk. Afterward the same cry was heard, and the monk went over, and succeeded in laying the ghost in the quarry, where it still is. There are many stories of Irish banshees, some of which are aquatic ghosts. The Banshee of O'Carrol appears on Lough Dearg, gliding over the surface. l In various Danish legends, the ghost of a Strand Varsler, or coast-guard, appears, walking his beat as when alive. It was formerly considered dangerous to pass along *"The White Witch."— Bottrell. t Folk-lore of Scotland. tThorpe.— N. Mythology, II, 186. 292 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS unconsecrated beaches, believed to be haunted by the spec- tres of unburied corpses of drowned people, also called Strand-Varsler. Stories are told of encounters with them by a peasant, near Sambek, and by a woman, near Niverod. THE SAILOR LAD S GHOST. *A mediaeval East Prussian story is told of Father Anselm, a Lusenberg monk, who, obtaining strand rights on the coast, forbade the gathering of amber without the paj'ment of a heavy tax. It had always been free, but a decree was obtained that any one caught secretl)' gathering it, should be hanged to the nearest tree. In popular * Bechfitein. — Deutsches Mfirchenbuch. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 293 legend, his spirit cannot rest in its grave, but is often seen^ wandering on the beach, and crying, "Oh, my God! free amber! ". * In North German folk-lore, " Gongers " are ghosts of persons drowned at sea, who visit remote kindred, and announce their own death, always appearing at evening twilight, in the clothes in which they were drowned, and again in the night, leaving a track of water on the floor, and wet covers on the bed. In Schleswig, it is said they do not enter the house, but linger about to announce their sad errand, and always tell it to a relative in the third degree. A young lad was forced to go to sea with his father against his will. He said to his mother, before he went, "As you sit on the shore by the lake, think of me." His ghost appeared to her there soon afterward. f An island, Hornum, near Silt, is traditionally peopled by the apparitions of murdered men, robbers, murderers, and ship wrecked sailors. i In Schmidt's stories, the ghost of a wronged maiden ap- pears in a ship at sea, on board of which the crew are per- ishing with thirst. It comes in a cloud, traversing the vessel from boom to mizzen, when it finally overwhelms ship and crew. § In one of Arnanson's tales, ghosts of dead men appear, to aid in moving a boat, in which is traveling a former bene- factor of these spirits. There are many such ghosts found in the legends of our own land. The West Indian superstitions have been re- counted. II On the New England coast, they were also found, and Whittier says the Old Triton, — " Had heard the ghost on Haley's Isle complain, Speak him off-shore, and beg a passage back to Spain." ** These ghosts are those of the crew of the Spanish ship Sagunto, lost here early in the last century, sixteen of whose graves are still to be seen there. A more celebrated ghost is that of the " Shrieking ♦Thorpe.— N. Mythology, m, p. 10. +See also H. 0. Andersen, Fairy Tales, '" Anne Lisbeth." t Schmidt. — Seeman's Sagen und Schlffer Mfirchen. § Icelandic Legends. I Garrison of Cape Ann. « Drake.— Legreuds and Folk-lore of New England. 294 LEGENDS OF THE SEA. Woman," long thought to haunt the shores of Oakum Bay, near Marblehead. This was a Spanish woman, murdered here by pirates in the seventeenth century. Whittier thus sings of her, — *" 'Tis said that often when the moon Is struggling with the gloomy even, And over moon and star is drawn The curtain of a clouded heaven, Strange sounds swell up the narrow glen, As if that robber crew was there. The hellish laugh, the shouts of men — And woman's dying prayer. " f Drake says this spectre is still believed to haunt the spot, by many intelligent people, and a learned jurist stated that he had often seen it. I Roads says there are stories told in Marblehead of the appearance on the water of loved ones, who had died at home. § Lights are often seen coming and going near old wrecks on Sable Island, and, with the leaping flames, ghosts of wicked people appear. One is especially renowned, that of the " Lady of Copeland," wrecked and murdered by pirates, from the Amelia transport. She has one finger missing on her hand. II A Block Island tradition declares that the ghosts of certain refugees, drowned in the surf during the revolution, are often seen, these " harbor boys " struggling to reach the shore, and sometimes making their cries heard. ** Among Maine fishermen, there are legends of spectres. "There was particularly the story of the Hascall. She broke loose from her moorings during a gale on George's banks, and ran into and sank the Andrew Johnson and all on board. For years afterward, the spectres of the drowned men were reported to come on board the Hascall at mid- night, and go through the dumb show of fishing over the side, so that no one in Gloucester could be got to sail her, and she would not have brought six pence in the market." ff.There is a legend of a ghost of a former wreck, pirate, ♦ Legends of New England. t Drake.— Legends o( JS'ew England, p. 212. t History of Marblehead. § Secrets of Sable Island. Harper's Magazine. 1 Livermore.— History of Block Island. *» Fish and Men in the Maine Islands. W. H. Bishop, Harper's Magazine September, 1880. +t Drake. — Legends of New England. bS&^i^ '-.:.- — =^ ss:;r THE SHRIEKING WOMAN OF MARBLEHEAD. 295 296 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS etc., at Ipswich. When storms come, the howling of the wind is Harry Main. The legend is embodied in a verse by A. Morgan: " He blasphemed God, so they put him down, With his iron shovel, at Ipswich Bar, They chained him there for a thousand years. As the sea rolls up, to shovel it back. £o when the sea cries, the good wives say, ' Harry Main growls at his work to-day ? '" He is occasionally seen, hard at work on the bar. * Fishermen on the Isles of Shoals, said that ghosts guarded treasures buried by Kidd on Appledore Island, and their luminous forms were often seen. On another island, the ghost of the mistress of one of the freebooters faithfully guards the treasure. In Dana's Buccaneer, a spectral horse appears on the water, and the pirate is forced to mount him, see the spectre ship burn, and finally to ride him away. I Rockwell says there was a superstition among sailors in our navy, in 1842, that when a man had been hanged at the yard arm, a voice would be heard that night, returning the hail, from each yard-arm, one being the ghost of the person hanged. A certain island on the Japanese coast is traditionally haunted by the ghosts of Japanese slain in a naval battle. JGriffis says, " Even to-day the Chosen peasant fancies he sees the ghostly armies baling out the sea with bottomless dippers, condemned thus to cleanse the ocean of the slain of centuries ago." Mariners feared to anchor near, and thought the phosphorescent sea the forerunner of these ghosts. § An old Chinese legend reports that the ghost of the captain of a man-of-war junk, who had been murdered, re- appeared, and directed how the ship was to be steered to avoid a nest of pirates. The ghost of a Canton man-of-war repeatedly visited his ship, promenading the deck, and drilling his men. We should not wonder at the belief in ghosts and spectres at sea, when we hear of the belief formerly existing, that when ghosts were laid, they were banished to the Red Sea. In one of Addison's plays, we read, " There must be a power of spirits in that sea." When sjach exiled ghosts did reap- • Drake.— Legends of New Eng:lanTj,», . ^m JUGELLAN's ship and the ST. ELMO LIGHTS. 307 308 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS a very great cry and exclamation. This constellation, as astronomers do write, is engendered of great moisture and vapors, and showeth like a candle that burneth dimly and skippeth from one place to another, never lying still. We saw five of them together, all like the light of a candle, which made me wonder, and I should hardly have believed it, but that I saw it, and looked very earnestly at it. . . . These five lights the Portuguese call ' Coroa de Nostra Sen- hora,' that is, ' our lady's crown,' and have great hope there- in when they see it." Sir Humphrey Gilbert tells us, "We had also upon oui main-yard an apparition of a little fier by night, which sea- men call Castor and Pollux." In Lord Bacon's "Apothegms," Gonsalvo says to Diego de Mendoza, " It is Saint Ermyn, who never appears but after a storm." * Hakluyt in his Voyages (1598) saw the light. He says, " I do remember that in the great and boisterous storm of this foul weather, in the night there came upon the toppe of our maine-yard and maine-mast a certaine little light, much like unto the light of a little candle, which the Span- iards call the Suerpo Santo. This light continued aboord our ship about three hours, flying from maste to maste, and from top to top; and sometimes it would be in two or three places at once." f An old writer says, — "As when a wave-bniised bark, long tost by the winds in a tempest, Strains on a forraine coast, in danger still to be swallow'd, After a world of feares, with a winter of horrible objects, The shipman's solace, fair Leda's twinnes, at an instant, Signes of a calm are seen, and seen, are shrilly saluted. " I De Loier also says, " They shall see the fires which say- lors call St. Hermes, fly uppon their shippe, and alight upon the toppe of maste." In that diverting work, Burton's "Anatomy of Melan- choly (1624), we read, "Fiery spirits and devils are seen, as commonly noted, by blazing stars, fire-drakes, or ignes-fatni, which lead men often in flu-men aut pracipitu; likewise they counterfeit sun and moon, stars oftentimes, and sit on ship's masts. In navigiorum summitantibus visuntur^ and are called » Vol. m, p. 430. -t Greene in C!onceit (1598). % Treatise of Spectres aeOo). i " They are seen at the top of shlpa." OF TMK SEA AND OF SAILORS. 309 Dioscuri, as Eusebius informs us, in which they never ap- pear, saith Cardan, but they signify some mischief, or ill to come unto men, though some will have them to portend good, and victory to that side they come towards in sea- fights. St. Elme's fire they commonlycall them, and they do likewise appear after a sea-storm. * Radzovillius, the Polonian duke, calls this apparition Santo Germani Sidus (Holy German Star), and saith, moreover, that he saw the same often in a storm as he in his sailing, 1582, came from Alexander to Rhodes. Our stories are full of such appari- tions in all times." In a letter from a priest in Peru to his superior, written in 1639,1 we find a curious account of this light. I trans- late, " But we passed through it (the storm) happily, since at its beginning, which was about 11 or 12 P.M., the San- telmo (sic) appeared to us at the main-topmast head, in the shape of three distinct lights, mild and beneficent to the sight, the form in which the Saint appears on like occasions to afflicted mariners. We all bade it thrice good speed, none in the ship omitting it, and then we knew that it understood our actions, and were not left in ignorance of the protection and special assistance that it afforded us, as it gave us an indication of this, the Saint passing from the main-topmast head to the fore-topmast head, and in the same form, and then we again bade it good speed three times, and the Saint, as if to show us that it afforded us a like protection and assurance, appeared the third time at the mizzen-topmast head, and there shone in the threefold form of three burning lights, which made a marked impres- sion on all, and all at once wished good speed three times again, and saw it no more, but gave ourselves the greatest assurance and confidence in making a good voyage." X Bartolomeo Crescentio records the light, and says it was called Saint Telme, or Saint Helm, because of its reflec- tion in the helmets, or helms, of the soldiers. Fournier, in his " Hydrographie " (1643), relates many curious stories of the light. He says it was named after a saint, familiarly known as Saint Telme, but who was San Pedro Gonzales de Tuy, in Gallicia, who had been a mari- ner, then was canonized, and became a patron saint of sail- ors.§ Gallician sailors called the light San Pedro Gonzales. * Hierosolymitaiia Perigrinatio (16011, p. 280. tDuro. — Disquisitiohes Nauticas (1876). tNautica Mediterrannea (1607). (Acta Sanctorum, April 11, and June 1. 310 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Varenius, a Dutch writer, in 1650, says of these lights, " They usuallywander with an uncertain motion from place to place, sometimes appearing to cleave close to the sails and masts; but they frequently leap up and down with in- termission, affording an obscure flame like that of a candle burning faintly. They are produced by some sulphurous and bituminous matter, which, being beat down by the mo- tion" of the air, above, and gathering together is kindled by the agitation of the air, as butter is gathered together by the agitation of the cream; and from this appearance we infer that storms come from sulphurous spirits that rarefy the air and fuel into motion." *A work written in 1652 calls it "St. Ermyn, that never appears but after a storm." Hazlitt, quoting an unpublished manuscript of the seven- teenth century, says it was called Castor and Pollux, and Fermie's fire. f Dampier encountered them: "After four o'clock, the thunder and the rain abated, and then we saw a Corpus Sant at our main-topmast head, on the very top of the truck of the spindle. This sight rejoiced our men exceedingly, for the height of the storm is commonly over when the Corpus Sant is seen aloft, but when they are seen 13'ing on the deck, it is generally accounted a bad sign." " A Corpus Sant is a certain small glittering light; when it appears as this did, on the very top of a mainmast or at a yard-arm, it is like a star, but v^'hen it appears on the deck, it resembles a great glow-worm. The Spaniards have another name for it, and I have been told that when they see them, they pres- ently go to prayers, and bless themselves for the happy light. I have heard some ignorant seamen discoursing how they have seen them creep, or as they say, travel about in the scuppers, telling many dismal stories that hap'ned at such times, but I never did see one stir out of the place where it first was fix'd, except upon Deck, where every sea washeth it about. Neither did I ever see any but we had rain as well as wind, and therefore I believe it to be some jell3^" JJosselyn records these meteors: "About eight of the clock at night, a flame settled upon the main mast; it was about the bigness of a great candle, and is called by seamen * Herl)ert's Remains.— Brand, TIT, p. 402. + Voyages (1637). t Voyages. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 311 St. Elmo's fire; it comes before a storm, and is commonly thought to be a spirit; if two appear, they prognosticate safety." Heyrick, in "The Submarine Voyage" (1691), says, — "For lo! a sudden storm did rend the air. The sullen heavens curling from its brow, Did dire presaging omens show. Ill-boding Helena alone was there." In another place, Heyrick calls it Corposant, and so we find it named in John Coad's " Memorandum " (1690), and in Fryer's " Travels," of about the same period. * Fryer says, "In a storm of rain and hail, with a high and bleak wind, appeared the sailors' deities. Castor and Pollux, or the same it may be, gave light to those fables, they boding fair weather to seamen, though never seen but in storms, look- ing like a candle in a dark lantern, of which there were divers here and there, above the sails and shrouds, being the ignis fatui of the watery elements; by the Portuguese chris- tened Querpos Santos, the bodies of saints, which by them are esteemed ominous." Coad tells us: "God was pleased to give us a sign of the storm approaching, by a corposant on the top of the main mast." f The writer of "Forbin's Memoirs" also relates that some thirty were seen in the Mediterranean. The French mariners thought that so long as they remained aloft, they were beneficent spirits, but if they descended, a gale would appear, and the wind would blow in proportion to their descent. The St. Elmo appeared in answer to the prayers of some sailors in 1700, who called on Notre Dame de Deliverance, whose shrine is near Caen. A belief existed in the Isle of Man, about the same period, that lights over water presaged drowning, and rested over drowned bodies also. Similar beliefs are recorded of the river Dee, according to Aubrey. Dr. Caldecott sa}'s that when a Christian is drowned in that river, lights hover over the water to point out the loca- tion of the body, and hence it is called the Holy Dee. A curious account of the meteor is contained in a work •Jones.— Credulities, p. 76. t Jones. — Credulities, p. 76. 312 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS quoted by Brand.* It calls them " fiery impressions that appear usually at sea, called by mariners Castor and Pollux; when thin, clammy vapors, arising from the salt water and ugly slime, hover over the sea, they, by the motions in the winds and hot blasts, are often fired; these impressions will oftentimes cleave to the masts and ropes of ships, by reason of their clamminess and glutinous substance, and the mar- iner by experience find that when but one flame appears, it is the forerunner of a storm, but when two are seen near together, they betoken faire weather and good lucke in a voyage. The natural cause why these may foretell fair or foul weather is, that one flame alone may forewarn a tem- pest, forasmuch as the matter, being joyn'd and not dis- solv'd, so it is like that the matter of the tempest, which never wasteth, as wind and clouds, is still together, and not dissipate, so it is likely a storm is engendering; but two flames appearing together denote that the exhalation is divided, which is very thick, and so the thick matter of the tempest is dissolv'd or scattered abroad, by the same cause, but the flame is divided, therefore no violent storm can ensue, but rather a calm is promised." Cotgrave, in his dictionary, defines Feu d' Helene, Feu d' Hermes, St. Helen or St. Hermes' fire as a meteor that often appears at sea. " Furole, a little blaze of fire appearing hj night on the tops of soldier's lances, or at sea on the sayle-yards, where it whistles and leapes in a moment from one place to another. Some mariners call it St. Hermes' fire, if it come double, 'tis held as a signe of goode lucke, if single, other- wise. If five of them are seen together, thej- are called by the Portuguese Cora de Nostra Senhora, and are looked upon as a sure sign that the storm is almost over." Aubin, in his Dictionary (1702), says: "The sailors draw presages from its appearance; for, if this light appear on the mast, yard, or rigging, they conclude that, the air being agitated by no wind which can dissipate these lights, there would ensue a profound calm; but, if the fires fl}' about, it is, according to them, a sign of bad weather." He calls them Feu St. Elme, Vree Vuuren (free fires), or Castor en Pollux. f Becchi, writing of naval affairs in 1705, calls the lights * Vol. Ill, p. 401.— Wonderful History of all the Storms, Hurricanes, Earth- quakes, etc. (1700). i De re Navali. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 313 St. Elmo, and thinks they may be caused by phosphorescent marine insects scooped up into the air. He says: "Wisliing to invoke this- light, and not know- ing any name for it, they called it saint." He also says: "The Gallicians call this same light San Pietro Gonzales de Tui (Tui is a city of Gallicia, near Baiona), who was at first a sailor, and then, dying as a monk, so they called him a saint." A writer in the "British Apollo" (1710), says: "When this light appears, it is a sign that the tempest is accom- panied by a sulphurous spirit, rarefying and moving the clouds." Thos. Chalky, in a journal of a voyage from Barbadoes to Philadelphia, says: "In this storm, December, 1731, we saw divers lights, which the sailors call corpusants. One of them was exceeding bright, about half an hour, on our main-topmast head, plain to the view of all the ship's com- pany, divers of whom said they never saw the like, and I think I never heard of or saw the like before." *Dr. Shaw tells us: "In the like disposition of the weather (thick and hazy), I have observed those luminous bodies, which at sea skim about the masts and yards of ships, and are called corpusance by the mariners — a cor- ruption of Cuerpo Santo, as this meteor is called by the Spaniards." A work, "A Wonderful Test of all Stones" (1760), has it: " They are seen rising in thin vapors from the surface of the waters, and then changing to the vessel's spars. One pre- sages a storm, and two, fair weather." The author gives a whimsical explanation of their origin. In a work, " Hostes Furioso," written about the same time, these lights are alluded to, and Ariosto's lines, above- quoted, are repeated. Falconer, in the "Shipwreck" (1760), thus sings, — " High on the mast, with pale and lurid rays. Amid the gloom, portentous meteors blaze." fAn Italian brochure, published about 1768, gives an account of them, and relates the usual omens as to their number. Nineteenth centurj' science has not thoroughly dispelled the mariner's belief in the supernatural character of these * Travels in the Levant a'i38t +Bn:-HE mysterious islands described in the last chapter, do not com- prise all that was thought and written concerning such lands in the waste of waters encom- passing the globe. Many such are reserved for the present chapter, as they are inextricably interwoven with the legends of mysterious voy- ages, ghostly barks, and spectral forms that suffice to fill a volume. Legends of a voyage at the end of life's journey, where a river is to be crossed, or an ocean, are found in remote antiquity. *The dead bodies of the Egyptians, after embalming, were conveyed by water through the canals, across the lakes toward the setting sun, where lay the sepulchres, in many cases. And to the westward lay the Earthly Paradise. The Greek Charon, ferrying souls over the Styx, is familiar to most readers. Sometimes the water was Avernus, Cocytus, Acheron, or the Acheru- sian lakes of the lower world. * Keary.— Outlines of Primitive Belief, p. 272. 321 322 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS * In the Vedas, the river is Vaiterafii, " hard to cross" and the dead were not long since committed to the care of the sacred Ganges in a boat, with a funeral fire kindled in it. But the Greeks transferred these rivers to the under world, and so they named the 'Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate. Sad Acheron, of sorrow black and deep Cocytus named of lamentation loud." These names themselves, Acheron and Acherusia, are supposed to be derived from the same root as aqua, water. These were under-world rivers. But the stream of death was more commonly on earth. It was earliest a river of death, and only became a sea later in men's history. Among the early Aryans, this river was often an aerial stream, in the great air-sea above us. The soul, which, with the spirit, the breath or ghost, was identified, as we have seen, with the wind, was thus, at death, borne along through the water)' element to some unknown land, either Hades or Hel (the concealed, or hid- den), or to Paradise (the high land). In time, the aerial stream, as well as the under-world river, became rivers of earth, and the abodes of souls were localized also in various remote parts of the earth's surface. These river-myths grew into a great tribe of similar legends, even extending into a sea of death, the path (Pontus) to the abode of souls. The sea of death appears in all the Aryan folk-lore, in forms and legends too numer- ous to mention here. As Miss Harrison aptly puts it; " We remember that for centuries the sea voyage has been the symbol of the troub- lesome waves of this world, and the transit to the next." On Greek tombs, the words " Euploia " (favorable voy- age) show the popular ideas on the subject. For this, modern Greeks substitute a pair of oars, laid on the grave. The first great sea epics are now supposed to be accounts of the soul voyage.f The Odyssey, since it has been care- fully studied, has been declared a succession of tales of such voyages, and the famous Argonautic expedition is as cer- tainly a myth of the sun voyage or of the soul's migration. Both were made in the western sea, although later legends represent Jason as sailing to the eastward in the Euxine. * Keary.— Outlines of Primitive Belief, 281. tKeary.— Outlines of Primitire Belief. 296. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS 323 Both were doubtless to the westward, the home of the set ting sun, whose night journey was early typical of the soul- voyage. So, in Egyptian sculptures, Osiris, the sun god, journeys in the under-world in his golden bark, attended by the hours. An invocation to the sun-god in a papyrus reads, — * " Oh thou ruler of the waters, that cometh up out of the river. Sit thou on the deck of the solar bark." Thus these imaginary voyages are to the westward, and have ever continued in that direction. The mysterious Argo, which bore the Greek heroes in their search for the golden fleece, which, like the golden apples of the Hesperian gardens, lay across the waters, will be alluded to again. Ulysses' ship, in which he journeys from Circe's Island to Hades, was a true death ship. Circe says, — f " Soon shalt thou reach old Ocean's utmost bounds, There fix thy vessel in the lonely bay, And enter there the kingdoms void of day." J The Phseacian ships in the " Odyssey " are also ships of the dead. " No pilots have they, no oars, no rudders, and they know the thoughts of men." They carry souls to Al- cinous's gardens of Paradise. In one, Odysses is laid asleep, and returned to Greece. The Ichthyophagi and the Lotophagi, according to Ptole- my, buried their dead in the sea. Hector was buried in an ark-shaped boat, or Larnax. Popular belief shrouded Pontus with darkness. This is indicated by its modern title of Black Sea, which it gets in most European tongues. This Pontus was the. path or way to the new home of the Aryan, as well as to the under world. These legends, as men became more and more acquainted with navigation, were transferred to the west, as the earthly paradise was so transferred. So the sea became in later times the River of Death. § That it was early so regarded we may believe, for from a Sanscrit root are the two words, meer, sea, and mors, death, derived, and Ulysses sails across * Eecords of the Past. + Pope's Odyssey, Book X. X Keary.— Outlines of Prlnilfi've Belief, p. 323. IKeary.— Outlines of PriTiitive Belief, o. 29S. 324 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS the Western Sea to Hades, and to other Hells and Paradises. From being a river around the world, Oceanus became a sea, and thus a sea of death was to be traversed. Similar myths of the sea of death exist in all Aryan my- thology. Ancient Norsemen called it Gjoll (the sounding). * Thorpe says Gjoll is the horizon, and has reference to the sun sinking with a sound. Here the sea is again mixed up with the myths of death. f The Norseman named the home of the dead, Nava, which word seems to hint at the ship and nautical origins. In the legends of Baldur, the great hero, he is set afloat in his ship " Hringhorn " and in a pyre, set adrift at sea. This ship Hringhorn was the greatest of all ships. The Eddasay:J "After their sorrow was a little appeased, they carried the body of Baldur down toward the sea, where stood the vessel of that god, which passed for the largest in the world. But when the gods wanted to launch it into the water, in order to make a funeral pile for Baldur, they could never make it stir, wherefore they caused to come from the country of the giants a sorceress." This sorceress was Hyr- rokin (smoking fire), "Then the sorceress, bending over the prow of the vessel, set it afloat with one single efiort, which was so violent that the fire sparkled from the keel as it was dragging to the water." § We have here another myth of the sun and of death. Baldur is the Sun-god, Hringhorn the Sun's disk, and this burial the sunset, t3'pifying the journey of the dead. II Sigmundr carries his son Sinfiotli, and puts him in a boat brought by a stranger, leaving him to his fate. ** Jarl Magus was conveyed, with his widow, to the Holy Land in a ship. \\ Flosi was abandoned, in a leaky ship, to the mercy of the waves. Scyld was also so buried. Beowulf says: "They bore him to the sea-shore, as he himself requested. There, on the beach, stood the ring-prowed ship, the vehicle of the noble, ready to set out. They laid down the dear prince, the distributor of things, in the bosom of the ship, the mighty one beside the mast. They set up a golden-ensign high overhead. They gave him to the deep." ♦Northern Mythology. + Keary.— Myths of the Sea and River of Death, Cont. Rev., 1883. t Grimnismal. — Saenmndr Edda, 39, 8 Keary. —Outlines of Primitive Belief, p. lOL G Sgemimdr Edda, 170. ** Jarl MagTis Saga, 45. ++ Dasent,— Burnt NjaL OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 325 *Sceaff (Skiff), another hero, was found, when a child, floating in a ship, with a treasure in the vessel. Tradition- ally, he was a descendant of Odin, and a progenitor of the Danish Royal Skyldings. At his death, he also was placed, as William of Malmesburg says, " According to a custom of parts of Scandinavia," in a boat, with a sheaf of corn at his head, and set adrift on the sea. The Saxon Chronicle says he was a son of Noah, born in the ark. We read in the Heimskringla: " King Hake had been so grievously wounded, that he saw his days would not be long; so he ordered a war-ship which he had, to be loaded with his dead men, and their weapons, and to be taken out to sea, the tiller to be shipped, and the sails hoisted. Then he set fire to some tar-wood, and ordered a pile to be made of it in the ship. Hake was almost, if not quite dead, when he was laid upon this pile of his. The wind was blowing off the land, the ship flew, burning a clear flame, out be- tween the islets, and into the ocean." Asmundr, Geimundr, and others, were buried in ships, and such burial became so common that an early law pre- scribed the number of slaves to embark in the boat with a chieftain's body, varying in number from one to ten. \ Odin has a golden ship in which he conveys souls to Valhalla. The river to be crossed was there Gurungu-gap, and Val- halla, the hall of heroes, was in Godheim, or Paradise. J This vessel is traditionally buried in Runemad, in Sweden. The Vikings' boat, found in 1881, in a mound near San- defjord, Norway, has in it a sepulchral chamber, in which a man's bones were found. It was pointed with its prow to the sea. These death-ships abounded in the middle ages. They move of their own will, without oars, sails, or rudder some- times, are of all sizes and shapes, and some, like " Skid- bladnir," fold up, or diminish into small space. King Arthur is borne to Avalon in such a death ship. § Layamon says: "There approached from the sea a little short boat, floating with the waves, and two women therein wondrously formed, and they took Arthur anon, and bare him quickly, and laid him softly down, and forth • Keary. — Outlines of Primitive Belief, p. 469. + Grimm.— Teut. Mythology. t Afzelius.— Svenska Folks Visor, I., 4. I Brut 326 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS they gan depart." The tale is told in full, in the old chron- icle of the Arthurian deeds. * Sir Galahad goes in one, in search of the Holy Grail, and legends represent this soul-carrying bark as telling the life-story or the wrongs of the souls embarking in it, and in the story of the " Fair Maid of Astolat," Hermanic became the ship of Faith, warning the mistrustful not to embark. It carries Sir Parsifal to the spiritual place. jThe Demoiselle D'Escalot "begged to have her body put into a ship richly equipped, that would be suffered to drift at the mercy of the winds." So Tennyson represents Elaine as set adrift in a barge, Tvith a mute slave at the helm. The old German tribes generally believed in a ferryman of souls. JThe Rhine became the German Styx in one of these stories, a fishermen being called upon one calm night to ferry monks across, his boat each time mysteriously wafted back by a gale. Mysterious persons, in other tales, call fishermen at night, and leave quantities of gold to pay for their passage. Such stories are told of ferrymen or fishermen at Spires, and at Saalfeld, in the Weser. It is Perchta, goddess of death, who calls the boat, in the last story. §The bodies of St. Maternus, in the Rhine, and of St. Emmeranus, in the Danube, were mysteriously borne up these rivers in rudderless boats. A Cologne legend says a certain learned Jew, Rabbi Amram, left the following request behind him: "When I am dead, place me in a coffin, and put it in a boat on the Rhine, and let it go where it will." This was done, and the boat is said to have floated up the Rhine to Mayence. When it arrived, if a Christian tried to touch it, the boat would drift back, and Jews only were able to remove the body. There is a bay of the departed in Brittany, near Cape Raz (Bale des Trepasses), where boats were summoned, according to the fishermen, to convey souls, especially of drowned men, to Isle au Sein, or the Isle of the Dead. II This boat is, in local tradition, crowded with invisible passengers, whose wails and cries are heard. Later, this * Cox.— Aryan Mythology, Bk. I, Cliap. 6. + Romance of Lady of the Lake, 13»1. Grinun, I, 83L $Wolf. — Deutsches Sapen. f Keary.— Outlines of Primitive Belief, 459. I Vlllemarqu6.— Barzas Breiz, vol. I. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 327 tradition was applied to Great Britain, then to Ireland, and so on to the westward; and the inhabitants and fishermen are represented as serving as ferrymen. *At Guildo, on the Breton coast, small skiffs are said to come out at night, from under the cliffs, and row away with the souls of mariners, who have been drowned. All fear to pass the spot at night. The Rhone was also a death-stream, and was sacred as late as the twelfth century, the dead often being committed to its care. Philip of Rennes, was traditionally carried from St. Vilaine to Rennes in an oarless boat. f Middle-age legends represent that the soul of Dagobert was wafted to the terrestrial paradise in a ship. As Walter of Aquitaine, was sailing to Ireland, he met a ghostly ship, with a black crew and captain, which latter, when asked where he was going, replied: "I flee from the archbishop, and I go to Hades." According to a legend of 1585, the devil engaged all the 'children in Holland to go on a crusade, and got them on board ship, but they never came back. J Old Finnish legend represents Wainamoinen, the great hero, as being rowed to the lower world by Tuoni, goddess of death, in a black boat, built by Manata, daughter of the king of death. There is a Spanish legend of a certain Count Arnaldos, who saw at sea a galley- slowly drawing near the land, and in it an old sailor, who sang a wondrous sweet song. When asked to stop and sing the song, he replies: %" 1 can tell the song to no one Save to him who sails with me." .Longfellow has a poem on this subject. II A tradition exists that Pope Pius II. (Piccolomini) found at the bottom of the river Numicius a galley coated with bitumen, iron, and lead, and in it a coffer and amphora, believed to contain the ashes of the Roman emperor Ti- berius. **An Irish legend relates that a boat, moved by a hun- *S6billot. — Ciontes des Paysans et Pecheurs. tLudlow.— Popular Epics. Vol.1. tLe Due. — Kafevala. SPoems. — '■ Sea and Shore." lEenard.— Les MerveiUes del' Art Naval, 17T. "McPherson.— Int. to History of Great Britain. 338 LEGENDS OF THE SEA. dred self-impelled oars, and white sails, but with no crew, appeared out of a dark cloud in a storm, to a certain Druid, at Skerr. A voice said, "Behold the boat of the heroes!" He entered in it, and journeyed seven days to the westward, arriving at Flath Innis, or Noble island, a terrestrial para- dise. *Boat burial has been common among many nations. Keary gives an account of an early instance of this, among the Russ people in 942-76. The bodies of the poorest and richest alike were buried in boats. After burial in a ditch for ten days, a boat is prepared. " I went to the banks of the stream on which was the vessel of the dead. I saw that they had drawn the ship to land, and men were engaged in fixing it upon four stakes, and had placed around it wooden stakes. On to the vessel they bore a wooden platform, a mattress and cushions, covered with a Roman material of golden cloth." When the time came, the body, richly attired, was placed thereon, and with that of a strangled female slave, a dog, two horses, and three fowls, was buried along with the weapons of the deceased. f Ralston says all Slavonic people believe in the voyage and river of death, and coins are still placed in graves. JScheffer says Lapps and Ostiaks buried their dead in boats, or boat-shaped coffins. § The Garrows of Bengal still burn their dead in a boat, four days after death. Borneo Kanowits set adrift a canoe containing some worthless property of the deceased, to typify the whole of his possessions. The sea Dyaks also place their dead in a canoe, with some property, and set it adrift. ||The boats used in the funeral procession of Thrien Thri, a king of Cochin China, in 1849, were burned on his pyre. The dead are still carried to the grave in boats or barges, in Siam, just as in the Parish of Plougoel, in Brit- tany, they are rowed by a longer way than the land route, through a passage called " passage of hell." Canoe burial is reported of many Indian tribes. The Musquitos burned their dead in a canoe, or cut the boat up, and placed it in the grave. The Aleuts used boat-shaped coffins. ** The Shokomishes, Clallams, Chinooks, Flat- * Outlines of Primitive Belief, 403. + Songs of the Russian People, pp. 107-8. t Lapponia. I Tyler.— Anthropology. I ^ler.— Primitive Culture, p. 489. "Bancroft.— Native Races, Vol. I, p. 206. SEA DYAK'S boat SACRIFICE. -.829 21 330 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS heads, Nootkans, and some Columbia river tribes buried their dead in canoes elevated on poles. Swan says some old boats lying on a point of land in Shoalwater Bay, were deemed the property of departed spirits, and were never molested. Wilkes found 3,000 canoes in one cemetery. *The Cherokees and Chinooks sometimes buried their dead in the sea, as did the Ilzas of Guatemala, and the Aleuts. Esquimaux often placed a kayak in or near the grave, or at least a model of one, to assist the deceased in his journey. The Greeks early invented a traditional fare for the dead ferryman (the naulas), and an obolus was put into the mouth of the corpse to pay the passage. This custom existed in the Middle Ages in France and Germany, and bodies were found in a church-yard in France in 1630, with coins in the graves. The Chinese put a coin in the coffin, to pay the passage or fare of the corpse, f The custom is not yet ex- tinct in Burgundy, and in Altmark, Havelland, and other parts of Germany it also survives, although the coin is now a charm to keep away a vampire (Nachzehrer). In Markland, when several deaths occur in a family, it is because the penny was omitted in the case of the first one. Wallachians still put the obolus in the mouth of the corpse, and Baring Gould says a man was buried not long ago in Yorkshire, with a penny, a candle and a bottle of wine in his grave. We find in " Hamlet," the grave-digger says, — "And hath shipped -rae. intill the land, As if I had never been such," possibly alluding to this belief of a death-ferryman. Nor are the savage tribes without such legends. In " Hiawatha " we find he " Came unto the Lake of Silver, In the Stone Canoe was carried To the Islands of the Blessed, To the lands of ghosts and shadows. '' I The Athabascas and Chippeways had also a stone canoe in which souls crossed the waters. Many Indian tribes cross the water, on their way to heaven. A Dacotah tale is of a youth who journeyed south in » Bancroft,— Native Haoes. Vancouver's Voyagea, Vol. 11, p. 546. + Grimm. —Teutonic Mj-thology. t Jones.— Traditions of the American I,jdiiins, p. 366. OF THE SEA AUD OF SAILORS. 331 search of the abode of souls, the entrance of which is guarded by Chibiabos. A canoe of shining white stone conveys souls across the lake. *The Fijians embarked from the northwest cape of their island, being rowed by a Charon to Mbula, a land of spirits. As the soul approaches, a paroquet g^ves warning of it. fMangaians journeyed to the west in a mystic canoe, called in a song, Puvai's canoe. Williams and Mariner were told by Fijians that they could see the souls of canoes floating down a spirit stream. New Zealand tribes have their death-bark, and a woman was said to have made the final journey, and returned to earth. In the Soloman Islands, a canoe comes to the West Cape, and carries all the dead to Gotogo, their heaven. J Chilian souls went westward in a death-bark, and Aus- tralian legends embody similar fictions. § The Chinese, sixty days after death, place on the water an egg-shell, and an image of a duck with a man astride of it; the duck and boat are to assist the soul — represented by the small figure — in its voyage. Thus we see, there has existed from antiquity, a belief in the death voyage, and as a consequence, we shall find num- erous myths of a terrestrial abode of souls. My thologists claim that the ideas of primitive nations as to these abodes of the soul or breath (psyche) became localized gradually to this earth from their former aerial or heavenly positions. There is generally a water to be crossed, be it Styx, Acheron, or the Atlantic, and then the soul arrives at an island or continent, generally to the westward. Th^ ancient Egj'ptian rowed across the Nile, or over the lake to the westward, and to the westward lay the evening mirage, and the desert became the sea of death to the inland tribes. In fact, philologists tell us that sea and desert were once iden- tical, and possibly both corresponded to death, in the mind of the Aryan. II For the same word gave rise to mare, sea, meru, desert, and mors, death {murder also). Rivers were at first the death-streams, and even the Caspian, the first sea known to the Aryans, was a river around the world. The iEgean, or Pontus, next became Xh^ path of souls, and across * Gill.— Myths and Songs of the South Pacific, fll. t Gill.— 3Iyths and Songs of the South Paciflc. ± Tylor.— Primitive Culture H, p. 61. § Doobttle. — Chinese. I Kearj.- SiTths of the Sea and Blver of Death. 332 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS the circumambient Ocean lay the Cimmerian land, which abode of shades Ulysses visits in the "Od)'ssey." These fabled islands early became the traditional homes of souls, lost or saved, and thus we have, in all ages, stories of Isles of the Blessed across the waters of death. The terres- trial abodes of condemned souls, Hades, or Hel (both words meaning unseen or concealed), were early reputed to be islands, and the belief was closely connected with the Charon-boat and the sea of death. At first these islands were reported as being in the ^Egean Sea, and only as the other parts of the Mediterranean became known, were these fabled islands removed farther and farther from the seats of Grecian civil- ization, even into the Atlantic. These many fictions of mysterious islands would be strengthened and localized by the tales of wandering Phoe- nician and Greek mariners. So, many of Homer's myths of foreign lands seem to be compounded of real and imaginary experiences. The prevalence of Sun-worship doubtless aided in fornf- ing these myths. We have seen how this is apparent in the early myths of the sea of death. Homer says the sun rises and sets in the ocean, and travels along the surface in his shining bowl. * The Jewish Midrash compares the course of the sun with that of a ship with three hundred and sixty- five ropes in it, coming from Great Britian, or one from Alexandria with three hundred and fifty-six ropes in it (Lunar year). Egyptians represented him as performing his night journey in the ocean, and hence it was to them accursed. The Homeric books give us the first tales of such mys- terious islands. The first purgatories are Ogygia (Ocean place) and M.a.& (land of wailing). The islands of Calypso and of Circe were mysterious abodes, f Keary has shown them to be homes of the dead. Calypso (from kalyptein, to conceal) is none other than the Norse Hel, the concealer, and is death dwelling in her cave by the sea-side. Circe is the hawk, or death in bird-shape. From her island, or Purgatory, Ulysses sails direct to Hades, just beyond the Cimmerians. Scheria, Lotos-land, and Hesperia, were Homeric paradises, the first and last fabled islands remote from Ulysses' Ithacan home. Scheria, the land of the Phaeacians/ means shore, and lies " at the end ♦ Goldhlzer.— Myth3 Anione the Hebrews, lOL + Outlines .—Primitive Belief. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 333 of the watery plain." The trees of Alcinous' garden are perpetually green, and we have seen that the Phaeacians were carriers of souls. This Paradise, at first in the east, was transferred to the west, among the Blameless Ethiopians or Hyperboreans, following the course of the Sun again. " By a train of fancy easy to follow, it is often held that the home of the dead has to do with that far west where the sun dies at night." So Hesperia, at first in Africa, was finally transferred ta Spain, and then to the Atlantic islands. An early locality for these mysterious abodes was in the North. * There lay Olympus, home of the gods. There were the Hyperboreans, the Cimmerians, and ^olia, the abode of the god of the winds. Aristotle and Indicopleustes say the suii goes northward in his under-world journey, and Pytheas confirms this, by saying that he was shown the place where the sun dwelt at night; that is, he saw the mid- night sun. Diodorus says there was a feast among the Hyperboreans in the Island of the Gods, every nineteenth year. Amber, says Pliny, comes from this garden of the gods, dropping from the trees, and drifting to northern shores. Avalon, to which Arthur was taken, was to the northward. fTwo recent authors discuss the subject of the Northern Paradise, from a scientific standpoint. So fixed in the minds of men became these traditions of earthly paradises, just out of sight of African headlands, that ages afterwards these islands were still sought, to the westward of the Azores and Madeiras, although the fabled Atlantis had been overwhelmed in the waves. In the middle ages, these legends became abundant, doubtless aided by saintly authority and church sanction. Justin Martyr says Paradise is in the Western Atlantic. Claudian says an island exists near Gaul, ruled over by Ulixes, where the spirits of the departed abide. In Norse mythology, Jotuuheim, or giants' home, a cold region beyond the ocean stream, was, like Cimmeria, a sort of purgatory. Many fables v/ere related of these Atlantic, and of the Panichaean, islands. The golden apples of Hesperic gardens are, perhaps, oranges brought by Phoenician mariners from far-off Africa or Spain. Proclus says, on the authority of • Keary. — Myths of the Sea and River of Death. + Warren.— Paradise Found— 1885. Scribner.— Where Did Life Begin? 334 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Marcellus, that there were seven Atlantic islands,^-one ded- icated to Pluto, one to Ammon, and one to Poseidon. Euhemerus tells us of Panichaean islands, inhabited by god-like men. These Atlantic islands, elsewhere numbered as ten, were appropriately governed by Neptune's sons, and it was further said that weeds and debris long impeded ships, and their sinking traditionally accounted for the Sargasso Sea of weeds. * Plato tells us this, "For in those days the Atlantic was navigable, and there was an island situated in front of the strait which you call the Columns of Hercules. . . . But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods, and in a single day and night of rain, all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared and sank beneath the sea. And that is the reason why the sea in those parts is impassable and impenetrable, because there is such a quantity of shoals and mud in the way, caused by the sinking of the island. ' Plato further says the Egyptians (from whom these ac counts were derived) told Solon that this occurred 9,000 B.C Hesiod calls the Western Islands the Isles of Souls, f Proclus says, " There life is easiest unto men; no snow or wintry storms, or rain at any time is there." Diodorus says Panchaia was southward from Arabia Fe- lix, and was also sunk in the sea. Thor was rowed across the death stream by Harbarth,| whose boat would not bear the weight of a living person. Germ the Wise also sailed to the West with three ships. They landed on an island of flocks and herds, from which they took more than they needed, and in consequence were pursued by a band of fearful monsters, who only left them when three men were sacrificed to them. In another island, Biarmia, they found the paradise and purgatory. Leonardo de Argensola sa)'s there is a desert, rocky island, Poelsetta, near Italy. Cries, roarings, groanings and other sounds were heard in it, and it was fabled to be peopled by devils. Marco Polo represents Cipangu as a sort of terrestrial paradise, a city of golden streets, and of white-robed inhab- itants. •Tlmasus, 11,617. + Boeck. — Fragments. tKeary.— Outlines of PrimltlTe Belief. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 335 * Onogorojima, the island of the congealed drop, was a fabled Japanese Paradise. f Allusion has been made to a traditionary isle of the dead near Cape Raz, in the Bay of Deposit. This " Isle au Sein " was said to be peopled by souls of the departed, and fishermen were said to be called to ferry souls over. Another spot on the coast of France is traditionally in- habited by the souls of drowned persons, and fishermen fear to approach the opposite beach, at night, where phan- toms are believed to wander. I A Breton legend is told of a fabled island of souls, and a death ferryman at Carnoet ferry, in a Breton stream. A young couple came along to cross the ferry, but the lover lingered behind, and the maiden was induced to enter the boat, while waiting for him. She was spirited away in the boat, forgetting to make the sign of the cross. § In Norse mythology, Heligoland, as indicated by its name, was a sacred island, the abode of the gods, and was reverenced by early mariners. There was n sacred fountain on it, where early Christians were baptized. H Hornum, near the Danish coast, is said to be inhabited only by the ghosts of murderers, strandwalkers, sea-women, fiends, etc. **A group of islands near Norway are also rep- resented as being inhabited by elves, and fit only for graz- ing. f f Russians believe in an island paradise, Boyan, to the eastward. The Cimbri called the Northern Ocean Mari Mortuus (sea of the dead), and German-lore gave us a Dumslaf (fro- zen sea) of wondrous properties. Helvoetsfuis, at the mouth of the Maas, was another fabled islet of souls, and many legends concerning it were current. JJ; These fancies of antiquity descended to later times. Procopius, an early Gothic historian, says Brittia, in the Northern Ocean, was in his day the fabled abode of souls. ♦ Warren.— Paradise Found, p. 140. + Cambry.— Voy. dans la Finnisterre, If, p. 3tO. t Th. and K. McQuoid.— Pictures and Legends of Normandy and Brittany, p. 19. § Grimm. — Deutsche Mytbologie. Vol. I, p. 150. I Thorpe. — Northern Mythology, Vol. IL p. 8. ** Landria. — Les Monstres Marine. 30. t+ Kalston.— Songs of the Biissian People, p. 375. tt History Goths, Ck. IV, Ch. 40. Keury, p. 437. 336 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS The home of the dead was beyond, noxious to living beings, but peopled by souls ferried across by fishermen from the opposite coast. These, called in turn at night, find barks laden with souls, and are wafted over by mysterious winds. *Tzetes, another chronicler, says: "On the coast of the ocean opposite Brittania (England), dwell fishermen who are subjects of the Franks, but they pay them no tribute, on account, as they say, of their ferrying over the souls of the departed. They go to sleep in their houses in the even- ing, but after a little time they hear a knocking at the door, and a voice calling them to their work. They get up and go to the shore, not knowing what the need is; thej^ see boats there, but not their own, with no one in them; they get in, row away, and perceive that they are heavy as if laden with passengers, but they see no one." f England long remained the abode of spirits. German witches were thought to rendezvous there; and Ireland suc- ceeded to England as the Blessed Isle. X In German stories, the nightmare says her mother is in England, and German mothers still say, referring to the dead, "How my children are crying in England." In Armorican belief, the dog of the parish priest of Braspar carries souls to Great Britain. § Welsh legends tell of the "Green meadows in the sea," islands in the" Irish Sea, the abode of souls of Druids, and they also call them White Man's Land. Gallic; tradi- tions speak of them as the Noble Land. Pembrokeshire sailors, in the eighteenth century, told of an Island of Green Meadows in the Irish Sea, and they say some visited them in the pr-esent century, but when they re-embarked, these islands suddenly disappeared. || Fairies are said to inhabit them; and Welsh traditions represent them as visiting Milford Haven, coming through a tunnel under the sea. Other Welsh legends are of voyages in search of Blessed Isles, by Merlin and by Madoc, the latter reputed to have found our own shore-s, in his search. Merlin (Merd)'n Ennis) sailed with twelve companions, and Gavran sailed westward to find the Gwerddonan Llian (Green Islands of the Sea). These islands were fabled the • In Fi-aser's Mag., Vol. II,-p. 223. + Wright.— St. Patrick's Purgxitory, pp. 66 and 129. *Kuhn. — ^Vestphalische Sagen, p. lot. § Sikes.— Britifih Goblios and Webh FolV-lore, p. 8. iSikes.— British Goblins and Weish Folk-lore, p. 9. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 337 abodes of the Tylwith Tt.^, fair family, the souls of certain Druids, who abode in this lower heaven. They were said to revisit Wales, and to carry men to their island. These, when they returned, thought an absence of ten years but a day. These islands could be seen from a turf in St. David's churchyard, but they disappeared when sought. One man conceived the happy thought of sailing in search of them on a sod from the churchyard, and found them. * Madoc's voyage has been immortalized by Southey: " Themselves, immortal, drink the gales of bliss, Which o'er Flalh Innis breathe eternal spring." Irish souls crossed Lough Derg, and, in Loch Cre, was one island where all lived forever, and another where none could live. After Arran was blessed, no corpse could decay. The Norse, in the tenth century, called Ireland Hvit- manna Land (white man's land). The traditional Green Isle, or the Isle of the Dead, lay beyond the Isle of Youth, and between Scotland and Ireland lay Caire Lewan, another mysterious island. f There were numerous Druidical stories of such islands. Sir-na-m-Beo, Isle of the Living, and Hy-na-m-Balla, Island of Life, were of these, and were traditionally inhabited by the Firbolgs. By many, they were said to be inhabited by the ghosts of drowned men. J The Landnama bok tells us: "Ari was storm-cast on the White Man's Land, which some call Great Ireland. This lies in the western sea, near Vinland, the good; it is called six days' sail west from Ireland." ^Maildun, a Celtic hero,- also undertook a voyage in search of these Blessed Isles. He sailed in a " Coracle," large enough to accommodate sixty-four people. He found islands of demons and monsters, a Circe, and finally the terrestrial paradise. So, in McGee's poem, we read of Eman Oge, who also sailed in search of these islands. St. Patrick is said to have set a neophyte adrift in a boat, with the boat-chain wrapped about him; and he, too, found this earthly paradise. II But a more widespread tradition was of the voyage of St. Brandan, an earlj^ saint. He sailed, with twelve fellow- » Southey .—Madoc, XI. + Kennedy.— Fictions of the Irish Celts. tin B. Gou'd.— Curious Myths, 550. S Silies. — British Goblins, p. 9. I Voyage Merveilleux de St. Brandan, Ed. Michel. 338 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS monks, in search of the Isles of the Blessed. He was fabled to have found the holy island, inhabited by twenty-four monks. Besides, he found an island of birds (fallen angels), an island of sheep, and an island inhabited by fiends, who attacked him. This is like the Island of Birds and Island of Sheep, in the "Arabian Nights." One version of the story calls the islands Hy-Breasil. * " Seven dayes they sayled awaye in that clere water. And thenne there came a southe winde, and drof the shyppe northward, wheras they sawe an ylonde full dirke and full of stench and smoke; and then they herde grete blowinge and blasting of belowes, but they might see noothynge, but herde grete thunderynge" . . . "and soone ther came a greate nombere of fendes, and assayled them with hokes and brennying yron mattys, whiche rannen on the water, following theyr shyppe faste in such wyse that it seemed all th* see to be in a fyre." He also saw other wonderful islands, and met Judas floating on a rock in the sea. He sailed east, then north, then west, then east to Ireland. Before him, a monk (Meruuke) had found the earthly paradise, sailing three days to the eastward, until a dark cloud came up; when it cleared, he found an island. " In that ylonde was joye and roirthe enough." So St. Brandan finally found the Blessed Island, thenceforth to bear his name, or that of Hy Brazil {Royal island). •(■ " On the ocean that hollows the rocks where ye dwell, A shadowy land has appeared, as they tell; Men thought it a region of sunshine and rest. And they called it O'Brazil, the isle of the blest." These islands were long believed to lie west of Ireland, or of Spain. In an old chart of 1751, one is put down three hundred miles to the westward of Ferrol, in latitude twenty-nine degrees. After the discovery of the Canaries and Madeiras, these islands were supposed to lie still farther to the westward, and the loom of land was thought to have been seen, but they would fade as fast as they were neared. \K Lisbon pilot of the fifteenth century, storm-beaten, was said to have found them, and a noble Spanish lord fitted out an expedition to find them. Separated from his fleet in a storm, he is said to have been driven to them, and, • Wynklln de Worde.— Golden Legend. + Gerald Grlffln.— Hy Brazil. J W. Irving.— Chronicles of Woolfert's Roost. OF THE SEA AMD OF SAILORS. 339 after a Rip Van Winkle sleep of years, returned to Spain, reporting that they were ruled by descendants of Rodrigo, the last king of the Goths. * The Portuguese called the isle St. Sebastian, and alleged that some Wednesday of holy week, a fog would come up, and in it the fleet of that mon- arch, bringing him back to his kingdom. fCanary islanders thought they saw it, and, on the globe of Martin Bdieim, it was figured two hundred leagues to the westward of Canary. Many other accounts of the island were given by early writers. Irving's story, " The Adelantado of Seven Cities," is founded on these old traditions. It was even mentioned in the treaties between Portugal and Spain. The Spanish retained traditions of it in the sixteenth century, calling it the island that "quando se busca no se halla." An expedition sailed in search of it as late as 1721. J Irving says it was also called aprositus {inaccessible) There are many early accounts of it. William of Worcester twice mentions Brasyle. He says his brother sailed to it, in 1401, from Bristol, steering due west for nine (?) months; but scarcely had he discovered the island, when they were driven back by storms. §One of the maps contained in the work of an Italian geographer of 1605 has Hy Brazil figured in it. II A manuscript in Trinity College library, Dublin, dated 1636, states that "many old mappes lay down O'Brazile in longitude 03.00; latitude 50.20." Werdenhagen, an old Dutch author, gives a chart, in which an island is figured near this spot. . Hardiman quotes a letter from a Mr. Hamilton to a cousin in London, in which he says he was told by a Captain Nisbet that one of his ships had sailed to this island, in 16 14. ** Jeremy Taylor alludes to O'Brazile, or the Inchanted Isle, in 1667. ff Dr. Guest says a work was published in London, in 1674, entitled, "The Western Wonder; or, O'Brazile," giv- * Brewer.— Reader's Hand Book. ilrving. — Voyages of Columbus, Vol. II. note 25. tirving.— Chronicles of Wolfert's Koost. §G. Bronero Rroneri. — Eel.i^ione Uuiversali. IJaa. Hardiman, — Irish Minstrelsy, V, 368. ** Dissuasion from Popery, 1687. tt Notes and Queries, Sept. ®, Doc. If), lfi83. 340 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS ing an accurate description, in the style of DeFoe, of a visit to the island. * A Mr. Fraser published a paper in 1879, giving an en- larged map in which the island is distinctly laid down. It is from a work by the Royal Geographer, Tusser, in 1674. Fraser thinks the island occupied the spot where Porcupine shoal now is, as shells have been found there, requiring regular atmospheric exposure to have attained their devel- opment. f Hy Breasil appears in a map of Andreas Bianco, and in others down to the time of Coronelli. Humboldt says it is on an English map, and it is found in an old map of Purdy's. The legends concerning Bermuda have been related. J An Italian chart of Jacomo di Gaetaldi, in 1550, calls Newfoundland " Isola dei Demonii (Isle of Demons), and figures demons near it. Thevet says the Indians were tor- mented by demons residing there. Champlain tells of a diabolic island near Miscou, on the St. Lawrence, where lived an ogress, taller than the tallest ships. § Baring Gould says Lambertus Floridus, in a MS. of the twelfth century, locates Paradise in the Indian Ocean, and a map in Cambridge library figures it at the mouth of the Danube, while the Hereford map of the thirteenth century also places it near India, but separated it from the conti- nent by a wall of brass. Even savages have such mysterous isles. Near Raratonga Island, in the Her\-e3' group, in an islet reputed the home of souls, is " No-land-at-all," and souls embarked from the West Cape. II A Tongan home of souls was Bolotoo, an island to the northwest. Here mortals lived forever, and plants and animals were also reproduced. A canoe of warriors once reached it, but were instantly bidden to depart. They died from the effects of the air of this paradise. Naicobocoo was another island paradise, to reach which souls embarked from a certain cape. ** Pulola was the Samoan heaven, under the sea. In Mangaia, the abode of souls was an island to the • Notes and Queries, December, 1883. + Yule's Polo II, 316. t Le Moine.— Chronicles of the St. Lawrence. § Myths of the Middle A^es. I Tyler. — Primitive Culnire II, p. 62. "Gill.— Myths and Song^ of the South Pacific, p. 168 OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 341 northwest. When bodies were thrown from cliffs into the sea, souls found their way to these islands. Fijians thought souls went westward. Their Islands of the Blessed lay to the northwest, and were named Boluta. The crew of a tempest-driven boat are said to have landed on it, but never returned. They also spoke of a paradise below the sea. When a thunder-clap was heard on the distant horizon, they said it was a soul descending to this paradise. Australians, and other Polynesian tribes believed in Is- lands of Souls, generally to the westward, toward the setting sun. Nor are our own uncultured races without such tradi- tions. The Athabascans believe that their Isles of the Blessed lie in Lake Huron; and in "Hiawatha" we find the poet saying that Chibiabos went " To the islands of the blessed, To the lai^d of ghosts and shadows." * Algonquins' souls. paddled in a white stone canoe across a lake, where storms destroyed wicked souls, to a Blessed Island. Ilurons and Sioux believed a river must be crossed, and Dacotahs, a crystal lake, while Choctaws, and Massachu- setts Indians went west to Kiehtan. f The Indians of Lake Superior have a tradition of an island with golden sands, about whose shores waves cease- lessly beat. Mortals landing on it, never return. This island is in Lake Manitobah, where a Manitou, or speaking God, is heard at night. Chilians and Peruvians believed that the abodes of souls lay to the westward. Sacred islands existed in Mexico and Guatemala. J To the westward lay Coaibai, the Haytien paradise. Brazilian souls went west, and there in ■ the ocean lay the paradise of the Aronco Indians, whose Charon was Tempalazy, the sailor. The Khonds say the Judge of the dead is in a rock be- yond the sea. To this " leaping rock " all must jump, across the black and muddy stream. § The Okanagans had traditions of a White Man's Island (Samahtumiwhoolah), from whence their ancestors came, * Tyler.— Primitive Culture, II, p. 62. + Schoolcraft. — Indian Tribes. t Tyler.— Primitive Culture. II. p. 62. § Bancroft!— Natives Eaces, III/p. 153. 342 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS. having been banished on a floating piece of the island, by its ruler, Scomalt, a woman. A southern * California tribe also believed in island paradises near Monterey. The discoveries of modera navigators have banished all thoughts of real islands mysteriously located, and inhabited by the souls of men. Since the remotest corners of the temperate ocean have been explored, and no terrestrial heaven, or earthly purgatory has been found, no shadowy lands remain on our charts to vex the night-wearied mar- iner, save such spectral rocks as are from time to time located in mid-ocean, by some careless skipper. Well may we then ask, — f "WTiere are they, those green fairy islands, reposing In sunlight and beauty, on Ocean's calm breast? What spirit, the things that are hidden disclosing. Shall point the bright way to their dwellings at rest?" J And we may answer these queries by this verse: " Here, 'raid the bleak waves of our strife and care. Float the green Fortunate Isles, Where all the hero-spirits dwell and share Our martyrdom and toils." * Bancroft.— Native Eaces, HI, p. 525. + Mrs. Hemans' Poems, i J. E. Lowell's Poems. CHAPTER X. THE PHANTOM SHIP. • 'Tis the Phantom ship, that, in darlcness and wrath. Ploughs evermore the waste ocean path, And the heart of the mariner trembles in dread. When it crosses his vision like a ghost of the dead." Ayres. — Legends of Montauk, 'A ship's unhappy ghost,' she said, ' The awful ship, the Mystery.' " Celia Thaxter, HE legend of the Flying Dutch- man is the most picturesque and romantic of the many talcs current among sailors half-a- century ago. It is also, per- haps, the best-known nautical legend. Novelists have used it as their theme; poets have embel- lished the tale with their verse; dramatists have familiarized the public with it, and it has been the subject of modern opera. The tale is told with variations in nearly every maritime country, and folk- lore tales of wonderful spectral and phantom ships are abundant. The usually accepted version of the story is thus given by M. Jal: * "An unbelieving Dutch captain had vainly tried to round Cape Horn against a head-gale. He swore he would do it, and, when the gale increased, laughed at the fears of his crew, smoked his pipe and drank his beer. He threw overboard some of them who tried to make him put into port. The Holy Ghost descended on the vessel, but he fired his pistol at it, and pierced his own hand and paral)'zed his arm. He cursed God, and was then condemned by the apparition to navi- • Scenes de la Vie Maritime, Vol. It, p. 89. 343 344 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS. gate always without putting into port, only having gall to drink and red-hot iron to eat, and eternally to watch. He was to be the evil genius of the sea, to torment and punish sailors, the sight of his storm-tossed bark to carry presage of ill fortune to the luckless beholder. He sends white squalls, all disasters, and tempests. Should he visit a ship, "wine sours, and all food becomes beans — the sailor's bete noir. Should he bring or send letters, none must touch them, or they are lost. He changes his mien at will, and is seldom seen twice under the same circumstances. His crew are all old sinners of the sea, sailor thieves, cowards, murderers, and such. They eternally toil and suffer, and have little to eat or drink. His ship is the true purgatory of the faithless and idle mariner." *This is the Phantom Ship, of which Scott sings: " Or of that Phantom Ship, whose form Shoots like a meteor through the storm; When the dark scud comes driving hard. And lowered is every topsail yard, And canvas, wove in earthly looms, No more to brave the storm presumes! Then, 'mid the war of sea and sky. Top and topgallant hoisted high, Full spread and crowded every sail. The Demon Frigate braves the gale; And well the doom'd spectators know The harbinger of wreck and woe." As the hero is a Dutchman, we should properlj"" refer to Holla'nd for the true version of the tale. f Several authorities give this as follows: " Falkenberg was a nobleman, who murdered his brother and his bride in a fit of passion, and was condemned therefor forever to wander toward the north. On arriving at the seashore, he found awaiting him a boat, with a man in it, who said, ' Expectamtis ie.' He entered the boat, attended by his good and his evil spirit, and went on board a spectral bark in the harbor. There he still lingers, while these spirits play dice for his soul. For six hundred years the ship has wandered the seas, and mariners still see her in the German ocean, sailing northward, without helm or helmsman. She is painted gra}', has colored sails, a pale flag, and no crew. Flames issucfrom the masthead at night." » Eokeby, Canto II, v. 2. + Bechiifcein.— Deutches Sagenbuch. Wolf.— NlederittndlBChe Sagen, No. 130. Thorpe.— Northern Mythologr, m, 205. THE PHANTOM SHIP. 22 346 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Some of the features of this tale seem to be borrowed from a Norse tradition, that Stote, a Viking, stole a ring from the gods, and when they sought him they found him a skeleton, in a robe of fire, seated on the mainmast of a black spectral ship, seen in a cavern by the sea. This legend is embodied in Bishop Tegner's Fridthjof's Saga. * Marryax, facile princeps in matters maritime, has woven out of the legend the plot of his phantom ship. The captain of the 'ship, Vanderdecken, relates to his wife in Holland the cause of his wandering. He had tried for nine weeks to weather the stormy cape, but after battling against ad- verse winds and currents, and after throwing overboard the pilot, who opposed him, he finally swore on a relic of the true cross that in spite of wind and weather — storms, seas, lightning, etc. — he would beat until the day of judgment, to pass the cape. His oath brought upon him the punishment. The hero of the tale, his son, finds a letter describing all this, after his mother's death, and, in addition, saying that a return of the cross-relic on board by a mortal would insure the termination of the punishment. To the execution of this task, the son, Philip, devotes his life. The phantom ship appears in the story many times in the son's search after her, and embodies the main points of the legend. One says that to meet the phantom ship is worse than to see the devil, such ill luck follows thereby. Others, that letters must not be taken, or the vessel receiving them will be lost. Her first appearance is in a cloud at sunset, surrounded by a pale-blue light. It was fine weather, but she was under storm-sail, pitching and tumbling about as in a sea. The whistles of the mates were heard, and orders from her decks, but she soon disappeared iri the gloom and mist. Again she was seen in a good breeze, only the loom of her hull appear- ing in a fog, but a gun was fired, and voices heard. Again she came in a gale, sailing tranquilly with all sail set, and still again she sails over the bar and shore, decoying the pursuers on shoals, and again in a typhoon, when she ran right through the pursuing son's vessel. In her last appearance she rises gradually out of the water, a true demon-ship, and heaves to, awaiting a message. A boat appears, boards the pursuing ship with letters, which are thrown cA'erboard. As a result of the machinations of Philip's evil spirit, he is set adrift by the superstitious sailors * Phantom Ship, PaMm, OF THE sea' and OF SAILORS, 347 of his ship, and finally gains the deck of the phantom ship, restores his father the relic, and terminates the wanderings of the blaspheming captain. * In a poem by Leyden, the ship is thus described. It is thought to be a slave-ship attacked ' by the plague, and refused a refuge in the various ports, — " Repelled from port to port, they sue in vain And track with slow, unsteady sail the main. Where ne'er the bright and buoyant wave is seen To streak with wandering foam the sea-weeds green. «*****■* The Spectre-Ship, in livid glimpsing light. Glares baleful on the shuddering watch at night, Unblest of God and man! " f Brewer says the Phantom ship is called Carmilhan, and the goblin Klaboterman sits on the bowsprit smoking his pipe. JLongfellow sings of A ship of the dead that sails the sea, And is called the Carmilhan, A ghostly ship, with a ghostly crew. In tempests she appears, And before the gale or against the gale She sails, without a rag of sail. Without a helmsman steers. And ill betide the luckless ship That meets the Carmilhan! Over her decks the seas will leap. She must go down into the deep. And perish, mouse and man." §And so sings O'Reilly, — " But Heaven help the ship near which the demon sailor steers! The doom of those is sealed, to whom the Phantom Ship appears, They'll never reach their destin'd port, they'll see their homes no more, They who see the Flying Dutchman never, never reach the shore. " II Brachvogel has written a tale, " Die Fliegende Hol- lander," of the time of the Spanish Armada, In Dietrichson's career is reproduced the tale of Vanderdecken. ** There is another English tale, " The Flying Dutchman," in which mutineers seize a man-of-war and rig her to simu- * Scenes of Infancy. ■t Header's Hand-book. t Poems. — Tales of a Waj-side Inn. § T. Boyle O'Reilly.— Soruts of Soathem Seas. J Die Fliegende HoUiinder. •* Monroe's Seaside Library, No. 803. 348 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS late the spectre-ship, by so arranging her sails that they are but net works of rope and canvas, while they seem firm and substantial. This is done to terrify a pursuing vessel, but the real spectre-ship is encountered by her, terrifying the mutineers, and furnishing an omen of their final capture and condemnation. * Thomas Gibbons, in an interesting volume recently published, gives a poem from some nautical pen recapitulat- ing the main events of the usual tale. t Cooper says she is said to be a double-decker, and is always to windward, sometimes in a fog during clear weather, often under all sail in a gale, and even sailing among the clouds. I H. Fitzball dramatized the story, and it was performed many times in New York. The usual story, with slight variations, is embodied in the drama. The story has also furnished a theme for opera. In Wagner's " Fliegende Hollander," a Norwegian brig meets the spectre-ship at sea, on his own coast. He is induced, by promises of great treasure, to pledge his daughter to the captain of the " Fly- ing Dutchman," here nameless. The captain says relating his tale, that he must wander seven j^ears without ceasing, but may now, a respite being at hand, claim an earthly bride. The ships proceed to port, where we find the intended bride and her maidens. In a ballad, Senta recalls the Dutch- man's fate. ^ *' There sails a ship o'er stormy main, With blackened mast and blood-red sail; On deck, and ever suffering pain, The captain watches without fail. Around a cape he once would sail, He strove, and swore 'gainst wind and hail, ' Forever will I strive to pass.'" But he is to be saved if he finds a true maiden. The lover appears, and endeavors to dissuade the maiden, in an impassioned duet. Finally the maiden hesitates, when the captain of the spectre-ship, thinking her faithless, goes to sea again, revealing himself thus: * BoSiog; the Compass. + ** Red Hover," Cnapter liv. t-" 35e Flying Dutcfiman." a Drama. t R. VTagner.— Die Fliegende HolMnder. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 349 " ' Thou know'st me not; thou think'st not what I am; Go ask the seas of every zone; Go ask the sailor who those seas doth roam; He knows this ship, the subject of his tales. The Flying Dutchman am I nam'd.'" Such are" the rnain features of the story of the Flying Dutchman, with its many variants. But there are a host of other legends concerning spectral ships, which serve to illustrate the ideas of the seafaring man concerning such illusions. * Danish sailors have a legend of a spectral ship, often seen in the Baltic, and believe it is a sign of disaster to meet with it. A Schleswick-Holstein tale is told of a maiden who was carried off by her lover in a spectral ship, as she was sitting on the shore bewailing his absence. Fishermen aver they see in Katzeburg lake spectral boats and nets, which sud- denly disappear when approached. f The old Frisians thought the world a great ship (" Mannigf ual "), the mountains its masts. The captain went about on horseback giving his orders. Sailors going aloft when boys came down gray-headed men, and in blocks about the rigging were dining-halls, where they meanwhile sustained life. This ship was afterward les- sened, but still remained gigantic. She stuck in the Straits of Dover, but her ingenious captain smeared the port side (she was bound north) with soap, apd she scraped through, but left the " white cliffs of Albion " as a reminder. Getting into the Baltic, that sea proved too narrow, and the huge ship was lightened. J The island of Bornholm was formed by metal ballast then thrown overboard, and Christianso from ashes and rabbish. This ship was known in England but a century ago as the "Merry Dun of Dover." §' North Frisian mariners still tell of her wonders. She scraped off a regiment of soldiers with her head-booms, at Dover, while, at the same time, her spanker-boom projected over Calais' forts, as she tacked in the Channel. 11 She is not unknown to the French mariner, as we are told of the grand "Chasse Foudre," or "lightning-chaser," so large that she is a hundred years in tacking. When she * Thorpe.— Northern Mythology.Vol. IT, p. 275. •t Thorpe.— Northern Mj-tholoo-y, Til, 38. tMuellenho£E.— Sagen aus Sehleswig. 235. e Brewer.— Header's Hand-hook. Folk-lore Journal, 1S84, p. 23. Ual.— Scenes de la Vie Maritime, 1632, II, p. 89, etc. 350 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS rolls, whales and other large animals are found high and dr)' in the channels. The nails of her hull are a pivot for the moon. Her signal-halyards are larp^er than our greatest hempen cables. It took more than thirty years to dig the iron for her hull, and many enormous forges, blown by Arctic tempests, to fabricate her plates and frames. Her cables are the circumference of St. Peter's dome, and would extend around the globe. Her lower masts are so high that a boy becomes a white-headed man before he reaches the futtock-shrouds. Her mizzen-royal is larger than the whole of Europe; twentj'-five thousand men can manoeuvre on her main-cap, and the rainbow serves as a streamer. There is a tavern in each block, the pipe of the smallest boy is as large as a frigate; the quid of a tar wouVd supply the crew of a frigate eighteen months in tobacco. Her cabin is a true paradise. In one corner is a large patch of ground planted with trees and greensward, and elephants, tigers, and other huge beasts, abound in it. She is the opposite of the spectral ship proper, as her crew are the good and deserving men, and their tasks are light and fare superb. She has ports, but no guns, for want of material. *Gargantua made a ship like this, which it took a whole forest to build. The Normans believed that if their offerings for souls in purgatory were not acceptable, a spectral bark would sail in to the wharf, with crews of the souls of those who had perished years before at sea. Friends on shore recog- nized lost ones, but at midnight the bell would strike, and lights and ship disappear as suddenly as they came. f Chapus says it is believed that this boat comes on All Saints' day. "The watchman of the wharf sees a boat come within hail at midnight, and hastens to cast it a line; but, at this same momfent, the boat disappears, and fright- ful cries are heard, that make the hearer shudder, for they are recognized as the voices of sailors shipwrecked that year." Hood describes this event in "The Phantom Boat of All Souls' Night." There are various German traditions of phantom ships. JFalkenberg still cruises in the northern ocean, and plaj's at dice with the devil for his soul. Murder on the high seas is said to have been the cause of his punishment. * Sebillot.— Gargantua dans I.es Ti-aditions Populaires, 18, + " Dieppe et Res Environs" (18-"5). t Thorpe. —Xorthern itythology. 2-275. OF TH& SEA AND 6Fv.SA1LORS. 351 * Schmidt relates two legends, current among German sailors fifty years ago, of spectral barks. One of these is of the Death ship, out of whose ports grin death's-heads, along with similar forms delineated on the sails. On the gallery stands a skeleton with an hour- glass in his hand. The crew are the ghosts of condemned sinners, who serve one hundred years in each grade, until each has a short tour as captain. It is an omen of disaster to meet this ghostly bark at sea. A German poet thus sings of her: f" For the ship was black, her masts were black. And her sails coal-black as death, And the Evil One steered at the helm, and laughed. And mocked at their failing breath." J Another account calls this ship the Navire Libera nos, which is shrouded in black, and carries a black flag, span- gled with silver flames and death's-heads, and having inscribed on it ^Libera Nos." The skeleton crew is com- manded by Captain Requiem (dirge). They will cruise until a Christian crew shall board the vessel and say a mass for their souls. §A middle-age author says the soul of Ebrouin was borne by the devil to hell, down the river Rhone, in a ship, whose descent was accompanied with a great noise. II "In many localities in Lower Brittany, stories are current of a huge ship manned by giant human forms and dogs. The men are reprobates guilty of horrible crimes; the dogs, demons set to guard them, and inflict on them a thousand tortures. These condemned vessels wander ceaselessly from sea to sea, without entering port or cast- mg anchor, and will do so to the end of the world. No vessel should allow them to fall aboard, for its crew would suddenly disappear. The orders, in this strange craft, are given through huge conch-shells, and, the noise being heard several miles, it is easy to avoid her. Besides, there is nothing to fear, if the 'Ave Maria' is repeated, and the saints appealed to, especially St. Anne D'Auray." ** Another tale is of a spectral bark often seen at sea, but which, on a nearer approach, proves to be a rock. This was 'Seeman's Sagen und Schiffer MHhrcben. ' + Oscar L. B. IVolff.— "The Phantom Ship." t A. Balleydier.— Veilles du Frcsbyt^ie, in M61usine, September, 1884. § Liebrect.— Gervasius von Tilbury I'.O. IL. F. Sauve, in Melusine, September, 5884. « Schmidt.— iSeeman'E Sageu und Schiffer MHhrchen. 352 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS believed to have been a slave ship, among whose unfort- unate crew was a magician, who killed all the negroes and jumped overboard, transforming the vessel into a stone. There is an account of a phantom ship given in a letter in a German periodical.* A lookout sees and reports a vessel. When interrogated, he says he saw a frigate in a faint cloud of light, with a black captain and a skeleton form with a spear in its hand, standing on the poop. Skele- ton shapes handled the cobweb sails, and the gossamer ropes moved noiselessly. The only word he heard, as the mysterious bark glided away, was "water." The history of this vessel, as recounted by sailors on board, was as fol- lows: A wealthy Peruvian Spaniard, Don Lopez D'Aranda, dreamed he saw his son, Don Sandovalle, who had sailed with his bride for Spain, on board his ship, with a ghastly wound in his head, and pointing to his own form, bound to the mainmast of the vessel. Near him was water, just be- yond his reach, and the fiendish crew were mocking him and refusing him drink. The crew had murdered the young couple for their gold, and the curse of the wandering Dutch- man had come upon them. They are still seen in the neighborhood of the La Plata. f Among Swedish sailors, the phantom ship is the Refanu. She is so large that it takes three weeks to go from poop to prow, and orders are transmitted on horseback. Each top is as great as a kingdom, and there is an inn in every block. The same tales are told of her tacking in the North Sea that were recounted above, of the ''Merry Dun." A Dutch brig once sailed into her hawse-holes, and was tossed for three days by the waves in the soup-coppers, until it was skimmed out one da)', and cast with the scum of the soup over the side. Bean Island (.^rtholmarne) was formed by one day's skimmings, and Oeland and Gotland from part of the cargo of this giant craft. \ Equally great is the Irish Roth ramhach (paddle-wheel), a ship which, at the end of the world, will go equally on sea and land, and which will have a thousand beds, each containing a thousand men. § Eugene Sue tells of a great ship, commanded by the "Green Pilot," made of iron, which chases a small golden *MorgenblHtter, for 1834. + E. Wisrstroem, in Germania, XXVTII.p. ]09. tO'Cui-fy.— MS. Materials of Irish History, q. in Melusine, Octotier, 1884. % Balamandre, q. by E. KoUand, in Melusine, October, 1884. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 353 ship, manned by , beautiful women, until a lodestone mount- ain attracts and fixes the pursuer. * The Coureur Hollandais takes but twelve hours to sail around the world. f It has even been asserted, in another periodical, that the Flying Dutchman was a real person, — Bernard Fokke, whc lived in the seventeenth century. He was a reckless and daring seaman, who cased his masts with iron, to enable him to carry sail. He is said to have sailed to the East Indies in ninety days, and to have made many wonderful voyages, and hence was thought a sorcerer, in league with the devil. In one voyage, he disappeared, having been car- ried off by Satan, and is condemned to wander the ocean between the southern capes, with no one on board but his boatswain, cook and pilot. He is still seen, and always hails ships, and asks questions, but they should not be answered — and then his ship will disappear. Sometimes a boat is seen to approach his bark, but when it reaches her, all vanish suddenly Various localities on the English coast are haunted bj' these phantom appearances. The Cornish coast is particu- larly frequented by them. A tale of such a vessel has been related in a former chapter,J storms and squalls succeeding the phantom. §A similar occurrence is described by a narrator in Hunt's collection: "Away they pulled, and the boat,^ which had been first launched, still kept ahead by dint of mechan- ical power and skill. At length, the helmsman cried, 'Stand by to board her! ' '. . . The •vessel came so close to the boat that they could see the men, and the bow- oarsman made a grasp at the bulwarks. His hand found' nothing solid, and he fell. . . . Ship and light then disappeared. The next day, the ' Neptune,' of London, Captain R. Grant, was wrecked at G , and all perished." II Another Cornish story relates that a phantom ship was seen approaching against wind and tide, sailing over land and sea in a cloudy squall, and in if departed the soul of a wizard wrecker, accompanied by a crash of thunder and lightning. His last moments were terrible, a tempest taking place in his room, where the plashing of water was * A. Bouet.— Pirate et Ctorsaire. + " Ausland," 1841, No. 237. * See Chapter VIII. §Homances and Drolls of thp West of England. I Bottrell.— Traditions and Fireside Stories of West CornwalL 354 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS heard. A similar spectral bark occurs in a story, "The White Witch." "These caverns and cleaves were all shrouded in mist, which seemed to be gathering from all quarters to that place, till it formed a black cloud above and a thick haze below, out of which soon appeared the black masts of a black ship scudding away to sea, with all her sails set, and not a breath of wind stirring." Thun- der and lightning followed her, and the ghost of her captain was seen standing at the stern, brandishing a sword. A story, told at Priest's cove, is much like these. Here the pirate lived, and wrecked ships by " hobbling " a horse with a light tied to his head, thus decoying them on to the rocks. At his death, a cloud came up, with a square-rigged ship in it, and the words, " the hour is come, but not the man," were heard. As the ship passed over the house, the dj'ing man's room was filled with the noise of waves and breakers, and the house shook, as the soul of the wrecker passed away, borne on the cloud. * In Porthcurno harbor, spectral ships are believed to appear sailing over land and sea, and their number some- times foretells an enemy of equal strength, sometimes prognosticates equally numerous wrecks. Another legend connects a spectre-ship with the disappearance of a young man, who had gone to sea, and returned thence with a lawless companion. They were often seen sailing about in uncanny gales, and when the returned pirate died, his companion is said to have carried his body away in his chest. A tempest fame up, and caused the bar in the harbor. At certain times, his large boat, in which he had been .wont to cruise, would be seen coming in against wind and tide, with him, his companion, and dog. A temj>est would ensue on every appearance of the spectre-ship. A tale of St. Leven, in Cornwall, relates, that a mariner, drowned at sea, appeared in a phantom-boat, and carried to sea-caverns his waiting sweetheart. f In another place on the Cornish coast, not only spectral ships, but the noise of falling spars, guns, etc., as in action, are heard during an incoming fog. J A spectral ship is still seen, at intervals, off the coast, announcing death and disaster. * Hunt.— Homances and Drolls of the West of England. + Bottrell.— Traditions and Fireside Stories of West Cornwall, t Harper's Magazine. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 355 * A spectral lugger is seen in a pool, on Lizard promon- tory, with all sails set. An English revenue cutter reported, in 1845, that she had seen at sea a spectral boat, rowed by a bearded man, a noted wizard of the west of England. Near Penrose a spectral boat, laden with smugglers, was believed to appear at times on the moor, in an equally spectral sea and a driving fog. The spectre of a ship, that had sailed from a Devonshire port, was one day seen coming in in a cloud, disappearing little by little. The real ship soon after came in. f In the "Ancient Mariner," the spectre-ship is seen by the narrator, after killing the albatross, coming " Without a breeze, without a tide, She steadies with upright keel. " " Those her sails that glance in the sun. Like restless gossameres? " On board is Death, playing at dice with a woman — Life- in-Death — ;for the possession of the mariner's crew. She wins, whistles thrice, and " Off shoots the spectre-bark.'' The mariner's own bark is a spectre-ship, moving with- out wind; for ' ' The loud wind never reached the ship. Yet now the ship moved on," and the ghosts of the dead crew work the ropes and steer her, she sinking on arriving in the home port, and only the Ancient Mariner escapes. J Cunningham gives us, in his charming story, the legend of the haunted ships of the Solway. Two Danish pirates, who had permission, for a time, to work deeds of crime on the deep, were at last condemned to perish here by wreck, and were seen coming in, one clear night, one crowded with people, the other having on its deck a spectral shape, flitting about. Thus they approached the shore, and four young men put off in a boat, that had been sent from one ship, to join her, seeking to participate in the revels. When they reached her, both vessels sank where they were. * Bottrell. — Traditions and Fireside Stories of West Cornwall. t Coleridge's Poems. JTraditional Tales of the English and Sijoitish Peasantry, p. 338. 356 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Other wrecks' lay here also, but only these two remain unbroken. If boats approach too near, fishermen say they will be drawn down to join the reveling crews. One night, a man was seen to approach the shore, dig out of the sand a brass slipper, and whirl it on the water, when it became a boat, in which he went to the wrecks, and, striking them with his oar, they rose to the surface, all equipped and sails set. Lights were seen, and both vessels stood out of the harbor, sailing over Castletown shoals, like true phantom barks. On the anniversary of their wreck, they are believed to come in again, and the whole scene is re-enacted. Work is said to be done on them on dark, stormy nights. They are generally seen before a gale. Whoever touches these wrecks will be drawn down below to them. Any one approaching them as they rise and sail out, is lost. * Another spectral vessel appears in the Sol way, always coming near a ship that is doomed to wreck, and guided by a fiend. It is the ghostly bark of a bridal party, who were maliciouslj- wrecked, — " the spectral shallop which always sails by the side of the ship which the sea is bound to swallow." f There is a Highland legend of a great ship (the Rotter- dam) that went down with all on board, and that appears from time to time, with her ghostly crew, a sure omen of disaster. A Scotch tale, related in many books of folk-lore, is of " Meggie of the Shore," a kind of witch, who saw and showed to others a spectral boat with lights in the harbor, and that night a boat was lost there. There are also tales of spectral ships on this side of the water. Jin an Ojibway tale, a maiden is about to be sacrificed to the spirit of the falls, by drifting her over them in a canoe. But at the last moment, a spectral canoe, with a fairy being in it, takes her place and serves as a sacrifice. Whittier, "The Cruise of the Jessie," describes a spectral canoe, — " While perchance a phantom crew, In a ghastly birch canoe. Paddled dumb and swiftly after." There is a legend of a spectre-ship near Orr's Island, in * Cunning-ham, p. 288. + Grepror.— Folklore of Scotland. tLanman.— " Haw-hoo-noo." OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 367 Maine, embodied in verse by Whittier, in " The Deadship of Harpswell," where "The ghost of what was once a ship Is sailing up the bay." The conclusion to the narrator of this tale by the Book- man — "Your flying Yankee beats the Dutch" — is good. Whittier gives us another American legend in the " Palatine," — the spectre of a ship wrecked on Montauk Point, which is said to appear on the anniversary of its destruction, when THE BURNING PALATINE. "Behold! again with shimmer and shine. Over the rocks and the seething brine, The flaming wreck of the Palatine." It is a warning to sailors, too, — " And the wise sound-skippers, though skies be fine. Reef their sails when they see the sign Of the blazing wreck of the Palatine." 358 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS. *Th€ Palatine was a Dutch trader wrecked on Block Island, about 1752. Wreckers are said to have burned her as she drifted to sea, with one woman on board, who had refused to leave her. f Livermore gives the testimony of several persons who had heard the story from their an- cestors, and stoutly maintains that the wreck was not plundered. Whittier gives as his authority a Mr. Hazard. It was long supposed that Dana's " Buccanneer " also de- scribed this deed, but the author says it is a work of the imagination. Another authority says the Palatine was not wrecked then, but afterward, in 1784. Drake, in his recent work,J^ repeats the story of her wreck, a.nd says she was burned by the wreckers. § In his poems, Whittier also alludes to "The spectre-ship of Salem, with the dead men in her shrouds. Sailing sheer above the water, in the loom of morning clouds." I In an early and now scarce work, he tells the story of another spectral bark of Salem. In the seventeenth century i ship about to sail for England had as passengers a strange man and a girl of g^-eat beauty. So mysterious were their actions, that they were supposed to be demons, and man)' feared to sail in the ship. The vessel sailed on Friday, and never reached her destination, but reappeared as narrated, after a storm that lasted three days: — ' Near and more near the ship came on, With all her broad sails spread. The night grew thick, but a phantom light Around her path was shed, And the gazers shuddered as on she came. For against the wind she sped." On her deck were seen the spectral forms of the young man and woman. This spectral bark disappears at the prayer of the minister. Whittier gives us another story of a phantom ship, in a recent poem.** The young captain of the schooner visits the Labrador coast, where, in a secluded bay, live two beautiful sisters with their Catholic mother. Both fall in love with the handsome skipper, who loves the younger alone. She is confined in her room by her mother, just as she is to meet * Drake.— T/egends of New England. + Historr of Block Island. JLegeods of New England aP83). fi Garrison of Cape Ann. I Legends of New England. See niso niao^rfood. Vol. V^T , p. uted inventor of navigation. Of her we are told, — f "Sudden the vessel as she sail'd along, Spoke! wondrous portent, as with human tongue. Her steady keel of Dodonian oak, By Pallas vocal made, prophetic spoke." According to the Floamana saga, the ships Stajakan- hofthi and Hunagantur, possessed hurnan speech. | Green- land tales are told of speaking ships in a lake in the under world. § Arnanson reports an Icelandic tradition of the " Skipa- mal," or speaking ships. Vessels are said to creak even, in stil! water, and when on the ways, in ship houses. This is called the speech of the ships, and but few are given to understand it. But such a favored one heard the following conversation one evening, between two ships lying in the harbor. The first one said, " We have long been together, but to-morrow we must part." The second one said: "That will never be. Thirty years have we been together, and grown old together, but when one is worn out, the other must lay by." The first: "That will not really be, for al- though it is good weather this evening, to-morrow morn- ing will it be bad, and no one will go to sea but thy cap- tain, while I and all other ships must remain. But you will sail out and never come back, and our companionship is at an end." " Never, for I will not stir from this place." " But you must, and this is the last night of our compan- ionship." " When you go not, I will not go, the Devil him- self must take a hand in it else." The tale goes that the captain of the second ship tried to go, but his ship would not sail, and his crew rebelled. He shipped another, but they could do no better. He called on Christ's name with * Miss Stokes.— Hindoo Fairy Tales, and L. Behair Day, Folk-lore of Bengal. i Ap. Khodlus.— Argonautics. Fawkes' Trans. II, 670. , t Eink.— Traditions of Greenland Esquimaux. IV, 694. i Icelandic I.egeuds. 368 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS no success, then on the Devil's, when his vessel flew before the raging storm, was lost, and thus the prediction of the wiser ship realized.* A writer in the "Spectator," of 1852, says: "Ships no longer sea-worthy, when about to break up, between the strains of wind and wave, have been known to give forth moaning sounds like wailing; the sailor cannot conjecture how the noise is made, or the exact spot whence it proceeds, but he knows too well its import, and his heart fails him." f Cooper makes Fid say, " A ship which is about to sink makes her lamentations just like any other human being." J Sailors always personify ships and boats, and this was carried so far by a certain Cochin Chinese magnate as to put his boats in the stocks when they did not sail well. Southey says, " Our own sailors sometimes ascribe, con- sciousness and sympathy to the ship." He tells of a Captain Adkins, who thought his ship would sail faster after a French ship than after any other, and who would talk to her, urging her to greater speed, by promising her a new coat of paint. ^ A venerable commodore in our own navy, still living (in 1881), was won't to talk to the mizzenmast of his ship, asking it what sail to carry, when to reduce it, etc. This is a common idea among old sailors, who often be- lieve, as the old captain said, " She can do anything but talk," and sometimes, as we have seen, she can even do that. These mysterious ships of legendary tales are wonderful in many other respects. They are not made of ordinary materials. Such was the famous Norse ship Skidbladnir, § large enough to contain all the gods and their war-equip- ment, but folding up like a cloth. It belonged to Frey, and always had a fair wind. Gangler says to Har: " You have told me of a vessel called Skidbladnir, that was the best of all ships. || "Without doubt, it is the best and most artfully constructed of any. They were dwarfs who built Skidbladnir, and made it a present to Fre)'. It is so large that all the gods, completely armed, may sit in it at their ease. As soon as ever its sails are unfurled, a favorable gale arises, and carries it of itself to whatever place it is destined. And when the gods have no mind to sail, they can take it to * See also Powell and Magnussen, Icelandic Folk-lore, 1866. + Red Eorer, Chapter XXIV. tBastieD. — Oestlicli Asien, 157. § Thorpe.— Northern Mythology, Vol. I, pp. 38, 199. H Snorre Edda, p. 43. Mallet's Trans. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 369 pieces so small, that, being folded upon one another, the whole will go into a pocket." * Folk-lore tales preserve a reminiscence of this ship. A dwarf gives such a one to Hans, which grows and dimin- ishes at the words "grow ship," and "lessen ship." f An old witch gives Lillekort a similar vessel, which will fly over land and sea, and which expands upon setting foot on her decks. In " Shortshanks," a similar vessel appears, able to carry .five hundred men, and which dives and rises to the surface at will. J Curiously enough, we find the Algonquin hero Gloos- cap possessed of such an expanding vessel, which he con- structs out of Granite Island. § But larger than " Skid- bladnir " was " Naglfar," belonging to Muspelheim, made of dead men's nails, and carrying souls at the end of the world, Rymer her pilot; and when one dies with uncut nails, the Sagas say he aids in the repairs of this huge ship. II At the end of the world, says the prose Edda, " The ship Naglefara is set afloat. This vessel is constructed of the nails of dead men, for which reason great care should be taken not to die with unpared nails; for he who dies so, supplies material toward the building of that vessel, which gods and men will wish were finished as late as possible." The Voluspa Saga also tells us at the last day, " The ship of Nails is loosened. It floats from the East." ** This strange vessel is also preserved in modern beliefs. Arnanson tells us that there is still a belief in Iceland, that, in removing the nails, you should cut them in two or more pieces, or Satan will use them to make a Ship-of-the- Line. Near Jokul, a strange crew left the harbor in a strange vessel, pursued by an Icelandic ship. Just as the latter was nearing the strange craft, she sank with all on board. Her pursuers reported that she was made of men's nails, fastened together. * Powell and Ma^nussen.— Icelandic legends, 1866. tDasent. — Tales from the Norse. t Leland.— Algonquin Folk-lore, 1884. 6 Thorpe.— Northern Mythology, Vol. I, pp. 19 and 80. ISnorre Edda, 89. ** Arnanson.— Icelandic Legends. ilO LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Glass is also reported as a ship-building material. Mer- dyn Ennis sailed westward in a ship of glass (Ty Gwidwin). *Southey says: " In his crystal ark. Whither sailed Merlin with his band of bards. Old Merlin, master of the mystic lore." Arthur was conveyed to Avalon, says one legend, in a glass ship, and the Welsh Noah, Hu, was fabled to have journeyed in a similar vessel. We also read of stone vessels, f Greenland tales are told of elves journeying in a stone canoe, and a giant comes in a stone canoe, in an Icelandic tale. A block of stone, on Upalo island, in the Hervey group, is still pointed out as a great ancestral canoe. A sacred stone galley or boat is found in 'China, and I have a photograph of this, which is supposed to have been connected with some religious worship formerly.^ §The trunk of a tree often sufficed. A somewhat cele- brated boat thus constructed was " Guingelot," which Chaucer says was that of Wade, made for him by his sire, Wayland the smith. Chaucer says old women "Connen so moche craft in Wade's bote," here probably in an obscene sense. It was made from the trunk of a tree, with a glass window in front. More wonderful metal ships and boats are frequently described. || Wainamoinen, the Finnish hero, makes one of brass, with an iron bottom, and in it makes his apotheosis: ** " In his shining ship of copper, In his galley made of metal, Sought the higher earthly region, And the lower realms of heaven." In a Samoyed tale, a magic boat is made of copper, and goes at command of her captain. In a Greek folk-tale, a king has a gold ship, with a crew of forty maidens. In a Welsh tale, it is a golden boat, with golden oars; in a Russian tale, a golden boat, with silver oars. More unsuitable materials than these were sometimes used. A ship of ivory and ebony, encased in plates of gold, » " Madoc." + Rink. — Tales and Traditions of the Esquimaux. $See also Scott. — Marmion, II. 14. S Thorpe.— Voluspa Saga, in Northern Mj'thologry, Vol. I, p. 88. BCastren. — Finnisri Mythology. **" Kalevala," — Schiefner's Translation. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 371 and with oars of sandal and aloes wood, appears in the Arabian tale, "The King and His Son." In a Danish tale, " Mons Fro," a youth has a mahogany ship. * A great chief in a savage land builds a canoe of bark, hollowed out by birds,' sewed with the aid of the claws of others, through holes punched by the long beaks of others, and launched by birds also. In this he voyages, and, after many adventures, discovers, and settles the Hervey islands. A Guaraco legend of Guiana, relates that the first navi- gator formed a ship of wax, and sailed in it. f Queatzal- CHINESE STONE BOAT. coatl, a Mexican demigod, had a magic boat made of serpent-skins. Jin Algic legend, there is a boat of a sor- cerer, whose ribs are formed of living rattlesnakes. Kircher says Cosmiel gave to Theodactus, a boat of asbestos, in which he sailed to heaven. So Moore sings, — " Oh! for the boat the angel gave To him, who, in his heavenward flight, Sail'd o'er the sun's ethereal wave. To planet isles of odorous light." ♦Gill.— Myths and Songs of the South Paoiflc, 144. + Bancroft.— Native Eaces, 111-249. j Schoolcraft.— Alglo Besearches, Vol. II, p. 73. 373 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Paper boats figure in Miss Stokes' Hindoo tales, fore- shadowing modern inventions. In a French anonymous fairy-story, the fairies make a giant ship of light buoyant woods. It is covered over with peacock-feathers, so that the plumes serve as sails, and such feathers line its walls and render it invisible. * Grimm, quoting an old writer, tells of a boat made of feathers and straw, which was launched in the air from a height. Boats and ships are likewise, in folk-legend, created mysteriously out of strange materials. Leaves are thus transformed, to convey the soldiers of Preeter John to Charlemagne, by the warrior Arnolfo; f " Soon as the waves the scatter'd leaves receiv'd They swell'd in bulk, and (miracle to viewl) Each long, and large, and curv'd, and heavy grew; The fibres small to cables chang'd appear'd; The larger veins in solid masts were rear'd; One end the prow, and one the steerage show'd, Till each a perfect ship the billows rode." Rods or chips served the same purpose. A magician in one of Campbell's Highland tales creates a ship out of a rod thrown into the sea; and two hazel wands become a boat, in one of Kennedy's Irish stories. J Sir Francis Drake is said to have thrown blocks into the water, and thus created a fleet to oppose the Armada. § In a Shetland tale, a Finn escapes with a captured bride, from his pursuers, by cutting off chips and throwing them in the water, thus creating a fleet, and puzzling them. II Dryden says of Oberon, — "What was his club, he made his boat. And on his oaken club doth float As safe as in a wherry." ** On the Cornish coast, the Fraddam witch is still seen floating along the coast in a tub formerly used by her in her incantations, with a broom for her oar, and a crock at- tending her larger bark, as a tender. The hapless mariner who sees her will be drowned before many days. •Teutonic Mythology. + Hoole.— Ariosto, Bk. XXXIX, 210. $Mr8. Bray. — Legends of Devonshire. S Blind, in Contemporary Review, Augiast, 1882. I Nymphldia, »*Bot£reU.— Tradition^, etc., of West Cornwall. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 3'f& Witches have been famous navigators, both of the air and the watery element. Sometimes they sailed in sieves, as in Macbeth.* "But in a sieve I'll thither sail." Swift, and other old authors alluded to this belief, f Montgomery says, " To sail sure in a seiffe." And Congreve:J " They say a witch will sail in a sieve." The sieve in folk-lore is a cloud, and witches ride it on the watery element, as well as in the air. The same cloud sieve was a sacred instrument formerly, and the test of the vestal virgin's purity, and hence it became a mystical bark, like other cloud-barks of story. Egg-shells were also chosen by witches as instruments of navigation. § An old English writer here tells us, — " This witches Possess'd; even in their death, deluded, say They have been wolves and dogs, and sail'd in egg shells Over the sea." And Another, — [ ' ' The devil should think of purchasing that egg-shell To victual out a witch for the Bermoothes." **We are told in an old work: "It is a common notion that a witch can make a voyage to the East Indies in an egg-shell, or take a journey of two or three hundred miles across the country on a broomstick." ff Reginald Scot also informs us: "They can go out at auger holes, and saile in an egge shell, a cockle or muscle shell, through and under the tempestuous waves." JJAnd T. Fielding: "Most persons break the shells of eggs after they have eaten the meat; it is done to prevent their being used as boats by witches." This is still believed in some parts of Europe. §§ In Hol- • Act I^Soene 3. + The Witch. t Love for Love. § Cotgrave.— English Treasury of Wit and Language, p. 298. I Beaumont and Fletcher. — Women Pleased. **The Connoisseur.— No. 100. In Brand's Popular Antiquities, Vol. m, p. 7. ■HDiseovery of Witchcraft. tt Proverbs. a Choice "Notes, p. 7. 374 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Icind, when eggs are eaten, the shells must be broken, for this reason. * In Russia, the same is said, and in Portugal also; while in Somerset, f England, "If you don't poke a hole in an egg-shell, the fairies will put to sea to wreck ships." In an Italian tale, a cask in which a princess is inclosed becomes first a ship, and then a palace. I In a Chinese tale, a boat is created out of a hairpin, by a sea-fairy, and a Scotch witch was, for the same purpose, a cast-off slipper. A fox, in one tale, becomes a boat, a barque and a ship, and a Wallachian magician transformed himself into a boat.§ These legends are surpassed by others of wonderful magic, mystical and mysterious vessels, which illustrate in a remarkable manner the tendency to ascribe to the ship mysterious qualities. P Sir Tristram is challenged to play chess on board of a ship by her captain. While thus engaged he is kidnapped, and sail made; but contrary winds arise, sails split, and oars break, until the knight is put on shore. In the legends of the " Round Table," Sir Tristram is set afloat in a ship, with a servant only as companion — Gouvernayl (Rudder) — cer- tainly a trusty one. Mysterious vessels are connected with the heroes of middle-age legend. Arthur, Tristan, Parsifal, Gudrun, Horant, Orendel, and other lesser known heroes, have these magic vessels. Ursula and her eleven thousand virgins had a fleet of eleven triremes, gorgeously equipped. In some representa- tions of this mystical voyage, angels are depicted at the helm. **Ursula is Horsel, the Moon-goddess, and we may believe, with Fiskef f and others that we have here the moon and her accompanying stars, journeying from England, the home of souls, to Germany, and suffering martyrdom at the coming of the lord of day. In Spenser's " Faerie Queene," Phaedra has a magic gondola on an enchanted lake, in which she carries the hero of the song. In the mediaeval legend of St. Hippolite, he is drawn by horses across the water in a magic boat. * Ralston.— Songs of the Russian People. + Cboice Notes, p. 33S. JQiles.— Chinese Tales, by Ping Sung Ling. I Ralston.— Russian Folk-Tales. 169. 1 Cox and Jones.— Legenils and Romances of the Middle Ages. 1. 123. *• Grimm.— Teutonic M j-thology. tt Myths and Myth-Makere. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 375 Folk-lore tales abound with these curious boats and ships, and even the Japanese, New Zealanders, and Fijians have their legends concerning them. *The former people saj- that on New Year's day, Takarai-bune, the treasure-ship, manned by the seven gods of luck, will enter every harbor, dispensing, gifts and favors. We see thus a universal tendency, in certain ages and among certain peoples, to make the ship the subject of marvelous tales and of curious transformations. Even in the times of Virgil and Ovid, this tendency appeared, f The ships of .(Eneas are turned to sea-nymphs: " Now, wondrous! as they beat the foaming flood. The timber softens into flesh and blood; The yards and oars now arms and legs design; A trunk, the hull; the slender keel, a spine; The prow, a female face; and by degrees, The galleys rise — green daughters of the .seas." The sailor is responsible for few of these ships. They are fireside inventions, tales of wandering minstrels, myths of the common people, or fancies of the poets. Along with this mystical character, ascribed to the ship in legend and in song, was the equally rnysterious awe with which the ocean was regarded. This has been abundantly shown in the preceding pages, and needs no further exqpi- plification. With such an element of mystery in the ship, and con- cerning the sea, they woujd well be chosen as the theater of such a supernatural occurrence as that imagined in the legend of the Flying Dutchman. As we have shown, the parallel legend of the Wandering Jew is reproduced in that of the Spectral Ship. The features of the legend prove this. Whether the curse is for blasphemy, for murder, piracy, or slave-dealing, it is all the same — there is a sin to be expiated. The propitiation may be a maiden for a wife, a return of a relic of the cross, or there may be none. So the Jew wanders, without relief. The ship is diabolic — that is, a sight of her brings storms and disaster. The Jew brought storms, as we have seen, in 1604; and, perhaps, in his name, as the Wild Huntsman, we have the key to the application of his story to the storm-bound Falkenberg. All ghostly appearances are bad omens, and we have espe- cially seen that spectre-ships were such. • Greey.— Wonderful Citr of Tokio. +DiT(len.— JEneid, Bk. I±. 376 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS There are those, with Cox, who would have these all cloud-ships, wafted hither and thither by the changing winds; and as the clouds presage storm, so the typical spectre-ship precedes disaster. But the nature-myth theory will not explain enough here. Perhaps it has its influence, for we have, seen the sun imagined as traveling in a ship, the clouds figured as barks moved by the winds, etc. Such nature-myths have doubtless played their part in the legends we have alluded to, and in others concerning strange and mysterious ships. In the last chapter, we traced the effects of the sun-myth in the formation of the death-ship legends. The Argo, that wandered in search of morning-beams, or, as later writers said, sought the evening-twilight land, is, like the golden cup of Helios, the sun itself. So Mone thinks Skidbladnir, which belonged to Freyr, the summer-god, typifies the summer months; and Hring- horn, in which Balder, the sun-god, is buried, the nine long winter months of the northern lands. But perhaps Cox is more apt in his likening Skidbladnir to the cloud, since we find other cloud-ships of story and song. *Fiske remarks: "Clouds are in Aryan lore ships, are mountains, or rocks," as the Symplegades; and Kelly: "Sometimes they were to\Kering castles, or mountains, or ships sailing on the heavenly waters." Many of the ships and boats of folk- lore, which move without sails or oars, are doubtless cloud- barks. ^ , Natural phenomena have alss had a prominent part in forming and perpetuating the wonderful story. fWhile the idea of a wandering curse seems to be an old one (Con- way shows it to exist in early Aryan and Greek legend), and an equally ancient myth exists, of the Voyage and Sea of Death, connected closely with the course of the setting sun — while these gave the incentive to the formation of the legend, it does not seem to have been elaborated until the revival of navigation had familiarized the sailor with the outer ocean, where the phenomena of nature present them- selves on a grander scale than in the narrow seas to which navigation had been confined. A derelict and corpse-laden bark, a pest-stricken slaver, a wandering pirate, or all these, would furnish material for the origin of the story of the wandering punishment, and *,^^hs and Ib^Oiakers. + Wandedng Jew, CSiapter HL OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 377 the wonderful images often seen in mirages at sea, the presence of mysterious natural lights there, the occasional remarkable resonance of the air, especially before storms, and other incidental causes, would aid thus in building up the complete legend. * "A ship seen upside-down in a mirage is called (in Denmark) the 'Ship of Death,' and is a bad omen. f A particularly apt illustration of the effects of natural causes is given in a modern book of travels. One evening they beheld, close to Point Danger, on the South African coast, a well-known English man-of-war, a short distance away. They saw familiar faces on board, and a boat was lowered and manned, in sight of everybody. All recognized the " Barracouta," and they expected to find her at anchor, when they arrived, a short time after, in Simon's bay. It was a week, however, before she arrived, and then it was learned that she was at least three hundred miles from Port Danger, at the time referred to. The image seen was doubt- less due to reflection or refraction in some cloud or fog- bank. Arctic voyagers often speak of the very remarkable effects of refraction, and many of the nautical tales of phan- tom-ships are, beyond doubt, caused by the sight of images in cloud or fog-bank. The locality of the legend is one that would be naturally chosen, and would give a coloring of truth to the main feat- ures of the story. Here at the " Stormy Cape," Diaz turned, fearing to advance farther, as his predecessors had at Capes Nun and Bojador. In the cloud that hung over Table mountain, still known to mariners as the " Devil's Table Cloth," hovered the spectre of the cape, the terror of mari- ners for many years. In the clouds that incessantly hover over the high peaks of land, would often be reflected strange sights, invisible else to the mariner. There are also suflScient reasons why the hero of the tale should be a Dutchman. They were, at the time of the for- mation of the legend, foremost among the navigators of the world. They were cool and phlegmatic, in contrast with the excitable and volatile Portuguese and Spanish. Doubt- less then, as now, they were superior seamen, in which case, in accordance with the spirit of the age, their superior skill would certainly be attributed to some league with the evil one. From the north also came the story of the spectral *p. C. Andersen.—" 0- T.," a n<)vel. •f Owen.^Voyasre to Africa, 1838. 24 378 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS bark, which, we have seen, bore a great resemblance to the original tale of Falkenberg. This legend itself, we remember, was located in the North Sea — hence was probably older than the others. Perhaps here, also, the early conflict be- tween Christianity and German Paganism may have had its effect — as Conway* shows it did in perpetuating the legend of the Jew. So the Dutch Van der Decken [on the deck (?)] would be himself the evil spirit, which, in the early form of the legend, plays dice for his soul. The advent of steam forever banished the legend from nautical minds, and at last terminated the punishment of the wanderer. One feature was destroyed when a ship should be able to move against wind and tide. But the spectral captain had his revenge, for he seems to have taken with him the traditional sailor, almost as much a memory of the past as the Phantom Ship. * Wandering Jew, Ch. X. CHAPTER XI. SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS. " Twas so, the ancient skipper spake. His face with terror pale; ' There's here some murderous wretch on board. Hinders the ship to sail. Up, men, we'll cast the lot about On whom it falls, we'll see, And if their sails a villain here So overboard shall he! '" —Old EngHsh Ballad. " If any there be beneath the wave That hinder the ship to sail, I'll give you silver and ruddy gold To send us a fav'ring gale. " — ^* German- Gladeswain" {Danish Sang), kE shall not be surprised, after learning of the many deities, de- mons, ghosts, etc., believed in by the sailor, to find many usages resorted to to propitiate them. Among these, the most ancient, as well as the most natural to the primitive or superstitious mind, are sacrifices and offerings. These have been often alluded to in the pre- ceding chapters, and are frequently referred to and described by ancient writers. Human sacrifices were doubt- less the earliest of these, and seem to have been thought particularly effica- cious by Semitic nations, who thought the sea typhonic, or diabolic. Animal sacrifices were, however, more common in antiquity, es- pecially among the Greeks -and Romans. But offerings were often substituted, either to the elements, to the gods imagined powerful at sea, or to the Virgin and Saints, in 379 380 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS later times. It was frequently customarj' to offer these in the form of a libation or oblation, and we shall find in the next chapter a surviving relic of this usage, in the modern custom of breaking a bottle of wine over the bows of a ship in launching her. Among the Phoenician mariners, human sacrifices were perhaps common, as in these lands the worshipers of Baal -were accustomed to such horrid rites. Whatever we may think is meant by the storj' of Jonah, whether we be- lieve it mj'thical or real, it certainly describes an occurrence not uncommon. * " Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his God. * * * And they said every one to his fellow, ' Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us.' So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. So the)' took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging." When Xerxes, in the course of his conquests, came to the sea, he availed himself, as other eastern conquerers had done before him, of the ships of the maritime nations of lesser Asia, and doubtless from them received also their customs in regard to sacrifices, f He sacrificed a human life to the Hellespont, and at Artemesium,J the handsomest Greek cap- tive was slain over the bows of his admiral's ship. At Mycale, too, he was only induced to engage the Greeks by the fortunate omen of propitious sacrifices. The Tauri, a Thracian tribe inhabiting the Crimea, had a temple dedicated to a goddess called bj' the Greeks Diana Taurica, and to her sacrificed shipwrecked persons. Here Iphigenia recognized and delivered Orestes, about to be- come a victim to the custom. Idomeneus, king of Crete, is said to have vowed to sac- rifice to Neptune the first living thing he should meet after a storm, and this happening to be his son, he' fulfilled the vow religiously. Such sacrifices were not unknown even among the more humane Greeks. Plutarch tells us of a virgin being sacri- ficed to Amphitrite. Iphigenia was near being sacrificed at Aulis by the Greek leaders whose fleet was there wind- bound on its way to Troy. When threatened with the Per- sian invasion, they made an extraordinary sacrifice to ♦Jonah, C!h. I, V. 7. + Herodotus. t Parker,— Fleets of the World, p. 26. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 381 Boreas, whose blasts thereafter destroyed the invading fleet at Artemesium. Medea nearly became asacrifice, during the return voyage of the Argonauts. We even find relics of this barbarous custom during the middle ages. * Mussulman chroniclers tell us that a virgin was then sacrificed to the river Nile, but was later replaced by a mummy's finger. Savary says an earthen figure was used in later days, f Moore refers to this custom: " Pallid as she, the young devoted bride Of the fierce Nile, when decked in all the pride Of nuptial pomp, she leaped into his tide." The old Norseman frequently offered human sacrifices to the gods. Saxo saysr "Thorkill's ship was mysteriously stopped at sea, until a man was thrown overboard." An old ballad from " Pedlar's Pack" illustrates the idea of a sacrifice to allay a storm, — " They had not sailed a league, but threes Till raging grew the roaring sea, There rose a tempest in the skies, Which filled our hearts with great surprise. The sea did wash, both fore and aft. Till scarce one sail on board was left; Our yards were split, and our rigging tore. The like was never seen before; The boatswain then he did declare The captain was a murderer. Which did enrage the whole ship's crew; Our captain overboard we threw." The gale, according to the story, then ceased. X As recorded elsewhere, three men were sacrificed dur- ing Gorm's voyage to Biarmia, to free the ship from pursu- ing demons. There is an old Swedish tradition that St. Peter was once called upon to choose passengers for sacrifice from among fifteen Jews and fifteen Christians, and he so arranged them that Jews only were sacrificed. He xhose every ninth man, and arranged them thus: 4 Christians, 5 Jews, 2 Christians, i Jew, 3 Christians, i Jew, i Christian, 2 Jews, 2 Christians, 3 Jews, i Christian, 2 Jews, 2 Chris- tians, and I Jew. Kinlock says that in ancient Scotland, "when a ship became unmanageable, lots were cast to discover who occa- * Notes to Moore's Poems. tLallflEookh. tSee Chap. 11. 382 LEOENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS sioned the disaster, and the man on whom the lot fell was condemned." Russian traditions tell of human sacrifices. The tale of Sadko was related in a former chapter. *A certain Cossack invader is said, in Muscovite annals, to have found it neces- sary to sacrifice a beloved Persian captive, at the crossing of the River Volga. f German tribes anciently offered human sacrifices at the crossing of rivers. Chinese have been known, says Jones, to fling men over- board in storms, to appease the offended deities. In 1465, several men are said to have been sacrificed, at the breaking of certain dykes, and in 1750, to prevent the tide from rising higher. Many African tribes formerly sacrificed human lives to the sea. Such sacrifices were made to the Benin river, not many years since. JAt Whydah, a man is chosen bj^ the king, and sacrificed to Hu, god of the sea. He is carried down in a hammock, dressed in the dress, and having the stool and umbrella, of a minister of state, and is taken out into the sea, and thrown to the sharks. At Bon)', it was also a custom to sacrifice a man to the shark deities. Fanti negroes offer cattle and men to the fetich of the water. § Fijians and Samoans formerly sacrificed human lives to their shark deities. When a new canoe was built or launched in Tahiti, human blood was spilt. Ellis says Polynesian fishermen sometimes wrapped their dead in red cloth, and threw them into the sea, supposing that ' sharks would eat them, be animated by their spirit, and thus spare the fishermen, when out at sea. II Human beings, gaily dressed, were sacrificed by ancient Mexicans to the spirit of a mountain torrent. Mendiez saj's boats were taken to a whirlpool in Lake Mexico, filled with children, and there sunk, a horrid propitiation to the gods supposed to dwell in subaqueous caverns. Animal sacrifices were, however, the rule among early navigators, when human sacrifices were reserved for dire extremity of peril. * Ealston.— Hussian Folk-lore. + Grimm. — Teutonic MTthology. $ Burton. — Dahomej*. Vol. II. p. 141. g Ellis. — Polynesian Resf arches. I Bancroft.— Native Races, Vol. Ill, p. 457. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 383 The Greeks offered sacrifices when setting forth or returning from a voyage. After landing, it was to Jove Decensori; while at sea, to Poseidon, Athene, Amphitrite, Boreas, or some lesser sea or wind god. Homer often describes " These rites of Neptune, monarch of the deep." Menelaus ascribed a calm to the fact that ANCTENT BULL SACRfflCE. *"No VOWS had we preferred, no victims slain! For this the gods each fav'ring gale restrain." And after arriving in Egypt, they "There quit the ships, and on the destined shore. With ritual hecatombs the gods adore. " And Minerva says to him, — •Pope.— Odyssey, Ch. IV. 384 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS * " Now immolate the tongues, and mix the wine Sacred to Neptune, and the powers divine." But bulls, heifers or sheep were usually sacrificed to Neptune: * "There hecatombs of bulls, to Neptune slain. High-flaming, please the monarch of the main." Jason sacrificed two oxen, with a libation of honey, flour and oil, before sailing in the Argo. f Herodotus says Kleomomes sacrificed a bull to the sea before embarking for Nauplia. Ovid says, "Before the poop of the crowned vessel, crowned with flowers, they sacrifice a heifer without spot." Virgil says of JEneis,'l — "Thus having said, the sacrifices, laid On smoking altars, to the gods he paid, A bull to Neptune, an oblation due Another bull to bright Apollo slew, A milk-white ewe, the western winds to please. And one coal-black to calm the stormy seas." The Argonauts, too, sacrificed sheep: — § " The choicest sheep they bade their leader slay, And to the power benign, due honors pay. He to the galley's poop with speed convey'd The choicest sheep, and, as he offer'd, pray'd." These sacrifices were offered by Greeks and Romans before and after a voyage, in time of danger, storm or calm , before going into action, and after a victory. Cymon offered victims to Apollo for his victory at the Eurymedon. Cicero says: |"Our generals, embarking on the sea, have been accustomed to offer a victim to the waves.'' The entrails of these victims were carefully inspected for omens of suc- cess or victory. The victim was eaten after the sacrifice. ** Hannibal sacrificed animals to Poseidon. Phocaeans sacrificed to Poseidon the seal, their patro- nymic animal, f f Livy says Scipio cast the entrails of an animal into the sea, before embarking. Mariners and sea-faring people have been wont, in medias- * Pope.— Odyssey, Ch. IV. t History, BK. VI. i Dryden.— jEneid, Bk. in. §Appolonius Rhodius. — Argonautics. Fawkea' Trans. H, 680. I De Natura Deorum, Vol. Ill, p. 20. *• Tvlor, from Herodotus, Vol. VI. tt T. Li vj-.— History of Rome, XXIX, 27. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 38^ val and modern times, occasionally to sacrifice some animal to the powers of the wave. Such sacrifices to the demons or spirits supposed to resided in the waters, have been alluded to in previous chapters. Many rivers, lakes and streams are still supposed to require an occasional victim, like the river in the couplet, — *" River of Dart! River of Dart! Every year thou claimest a heart! " fBarbary corsairs sacrificed sheep and fowls to the spirits of the storm, and Arab navigators also dedicated an occasional cock to the evil spirit, accompanying it with an offering of wax candles and oil. Ancient Norsemen devoted a black lamb to the water-spirits. A singular instance of a popular belief in the efficacy of animal sacrifices is shown in the trial of Marian Ribchart, in the Orkneys, in 1629. "Ye cum to Stronsay, and asking almes of Andro Couper, skipper of ane bark, he said, 'Away! witch, carling, devil, nae farthing will ye fall!' quvairvpon ye went away verie offendit, and inconti- nentlie, he going to sea, the bark being vnder full sail, he ran made, and wold have luppen over boord; and his sone seeing him, got him in his armes, and held him, quvair- vpon the seikness immediately left him, and his sone ran made; and Thomas Paiterson, seeing him tak his madnes, and the father to run veile, ane day being in the bark, took the dog, and bladdit him vpon the tuo schoulders, and thair efter flang the said dogg in the sea, quvairby these in the bark were saiffed." X Russian tribes often sacrificed horses to the river spirits. A relic of human sacrifice is still visible in two ceremonies in Poland and Bavaria. In the former country, §a puppet of straw is flung into the water to propitiate the demons, with the words " the devil take you," and in Bavaria, a man wrapped in leaves is flung into a lake on Whit Sunday, and afterward allowed to swim out. An old Prussian legend is told, to the effect that Albert the Elder, not being able, in 1520, to repel the fleet of Sigis- mund of Poland, consented that a certain courtier should sacrifice to the ancient gods. A steer was the victim, and it is recorded that the enemy's fleet was stopped by a- shoal * Dyer.— English Folk-lore. + SeeCh.in. t Grimm.— Teutonic Mythology, II, p. 542. SConway.— Demouology and Devil-lore, Vol. I, p. 80. 386 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS mysteriously raised; but the fish, at the same time, were driven away, and it required the further sacrifice of a sow to bring them back again. *Ostyaks hang a stone about a reindeer's neck, and cast it as a sacrifice into the river Obi. At Assam, sacrifices were formerly made to the gods of the sea and wind. Chinese still offer fowls at the shrine of the River Goddess, Loong Moo.\ The captain stands before an altar in the bow, with three cups of wine on it. He takes a live fowl, cuts its throat, first pouring out wine from the cups, and then spills the blood upon the deck, and sprinkles with it bits of gilt paper. Japanese legends of Jinnu record that that queen sacri- ficed to the sea-gods as early as 207 A.D. Philippine Islanders formerly cast sacrifices to the alli- gators in the rivers. In many South-Sea Islands it was formerly a custom, when casting a new net, to offer animal sacrifices on the beach. Fijians threw overboard dogs, to remove ill-luck from their canoes. J Tonga Islanders sacri- fice to the whale when they meet one at sea. § Polynesians sacrificed the first fish caught to the male gods, the second to the female ones. Peruvian tribes sacrificed to sacred fish. Our own Indians frequentl)' sacrificed animals to the spirits of the water. Hennepin saw sacrifices made at St. Anthony's falls, where a number of men had been drowned at one time. Sacrifices were also seen by early travelers on Lakes Winnipeg and Pend d'Oreille. II Dogs were frequently thrown in, with their legs bound. ** Esquimaux offer foxes' tails, probably as a type of the living animal, to the water spirits. In passing certain capes, they always sacrifice to the spirits there resident. Kamt- chatkans offered animals to the whale deities. Instead of sacrifices, offerings of food, clothing, money, or gifts of equal value, were given, and even in antiquity were, as we have seen, joined to the sacrifices. After the victory at Salamis,f f three Phcenician vessels, a statue holding the beak of a ship, and a brazen mast with three golden stars on it were given to the Delphic temple. *Tylor.— Primitive Culture, Vol. I, p. 211. + Jones. — Credulities, pp. 47-8. t Manner.— Tonga Islands. i Grey.— Pol.rnesian Jlythology, p. 215. B Charlevoix. — Nouvelle France, Vol. I, p. 394. **Bink. — Tales and Tradition of tlie Esquimaux. ++ Parker.— Fleets of the World, p. 42. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS: 3&7 Prizes were frequently dedicated to the gods. *Phormio, after his victory at Naupactus, offered a galley to Poseidon, and erected a trophy on Antirrhium promontory. The Con- sul Duilius, after a naval victory, erected a rostral column (so called from having affixed to it images of the rostra, or beaks of the captured ships); f Antigonus, after battle, linen, cloth, and entire fleeces; others cast in cheese, wax, bread, every one according to his ability. J An early traveler gives us an account of an offering made by sailors in the Black Sea. The ship had been long wind-bound near a rocky promontory, where a deity called Semes was supposed to reside, and the men said the vessel was charmed. The second mate declared that they would not get away without an offering. They were detained there four days; and after they got away, the mate said: "Ah, well! when I told you that you should propitiate Semes, you laughed at me; but, notwithstanding, if, during the night, I had not taken the resolution to climb secretly upon the rocks, you would never have passed them." It was a custom in Germany, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, to offer carp and pike to St. Ulrich, a fisherman's patron. § Grimm shows, from old documents, that the Alemanni and Franks sacrificed horses at river-crossings. |] Livonian fishermen, before putting to sea, propitiate the divinities by a libation of brandy, poured on the waters. Norwegian sailors frequently rhade offerings to the water-spirits, as did Germans and Danes. A tradition exists that a man would offer a cake to the sea, but it viras frozen over. He cut a hole in the ice, when a hand reached out and seized the cake. ** Fishermen of Folkstone formerly chose eight whitings out of each boat, and made a feast to a certain Saint Rum- bald, at Christmas. In certain parts of Cornwall, they used to set aside a certain part of the catch, and leave it on the beach, as an offering to Bucca, a spirit greatly feared. ff Thevenot says he saw offerings to the sea, made in the East Indies, in 1689. A woman came to the seaside at Dabot, bringing a vessel of straw, with dishes of meat, * Gravi^re.— La Marine des Anoiens. + Renard.— L'Art Na%'al, p. 134. tSigisiQud). L. Baroni. — Commentaria della Moscovia, I Deutsche Myt.hologie, Vol. I, p. 503. IFaiTar. — Primitive Customs, Vol. I, p. 185. ** Hasted.— History of Kent, Vol. Ill, p. 380. tt Voyage to Hindostan (1584), 245. 388 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS fruits, etc., in a procession with music, banners, etc. The vessel was cast into the sea, and the meats and fruits left upon the shore. * Navigators of Amboyna, passing by a certain coast of Malacc^l, were in the habit of offering flowers and meats, in a cocoa-shell by day, and, oil burning in a shell, by night, to the demons of a mountain near the coast. fSo Moore tells us that lamps filled with cocoanut-oil were formerly set afloat on the Ganges, as an offering for those at sea. If they sank immediately, it was ominous; but a good sign, if they floated until out of sight. The same author speaks of sacrifices, which, Morier says, were made by Moslem navigators: J " While breezes from the Indian Sea Blow round Selama's sainted cape And cool the shining flood beneath, Whose waves are rich with many a grape And cocoanut and flowery wreath. Which pious seamen, as they passed. Had toward that holy headland cast Oblations to the Genii there For gentle skies and breezes fair." § Lam pongs of Sumatra make an offering of cakes and sweetmeats to the sea, on first beholding it, so that it may not injure them. In many East India islands, it was formerly the custom to set adrift proas laden with food, etc., as an offering to the spirits of disease, to entice them to sea. The Siamese still float down the rivers small bamboo rafts, with images, offerings, and a lighted taper on them. A traveler in Cochin China tells us of a rock in the rapids of a certain river, where the natives, in passing, always made an offering. On one occasion, when he was present, bananas and betelnuts were offered by the Indians, and a biscuit for the traveler, while the pilot stood up and made a speech. A raft afterward overturning there, the natives claimed that the god of that spot, Berala Bonjok, was offended at the white man's offering. II Chinese sailors, offer to the sailor-goddess bits of red paper with votive prayers on them, tobacco and incense, * Yule.— Marco Polo. + Notes to Moore's Poems. i Lalla Eookh. g Srarsden. — Sumatra, 301. I J. Verne.— Tribvilations of a Chinaman. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 389- and hang near the compass gilt-paper boats. Food is also offered, and afterward eaten. Chinese boatmen throw food to crows that may alight on the masts of their junks, as an offering to secure a good passage. * In a dead calm, gilt- paper boats are set afloat, to secure a breeze. The owners "A HAND REACHED OUT AND SEIZED THE CAKE." of junks also offer food at the shrine of the Queen of Heaven. Salt is thrown in the water, when any one is drowned. River sailors throw bread on the water, as an offering. This custom is said to have originated about 200 A.D., when a certain general was told by sooth-sayers ♦Gray.— China. 390 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS to sacrifice forty-nine men, but substituted loaves of bread for them. * A certain mandarin is said to have thrown overboard in a storm, in the Yangtze river, an inkstand, which he valued greatly as a gift. The storm ceased, and an island arose there, which is still known as Inkstand island. fin one of Giles' tales, a fisherman obtains luck by a liberal libation to the deities. Archdeacon Gray says he saw, in a temple to the sailor-goddess, at Tientsin, bags of salt, with the donors' names on them. Early travelers in Japan tell us of offerings to the sea- gods. JJapanese, saved from wreck, cut off their short qiieues, "a Japanese seaman's ordinary vow." A traveler says that in 1822, on the occasion of the detention of a junk by unfavorable winds, a barrel of "saki," or native wine, and many copper coins, were thrown overboard, to propitiate Kompira, a god of the elements, and to obtain favorable weather. §Burkhardt, speaking of a voyage to Cairo, says: "An island near the coast contains the tomb of a saint. Sheik Hassan el Merabet, who is counted of great repute in the waters thereabout. Boats are sent from passing ships, with presents of dates, figs, etc., to propitiate the saint. When we sailed by, our reis made a large loaf of bread, which he baked in the ashes, and distributed a morsel of it to every person on board, who eat it in honor of the saint." To propitiate evil spirits in the waters, he says: "They have the constant practice of throwing, at every meal, a handful of dressed victuals into the sea, and, before they sit down themselves to their repast, saying that the inhab- itants of the sea must have their morsels, otherwise they will impede the vessel's course." II Madras coolies suspend a bag of coins, or other valu- ables, from the masthead, as an offering. They also cast refuse articles in the sea, as a propitiatory offering. ** Phillips, who visited Africa in 1693, says the king of the Caboceers, when they feared to embark because of the rough sea, made flattering speeches to it, telling it to be smooth, and offered oil, cloth, corn, rice and brandj'. * Jones. — Credulities. tChinese Tales. — Pin Sungr Ling. t Kaempfer.— Japan. STravels in Arabia, Vol. II, p. 347. 1 Notes and Queries, December 13, 13S4. ♦•Astlay.— Voyages, Vol. VII, p. 401. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 391 Dahomey negroes also offer oil, rice, corn, beans, cloth and shells to the ocean-god. Villant says he saw men near Akra offer sheep and gallipots to the water-deities. *So in the Mafa river, in the Veil country, in West Africa, an offering of tobacco, rice, or rum, is made, at a dangerous rock. I Tonga islanders offered kava and oil to the sea-gods, of whom the whale was chief. Maldive islanders burned a new boat before setting out on a voyage; and Malakai fish- ermen obtain turtles by liberal offers to the gods of the wave. J Ancient Peruvians made offerings to the water-spirits. Muyscas extended cords across the lake, and offered gold and precious oils at their intersection. §Zacs threw gold- dust and oil into the waves. Paraguayan Indians offer tobacco or tobacco smoke to the gods, at fishing-time. Mosquito Indians threw food to the spirits of a certain gorge in the Paluch river. || A certain spot near the Guiana coast is called the Devil's Hole, and Indians cast cassava balls in it, when passing, to appease the yroucan, or deviL ** Kurile islanders threw their idols into the sea. Indians frequently made offerings to the spirits of the water and of the winds, f f Weid says the Ojibways and Chippeways offered a Manitou-stone to the winds, to in- crease the speed of their canoe. Xt Prescott says Indians, in crossing a lake, lighted their pipes and smoked, to invoke light and fair winds. §§ Tanner says that Algonquins, in voyaging with a fleet of their canoes, prayed to the Great Spirit, and threw tobacco in the water as an offering. III! Sauks strewed the water with fruit and tobacco, and chanted a hymn. *** Breboeuf saw offerings of tobacco made at falls in the Wisconsin river. |f | Franklin says an Indian offered a knife, tobacco and other articles to water-spirits, because his squaw was ill. California Chibchas threw offerings in the Devil's lake. J;U So, in passing certain caves 'Tylor.— Primitive Culttire. •t Parmer. — Tonga, p. 124. tAstley.— Voyages, vn, p. 411. 8 Clarlgero.— Mexico, p. &. i Noyer, in Ann. Maritime, 1824, p. 251. ♦* Tylor. — Primitive Culture. ++ Eeise nach America, tt Schoolcraft.— Indian Tribes, Vol. Ill, p. 336. 88 Narrative, p. 4B. tl Hennepin.— Louisiana, p. 137. •"Relation des J&uits, p. 138 (1636). tt+ Journey to Polar Sea, Vol. II, p. 245. tttDc»rmjui.— Origin of Primitive Customs, p. 3aL 392 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS in Lake Winnipeg, offerings were made to the spirits sup- posed to reside there. * Carver says whenever the Indians " arrive on the banks of the Mississippi, or any other great body of water, they present to the spirit who resides there some kind of offer- ing, as the prince of the Winnebagoes did when he attended me to the falls of St Anthony." Marc Antony, after the defeat of Ptolemy, offered a large galley to Apollo. f Sennacherib, when about to set out on an expedition down the Euphrates, dedicated to Hea a golden boat, a chest and some fish. Offerings became common in the middle ages. Priests of Philae in Egypt were wont annually to throw a ring in the river, as an offering. Barbary corsairs offered wax can; dies, and Algerine pirates also. J Mariners of 1600, says Jal, threw pieces of bread and salt in the sea, as an offering. Greek sailors carried to sea loaves of bread, consecrated to St. Nicholas, and threw them, one by one, into the sea, in case of storm. " The Sieur D , who was most terrified of all, and who had already cast into the sea little loaves of St. Nicholas, which the Greeks believe to be powerful in allaying bad weather, was the first to put hand to the good works reserved to his office." § Erasmus, in the Shipwreck, tells us: " Some were lying along upon the boards, worshiping the sea, pouring oil they had into it, and flattering it, as if it had been some in- censed prince. " Oh, most merciful sea! Oh, most beauti- ful, rich sea! be pacified, save us!' and a deal of such things they said to the deaf sea." These offerings often took the form of libations, exam- ples of which have already been given. Greeks made such libations, with the sacrifices. So the Argonauts: "Their halsers now they loose, and on the brine. To Neptune pour the consecrated wine." And Anchises, — I " crowned a cup with wine, And off'ring, thus implored the powers divine: ' Ye gods, presiding over lands and seas. And you who raging winds and wars appease. Breathe on our swelling sails a prosp'ring wind And smooth our passage to the port assign'd.' " »P. 325. + Eawllnson.— Notes to Herodotus. § Colloquies, 1516. t Jal.— Gloesalre Nautique, " Pain." II Virgil.— .aEneld, Ch. m. . OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. . 393 * Martin chronicles an old ceremony in Lewis Island, in which a libation was made. " The inhabitants of the island had an ancient custom to sacrifice to a sea-god, called Skony, at Hallow-tide, in the following manner: The inhabitants around the island came to the church at St. Mulvay, having each man his provision along with him; every family fur- nished a peck of malt, and this was brewed into ale. One of their number was picked out to wade into the sea, and car- rying a cup of ale in his hand, standing still in that position, cried out with a loud voice, ' I give you this cup of ale, hop- ing you will be so kind as to give us plenty of sea-weed for enriching our ground the ensuing year,' and so threw the cup of ale into the sea. This was performed in the night time. At his return to land, they all went to the church." f Esthonian fishermen poured out a measure of beer, say- ing " give also his share to the young fellow (devil), for a good haul." On ascension day, it was formerly a custom to make libations to the river Tyne. J Holy water was, not many years since, kept in some of the islands north of Scotland, to sprinkle on the waves, in time of storm. We have recorded many instances of the use of oil as an offering. The use of oil to calm the waves was mentioned by Plutarch, and it is possible that a recognition of its real eflBcacy often led to its use as an offering. Williams says Fijians poured out a libation of kava and oil, and said, " Gods, be of a gracious mind, and send a wind from the east." Votive offerings, vowed during times of peril or ship- wreck, have been common among seamen in all ages. These were given in various shapes. Greeks and Romans offered to the Gods the garments, in which they escaped death by shipwreck. The hair was also cut off, and offered in grati- tude for such an escape. § Erasmus says a man offered a piece of sailcloth in grati- tude for his escape from wreck. Cardinal Colonna gave to the cathedral in Alghero, Sardinia, a skull of one of the Innocents slain by Herod, as he had vowed when in danger from shipwreck. || Canute, returning from Rome, gave the port of Sandwich, with its revenues, to Canterbury Cathedral. •Account of the Western Islands of Scotland, 1716. + Holzmayer.— Osiliana, in Melusine, Feb. 1885. t Grant.— Mysteries of All Nations, 528. I Absurda.— Colloquies (1518). I Jones. — Credulities, p. 58. 25 394 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS A tradition of St. Anthony's church, in Cornwall, is that it was built by people who vowed to do so, in return for being saved from wreck. In St. Malo river, Luzon Island, is a temple said to have been built by a wealthy Chinaman, in gratitude to St. Nich- olas, who, when invoked, saved him from peril. Quite frequently, this offering took the form of the model of a ship, generally that in which the danger was incurred. The Romans vowed ships of marble to Jupiter Redax, and deposited them in his temple. *A votive ship was found in the coffin of an Egyptian queen, and is preserved in the museum at Boulacq, near Cairo. It is of solid gold, mounted on wheels of bronze, supporting a wooden running-gear. There are twelve silver rowers, and a captain, steersman, and another man forward in solid gold. f Silver and gold images of vessels were vowed in the middle ages. In July, 1397, the master of the Trinity, as shown on the English Rolls, paid for a silver ship, vowed to the Virgin at Anger, for saving his ship in a storm. Join- ville says that the queen of St. Louis, during a storm, on her return from the Holy Land, vowed a silver ship to St. Nicholas, and it was made, with the figures of the queen and all the sailors, in silver. JJoinville says, " On the queen's return to France, she caused the ship to be made that she had vowed, and had in- troduced in it the king, herself, and three children, with all the sailors, masts, and steerage, all of silver, and the ropes of silver thread. This ship she sent me with orders to carry it to the shrine of my lord St. Nicholas, which I did." In front of the Church of Sta. Maria della Navicella, in Rome, which stands on the site of an old temple' to Jupiter, is a small marble ship, which was offered by Leo X, and vowed by him after his escape from shipwreck. § The life of Godehard Hildesieus tells us that that churchman, when endangered by a storm at sea, vowed a silver ship, and afterward dedicated it to a church, where it hung until Lothair's time. In St. ■ Bavon, in Harlaem, are the figures of a three- decker, two-decker, and twentj'-gun sloop. These replace * Marlette Bey.— Catalog:ue of Boulacq Museum. + Jones.— Credulities, pp. 59 and 60. t Vie de St. Louis. S Grimm.— Teutonic Mj-thology. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 396 Others hung here in gratitude by Crusaders, on their return from the fifth crusade. "^ Grimm says a church in a village in Holstein has the image of a ship hung up in it, which, on the opening of spring, is gaily decorated with green plants, flags, ribbons, etc. f The Lapps hang a, small figure of a ship, stained with reindeer's blood, on trees at Christmas time. Such offerings are seen in many seaside temples in Europe. In other countries, too, they are occasionally found. J Commander Shore says there is at Tientsin a tem- ple to the Queen of Heaven, and models of junks hang from the ceiling, votive offerings from grateful seamen. § Pictured ships, or scenes of wrecks, tempests, and ^o forth, were in antiquity common, and Juvenal says (Sat. XII.),- "As Isis temples show. By many a pictured scene of woe." Bion says, "But this tablet, given by one after a ship- wreck, pleased me." {| And Horace: ** ' ' Me in my vowed Picture the sacred wall declares to have hung My dank and dripping weeds To the stern god of the sea," An old scholiast to Horace tells us: "But we see some days certain ones who also paint their calamities in tablets, and hang them in the temples of marine gods." ff Phaedrus alludes to another custom: " Others their tablets Carry, begging alms " ; and other writers tell us that persons who had suffered from shipwreck, sometimes obtained aid by these means. These scenes are common in the seaside temples and chapels of Europe, and a large collection may be seen in such marine temples as the church at Honfleur, Notre Dame des Plots, near Havre, Notre Dame des Gardes at Marseilles, at Rouen, Ciudadella at Minorca, or in other •Teutonic Mythology, 1, 269 (note). + Grimm.— Teutonic Mythology, I, p. 265. iFlig-ht of the I^apwing, 1881. g Jones.— Credulities, p. 42. IHampeon. — !Medii JEvi Kalendarium. •»Ode v.— Milton's Translation. ^ -t+Hampson.— Medil .^Evi Kalendarium. 396 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS maritime places, accompanied sometimes by touching or ludicrous inscriptions. * Hampson says they were to be seen in England in the early part of the present century. f Cicero says Diagoras, being shown such votive tablets, and being asked whether he did not now recognize the power of the gods, said; "But where are the portraits of those who have perished in spite of their vows?" Vows to make these varied offerings became quite nu- merous, after Christianity had furnished so man)' saints and shrines. I Grimm quotes an old saga to the effect that Norse voyagers devoted three casks of ale to Freya for fair winds to Sweden; to Thor, or Odin, for favoring breezes to Ice- land. § Erasmus relates instances of such vows: "There was an Englishman there that promised a golden mountain to .Our Lady of Walsingham, so he did but get ashore alive. Others promised a great many things to the shrine of the saint which was in such a place; and the same was done by the Virgin Mary, who reigns in many places. Some made promises to become Carthusians. There was one who promised to go on a pilgrimage to St. James of Compos- tella barefooted and bareheaded, clothed in a coat of mail, and begging his bread all the way." " Did no one think of St. Christopher ? I heard one, and could not help smiling, who, with a shout, lest he should not be heard, promised to St. Christopher, who dwells in the great church at Paris, and is a mountain rather than a statue, a wax image as great as himself. He had repeated this more than once, bellowing as loud as he could, when the man who happened to be next to him touched him with his finger, and hinted: 'You could not pay that, even if you set all to auction.' Then the other, in a voice low enough that St. Christopher might not hear him, whispered, 'Be still, you fool! Do you fancy I am speaking in earnest ? If I once touch the shore, I shall not give him a tallow-candle.' " Equally ludicrous is the story told of a certain man, who, greatl}' terrified in a storm, vowed he would eat no •Medil jEvi Kalendarium. 1-68, 80. i De Natura Deorum. tTeutonic Mrthology. S Colloquy of the Shipwreck (1816). OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 397 haberdine. Just as the danger was over, he qualified his promise with "Not without mustard, O Lord!" *Such vows, made during peril at sea, were common among the seamen of Columbus' time. During a severe storm, he put beans in a cup, and lots were drawn to decide who was to make a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadeloupe, with a taper weighing five pounds. The lot fell on Columbus himself, and he religiously per- formed it. At another time, the lot fell on him to make a pilgrimage to another shrine, and the third time it was one Pietro de Viela, who was chosen to go to Our Lady of Loretto. The crew then vowed to go to the first chapel, when they landed, which vow was performed at St. Mary's, in the Azores, as related in the next chapter. We also read in the journal of his fourth voyage: "And being in great danger of perishing, they made a vow to send one of their number on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Nuestra Senora de Cintra at Guebra; and the lot fell on the admiral, showing that his offerings were more accept- able than those of others." In the relation of Amerigo Vespucci's third voyage, we also read: "In this extremity, our sailors made many vows of pilgrimages for their safety, and performed many cere- monies, according to the custom of seafaring men." f Admiral Howard wrote to Henry VIII.: "I have given him (Captain Arthur) liberty to go home, for when he was in extreme danger he called upon Our Lady of Walsing- ham for health and comfort, and made a vow that, an it pleased God and her to deliver him out of the peril, he would never eat flesh or fish until he had seen her." Dieppe sailors, during the middle ages; were wont to vow pilgrimages to certain shrines in time of trouble or storm at sea. J Byron says, describing a storm at sea, "Some went to prayers again, and made vows Of candles to their saints. " The silver ship given by the queen of St. Louis was made in accordance with a vow. Joinville says: §" She said she wanted the king to beg he would make some vows to God and the saints, for the sailors around her were in the ' Gravifere.— Les Marlns du XV and XVI SiSoles. + Jones.— Credulities, 58. } Don Juan, Canto II. 6 Vie de 61. Louis. 398 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS. greatest danger of being drowned." 'Madam,' I replied, ' vow to make a pilgrimage to my lord St. Nicholas, at Varengeville, and I promise you that God will restore you in safety to France. At least, then, madam, promise him that if God shall restore you in safety to France, you will give him a silver ship of the value of five masses. And if you shall do this, I assure you that at the entreaty of St. Nicholas, God will grant you a successful voyage.' Upon this, she made a vow of a silver ship to St. Nicholas. She shortly afterward came to us to say that God, at the inter- cession of St. Nicholas, had delivered us from that peril." * Scott says, " In very stormy weather, a fisherman (in Shetland) would vow an Oramus to St. Ronald, and ac- quitted himself of the obligation by flinging a sixpence over his left shoulder into the chapel window." He also tells us that St. Ninian's kirk was a noted shrine for the fulfillment of the vows of fishermen's wives, for the safety of their hus- bands at sea. f Kingston gives us this sketch of mariners' ceremonies in Portugal, during the last century: " The vows most faith- fully kept are those made by mariners on the stormy ocean, when their frail bar-k, tossed by the wave, is threatened each instant with destruction. As soon as they land, the captain and crew, frequently barefooted, form a procession, carry- ing their mainsail, tastefully decorated with flowers, to some familiar shrine. When mass had been performed, they reclaimed their sail, which of course belonged to the owner of the vessel." Sacrifices and offerings have been made in all ages, and by savage as well as civilized people, to propitiate the gods and gain their favors. Sometimes the deit)% in the case of the sea itself, is supposed to require and consume the gifts. When made to an animal, as the shark, it is supposed to be the incarnation of a deity. In any case, the sacrifice is a gift of homage to the supposed deity, and this is often something precious to the giver. Animals were substituted for men, after human sacrifices were abandoned, and offer- ings were in turn substituted for animal sacrifices. Many of the ceremonies described in the next chapter were under- taken to secure the same end — the favor of the deity. * Notes to " Pirate." tLuEianian Sketches. CHAPTER XII. MARITIME CEREMONIES AND FESTIVALS. ' ' Neptune rules about the line Till sunbeams cease above to shine." Newconu in the Navy " A seaman in a masquerade Such as appears to me from the deep, When o'er the line the merry vessels sweep, And the rough saturnalia of the tar. Flock o'er the deck in Neptune's borrowed car. And pleased, the god of ocean sees his name Revive once more, though but in mimic fame Of his true sons." Byron — Tki Island, ANY superstitious observance* have been common, from ancient to modern days, among mari- ners. We shall find these cere- monies addressed to the ship at various times in its history, to the paraphernalia ot the seaman and fish- erman, to the sea itself, and on certain occasions, to the saints, to Neptune or to lesser gods. Ceremonies at the laying of the keel, or at the launch of the new ves- sel into her destined element, h£.ve always been performed. * Ancient ^~ authors state that the ship was launched with ceremonies, first decking it v/ith "' r?s»- flowers and crowns of leaves, and pouring out a libation. Similar practices prevailed during the middle ages. The vessel was decked with flowers, purified by a priest, anointed with egg and sulphur, consecrated and named for some saint, and then launched. When a modern ship of any size or importance is launched, it is frequently made a gala occasion, the vessel ■*Jal.— GlossalreNautlque. BAptAme. 399 400 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS being gaily decked with flags, and a band of music sta- tioned on board. The principal shores are removed, and but one or two left, to retain the cradle in which the ship is launched, upon the ways. When ready, it is usual to break a bottle of wine over the vessel's bow, then the last shore is removed, and the vessel glides into her destined element, amid the cheers of the beholders, and the strains of music. It was always regarded as a bad omen should any accident happen, or if the ship refused to move, or the wine was not spilled, or especially if any lives were lost. This must have occurred frequently during the middle ages, for we read that slaves or criminals were usually appointed to remove the last shores. In our day, this is done by electricity, the gentle finger of some favored maiden manipulating the key. In 1878 a large excursion steamer was launched at Nor- folk, Virginia, in presence of many invited guests. The wine was not broken over the bows, and many predicted disaster to the vessel, and regarded the omen as verified when the ship was lost while being towed to New York. * " Perhaps it will be remembered that when a big yacht was launched last summer, without the customary waste of a bottle of wine on her bows, the omission was telegraphed all over the world, because it showed a very remarkable temerity on the part of the owner." f Aubin says, " Most Roman Catholics give to their ves- sels the names of saints, under whose protection they have placed them; and in virtue of this choice that they have made of their protectors, it is to them that the prayers of the crews are addressed, in times of peril. They consecrate also, and baptize their ships, and attach a certain efficacy to this ceremony. Some among Lutherans baptize them also, but they attach no particular virtue to this baptism. I Among the ancient Norsemen, victims were attached to the rollers on which the ship was launched. This ceremony is alluded to in the Eddas, under the name of " hlun-rod," roHer-redde fling. Modern Greeks, in launching, decorate their ships with flowers, and the captain takes a jar of wine, puts it to his lips, and then pours it upon the deck. In the North of Scotland, it was, a short time ago, a cus- tom to launch a boat to a flowing tide. A feast of bread * New York DaOy, 1885. + Diotionnaire de La Marine (17U2). t Corpus Poetarum Boreale, I, p. 410, in Mslusine, January 5, 1883. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 401 and cheese is distributed, the boat is named, a bottle of whisky broken over ' its bows, and then it is launched. Sometimes this charm is said over it, — * " Frae rocks and saands An' barren lands. An' ill men's hands. Keep's free, Weel oot, weel in Wi a guede shot." Fijians had certain ceremonies at the laying of the keel of a new canoe, as well as at launching it, generally involv- ing a human sacrifice. _f Mariner says, "Men were some- times murdered, to wash a new canoe's deck with blood." We are also told that it was sometimes a custom to use men as living rollers, on which to launch a new canoe. J Ellis says, " The priest had certain ceremonies to per- form, and .numerous and costly offerings were made to the gods of the chief and of the craft or profession, when the keel was laid down, when the canoe was finished, and when it was launched." Ships were consecrated or christened, even after launch- ing. The term baptism, used by old authors, is applied to the christening either at launching, or afterward. § After a boat is finished, in Pas-de-Calais, France, a priest blesses it under a tent made on board, out of the mainsail. Wine and cakes are then devoured by the crew, and one offers to passers-by on the quay, a drink of wine. A refusal to drink is considered a bad omen. The choice of a name was alwaj's considered as of great importance. || Greek ships, always feminine, were often named for goddesses, while Romans made frequent choice of the appellations of the deities to serve as names for their galleys. ** Appian describes such a ceremony, "On the shores of the sea, altars with their bases washed by the waves, are erected. The ships of the fleet are arranged in a semicircle, the crews keeping during the ceremony^ro- found silence. The sacrificers enter the sea in boats, and row three times the round of the fleet, . . adding prayers to the gods to take evil luck from the ships. Then • Gregor. — Folk-lore of Scotland. tTonga. t Ellis.— Polynesian Researches, I, p. 176. § Labille.— Lea Borrts de la Mer, in Melusine, January, 1885. i Boeclc.— Urkunden des Attlschen Seewesens. ** Jal.— Gl03saire Nautique, Art. B&ptfime, 4;UZ LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS returning to the shore, they immolate bulls or calves, whose blood reddens the sea and shore." * Livy recounts a similar ceremony, where a whole fleet was baptized. As Aubin has already told us, a saint's name was pre- ferred in the middle-ages, and the fleets of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries contained all the saints in the cal- endar. Hawkins' flag-ship was the Jesus, and the Holy Ghost was in Tourville's squadron, in 1692. The Santa Maria was one of Columbus' ships, and numerous other examples of this proclivity will occur to every reader. We find in a work entitled "Construction of a Galley," by J. Hobierf (1622), the following description of a christening in the middle ages: " The galley being in this state on land, more or less finished in the upper works, it was launched in the water with more or less difficulty and labor, after hav- ing been first blessed by a mass, and given a name by a godfather or godmother, which they call baptism." J In Scotland, a new boat is christened by a woman sprinkling barley or corn over it. One man seized a bride and marched her about his new boat, while still in the water. § When a modern Greek captain first goes on board of his new ship, he hangs laurel and garlic about it, and drinks a libation to it. I Hindoo boatmen never build, launch, or man a new boat without a ceremony by a priest, entailing a heavy fee. After a new Fijian canoe was launched, it became neces- sary to throw stones in the house in which it was built, to charm away the gods of the carpenters. It was long a custom to bless ships before setting out on a voyage, especially on undertaking any expedition of great importance. ** The ships of the fleet of John de Outrema- rius were thus prepared for their voyage to the Holy Land, f f So the ships of the Armada were all publicly blessed, before their disastrous expedition against England. U*An item on the accounts of the English Rolls informs us that the Bishop of Bangor was paid five pounds for his expenses in going to Southampton, to bless the great ship Henry Grace de Dieu, in 1418. •eh. xxx^^. + Jal. — Glossaire Nautique, BAptfeme. t Gregor.— Folk-lore ot Scotland. S Jones. — Credulities, p. 65. S Forbes.— Oriental Memoirs. *♦ Jones — CreciTilities, p. -to. tt Goodrich.— Man upon the Sea, p. 33. tt Jones.— Credulities, p. 65. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 403 * Before the Reformation, certain Yarmouth priests blessed the fishing boats, and preached an annual fishing sermon. Russian priests always bless the ships of the fleets leaving port for Siberia. Scotch fishermen formerly sprinkled their boats with "forespoken," or holy water. A traveler in a New Zealand canoe tells us, " The crew were in great strait because they had no priest to charm their canoe, to make it sail bravely when the wind blew." Masses, prayers and other ceremonies, were often resort- ed to, both at the beginning of a voyage, and at its success- ful termination, and also in any time of unusual danger or peril, f Covilham, after making a lucky landfall at Calicut, in the sixteenth century, summoned all his ship's crew to prayers, and said over the " Salve Regina," and gave thanks. I Da Gama and his entire crew passed the night in the Oratory, at Belem, near Lisbon, before setting out on their celebrated voyage, and § Columbus and his crew went in solemn procession to the convent of La Rabida, and he remained there all night, engaged in prayer, before his de- . parture to discover new lands. When the fleet of Outre- marius was overtaken by a storm, he requested the crew to pray for its safety, and we are told, the storm then ceased. J The fleets of St. Louis of France, were provided with means for conducting masses, etc., when they went to the Holy Land. Each ship had an altar, and priests were car- ried in each one. When the flag-ship struck the ground at Cyprus, Joinville tells us, " Many on board were kneeling before the holy sacrament on the ship's altar." So before setting out on their voyage, he tells us, ** " when the priests arid clerks embarked, the captain made them mount to the castle of the ship, and chant psalms in praise of God, that he might be pleased to grant us a prosperous voyage. They all, with a loud voice, say the beautiful hymn of ' Veni, Creator,' from the beginning to the end." On another occasion, he tells us that a current, having kept the ship all night under a certain mountain on the Barbary coast, so as to be in danger of being driven ashore, they were told by one of the priests that, it being the third * Folk-lore Eecord. ■tGravl^re.— Les Marins du XV et XVI Sidles, t Goodrich.— Man upon the Sea, p. 171. S Goodrich- — Man upon the Sea, p. 140. i Guferin.— Histoire Maritime de France, Vol. I, p. 48. ♦Gu^rln.— Vol. I, p. 51. 404 LEGENBS AND SUPERSTITIONS Saturday in the month, they should march in procession three times around the mast. " Now this day was a Satur- day, and we instantly began a procession around the masts of the ship." Before embarking on an expedition against France, Henry III, of England, visited the shrines of various saints, to obtain their influence in his undertaking. * Before a Spanish fleet sailed out of Vera Cruz harbor, in 1639, according to a letter from a gentleman of Malaga, a procession was inaugurated with a statue of the Virgin on board a certain ship, while others, getting under way, fired salutes in her honor. f In the account from the travels of Oderic, quoted in a previous chapter, pra}'ers are mentioned as resorted to to save the ship in the storm. " On this occasion, the idolaters began to pray to their gods for a favorable wind, but which the}' were unable to obtain. Then the Saracens as industri- ously made their invocations and adorations, to as little purpose. After this I and my companions were ordered to pray to God, and the commander of the ship said to me in the Armenian language, which the rest of the people on board did not understand, that unless we could procure a favorable wind from our God, he would throw both us and our bones into the sea. Then I and my companions went to our prayers, and we vowed to celebrate man)' masses in honor of the holy Virgin, if she would vouchsafe us a wind." J On one occasion, Drake's flag-ship grounded in the East Indies. The whole crew went to prayers, and the sacrament Vas administered to each one. § Erasmus, in his graphic picture, "The Shipwreck," says mariners praj'ed to the Virgin and saints: "One sang his 'Hail, Queen!' another, 'I believe in God!' There were some who had certain (particular prayers, not without mag- ical charms against dangers." I West India buccanneers often had prayers said for their safety, and the successful issue of their marauding expedi- tions. **Arab and Barbary corsairs, during the middle ages, whipped their Christian captives, when other means of ♦Letter of Juan de Lauroz, in F. Duro's Disquisiciones Nauticas, Vol. II. + See Chap. TIT. i Goodrich.— Man upon the Sea, p. 255. § Colloquies (1516). I Goodrich, p. 336. *♦ Dan.— History'of Barbary. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 40F obtaining favorable winds had been exhausted, and made them pray for them. * Dieppe fishermen, during the seventeenth century, fre- quently had prayers at sea, preceded by a curious cere- mony. A boy ran about the decks with a lighted candle in his hand, inviting all to come upon deck, and crying, " The WHIPPING CHRISTIAN CAPTIVES TO MAKE THEM PRAY FOR FAIR WINDS. candle of the good Lord is lighted! The holy name of God be praised!" The oldest sailor (nicknamed the cure) then repeated prayers. They, as well as other mariners, generally, during the middle ages and afterward, sang a Te Deum on the completion of a successful voyage. 406 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS * Fishermen at Clovelly, in the north of Scotland, had a special service in church, at which the One Hundred and Seventh psalm, containing those sublime verses, "They that go down to the sea in ships," etc., was read. A special prayer was then said, too long for insertion here, but con- taining petitions for safety from storms and wreck at sea, and beseeching the Lord to send an abundance of fish to them. When a Breton fisherman puts to sea, he says, " Keep me^ my God; my boat is so small, thy ocean so wide." f When a Breton boat is wind-bound, two of the crew are sent to a chapel of Ste. Marine at Combrit, to sweep the chapel, and throw the dust in the direction of the desired wind. This saint is also importuned by the families of absent fishermen, to return them safely home. A similar ceremony is practiced at a chapel in Penmarch, by sailors' wives, only the dust is swept in a corner of the church. I In the Isle de Sein, a little ship made of breadcrusts is suspended over the table, and, on Holy Thursday, it is lowered down and burnt, while all uncover, and the "Veni, Creator" is sung. Another bread-ship is then suspended over the table. This ceremony is called the " Ship-feast," and is designed to insure the safety of the family fishing- boat. § In Sicily, on Ascension Eve, peasants go to the sea- shore, kneel, and repeat the following prayer as the waves roll in, stopping with the ninth: " I salnte thee, sea-fountain, The Lord has sent me here; You should give me good, For I give thee my ills." Each time the prayer is recited, a handful of sand is col- lected, which is afterward cast on the roofs of silk-worm raisers, while a certain formula is repeated. II Tyndall gives the following account of a ceremony performed bj' Sardinian fishermen: "Amidst the cheers of the men at having made a good capture of fish, a general silence prevailed; the leader, in his little boat, having checked the hilarity, and assumed a priestly as we" as a •Choice Notes.— Notes and Queries, p. 271. ■flj.F. Sauv6. in M^usine, Decembers, 18S4. t Melusine, January, 1885. e T. Gannlzzaro, in Melusine, Decemtjer B, 1884. I Jones.— Credulities, 36-7. OF THK SEA AND OF SAILORS. 407 piscatorial character, taking off his cap — an example fol- lowed by all his company — commenced a species of chant or litany, in invocation of the saints, to which an 'Ora pro nobis " chorus was made by the sailors. After the Virgin Mary had been appealed to, and her protection against accidents particularly requested, as the ancients did to Neptune, a series of saints were called over, half of whose names I knew not, but who were evidently influential persons in the fishing department." Then follows a description of appeals to particular saints, which will be found elsewhere.* " Besides the saints of such undoubted authority and inter- est in tunny-fishing, the shrines of general saints, as well as local ones, were called over, and a blessing requested for the principal towns and places in the Mediterranean which purchased the fish." "The next day, the weather being unpropitious, a fresh invocation of the saints was made in church at vespers, and fishermen and others were assembled to implore a change of wind and a successful fish on the morrow." f A similar ceremony to secure luck in fishing is de- scribed in the following words by an eye-witness, as having taken place among French fishermen at Etretat, in Nor mandy, on St. Sauveur's day: " When all was ready, the organ struck up, and through the open door the fishermen entered, carrying between them a floral pyramid surmounted by a model of a fishing- boat, over a huge loaf — a peculiar kind of light, sweetened bread, called brioche, which was to serve for the/az« bent." " Each fisherman carried a candle, not the long church- candle belonging to ecclesiastical ceremonies, but a primi- tive tallow^ dip, with a piece of paper wound round the end that it should not soil the hand. " The leader, the village sailmaker, led in the cantique, which was almost as old as the church, praying for each part of the hull and rigging of the boats separately, and to be saved from the power of the Turks and pirates, while all joined in the repetition of the last line of each stanza not very strong or audibly, for strangely these fishermen, strong of lungs in the open air, were afraid of hearing their own voices in the church." \ Gibbons tells us, "A particular form of ceremony and *See Chap. II. + Letter In Boston Transcript, 1880. ± Rmrfnff fhe nonrnflKS. 408 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS thanksgiving, and observed on the island of Capri, in honor of Madonna di Carmela, by the coral fishers previous to the departure of their fleet every spring. A somewhat modified form of the ceremony is observed by tne Canton and Foo- chow sailors, wrho call at the island of Pootoo, in the Chusan Archipelago, on their passage up and down the China Sea, where they pray for fair winds and a prosperous voyage." A davie, or a blazing tar-barrel, was formerly carried deiseal (with the sun) about every ship in Binghead Har- bor, Moray Firth, Scotland. Nannie Scott, a Northumberland witch, prayed for fair winds for sailors' wives, during the last part of the eigh- teenth century. * One of Paul Jones' biographers tells us that, on the occasion of his famous raid on the Scottish coast, the minis- ter and people came down to the shce at Kirkaldy, and a prayer was offered, in which the Lore vas begged to send a storm to repel the invader. One came soon after, and Jones was blown off the coast, and it was always believed that the prayer was directly answered. f In a Russian folk-lore tale, a man calms the angry waves by prayer, and by promising to pay a debt. I Joshua Coffin tells us that the privateers of Newbury- port used to request the prayers of the congregation before setting out to sea, and always obtained them. § So the " Filibustiers " first fell on their knees at quarters (each group at their gun), to pray God that they might ob- tain both victor}' and plunder. Society Islanders prayed to their god before launching their canoes. || Fijians accompanied a libation to the sea- gods, with this prayer, " Let the gods be of a gracious mind, and send us a wind from the east." Samoans prayed to the sailing-gods before each meal. Kamtchatdales prayed to the storm-god, sending a naked child around the village with a shell in his hand. ** Hurons prayed to a local god, " Oko, thou who livest in this spot, we offer thee tobacco; help us, and save us from shipwreck." Many other ceremonies have been observed by sailors and sea-faring people, to obtain luck in winds, fish, etc. * J. K. Laughton. +Ralaton.--&usslan Folk-lore. JDrake.— Legends of New England, p. 300. 8 Ihornburv.— The Buocanneers. IWUliams.— Fiji, •"Tjrlor.— PiimiW-TO Culture, VoL 11, p. 208. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 409 *Virgil testifies to a custom of Greek and Roman sailors, after escaping the dangers of a stormy voyage, — " So sailors, when escap'd from stormy seas. First crow(n their poops, and then enjoy their ease." And Ovid alludes to the same custom. In the journal of Columbus' voyages, we find this descrip- tion of the performance of a ceremony vowed, as seen in the last chapters, while in danger at sea, after arriving at St. Mary's, in the Azores: f "The Admiral and all the crew, bearing in remembrance the vow whijch they had made the Thursday before, to go barefooted and in their shirts to some church of our Lady at the first land, were of the opinion that they ought to discharge this vow. . . . They accordingly landed, and proceeded according to their vow, barefooted and in their shirts, toward the hermitage." I When Magellan's ship arrived at Seville, the crew per- formed penance, going barefooted and in their shirts, to Our Lady of Victory, with lighted tapers in their hands, in per- formance of a vow made while in danger. § William the Conqueror, before setting out for England, had the body of St. Vallery carried about to obtain favora- ble winds and a prosperous voyage to England. II At Fraserburg, in England, at the commencement of the fishing season, a procession of fantastically-dressed men, with bagpipes, part on horseback and part on foot, travel about the fishing village, preceded by a man with a tall crowned hat having a herring's tail stuck in it. Another ceremony is thus described: **"The herring fishing being very backward, some of the fishermen of Buckie, on Wednesday last, dressed a cooper in a flannel shirt with burrs stuck all over it, and in this condition he was carried in procession through the town in a hand- barrow. This was done to bring better luck to the fishing." If At Moray Firth, in Scotland, a new boat went to sea in advance of the others in the fleet. If it was found suc- cessful, it was deemed a good sign. The boats raced on their way home, and the first boat in was bound to provide a feast of bread and cheese. * GeoTgic I. + Gravi^re.— Les Marine du XV et XVT SiMes. t Plgafetti, in Goodricll.— Kac upon the Sea, p. 229. ' g Turner.— Anglo-Saxons. Folk-lore Kecord. *» Banff Journal. +t Gregor.— Folk-iore of Scotland. 26 410 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS California Indians formerly propitiated the gods of the sea, by certain ceremonies at the commencement of the fish- ing season. *Fijians built a new canoe as a final ceremony at the death of a king, and it was regularly put to sleep and waked by beat of drum. Williams says all canoes approaching Mbui Island had to lower their sails and submit to many degrading ceremonies before they were permitted to land. It was said that a god once visited this island on a bamboo, guided by a superior deity in the shape of a rat, but he passed his guide on the way, and hence all canoes suffer degradation for his fault. f In the Maldive Islands, it was formerly the custom to set a new boat on fire, and to perform certain other cere- monies with offerings before setting out on a voyage. When Chinese vessels leave port, all other junks in the harbor burn crackers and incense and beat gongs, etc., to propitiate the gods. Offerings are made to them in temples, after arriving in port. During a squall, sacrifices and offer- ings are made, as detailed in the last chapter. J Negroes on the West African coast, when the sea is stormy, form a procession, and walk toward it, sacrificing an ox or a goat, and spilling its blood on the sand, throwing a ring into the water at the same time, as a charm. § Du Chaillu says when the Mpongwee negroes go on a voyage, they fire guns, and wish a pleasant sail, "with loud shouts, and they receive a vessel arriving safely, with similar ceremonies. Greek and Roman sailors, when they hoisted their sails, were in the habit of consigning them to Castor and Pollux. II Similarly, the mariner of the middle ages, in tacking ship, was wont, at the most critical part of the ceremony, to con- sign the vessel into the hands of God, lest the manceuvre fail. This was the origin of a command, corresponding to our " Helm's alee! " that is not yet entirely eliminated from marine vocabularies. **The Provenfal mariner said, "A Dieu Va," and the Spanish or Portuguese, " A Dios Va," directly committing the vessel into God's hands, while the Dutchman was content with saying, " Overstaag, in God's • Williams.— riji Islands. t Grant.— Jlysteries of All Nations, p. 53. t Tylor.— Anthropoiog-y. I Journey to Ashango Land. I Jal. — Glossaire Nautique. "Teckleaborg.— Marine Dictionary. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 411 name." These commands are interesting examples of sur- vivals of prayers for assistance in performing the evolution. It was also a custom to say " Coupe, de par de Dieu " (Cut, for God's sake), when a rope or sail was cut loose. Not only was it thought necessary to consecrate the ship or boat, but fishermen often thought it advisable to perform some ceremony over their nets, or fishing gear. * Grant says an English fisherman, not many years' since, had his nets sprinkled, because they were bewitched. It was still in 1879 a custom to salt them, in the Tweed. Nets of Sar- dinian fishermen were formerly smoked with the smoke of need-fires, kindled with sacred wood, by drilling, the motion being " with the sun." Hurons and Athabascan Indians married their nets to young girls, to obtain luck in fishing. These ceremonies have also been addressed to the sea itself. Such was the famous annual wedding of the Adri- atic. This was instituted in honor of a great naval victory over the Saracens, f Pope Alexander III. giving a ring for that purpose, in 11 74. The Doge, in the magnificently de- corated Bucentaur, or state barge, attended by a gay fleet of gondolas and barges, proceeded to a certain spot in the Lagoon, and there performed the ceremony. First, a large cask of consecrated water was thrown into the sea, as a pre- ventive against storms, etc. Then a priest, when the Doge was ready with the ring, poured in a large ewer of holy water, and the ring, of gold, containing precious stones of onyx, lapis-lazfili and malachite, was thrown into the same spot. Flowers were afterward strewn on the water, and then all proceeded to St. Nicholas' church, where mass was said. This festival took place on Ascension Day. A ceremony was held in Venice, in 1569, to commem- orate the deliverance of the naval arsenal from destruction. Mass was said in a convenient church, after the sea had been blessed, and races and festivities followed. I The Greeks cast a cross in the sea on the l8th of Jan- uar)% with certain ceremonies, to render it fit for naviga- tion. §The waters are blessed at Constantinople on the eighteenth of January, and on the same day the waters of the Neva are blessed in Russia. A chapel is then built on * Grant.— Mysteries of All Nations, p. 578. + Jal. — Glossaire Xautique. Art. Bucentaur. t Jones.— Broad. Broad Ocean^p. 240. 5 Jonee. — Credulities, p. 66. 412 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS the ice, and the priest dips out water through a hole, mak- ing the sign of the cross three times, and then sprinkles the people with holy water. The people carry home bottles of the Neva water, for purifying purposes. In Roumania, the New Year begins with a blessing of the waters, to exorcise the demons therein. At Dieppe, not twenty years since, priests blessed the sea, sprinkling water upon it, signing the cross over it, and saying litanies for the repose of the souls of the drowned. Kerry fishermen formerly had an annual mass performed in the bay. . * Every spring at Port Louis, France, a ceremony is ob- served by the fishermen, when a thousand boats form in a procession, and follow a gaily-decorated barge to the fish- ing-ground, where a priest, from the poop of the barge, blesses the sea. Instances of ceremonies, sacrifices and oblations offered directly to the sea are given in the last chapter, and were numerous during the early days of navigation. f Burnes says the sailors of Scinde sing songs to the saints, in passing certain dangerous spots in the rivers. J Many maritime ceremonies were performed on certain days, particularly on those set apart in the calendar as saints' da)rs, and on the other holidays of the year. Many of these take place on St. Nicholas' day. Such a ceremony is described here as occurring at Bari, in Italy: — "Tradition has it that the saint, when in life, came from Mira to Bari on this day; and, therefore, every year, on the eighth of May, his arrival is celebrated by emiaarking him on two rafts and transporting him to the very spot where he is said to have landed for the first time in 1085. A number of gaily-decked boats, follow the saint by sea. Some are filled with kneeling pilgrims, singing h3rmns; others, on the contrary, are filled with pretty women, in pretty morning- dresses; whilst others are filled with j^oung fellows, who follow the ladies." § St. Peter's day was also frequently observed. An old account of the Lordship of Gisborough, in Yorkshire, tells us: "The fishermen on St. Peter's daye invited their friends and kinfolk to a festyvall kept after their fashion ♦Pacini.— La Marine. t Travels Into Bokhara. t Correspondent Boston Transcript, 1881. SBrand.— Antiquities, Vol. Ill, p. 333. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 413 WEDDING THE ADRIATIC. 414 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS with a free hearte, and no show of niggardnesse. That day, their boats are dressed curiously for the showe, their masts are painted, and certain r)'tes observed amongst them with sprynklying their bowes with good liquor, sold with them at a groate a quarte, which custome or superstition, sucked from their ancestors, even continyeth doune vnto this present tyme." *On the same saint's day, bonfires are lighted in Pen- zance, and other Cornish towns, to open the fishing season. This is also done on midsummer eve, and it is a survival of an extensive sun-worship, formerly prevalent. . Fishermen of Cleveland, Yorkshire, held a ceremony similar to that described above, dressing their boats with flags and streamers, and sprinkling liquor on them. On New Year's day, in the Isle of Man, fishermen hunt the wren, to find the one that was traditionally a siren who deluded a young fisherman by her arts. f On May day, in Dorsetshire, England, the children of each boat's crew deck the prows of their boats with flowers, and then march to the sea, and throw flowers in it. J Fishermen at Hartlepool, on the first Monday after Epiphany, parade the streets, dragging a fool-plough or slot (a small anchor), asking gifts and singing carols. On Whit-Monday, the sailors at Arzoe, in Brittany, visit a shrine of St. Anne, in performance of a vow made by their ancestors, in a naval combat with the Dutch. They go in boats, ornamented with red sails, the leading one having flags and streamers flying, and carrying in its bows a priest with a crucifix. § On Shrove-Tuesday, at Kopeneck, in Germany, fisher- men go about from house to house, with ice-hooks, fish- hooks and other implements in hand, and sing a recitation, in which they beg food and money. The Sunday before Shrove Tuesda}', the proprietors of certain fisheries near Berlin were formed}' in the habit of meeting and choosing their respective fishing-ponds bj' lot. The next day their men were wont to assemble, carrying about on a pole a gaily decked- model of a ship, and singing a song similar to that at Kopeneck, visiting their patrons in turn. • Bottrell.— Traditions and Fireside Storlee of West Cornwall. + Folk-lore Kecord. t Jones.— Broad, Broad Ocean, p. 241. §Wolf. — Deutsche MSrchen und Sagen. or THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 415 * On Good Friday, Catholic mariners in many lands still cockbill their yards in mourning, and many scourge an effigy of Judas. Such a ceremony is described as follows, in 1810: "Good Friday was observed with the most pro- found adoration on board the Portuguese and Spanish men- of-war at Plymouth. A figure of the traitor Judas Iscariot was suspended from the bowsprit end of each ship, which hung till sunset, when it was cut down, ripped up, the rep- resentation of the heart cut into strips, and the whole thrown into the water, after which the crews of the differ- ent ships sang in good style the evening song to the Virgin Mary. On board the Iphigenia, Spanish flagship, the effigy of Judas Iscariot hung at the yard arm until Sunday even- ing, when it was cut down." f An English paper describes such a ceremony as occur- ring so lately as 1881: " The old Good Friday custom of flogging an effigy of Judas Iscariot was, after a 1 lapse of two years, duly cele- brated in the London docks on April 7, by the crews of three Portuguese and Maltese vessels. The effigy of the traitor, hewn out of a block of timber, was carried by chosen members of the crews round the quarter deck and hanged from the yard arm, and each man chanted his vitu- peration as he lashed the figure with knotted ropes. The scourging over, Judas was cut down, thrown upon the deck, spat upon, cursed, and kicked to the galley fire, where he was burned into a charred mass, and then hurled into the water, after which the sailors went in procession to church." J On May 16, St. John Nepomuc is honored in Magj'ar lands,. by throwing his image in the Danube, while people follow it in boats, playing musical instruments, etc. §In many Russian towns, the Rusalkas, or water-demons, are expelled by throwing straw figures into the lakes and rivers during Rusalka week. Among miscellaneous observances are to be noted the following: In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, it was the cus- torn to place in churches boxes for collections, designed for seamen and their families. These boxes were labeled for each ship, and were opened at Christmas. 'Brand.— Antiquities, Vol. in, p. 153. + Quoted in Boston Transcript, 1881. t Magyar Folk-lore, Notes and Qu>:-ries, December 27, 1883. i Kalston.— Songs of the Bu^ida People. 416 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Whalers were in the habit of suspending aloft a garland or wreath of flowers and leaves, and carrying it to sea with them. * Hone says: "A custom prevails among the seamen of these vessels, when traversing the polar seas, to fix, on the first day of May, a garland aloft, suspended midway on a rope leading from the main topgallant mast head to the first topmast head, ornamented with knots of ribbon, love tokens of the lads for their lassies, etc. This garland re- mains suspended till the ship reaches once more her port." It was regarded as an ill omen to detach this garland, or for it to receive any accident. The ceremony best known among those practiced among sailors, and concerning which much has been written, is that observed in modern times, " on crossing the line," from north into south latitude, or vice versa, as the case may be. This custom, still observed as a pastime among sailors, is another of those remarkable survivals of ancient practices begun as actual worship of some deity, and finally existing as mere customs, without any significance. Anciently the Greeks sacrificed, on nearing any prominent cape, on many of which temples to the deities were placed. During the middle ages, the present ceremony of receiving a visit from a fictitious Neptune, arose, when it was not, of course, performed at the equator, but on arriving within the tropics, crossing the Arctic Circle, and even in passing certain capes, etc. f Aubin quotes some older writer concerning this cere- mony: "It is a custom practiced from all antiquity, that those who are apprenticed to the sea, and who pass certain places, where they have never passed, undergo this penalty, under the favorable name of Baptism; that is, to be cast from the yard-arm into the sea. The ships also are sub- jected to this ceremony, so ridiculous (of Baptism). It may be said that is a recompense for the rejection by the Re- formers, of that which, among the Roman Catholics, has re- mained an act of religion; these latter baptizing effectively their ships, the first tinje they are placed in the sea. When the occasion presented, and the ships arrived in these conse- crated places, that is to say, where they had never been, the master was obliged to redeem them; otherwise the crew at once proceeded to cut off the ship's nose, or the whole outer part of the prow, or to disfigure or destroy some other part •Table Book. tAubln.— Dictiommire Nflutique (1702). Art. Bapteme. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 417 of the ship. Those whom they will to cast from the yard- arms into the sea, could redeem themselves by giving money to the crew. As to the boys, instead of dipping them from the yard-arms, they put them under a basket surrounded by tubs full of water, and each one dipped it out with buckets and threw water on them." In after times, the ruder features of this ceremony were dropped, while the essential ones, baptism and a penalty, were retained, and a more extended ceremony added. The same author describes this ceremony as occurring in French ships about the middle of the seventeenth century: " As a preparation, there are ranged on the "upper deck, on both sides, tubs full of sea-water, and sailors, formed in two rows, stand near, each with a bucket in his hand. The chief steward comes to the foot of the mainmast, his face full- bearded, and his body attired in gaskets, entirely surround- ing him, and ropes' ends hanging from his arms. He is followed by five or six sailors, equipped in the sam.f manner, and holds in his hand some marine book, to represent the Gospels of the Evangelists. The man who is to be baptized kneels before the steward, who making him put his hand on the book, forces him to promise that whenever an occasion presented itself of baptizing others, he would impose upon them the same ceremonies which were inflicted on him. After this oath, the one to be baptized rises, and, marching between the rows of tubs, and the people who wait for him with buckets full, he reaches the bow, and thus receives what is called the baptism." *A description of this ceremony, celebrated about the same time, and given by M. Jal, shows that the usages of the present time with regard to it were already observed: "The second mate, dressed as Neptune, wore a long cap on his head, and a fringed collar of parrel-trucks and small blocks. His long beard, and hair, made of tow, were matted with sea shells, and his face was blackened. In his hands he carried a chart-book (such a book was then called a Nep- tune), opened at the chart showing the position of the ship. Each one of the crew knelt before him, and swore by bread and salt that he had previously passed the line. If not, the mate dubbed them kneeling, with a blow of his wooden sword, and the crew then threw water over each victim until he paid a penalty of wine or money." * Jal. — Glossalre Nautique, from CExmelin, Hlstoire des Fllbustlers. 418 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS The same authority tells us that in Dutch ships, during the seventeenth century, the roll was called by the clerk of the ship, when passing these places, and each man answered to his name, and indicated whether he had passed the place before or not. If he had not, he was fined, and compelled to pay fifteen sols, or else was attached to a rope, hoisted to the main yard-arm, and dipped three times into the sea. The officers were fined thirty sols, the passengers mulcted of all they would pay. These are the earliest descriptions of this ceremony, but we learn that between the voyages of Columbus, in 1492, when no mention is made of it, and 1529, the French cre- ated a sort of an order of knighthood,* the "Chevaliers de la Mer " (Knights of the Sea), by giving novices an accolade on the shoulder when passing these places, and giving a feast after each ceremony. During the middle-ages, the novice was often terrified at the horrible appearance of Neptune and his crew, and was usually bidden to watch for lights near the chosen spots. f De Plancy says the Devil was caricatured in costume, in the Neptune ceremony, being brought on board in a cask. It was especially the custom among Dutch mariners to observe these ceremonies at Capes Raz and Bailonges. Even admirals were compelled to pay these fines. The clerk bought wines for the crew with the money thus gain- ed. So greatly was this privilege abused, that the J Dutch East India Company prohibited these fines in 1669, and Charles IX. of Sweden, some years previous to this, abol- ished the right to claim fines, and allowed to each of the crew a bottle of wine on crossing the equator and the tropic circle. This ceremony, as performed in modern times, has been often described. It is now obser\^ed merely as a pastime among sailors, only on crossing the equator, and officers and passengers are rarely troubled. § Hone describes it as performed on board whaling ves- sels, early in the present centurj^, on the first day of May, or on crossing the Arctic circle. The novices were kept be- low decks, and a barber-shop was fitted up, with a sign, * Journal of J. Parmentier, in Jal. Glossaire Nautique, B&pt^me. + Dictionnaire Infernale. t Jal. — Glo&saire Nautlo ue, Bapt^me. 8 Table Boot, Vol. I, m. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 419 " Neptune's Easy-shaving Shop, Kept by John Johnson." Then a procession, consisting of ten fiddlers, dressed in mats and rags, Neptune riding on a gun-carriage, with his usual retinue of tritons, etc., was formed. On reaching the quarter-deck, Neptune interrogated the captain, asking the name of the ship, her destination, and similar questions, and, on three quarts of rum being produced, drank the cap- tain's health. The novices were then brought up, questioned as to their names, ages, destinations, etc., and were then put through the usual rough shaving process. * Chaplain Rockwell tells us that among the usual feat- ures of the procession during the earl)' part of the present century, was a trio composed of two bears led by a triton. He says some explain this as a representation of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, disappearing under the horizon as the equator is crossed, under the guardianship of Arctophylax (Bootes). f Marryat gives an excellent description of the modern ceremony. Neptune appears, preceded by a young man, dandily dressed in tights, riding on a car made of a gun car- riage, drawn by six nearly naked blacks, spotted with yellow paint. He has a long beard and ringlets of oakum, an iron crown on his head, and carries a trident with a small dol- phin between its prongs. His attendants consist of his secretary, with quills of the sea-fowl; surgeon, with lancet, pill-box, etc.; barber, with huge wooden razor, with its blade made of an iron hoop, and his mate, with a small tub for a shaving box. Amphitrite also appears, wearing a woman's night-cap, with sea-weed ribbons on her head, and bearing an albicore on her harpoon, carrying a boy in her lap as a baby, with a marlinspike to cut his teeth on. She is attended by three men dressed as nymphs, with curry- combs, mirrors and pots of red paint. The sheep-pen, lined with canvas, and filled with water, had been already prepared. The victim was seated on a platform laid over it, blindfolded, first shaved by the barber, and then plunged backward into the water. Officers were expected to pay a fine. Marryat says this ceremony was performed at the tropics, if the ship did not intend to cross the line. The ceremony is sometimes observ-ed among the fisher- men on Newfoundland banks. J " Practical jokes are played •Sketches of Foreign Travel (1817). + Mildmay. tFish and Men In the Maine Islands. Harper's, May, 188i. 430 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS on greenhorns on their first visit to the banks, where Nept- une, in a garment of rock-weed, sometimes comes on board to shave them with a broad hoop." A traveler in Austria, in the early part of this century, tells us, that on board the regular passenger boat, on arriv- ing at the whirlpool called Wirbel, the steersman goes about with water in a scoop, which he throws upon the passen- gers who have not passed before. Many festivals have been observed at various times by sailors, fishermen, and maritime folk in all countries. Such festivals, connected with navigation, were not uncommon in antiquity. The Eg3-ptians had several. Nile boatmen and mariners held an annual festival attended with great de- bauchery and license. On the 15th of December, offerings of grain, etc., were made to the river Nile. In the annual festival of Isis, at the opening of naviga- tion, or of spring, a small boat was set adrift, in which incense had been placed b)' the priests. A sacred boat was also carried about on men's shoulders, in this festival. In many of these festivals, such boats, dedicated to Ra, the Sun-god, were thus carried about. *The numerous representations of these on the existing monuments show us golden barks, built of precious woods and inlaid with stones, with prow and stern adorned with sacred emblems, and the image of the god in a tabernacje in the center. These are found in the Oasis temples also, and they have images of priests and gods on them. Sacred boats were in use on the Nile, and are often spoken of as carrying the king on religious occasions. These were called Tum- or Ra-barks, and Baris. f Plutarch describes the annual festival: "The Egyptians go down at night to the sea; at which time the priests and supporters carry the sacred vehicle. In this is a golden vessel in the shape of a ship or boat, into which they take and pour some of the river water. Upon this being per- formed, a shout of jo}' is raised; and Osiris is supposed to be found. The Apis bull, when found, was also carried in procession on the Nile. The worship of Isis, transplanted to Greece and Rome, was there continued. On the 5th of March, at the Festival of Navigation, her bark was carried in joyous procession. ♦EosseUini.— I Monument!. Lepsius.— Denkmalsr, aus jEgypt. tDe Isidis et Osiris. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 421 The Greeks had also their sacred barks, dedicated to Poseidon and to Athena, while the Romans carried about, in triumphal and sacred processions, the barks of Jupiter Redax, or of Neptune, god of the waters. * In the yearly- procession of Athena, a bark proceeded from the Piraeus to Athens, having h.e.x peplos, or sacred veil, as a sail. Several festivals of a maritime nature were celebrated by the Greeks. Apuleius tells us that priests of Aphrodite yearly dedicated to her a new ship, laden with the first fruits of spring, as soon as the storms of winter were over. Lactantius also says that on a certain day, a ship was borne about in honor of Isis, to show that navigation was opened. Pausanius says Hercules was carried on a raft or float, in certain rites in his honor in Ionia. Aristides says a ship was carried in procession in the Dyonisiac festival in Smyrna. Clemens Aiexandrinus says honors were paid to an un- known hero at Phalerus, seated in a ship. f Two ships were sacred in another sense among the Athenians. These were the " Paralos " and the " Salami- nian." The former carried tribute, messages, worshipers, etc., to the sacred temple at Delos, and the latter was used in festivals to promote the memory of the victory of Salamis. Antigonus consecrated a ship to Apollo after he defeated Ptolemy. The boat Esculapius carried to commemorate his arrival in that city in time of pest, was of stone, cut in the shape of a galley. An annual festival was held at Delos, to which priests repaired, in these sacred ships. The annual festival at Salamis is thus described: " Each year, a ship left Athens and came quietlj^ to Salamis. Many people from the island came down in front of the ship, pell- mell, in great disorder, and an Athenian jumped ashore, with arms in his hands, and ran, crying aloud, toward those who came from on shore." A yearly festival in honor of Isis was held at Rome, when the Isis ship, gaily decked with flowers, was launched on the Tiber before a multitude of people, who then repaired to the temples and sacrificed to the gods. Ausonius says: " I add the cult, sacred to foreign lands, the Hercules, or the ship of Isis, a naval ceremony." The Roman naval triumphs, undertaken by conquerors after a naval victory, were festivals, in which were carried * M>UTay.— MytholoRT, p. 5 + JaL— G-iossaire Nautlque. 54, 422 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS in procession pictures of naval triumphs, trophies of battle, prows of conquered ships, etc. * Tacitus tells us that the Suevi carried about in spring processions a model of a liburna, or galley, and offered jt to Isis. Such a model was carried about in Germany in honor of Frey, and is found in the accounts of many German tribes. Fray's name is connected with agriculture and naviga- tion. Ziza, an old Teutonic goddess, was worshiped in a procession of boats. fin Inda, or Corneliminster, in Germany, in 1133, a ship was made in a grove, set on wheels, and dragged by weavers to the Rhine at Maestricht, where it was embarked, fitted with masts and taken up the Rhine, with festive processions. J The Council of Ulm prohibited such processions in 1530, and that of Tubingen, in 1584. These boats were, however, carried about in procession at Mannheim in 1865. Similar processions were held in other places in the mid- dle ages. Thor was carried about by the Northmen in a ship. § A ship with sails set is still carried in Christmas processions in Siberia, with a figure of a saint seated on it. In 1825, they were carried about in processions in vari- ous cities in Belgium. || At Brussels, there is a festival called Ommegarde, where a few years ago, a ship was drawn about by horses, to commemorate a miraculous appearance of the Virgin in a boat, from Antwerp. Ships' models, carried by boys dressed as sailors, figure in a procession called the pardon of Guingamp, in Brittany. In many places, the ship is superseded by the plough. As Keary suggests, this is natural, and plough is etymo- logically connected with the Greek pious, a sailing. So the ships of the Eddas " plough the waves." Diego da Conto says the Siamese had an aquatic festival ini542, at the " turn of the waters." The king came out in his barge accompanied by a large number of boats, and the waters were " turned " with great noise and shouting, boat races terminating the festival. ** Mohammedans of Bombay throw into the sea gilt-paper temples, in the festivals attendant on the Moharrum, or •Cox.— Aryan Mythology, B. II, Chap. II. t Grimm.— Teutonic Mj'tnology, Vol. I, p. 258. t Grimm.— Teut. Myth., Vol. I, p. 268. S Ralston.— Songs of the Russian People, p. 209. BSimrock. — Deutsche- Mythologie. "♦Housselot.— L'Inde et ees Bajahs. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 423 FLOATING PAPER TEMPLES. 434 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS New Year. At the feast of Naryal Puranama, natives wade into the sea, throw cocoa-nuts into it, and invoke it, with prayers, to be favorable to voyagers. At St. Malo, near Manilla, a festival was held, about the beginning of this century, on November 26, in honor of St. Nicholas, when large floating structures, brilliantly illumi- nated, and filled with people, were seen on the river, and pieces of paper with votive sentences on them, were thrown in at the same time. The Chinese have several water festivals. On the fifth day of the fifth month,* long, light and narrow boats, made for the occasion, are pulled in races by forty or fifty men, and in the bows are three more, waving flags and beating drums, to frighten the dragon of the waters. The excite- ment is so great, that many boats are frequently overturned. It is said to have originated at the drowning of a certain cour- tier, Wat Yen, in 500 B.C. Another ceremony is described, in which his body is sought. Bamboo leaves, or silk bags filled with rice, are thrown into the water, gongs are beaten, and men in the bows of the boats stand throwing their arms about, and peering in the water for the appearance of the defunct. fin the rivers of China, Taouist priests, from the fifth to the fifteenth of the month, go about in boats, throwing bits of paper, rice and other vegetables into the water, and chanting requiems for the repose of the drowned. Lights are set adrift at night, to show the way to the souls of such unfortunates. I On the I St of August, boats from twenty to thirtj' feet long, made of bamboo, are born on the shoulders of men, in a night procession. These are preceded by men with torches, and others with gongs, etc., and followed by per- sons in grotesque costumes and masked faces. The boats are burned, and the ashes thrown into the sea, where they are supposed to carry certain diseases. A similar procession, in which paper boats and a dragon some two hundred feet long are carried, is held on the 22d of December, to the sailor goddess. Boats of bamboo and paper are carried in a procession in honor of the fire ele- mental gods. They are dragon-shaped, and in them are images with offerings of rice, salt, etc. * Doollttle,— Social Customs of Chinese, Vol. L i Grey. — China. ♦Doollttle.— Sooial Cuitoma of the Chinese. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 435 " We left Siam, the second time, the 19th of June, 1687, upon a Chinese ship, bound for Ningpo. Although no measures were well taken, God gavfe us a successful vdy- age. The Chinese seemed to us very superstitious. They had a little idol on the poop of the vessel, before which 'they kept, day and night, a lighted lamp. They often . offered it food prepared for their meals, before sitting down at their table The cult offered to this divinity did not stop there; as soon as the land hove in sight, he who had charge of the idol, taking some papers cut and painted like waves, cast them into the sea. When a calm overtook us, all the crew cried out loudly from time to time, as if to recall the wind. In bad weather, they cast feathers into the fire, to conjure the tempest, and to chase the demon away, which made a horrible odor over the vessel. But their zeal, or rather their superstition, re- doubled at sight of a mountain discovered in passing the coast of Cochin China; for, besides the ordinary genu- flections and inclinations, and all the half-burned paper, which they cast into the sea, the sailors commenced to make a vessel four feet long; it had masts, ropes, sails, streamers, compass, rudder, boat, guns, stores, cargo, and even a book of accounts. They arranged on poop and prow and in the rigging, as many little figures of painted paper as there were men in the vessel. They put this little image in a litter, and, raising it with much ceremony, they carried it about the ship, to the sound of a brass drum. A sailor dressed as a priest conducted the march, and fenced the air with a long stick, while he uttered loud cries. Finally, they lowered it into the sea, and followed it, as long as they could see it, with their eyes. The priest mounted the poop to continue his cries, and to wish it good voyage, apparently. It is with the ceremonious observances as with the sacri- fices, — they are addressed to the sea, or the sea-gods, to pro- pitiate them, and gain their favor. Prayers, vows and votive offerings are simple substitutions for sacrifices, and are devoted to the same end — that of gaining good winds and speedy voyages. parade Fontaney, Lettres Edi&antes et Cuxiengee, Lyons, 1819, Vol. IS. 400 ■ Manslne, June 1889. ^^ «~ , 27 CHAPTER XIII. LUCK, OMENS, CHARMS, AND IMAGES. " Some days, like surly stepdames, adverse prove; Thwart our intentions, cross whate'er we love. Others, more fortunate and lucky shine. And, as a tender mother, bless what we design." ^ Hesiod. — Works and Days. " I should be still Plucking the grass to learn where sits the wind. " Merchant of Venice, Act I, Scetu j. HE belief of the seaman in the numerous deities of sea and wind, and his reliance on sacri- fices, prayers or other ceremo- nies to propitiate them, did not, at the same time, prevent him from having a firm belief in the operation of good or bad luck, and of omens warning him of danger or of success, while he also did not hesitate to use charms and amulets to bring about the desirable end. That ' Fortune brings in some boats that are not steer'd," part and parcel of his creed, and many sea- men to this day are firm in these beliefs.f A belief in the virtues of odd numbers was very preva- lent, as shown in the usages of maritime nations with regard to salutes. All national, festal and personal salutes consist of an odd number of guns, a custom dating back to the be- ginning of modern history at least. I Teonge wrote, in 1676, " This day, being the day of our ♦Cymbeline, Act IV, Scene 3. +See Cooper.— Hed Rover, Chaps. XIV and XV. t Voyages. 42d LEGENDS OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 427 king's marterdom, wee show all the signs of morning as pos- sible wee can, viz: our jacks and flags only half stafife high, and at 5 o'clock in the afternoon wee shot from 20 guns." Minute guns are still the only even-numbered salutes. We often find in folk-lore that three, seven and nine, and their multiples, are considered lucky. The traditional ill-luck of certain persons has. been par- tially shown in previous chapters. Priests were most feared of all, and it is not only unlucky to have them at sea, or to speak of them there, in many maritime lands,* but in sev- eral, it is a bad omen to meet them on shore when about to set out on a- voyage. He even brings bad luck to himself, for Arnanson f tells us Icelanders say you must leave the church-door open if the pastor goes out to row, or he may not return, nor should his books be aired during his absence. X Women shared in this ill-favor both on board ship, as we have seen, and on shore. § Firth of Forth fishermen say if they meet a barefooted woman with very flat feet, it por- tends bad luck. A Cornish fisherman said a woman met him every morning, and wished him good luck, but he never had any, so long as she did so. I Holinshead tells us, " Over against Rosse, on an isle named Lewis, sixtie miles in length, there is but one fresh river, and it is said that if- a woman wade through the same, there shall be no more salmon seen there for a twelvemonth afterward; whereas, otherwise, that fish is known to abound there in greate plentie." In the same island, a fisherman is sent out to the boats early in the morning, to see that worhen do not come down to them first, as there would then be no fish caught. The statement of Holinshead as to the beliefs concerning the river is confirmed by Martin,** who says the fishermen of Barras send a man early on May-day to see that no female crosses the stream first, as salmon would not then be found in it for a year. Women are unlucky in Cleveland, and other parts of England, f f In Sweden, if a woman steps over a fishing-rod, no fish will bite. • See Froude.— Short Studies, p. 59. + Powell and Magnusson.— Icelandic Legends. tSee Chapter III. IJones.— Credulities, p. 116. I Chronicles ol Englandr Scotland and Ireland (1577). ♦•Account of the Western Isles (1716). tt Jones.— Credulities, p. 134. 428 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Children, according to some, are unlucky on board Eng- lish ships, but others say they are considered fortunate.* f In certain Scotch fishing villages, many family names are unlucky. Rosse, CuUie and White are mentioned as such in one village. These men were not allowed on the water, if possible, and wages were sometimes refused them, if the catch were small. They were even thought to bring ill luck by looking at the boats or nets, and it was an unfort- unate omen to meet them first in the morning. It was the custom, in some villages, for an experienced man to rise early and prognosticate the weather. On one morning two of these unlucky ones happened to get up first, and soon met each other, but were so impressed with the ill-portent that each retired to his own home, and no one fished that day. J John Smith records that he was deemed a "Jonah " while on a -voyage to Rome. "They would never have fair weather while he (a heretic) was on board." § English sailors bestowed upon Commdore Byron (1750) the name " Foul-weather Jack," from his proverbial bad luck at sea; and a similar epithet was applied to Sir John Norris. The curse of the Flying Dutchman was upon these, and bad weather followed them everywhere. This idea of personal luck probably led to the notion that a ship was safe, that carried some royal personage. So Caesar, when his pilot feared shipwreck, said, "Why fearest thou ? Caesar thou carriest! " II William Rufus was advised not to sail for France during a gale, but to wait for more favorable weather, for his campaign to Normandy. He answered; "I have ne.ver heard of a king that was shipwrecked. Weigh anchor, and you will see that the winds will be with' us." He lost his nephew Harry at sea, nevertheless. Henry II, embarking at Barfleur, and, seeing alarm at the state of the weather depicted on the faces of his courtiers, preferred rather to place his trust in God than to trust in kingly immunity. The address of Caesar to his pilot was graven on a medal of William III, who, when in a storm-tossed boat near Holland, said to his men, "How! should you think it hard to die with me?" * Hazlitt.— Popular Antiquitiesjof Great Britain. + Gregor.— Folk-lore of Scotland. t Adventures and Discoveries of John Smith, p. 33; leprlnt, 1881. { Brewer.— Reader's Hand-book. •Jones.— Credulities. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 429 William I, of Germany, in placing his steamboat at the disposal of a young couple on Lake Constance, said to a lady ivho was afraid to embark, "Do not be alarmed! the steamer bears my name, and that ought to reassure you." * We have also seen many instances of the ill-luck in the presence of animals on board ship, and also at times, when encountered on shore. Hares, as weather-bringers, were especially ill-omened. f An old Cornish writer says: "To talk of hares, or such uncanny things, proves as ominous to a fisherman as the beginning of a voyage on Candlemas day, to a mariner." Jin Forfarshire, England, fishermen would not go to sea if a hare crossed their path on their way to their boats. In Scotland, if the hare sat still, or ran toward the beach, it was not unlucky; but if she crossed the fishermen's path, he would catch no fish that day. The cat, another wind-bringer, was also an unlucky visitor on board ship. § Speaking of Norman fishermen, a writer says: "The fishermen decline to take in their boats many things, such as priests and cats." ||When the cat plays, it is always a sign of a gale, especially if it has an apron or a gown to play with. ** In Sweden, says a recent writer, "Sailors will not go to sea in a ship having a cat or a spinning-wheel on board." f f Somerset fishermen would not go to sea if they met a pig, while on their way to the boats. JJOne was once se- cretly introduced into a New Haven boat, but was immedi- ately thrown overboard, when discovered by the fishermen. §§ English and Scotch fishermen thought it unlucky to mention any four-footed animal at sea. " Brounger " was a name they could not bear to hear. In one boat, a lad spoke the word "horse," and the fishermen at once threw their nets overboard, refusing to fish. |{|{ Another incident is related, in which a boy says three forbidden words; — "There's a salmon-box on our weather bow. It would make a grand trough for our minister's pig." He narrowly escaped severe punishment from the enraged fishermen. ♦Chapter III. +Carew. — Survey of Cornwall. i Jones. — Credulities, p. 116. S Bosquet.— La Normandie. I Jones.— Credulities, p. 119. *• Swedish Follt-Lore, Notes and Queries, December 6, 1888, ++ Choice Notes, p. 27L tt Grant.— J^steries of all Nations, 593. jIGregor.— Folk-lore of Scotland. B Notes and Queries, October 4, 1881. 430 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS *A dog anywhere near the nets or fishing-tackle brought ill-Iuclc to the Icelandic fishermen, nor did they like one in the boats. f Greenock fishermen say if a fly falls into a glass of water, it portends good luck. Jin Iceland, a spider, when hanging down by its web, must not be disturbed; but you must say to it, putting your hand under it, "Up, up, fishing-carl! your wife lies ill in her child-bed"; or, "Row up from below, fishing-carl, if- you betoken fair weather; row down, if you betoken foul." § Fishermen at Santec, in Brittany, have a song, in which presages are drawn from actions of the cat. If it wipes the face with its paw, the omen is bad, and if it rubs the ear, the helmsman cannot steer. If it turns the back to the fire, the boat will upset, and if it burns its claws, the crew are lost. If it commences to purr, the omen is good. I Darwin says that when the surgeon of the Beagle killed ducks for sport, captive Fuegians said bad weather would certainly ensue. ** Hindoo boatmen keep venomous serpents in their boats. If these are dull and irritable, they will not sail; but if they are lively and good-natured, it is thought a sign of an extremelj' lucky voyage. ,' ff In many Scotch villages it was deemed an unlucky venture to go to sea in any boat that had been overturned with loss of life. Such a boat would not be used again by the people of the village to which it belonged, although it might be purchased and used by another village. Sailors have long implicitly believed in the luck or ill- fortune of certain ships, and a volume of curious anecdotes might easily be gathered, relating to the subject. So recently as 1879,}^ a sailor was fined in an English court for refusing to go to sea in a vessel, in which he had shipped, and he alleged that he dreamed that she was lost, and feared to sail in her, as a previous dream of like import had proven true. Naval officers in our own service will call to mind a like occurrence concerning a man-of-war, lost afterwards. This unlucky character is thought to abide with the ship * Powell and Magnusson.— Icelandic Legends. + Choice Notes, p. 347. i Powell and Magiiusson.— Icelandic Legends. §L. F. Sauve, in Melusine, January, 18S5. I Voyage of the Beagrle. »* De Feynes.— Voyage Jusque & la Cliine (1630), p. 207; M61usine, January. 1885. •H Gregor.— Folk-lore of Scotland, tf Jones.— Credulities, p. 67. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 431 from the first, and to pursue her name when bestowed on a^ successor. " It was that fatal and perfidious bark, Built in the eclipse, and rigged with curses dark," says the Blind Poet.* f A fisherman, . in " Natasqua," says of a certain boat, " She's unlucky. She means mischief some day. There was a man killed at her launching, and the mark of the blood is on her bow." " If that's the case, there's no help for her," responds another. We have already alluded to the belief that a ship will always be unlucky, if any one is killed in launching her. Sometimes it is a whole letter of the alphabet that is affected by this unlucky character. It is often said, with reference to our own navy, that the letter 3' is an unlucky one, from the losses of the Suwanee, Sacramento, Saranac, San Jacinto, and many others. But a careful examination of the list shows that but one 5fth of the ships whose names begin with that letter have been lost. An old friend in Boston informs me that Dr. Bowditch, who was much consulted by underwriters, always declined to insure a ship whose name commenced with O, saying that such ships were an unlucky venture, that they were lost, their cargoes burned or damaged, and were in every wa3' unfortunate risks. It has been noted that the Royal George, and the Royal Charlotte, two English ships built at the same yard, and named after the reigning sovereigns, were both lost, with all on board. Sailors on board of one of our first Monitors feared to go to sea in tow of the " Rhode Island," because she had lost the original monitor. This belief in the good or evil luck of ships has had great influence in the choice of names. J Spanish sailors will not choose a secular name, as it is considered unlucky. So ancient Greeks seem to have avoided a masculine name, as all their ships bore feminine ones, probably in deference to Athene, goddess of the sea. So great is this prejudice against unlucky ships, that it is often difficult to get men officers, freight or passengers for * Milton.— Lycidas. ■t Scribner's Monthly, Vol. I. i Sir Hugh J. Kose.— Spain. 432 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS her. * Rockwell says, " Ship owners will rarely purchase a vessel which, by meeting with repeated accidents at sea, had proven to be unlucky." fA recent instance of this belief in the luck of ships is recorded in a daily paper. A man had fallen from the -top- mast-head of a lake vessel, and after that another, until the men began to believe the ship an unlucky one. On arriving at Buffalo, " the men went ashore as soon as they were paid off. They said the ship had lost her luck. While we were discharging at the elevator, the story got around, and some of the grain-trimmers refused to work on her. Even the mate was affected by it. At last we got ready to sail for Cleveland, where we were to load coal. The captain man- aged to get a crew by going to a crimp, who ran them in, ■fresh from salt water. They came on board two thirds drunk, and the mate was steering them into the forecastle, when one of them stopped and said, pointing' aloft, ' What have you got a figurehead on the masthead for?' The mate looked up and then turned pale. 'It's Bill,' he said, and with that the whole lot jumped on to the dock. I didn't see anything, but the mate told the captain to look for another officer. The captain was so much affected, that he put me on another schooner, and then shipped a new crew and sailed for Cleveland. He never got there. He was sunk by a steamer off Dunkirk." Another instance is given in an account of the loss of a vessel whose name w^as three times changed, without losing her unluck)' character. I "The steamer with the pretty name of lanthe, was for- merly the Rose, and before she was the Rose she was that most ill-fated ship which, if 'not built in the eclipse,' was certainly attended with 'curses dark,' the Daphne, whose launch on the Cl3'de, it will be recollected, caused the drowning of an appalling number of men. She sank in the Clyde as the Daphne; she was raised, and then sank in Portrush harbor as the Rose; she was raised again, and still, as the Rose, she ran ashore on Big Cumbrae. Then she was got off and lost sight of for a little, and now reap- pears as the lanthe, comfortably lodged on the mud which she seems to love so well, and to which her instincts regu- larly direct her, after having threatened to go down in deep •Sketches of Foreign Travel (1847). •t Chicago Times^ March. 1885. t London Tdegraph, February, 1885. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 433 water, and then changing her mind and plumping on a rocK. She is evidently an unlucky ship. Common sense must yield to superstition, and partake of the sailor's view of such a vessel as this." * In Pomerania, stolen wood is employed in building a ship, a small piece being inserted in the keel. Such wood makes the ship go faster at night. If the first blow struck in fashioning the keel draws fire, the ship will be lost on her first trip. A piece of silver, preferably an old coin, is placed under the heel of the mast of a new ship, as then she will make profitable voyages. f In Iceland, it is deemed unlucky to use the wood of a certain tree, called sorb, in building ships. When used for such purposes, the ship will sink, unless willow or juniper wood is used with it, to counterbalance its ill influence, as they are inimical woods. There are also many things connected with the belong- ings of ships that bring evil or good luck. Jit was long thought unlucky, on board of English ships, to turn a hatch cover upside down, or to lose a bucket or swab overboard. § Seamen think it a misfortune to lose or tear the colors, and it was unlucky in English ships to sew sails on the quarter deck. To hand anything through a ladder is equally unlucky. II Grant tells an anecdote of a ship-captain, who greatly offended a sailor, by passing him a mug of beer through a ladder. Folk-lore traditions say any one passing under a ladder on shore will be hanged. ** When a basin is turned upside down, fishermen in the south of England will not go to sea. JjAubin says the Dutch, in the fifteenth century, deemed it lucky if a ship, when laden, heeled to starboard, but un- lucky, if to port, and Melville says whalers used to think it a lucky circumstance if they had a sperm whale's head at the starboard yard-arm, and a right whale's on the port side, as the ship would then never capsize. * Tenne. — ^Volkssagen axis Pommern^ p. 346, in M6lusine, January, 1865. tMaurer. — Islandische Sagen, IV. 2. t Jones. — Broad, Broad Ocean, p. 287. Brand.— Popular Antiquities, p. 2i0. Ha2iitt.— Popular Antiquities of Great Britain. 8 Grant.— Mysteries, p. 385. 8 Grant. — Mysteries, p. 593. ** Jones.— Credulities, p. 115. +t Eenard.— MerveUles de L'Art Naval. 434 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS * Among West India boatmen, overturning the calabash used to bail out the boat is unlucky, as the boat will certainly be upset. There are many actions not to be performed at sea, or among sailors or fishermen. f Sneezing has been regarded by people in all ages, and in all lands, as unfortunate. It was long a custom Lo salute one who sneezed, to remove the bad results thought to ensue therefrom. Among Baltic fishers and mariners, it is still thought unlucky, on Christmas Day, Greeks and Romans thought a sneeze to the right hand lucky, to the left unlucky.J Themistocles is said to have conceived a good opinion of the result of a naval engagement in which he was about to participate, by a sneeze to the right, just as he was about to sacrifice to the gods. § Timotheus, on the contrary, would not sail because he heard a sneeze to the left of him. II Shetlanders still prognosticate the weather by sneezing. Spitting to windward, prohibited for obvious reasons, in well regulated ships, was considered unlucky among Maldive Islanders. Chinese Junk sailors considered it unlucky, and a forerunner of fowl weather, to expectorate over the bows of the vessel, when starting on a voyage. Saliva has, how- ever, generally been regarded as curative, and fishermen in ** England often " spit on the hansel " for luck — a custom not yet extinct among schoolboys in our own land, while ■ff Peruvian fishermen put chewed coco on their hooks for a similar reason. JJIn Germany, any one spitting on a pot- hook, and calling the devil by name, gets plent)' of fish. §§ Baltic seamen and fishermen held that you should not quarrel about the catch of fish, or envy another's luck, or your own would leave you. On the contrar}', Esthonian fishermen thought it an extremely lucky thing to get up a quarrel with some member of the family, before setting out on their fishing trips. They often locked up store-rooms, overturned kettles, or committed some similar act, to irritate the housewife. Blows were extremely lucky, and, it was said, brought three fish for each one. * Branch.— W. I. Superstitions, Cont. Rev. October, 188L tTj-lor.— Primitive Culture, Vol. I, p. 97. tRenard. — Les Merveilles de L'Ai-t Nsval, p. 286. S Jal.— Oloesaire Nautlque. Etei'nuraent. I Nautical Mag^azine, 1870. ** Grose. — Antiquities of Great Britain. ttDorman. — Primitive Superstitions, p. 295. a Folk-lore Record, 1879. 5S Thorpe.— Xorthem Mythology, Vol. II, p. 275. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 435 In Iceland, fishermen will not sing at the line, nor dredge with a net, as it is unlucky. Scotch fishermen think bor- rowed nets and fishing tackle bring luck.* This was also true in England, and in Sweden,f where also it was said rL'^ that pins found in church m^de the best fish-hooks. Indians prefer a hook that has caught fish, and never put two nets together, as thej'' would be jealous. *Fraser's Magazine.— "Vol. LVII, p. 353. tAfzelius.— Svenska Polkets Sagen. 436 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS * Pomeranians say you must not throw overboard a burning coal, or you will have a storm. So, when the wind is contrary, you must not sew or mend anything, or you sew up the wind. In a good breeze, you can do it, for then you keep it. You should not even speak of the wind when it is good, for it will then change, and even resents any fears as to its permanency. It is most risky to calculate when a good breeze will carry you in, as then it is sure to change. Fishermen work all night before Easter, Pentecost, or Ascension Day, believing it especially lucky. They decline to tell the number of fish caught, or at least must understate the catch. f Spanish sailors regard it as unlucky to place the left ioot on shore first, or to enter a boat left foot first. They also say it is unlucky for a sailor's wife to put a broom behind the door, with the brush up, during her husband's absence at sea. J When Irish sailors passed a little island, Mac-Dara, they wet their sails three times in the water, to insure a good voyage. § Marriages are unlucky among Scotch fishermen, bring- ing a tempest with each ceremony, and it is equally unfor- tunate to have eggs on board the boats. II Breton fishermen became angry, if wished a good voy- age on setting out. ** Swedish fishermen also thought it unlucky for strangers to see how^ many fish they had, or to tell any one the num- ber of the catch, or the locality of the fishing-ground. ff Scotch fishermen were equally unwilling to tell the number of fish caught, and considered it extremely unlucky to be asked where they were going. JJ It was also unlucky for anyone to point at the boats with the finger, or to count them, or the fishermen while standing. §§ English fishermen say that if you count your fish, you will catch no more, and Scotchmen would refuse to sell the first fish of a catch to a person with broad thumbs. |||| White *Teiuie. — Volkssagen aus Pommern, pp. 3i7, 848, q. in Melusine. + Guichot.— Supereticiones Populares, p. 299, in Mfiiusine, January, 1885. t Folk-lore Journal, II, 259. § Gregor. — In Melusine, January, 1885. B L. F. Sauve, in Melusine, Januarys, 1S85. *• Thorpe.— Northern Mythology, vol. m, p. 111. +t Jones. — Credulities, p. 117. tt Jones. — Credulities, p. 119. 68 Jones. — CreduUties, p. 116. II Gregor.— Folk-lore of Scotland. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 437 Stones must not be taken as ballast, nor those bored by cer- tain animals, known as "hunger-steen," and it was thought unlucky for boats to touch the salmon cobble. * Maurer says no ship will sail from Malmsey to Dran- gey in Iceland, in the spring, without carrying three stones, to be obtained by a stop at Thordarhof. In the same Island, if a stone is cast over a ship, it will cause her to cap- size as soon as she gets to sea. f A heap" of stones on a hill near Weston-super-Mare, in England, should receive an additional stone from each fish- erman passing it on his way to the sea. On New Year's day in Scotland, it was especially lucky to catch the first fish, or at least to draw blood first. A cor- respondent of " Notes and Queries" says: "Wife beating to the effusion of blood may be a novel method of securing luck in the herring fishery, but to ' draw blood ' is practiced in some of the fishing villages on the north coast of Scotland, under the belief that success follows the act. This act must be performed on New Year's day, and the good for- tune is his only- who is the first to shed blood. If the morn- ing of the New Year is such as to allow the boats of the village to put to sea, there is quite a struggle which boat will reach the fishing-ground first, so as to gain the coveted prize — the first-shed blood of the year. If the weather is unfavorable for fishing, those who are in possession of a gun, are out, gun in hand, along the shore, before daybreak, in search of some bird, no matter how small, that they may draw blood, and thus make sure of one year's good fortune." The captain of a Newfoundland " banker " still casts a pen- ny over the bow for luck, when starting on a fishing voyage. When Greenock whalers left port, it was formerly a cus- tom to throw old shoes after them, for luck. The same custom was also observed at Whitby, England. J Boatmen in Canton say you should not put your shoes on the deck bottom upward, or the boat will capsize. § To see a flat footprint in the sand before embarking, boded ill luck to the English-fisherman. II At the present day, the whale-fishers of Scotland, be- fore leaving harbor, often burn effigies, to promote a lucky voyage. * lalandlsche Sa^en. + Choice Notes, p. 175. t Folk-lore Kecord, Vol. III. S Jones. — Credulities, p. 11.7. I Grant.— Mysteries of all Nations. 438 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS * Rockwell says it was thought ill-luck to hear a death- march played by fife and drum on board of a men-of-war, in 1847, and some officers would not allow it, saying that death would certainly follow. There is often but one way to turn a boat, among sailors and fishermen, f Orkney fishermen say it must go with the sun, i.e. from left to right, and J Swedish boatmen will not turn the boat with the prow toward the shore. In Scotland, where witches went viiddersJiins, or from right to left, around the cauldron, a boat must be turned deiseal, or with the sun.§ "On going to sea, they would reckon them- selves in the most imminent danger^ were they by accident to turn their boat in opposition to the sun's course." Many of these beliefs with regard to luck were connected with articles of food. I A loaf of bread should not be turned upside down, said fishermen in the north of England, for a ship would be lost for ever}' loaf so placed. Sunderland wives see that their husbands take some bread, baked on Good Friday, with them,. to avoid ship- wrecks. ** At St. Michael, a piece of cake, eaten at a certain festi- val, is saved for each absent sailor, and is placed in a cup- board, carefully wrapped in a fine napkin. If a storm appear it is regarded as unlucky to find the cake dried up. So in the Isle of Man, in 1700, no seaman would sail without salt in his" pocket, and fishermen in the Tweed salted their nets for luck, and threw some of it in the sea to blind fairies, as late as 1879. Bags of it were hung in temples, on Pescadore island, saj's Archdeacon Gray, as offerings by mariners. Salt was an ingredient of holy water, ever powerful over the waves. Mariners of 1600 swore by bread and salt, and threw some of the latter into the sea. English seamen think it unlucky to throw it about. f f In Holland, it was thought unlucky to overturn a salt- cellar, as a ship would be wrecked each time it was done. JJRice was long regarded with ill-favor. Sailors called ♦Sketches of Foreign Travel (1847). +lHazlitt. — Popular Antiquities of Great Britain. t Jones. — CYedulities. iSir J. Sinclair.— Statistical Account of Scotland, in Brand, III, 148. B Henderson- — Folk-lore of the ;Vot-tlierii Couuties of England, 120. " Bulletin of a Morbihan Socictj- q. in MeluSine, Jan. 188^ +t Choice Notes, p. 1. a Hazlltt. — Popmar Antiquities of G reat Britain, OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 439 it "strike-me-blind," and there was a tradition that its continuous use caused blindness. Icelanders regarded it as unlucky to eat the liver of a seal. Chinooks will not eat the heart of a fish at all. * Dutch fishermen eat no meat on Easter Sunday. fCor- nishmen eat fish from the tail toward the head, so as to turn the fishes' heads toward the shore. Fishermen in many parts of the world have tabooed words that must not be used at sea. We have already seen instances of this in speaking of animals, and also when treating of the- ill-luck of priests. You should not wish a Swedish fisherman "good-luck," and Scotch fishermen do not like to have women wish them the same. Many family names, especially those of unlucky persons, must not be spoken at sea. This odd belief has led to the crea- tion of many curious sea-words in Shetland and Scotland, where many circumlocutory words and phrases are used, to avoid the objectionable ones. J The sea was held in such dread in Shetland, that it must not be named. Blind says it was called "Holy toyt," and the ca^ (which he says was the sea) was called Kasirt, Footie, or Saistal. § Swedish fishermen will not pronounce the name of a seal, but call it "brors lars"; and regard it as equally unfortunate to pronounce the name of an island toward which they may be sailing. By far the greater part of sailor beliefs and usages in regard to luck is applied the luck or ill-luck of certain days. This idea of a choice of time, with regard to its influence on any undertaking, is not new, nor is it confined to the seaman alone. From antiquitj' the Dies Nefasti, or jCgypti- cm^ were known and regarded, and they still have their believers in many places. " By the Almanack, I think To choose good days and shun the contrairie," has been believed by many. II Hazlitt quotes an old English manuscript: " Yt be observed by some old writers, chiefly the canon astrologicum, who did alledge yt there were twenty-eight 'Thorpe.— Northern Mythology. Vol. Ill, p. 33. i Hunt. — Konmnces and Drolls of the West of England, p. 148. i Blind.— New Finds in Shetland and Welsh Follt-lore. Gentleman's Mag- azine. 1S83. SMoman. — De Superstit. hodiernis (1752), In Meluslne, January, 1885. 1 Popular Antiqluties of Great Britain. 440 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS days in the yeare, which were revealed by the Angel Gabriel to good Joseph, which ever have been remarked to be very fortunate dayes either to perrge, to let blood, cure wounds, use marchandizes, sow seed, plant trees, build houses, or take journees in long or short voyages, in fighting or giving of bataille," etc. * Another old work tells us: "There are fifty-three days, in the year, in which it is dangerous to undertake jour- neys," etc. f Chief among these unlucky days were Cain's birthday (first Monday in April), the anniversary of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (second Monday in August), and December 31, when Judas hanged himself. We are told in an early account of the Orkney Islands: "In many days, they will neither go to sea in search of fish, nor perform any sort of work at home." JShakspeare says of a lucky day, — " But on this day let seamen fear no wreck." Saadi, the Persian poet, relates the following illustrative anecdote: " Some slaves were fishing, when one lost his net. Being reproved, he said: 'Oh, brothers, what can I do! Seeing that it was not my lucky day, and the fish had some days remaining.' The moral given is, 'A fisherman without luck cannot catch fish in the Tigris.' " It was long thought unlucky to la}' the keel or launch the ship on certain evil days, or even to f^U the wood. § Hesiod says of the 17 th, — " In the same day, and when the timber's good, Fell for the bed-post and the ship, the wood." Man}' da}-s were unfortunate as sailing days, and sailors in many countries have for ages paid particular regard to this. As to Friday, we will speak more fully hereafter. II Forbes says Hindoo vessels will not sail on unlucky days. ** Br3'ant saj's the ancients thought it unluck)' to sail at the heliacal rising of the Pleiades or Doves. "The dove was regarded as a fortunate omen to navigators. Saints' days and church holidays were generally unfort- »Book of Presidents (precedents), 1666. + Jones. — Credulities, p. 111). tKing John. Act HI, scene L § Works and Days. I Oriental MemcSrs. *" Indent Mythology. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 441 unate. *Cornishnien say Candlemas is a bad day to put to sea. All-Hallow eve and All Saints' day were holidays among French fishermen, f Those who went to sea on the latter day were said to see double, and in the nets they would have nothing but a skeleton and a winding-sheet. The superstition that a spectral bark with the souls of those drowned at sea would come on that night, has been alluded to.J It was also said that a car was heard at midnight, drawn by eight white horses, and having eight white dogs ahead of it. Voices of sailors drowned during the year were heard, and any one seeing it, was doomed to die. § Baltic fishermen would not set their nets between All Saints' and St. Martin's days, or on St. Blaise's day. Fishermen on Lewis Island do not go out to their work on St. Blaise's day. St. Peter's day Qune 26) was ob- served as a holiday by many fishermen. || Finns used to say that any one making a disturbance on St. George's^day would encounter storms and disasters. No fishing is done in Sweden, on Christmas, but the nets are set that night for luck. Abraham Brahe, in his Tankebok, says (December 24, 1618): **"On this Christmas eve, God granted me a glorious haul of fish." At Ofveds' Kloster, it was the practice of the peasants, every Christmas eve, to go by torchlight and fish for their Christmas supper — first invoking the aid of the demon who lived at the bottom of the lake. If O'Reilly embodies in the following lines a superstition prevalent in Ireland; ' Upon St. Martin's eve, no net shall be let down; No fisherman of Wexford shall, upon that holy day. Set sail, orcastaline within the scope of Wexford Bay. " A further legend says some men who violated this rule were visited by a demon, and never reached the shore again. Many days of the month were marked as evil ones among sailors. In an old almanac,^ we find that the 19th, 20th, 24th and 31st of July are marked " No good Anchorage." §§ In an old manuscript, we read that the Saxons believed •Jones. — Credulities, p. 110. + Jones. — Credulities, p. 107. tSee Chapter EX- I Jones.— Credulities, p. 108. i Jones.— Broad, Broad Ocean, p. 240. "Jones.— Broad, Broad Ocean, p. 239. ++ Songs of the Southern Seas. tt A Ne we Aimanaoke of Prdgnoaiication of the year of our Lord God, leifi.— Saxon Leecbdom^, eta. §S Saxon Leechdonig and Wortcunnlng. 28 442 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS the seventh day of the month good for fishing, the eleventh, for killing whales, walrus, etc., and the twelfth, good to go to sea. Hazlitt sa)'s tempests were thought to come on the thirteenth of the month, and many sailors would not go to sea on that day. Hesiod enumerates the days in which certain tasks may be performed by sailors: * " The fourth, upon the stocks thy vessel lay, Soon with light keel to skim the watery way. " And on the twenty-ninth, ' ' And on thy dark ocean way Launch the oar'd galley — few will trust the day." He enumerates as unlucky the 4th, 5th, 13th, r6th, 19th and 24th. Sunday has generally been thought a lucky day to sail or to fish, perhaps on the principle that "the better the day, the better the deed." In Scotland and England, it is re- garded as a lucky day for sailors and fishermen, f At Preston-Pans, England, it was a favorite day to sail for the fishing-grounds, up to a recent date. Of the Isle of Man we read: J" Fishers would not go out Saturday night or Sun- day. § A tradition existed that during one Sunday evening, when boats were out fishing, a great storm came up and destroyed many boats." {| Bishop Hall says of his supersti- tious man, '' He will never set out to sea except on Sunday." ** If an Icelander's seal-skins be mended with thread and needle on Sunday, he will be drowned. Concerning Monday, nautical tradition is silent, so it may be accredited an ordinarily lucky day. As to Tuesday, Spanish sailors seem to have regarded it as unluck}-, judg- ing from the proverb " El Martes, ne te casas, ne te embar- ques, ne de te mujer apartarse" (Tuesday, don't marry, go to sea, or leave your wife). A Saxon MS. in the Cotton Library reads :f'|: "If the kalends of January fall on a Tiwesday, ships abroad are in danger." • Works and Days. + Choice Not«N p. 271. JEobertson.— Isle ot Man (\~n). f Jones.— Broail, Broad Ocean, p. 241. I Characters of Virtue and of vice. ** Powell and Jlagnusson.— Icelandic legends. +t Hampton.— Medil JEri Kalendarlum. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 443 Ancient Irish chronicles record that a certain king was not allowed to sail on a marauding expedition on Tuesday, or to go in a ship the Monday after Bealtaine (May-day). Wednesday was consecrated to Odin, who, as Hnickar, was the Northern mariner's chief deity. Hence it was a lucky day to undertake a voyage. And so with Thursday, which was also dedicated to a favorite deity (Thor) with the Northern warlike mariner. Saturday seems also to have generally borne a good character. But we are told in an old English work,* " Cer- tayne craftsmen will nocht begin their worke on Satterday; certain schipmen or mariniers will not begin to sail on the Satterday — quhilk is plane superstition." But Friday is of aJl days the one proverbially unlucky for sailors. Its bad character on shore is well known, and we should not wonder that it also obtained such at sea. As Marryat says of one of his heroes: "His thoughts naturally reverted to the other point, in which seafaring men are equally bigoted, the disastrous consequences of sailing on a Friday; the origin of which superstition can easily be traced to early Catholicism, when, out of respect for the day of universal redemption, they were directed by their pastors to await the 'morrow's sun.' " Southey says, " Many a ship has lost the tide which might have led to fortune, because the captain and crew thought it unlucky to sail on Friday." The earliest account of this superstition that I find is in the "Itinerary" of Fynes Moryson (1553), who, speaking of the king of Poland at Dantzig, says: f " The next daj' the king had a good wind, but before this, the king and the queen, whilst sometimes they thought Monday, sometimes Friday, to be unlucky days, had lost many fair winds." I Cooper says of a certain hero: "As for sailing on Friday, that was out of the question. No one did that in 1798, who could help it." Brand tells that a London merchant said, in 1790, that no one would begin any business or voy- age on Friday. § Thatcher writes, in 1821: " Seldom would a seaman then sail on Friday." And Cheever, in 1827: "He (the sailor) will never go to sea on Friday, if he can help it." * Hamilton's Catechism, 1551, 22-25, in Jones' Ciedolities, p. 110. + In Brand.— Popular Antiquities, Vol. in. *PUot. 9 Superstitions. 444 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS *01mstead also writes, in 1841: "There has been a sin- gular superstition prevalent among seamen about sailing on Friday; and in former times, to sail on this day would have been regarded as a violation of the mysterious character of the day, which would be visited with disaster upon the offender. Even now, it is not entirely abandoned; so if a voyage, commenced on Friday, happens to be unfortunate, all the ill luck of the voyage is ascribed to having sailed on that day. An intelligent shipmaster told me that, although he had no faith in this superstition, yet so firmly were sail- ors formerly impressed with superstitious notions respect- ing the day, that, until within a few years, he should never have ventured to sail on a Friday, for the men would be appalled by dangers which they would think light of on common occasions." f Chaplain Rockwell says there were, in 1847, command- ers in our navy who would not sail on Friday, and who would try to sail on Sunday. Officers have been known to re- fuse to begin a tour of duty on that day, in joining a new ship. I Wellesley, earl of Dundonald, got under weigh on Fri- day, in 1848, but was recalled by the port admiral, and did not sail until the next day. This was in order to take a supplementary mail, but the crew firmly believed the admi- ral did it to avoid sailing on Friday. Lord Littleton said he knew a naval officer who instantly quitted a room where thirteen happened to be, on Frida)'. Byron thought it an unlucky daj^, but sailed for Greece on Friday, and lost his life there. §An assistant at a bathing machine in Scarborough, Eng- land, told a correspondent of '" Notes and Queries " that most accidents happened on Friday, and especially on Good Fri- day. He had not worked on the latter da)' for years, nor would he do so. It is still thought an unlucky day to sail in Suffolk, England. |{ The Registrar General of Scotland reported, not many years ago, that many less ships sailed on Friday than on any other daJ^ ** In Welsh folk-lore, the fairies rule on that day, and especially control the water, making it rough and stormy. * Notes of a Whaling Voyage. + Sketches of Foreign Travel (lg47). t Jones.— Credulltie8, p. 109. I Jones.— Credulities, p. 107. I Grant.— Mysteries, p. 398. "Slkes.— British Goblins «tnd Welsh.Folk-lore. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 445 Spaniards deem it unlucky to sail on Friday, and Italians say, " Venerdi, non si sposa, non si parte" (Friday, don't marry, don't travel). * In Russia, St. Friday, or Mother Friday, is personified, and any work, especially washing and ironing, done that day, will offend her, and be unlucky, fin Wallachia, it is a woman's holiday, and you must not work with steel or a pointed needle. I Finn .and Breton sailors deem it an unlucky day to sail. § Gloucester fishermen still believe it an unlucky thing to sail on Friday. || Brewer says, however, regarding this day: "In America, Friday is said to be a lucky day, and many of their greatest political events have been consum- mated on that day." Columbus sailed on Friday, discovered land on Friday, and the Pilgrims landed on the same day, on which also Washington was born. Friday was also linked with the mermaid superstitions. Under certain circumstances the apparition of a mermaid was a favorable omen to the seaman; and a tempest-tossed vessel, " spoken " by a mermaid on a Friday, would assuredly reach her destined harbor in safety. The superstition is well illustrated by an old ballad of the sea, — " On a Friday morning we set sail, And our ship was not far from land, When there we saw a pretty fair maid. With a comb and a glass in her hand, brave boys." **Another version of the ballad makes the vision unlucky. The following sailor-ditty illustrates the evil effects of sailing on this day, and also introduces a story that has been extensively circulated among nautical writers: " On a Friday she was launched. On a Friday she set sail, On a Friday met a storm, And was lost too in a gale." f f Ralston tells this tale of the English admiralty, Cooper of a Connecticut ship builder, Rockwell of the American • Balston. — Songs of the Russian People. tHalstOB.— Russian Folk-lore, 199. t Drake.— Legends of New England. JL. F. Sauv^.— Melusine, January, 1882. I Reader's Hand-Book. "See Chapter IV. +t Songs of the Russian People. _ 446 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS marine, while * Thatcher gives it no particular home. The stor)' is, that the keel of a ship was laid on Friday, she was launched on Friday, named Friday, commanded by Captain Friday, sailed on Friday, and was lost on Friday — some say was never heard from after a certain Friday. f A writer in " Harper " tells the same story as among the traditions of Wilmington, Delaware, in its palmy shipping days, but there are amusing variations. The keel is laid on Friday, although the builder's wife dreamed it was bad luck. It was launched on Friday, christened for that day, and sent to sea in command of Captain Friday. Just a week from that time, it was seen foundering at sea. The wife, when she heard of it, said: "I told thee so, Isaiah! This is all thy sixth-day doings. Now thee sees the con- sequences. Thee never had the vessel insured." Many instances are told of disasters on Friday, strength- ening the sailor in his belief. The English ship "Captain" sailed on Friday, and was lost with her great crew. It is said the admiralty did not venture to send the next ship sailing after her loss, the Agincourt, to sea on that fatal day. I The Amazon, a West India packet, the troop-ship Bir- kenhead, and the packet Golden Gate, sailed on this unlucky day, and were lost, with great sacrifice of life. The United States ship Idaho left New York, on a cruise to China, on Friday, much to the disgust of the old sailors. Three weeks afterward, a fire broke out in the after maga- zine, and this was accredited to her sailing on Frida)', and her subsequent encounter with a terrific typhoon, and the loss of her sails and spars, were cited as confirmatory facts. The ill-fated Huron sailed on Friday, and this list could be extended at will. Friday undoubtedly got its bad name among christians from its being the daj"^ of the crucifixion. Char-Freitag, or "sad Friday," is the German name for Good-Frida}-. It is named after Freya,a Norse goddess powerful at sea, and, in southern tongues, after her prototype Venus. Both these are goddesses of love, and women being so unlucky at sea, this day, consecrated to the female deities, would also be unlucky. Omens have been seen, in many pages of this work, to affect the sailor's estimate of the future,and to influence his * Superstitions.— 1837. + H. Pyle.— Harper's >fonthl}', January, 1880. % Grant.— Mysteries, p. 398. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 447 actions to a remarkable extenf. Such omens were univer- sally regarded in antiquity. The pilot says to Csesar — * " A thousand omens threaten from the skies, A thousand boding signs my soul affright. " f The Grecian fleet at Mycale was only induced to engage the Persians, by the favorable omen of propitious sacrifices. J A Basque poet says, — ' ' The boatmen, ere his sail he spreads, Watched for an omen there," and Triptolemus says of Shetland boatmen: §" They are aye at sic trash as that, when you want a days' work out of them — they have stepped ower the tangs, or they have met an uncanny body, or they have turned about against the sun, and there is naught to be done that day." These omens were derived from various sources. Promi- nent among these were the meteorological indications, numerous examples of which we have «;een, in speaking of the wind-raisers. Clouds, skj^ wind, waves, etc., were eagerly watched for such signs as were thought to indicate the course to be pursued, to gain success in any endeavor. Lightning was thought by the ancients to be an evil por- tent. I Cabrias, the Athenian general, feared to engage in a sea-fight, because of intense lightning, and postponed sailing against the enemy. ** Eclipses of the sun and moon were also dire portents of evil, and Virgil has been quoted in a previous chapter as testifying to their influence on the mariners of antiquity. If Nicias lost his liberty and his life, because he failed to sail in support of the Athenians, having been delayed by the bad omen of an eclipse. JJ In Iceland, a crescent moon with the horns turned toward the earth, indicates a wreck during that moon. To the legions of Aulus P-lautius, when about to invade Great Britain, in 43 A.D., there was a happy omen shown by a meteor moving toward the fleet. §§ Fishermen in Kerry, Ireland, will not go to sea until • RoTve.— Lucan's Pharsalia. t Herodotus.— History. t Webster.— Basque Legends. §Sir W. Scott.— Notes to Pirate. I Jal. — Glossaire Nautique, Augures. *»Tylor.— Primitive Culture, Vol. II., p. aT). ft Jurien de la Gravl^re. La Marine des Anciens, 1880. %± Powell and Magnusson. — Icelandic Legends. g« Notes to Hayes' '" Ballads of Ireland." 448 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS the first star appears. In Wiesland, if clouds come from the sea on St. George's day, fish are sure to be abundant that year. * Aubrey says Charles II sailed for France from Ports- mouth, when a storm came up, and the ship put back. Sun- shine and calm then intervened, but when the king again embarked, a second gale appeared. It was deemed a bad omen. f In an account of the shipwreck of the England of Newcastle, the narrator says they saw an aurora borealis in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, of a yellow and orange color, and all thought it portended violent tempests, but none came for som.e days. I Bede says he had remarked the sparkling of the sea, and thought it a portent of storms. § It was said in Cornwall that the defeat of the English fleet by the Dutch was foretold by a rain of blood on the stones of St. Denis' church. Tacitus says the seas were blood-red, and that human forms were cast on shore, just before the war between the Romans and the Britons, 60 A.D. I We also read, in the account of the transfer of St. Cuth- bert's body: "And being vpon the sea in a shippe, by myri- cle marveillous, iij waves of water were turned into blood." A storm ensued. ** Jones quotes from a Cottonian MS., concerning a stream in Yorkshire, where, when the waves were quiet, " there is a horrible groninge, heard from that creek, at the least six m}'les in the mayneland, that the fishermen dare not put forth, though thyrste of gain drive them on, hould- ing an opinion that there is a greedie beaste, raging for hunger, and designs to be satisfied with men's carcasies." ff On our own coast, a recent writer tells us: " The raging sounds of the rising or falling of the sea are tokens that presage disaster or good tidings." JJWhen, in a storm, the surge passes over the decks, and gives out a hollow and deathly sound, it is said, in Pomer- ania, to be a sign that the weather will be fair and good. ♦ Miscellany. + Chambers' Miscellany. t De Rerum Natnira. i Bottrell.— Traditions and Fireside Stories of West Cornwall. D Chronicles of the Monastery of Durham. •* Credulities, Past and Present, p. 64. ++ Harper's Magazine, 1880. — " Saline Types." Xt Tenne.— Volkssagen aus Pommern, p. 347. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 449 Such omens have also been derived from animals. The storm-raisers, especially, as the dolphin, cat, halcyon, etc., were carefully watched for indications of coming changes. Birds, always the favorites of the augurs, furnished many omens. When, as the poet sings, — "The sea-birds, with portentous shriek, Flew fast to land," it was time for the fisherman to moor his boat. Irish fishermen in Tralee bay regard the presence of sea-gulls in great numbers as signs of herring shoals; *and we have already seen that the osprey and fishhawk were auspicious visitors. The albatross was a good omen to the ancient mariner. f "At length did cross an albatross, Thorough the fog it came. As if it had been a Christian soul. We hailed it in God's name." "And a good south wind sprung up behind. The albatross did follow." J The incident from Shelvocke's voyages, referred to in a previous chapter, is here given: "We- had not the sight of one fish of any kind since we were come to the southwest of the Straits of Lemaire, nor one sea-bird, except a discon- solate black albatross, who accompanied us several days, hovering about us as if he had lost himself, until Sam Huntley, my second officer, observed, in one of his melan- choly fits, that the bird was always hovering near us, and imagined, from its color, that it might be an ill-omen; and, being encouraged in his impression by the continued season of contrary weather, which had opposed us ever since we had got into these seas, he, after some fruitless attempts, shot the albatross." It is not unlucky always to catch an albatross. Says a sailor, speaking of one, — " No, we had no ill-luck after the bird's death. If you shoot one and kill him, j^ou may look out for squalls; but to catch him with a piece of fat pork and let him die on deck is a different think altogether, you know." I Pomeranians say that birds coming aboard at sea should not be chased or taken, for, as you lay hands on the birds, you will have to lay hands to the sails, in the storm that will come. * See Chapter VII. + Coleridge.— The Ancient Mariner. tShelvocke's Voyages (1719), q. by Low.— Sfarltime DiscoTery, H, p. 145. STenne.- Volkssagen aus Pommern, p. 349. 460 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Swallows and other land-birds also furnished omens. * Lloyd says: "By swallows lighting upon Pirrhus' tent, and on the masts of Marcus Antony's ship, sayling after Cleopatra to Egypt, the soothsayers did prognosticate that Pirrhus should be slain at Argos in Greece, and Marc Antoninus in Egypt." f Jal says Horticius Mancinus, a consul, conceived a bad idea of the result oif a coming battle, for a like reason. JShakspeare alludes to this superstition in "Antony and Cleopatra." § It is related that a cock on board of Rodney's flag-ship, in his victory in 1782, crowed at each broadside fired at the enemy, and this was deemed a happy omen by the seamen. At St. Domingo, it is said that the coop of a cock, kept on the poop of the " Superb," was destroyed by a shot. The bird at once mounted on the spanker-boom, and crowed at each broadside, until his perch was shot away, when he hopped about the deck unterrified by the din and carnage of baide. It was thought an omen of success. A cock on board one of the vessels at Fort Fisher crowed loud and often, and this, too, was taken as a good sig^. II Lloyd says Themistocles was warned of a victory over Xerxes by the crowing of a cock. The cock is a noted bird in folk-lore, and will crow at Ragnarok, at the last day. ** Melville says there was, some years ago, a superstition that it was an ill omen for ravens to perch on the masts of a ship, at the cape of Good Hope. Many superstitions connected with animal omens have been related in previous chapters. Those concerning the hare and the cat were wide-spread. In England, Scotland, France and Austria, fishermen say it is an unlucky omen to meet them when going to the boats, except in the case where they preceded them to the boats. It was also an ill- omen in Preston-Pans, England, to meet a pig when on the way to the boats. tf An old work tells us the instinct of rats leaving a ship is because they cannot be dry in it. A writer in the " Ship- ping Gazette," in 1869, says: " It is a well-authenticated fact * Ptrataeems of Jerusalem, In Jones' Credulities, Chapter I. + Glossaire Nautique.— Augure. + ^ct IV Scene 10. § Life of Rodney, in Jones' CreduUtlea, p. 64. B Diall of Dales. ** Moby Dick. t+ Athenian Oracle. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS; 451 that rats have often been known to leave ships in harbor previous to their being lost at sea. Some of those wiseacres who. want to convince us against the evidence of our senses, will call this superstition." * Burnes says of the Mohammedan sailors of Sinde: " They are very superstitious; the sight of a crocodile below Hydrabad is an evil omen, which would never be forgotten." f Melville says men in a whaler, hearing sounds at night in the water, some said they were the souls of drowned men, others that they were mermaids. They were found to be seals, and were then declared ill omens; and on the loss of a boat's crew soon after, a Manx sailor declared that these cries were their spirits calling them. I The appearance of mermaids, as we have seen above, always portended disaster. In Brittany, the siren is called Marguerite mauvais-temps (bad-weather Margaret). They say,— "When the siren doth commence to sing. Then the sailor must begin to weep." There are many ill-omened actions avoided by sailors, and others deemed fortunate, which are done by them to secure good luck. Chinese and Japanese junk sailors think it a good omen to cross the bows of a foreign vessel, and frequently give great trouble in crowded channels, and incur considerable danger, from this cause. Hawaiian fishermen deem it a bad omen if a fish-hook catch in the tail of a fish. Various interpretations of dreams have been recorded as -omens. § In England, to dream of a smooth sea is thought to indicate a good and prosperous voyage, but of a rough and boisterous sea, a stormy and unprofitable journey. To see a dolphin in your dreams, portends the loss of your lady-love, and to dream of drowning, was a sign of good luck. To dream of an anchor, the sign of hope, was always esteemed a happy omen. {| A dream of fish indi- cated rain, while one of wading or bathing in the sea was indicative of future bliss. Many places were thought ill-omened, and sailors hesi- • Travels into Bokhara, Vol. II, p. 347. + Moby Dick. til. F. Sauvfe, in M^lusine, March, 1885. 8 Grant.— Mysteries, p. 479. I Sazon Leechdoms, Wortcunnlng, etc. 462 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS lated to visit them. Bab el Mandeb, at the mouth of the Red Sea, was one of these. * Says Moore, — " The vessel takes its mournful way, Like some ill-destined bark that steers In silence through the Gate of Tears." f Richardson says: " It received this name from the old Arabians, on account of the dangers of the navigation, and the number of shipwrecks by which it was distinguished." When first discovered, and for many years afterward, this bad character clung to the Cape of Good Hope, not- withstanding its change of name. t Voltaire says of another cape: "The Cape of the Caba Rumia, which is in our tongue, the Cape of the Wicked Chris- tian Woman; and it is a tradition among the Moors that Caba, the daughter of Count Julian, lies buried here, and they thought it ominous to be forced into that bay; for they never go in otherwise than by necessity." Such beliefs have doubtless given us many of our geo- graphical names, and the Devil may have been supposed to dwell in many of the places named after him. § It is thought an ill-omen among Vancouver's-Jsland tribes for any- one to pronounce the name of a certain mountain, while passing it in a canoe. In 1799, a djerme named L'ltalie, during the time of war in the Mediterranean, ran ashore in the Nile, with her load of prisoners and wounded, and, being attacked by the Arabs, was blown up by her captain. Napier took her loss as a bad omen for Italy's cause. It was thought by the soldiers of Ptolemy Soter's army a bad omen when they found an anchor in a marsh, but he deemed it a good one. II Lichtenstein tiells us that the king of the Koosa Kaffirs broke off a piece of the anchor of a strafided ship. He soon after died, and the natives ever afterward saluted the anchor, and thought it an ill omen to touch it. Auguries were in antiquity common alike to seamen and landsmen. Astrological indications have often influenced the lot of the mariner, not only in antiquity, but, as we shall see, in later days. Seamen frequently consulted the augurs, •LallaRookh. + Notes to Moore's Poems. t General History. See also Don Quixote, Chapter XLL 8 Farrar.— Primitive Customs. • Travels In South Africa. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 453 diviners and sibyls, without whose advice no event of im- portance was undertaken. Soothsayers attended the armies and fleets, carefully watching every omen for indications of success or defeat. Augurs carefully inspected the entrails of the victims sacrificed, and noted each sign, from the mur- mur of a stream or the flight of a bird, to an eclipse of the sun or moon. * Plutarch says, " The murmuring of a wave or a bird, or the driving of a thin cloud, is a sign to pilot of a stormy heaven and troubled sea." He also says the Melians cast away their ships in obedi- ence to an oracle, and that the Pelasgi often settled where their ships had been wrecked, deeming it an augury of their success. A seal designated the site of Phocea (seal town). In later times, when there were no oracles, augurs or soothsayers to consult, the astrologers and sorcerers took their places, and even in modern times, weather-prophets receive considerable attention from mariners. f Metellus tells of a woman who consulted a sorceress as to the fate of her son at sea. Melted wax was poured into a vessel of water, and assumed the form of a ship with a man floating beside it, indicating that the absent sailor was drowned. J Lodge speaks of a " Divell who persuades the merchant not to traffique because it is given him in his nativitie to have losse by sea." § Falero, the Spanish astronomer, refused to accompany Magellan on his voyage around the world, saying that his calculations had made him doubtful of the result. Lily, the astrologer, is said to have predicted many dis- asters at sea. 11 Old Norse chronicles inform us that Thorold, on a voy- age to Iceland, determined the site of his future colony, by throwing overboard two wooden columns of a temple of the gods, landing where they were carried by the current. ** P8re Dan tells us how Barbary corsairs augured of vic- tory or defeat, before engaging in battle. A man took an arrow in either hand, calling the one Christian, the other Moslem. The clerk of the ship then performed a certain * " Socrates' Itemon," in Morals, Goodwin's Trans. + De Dils Sanagitarum (1580). t Incarnate Devils (1596). S Goodrich.— Man upon the Sea, p. 212. a trwjuriuii. — juuu upvix iiuc oca, p. iiLii. lErbryga Saga.— MaUet, Northern Antiquities, p. 518. •* History of Barbary, In Jal, Glossaire Nautique. 454 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS ceremony, and read an invocation, when, it was said, the arrows approached each other, and continued fighting until one dropped down, and thus augured the defeat of one side. * Wright tells of a certain fortune-teller, Alice West, who, in 1613, had great repute, "And saylers' wives came ordina- rily to her whilest shee lived in Saint Katherine's, to know when their husbands would come home." f Aubrey says an English me.rchant consulted a Barbary wizard concerning his ships at sea, and the latter assured him of their safety, by showing him in his hand a ship under full sail. J A work by John Gadbury alludes to the use of astro- logical figfures to predict the voj-ages of ships from English ports. He claimed that, in one instance, at least, the pre- diction was verified, the ship having suffered disaster. In another case, he claimed a fortunate result, as predicted. This was indicated, he says, in this manner: "As, indeed, under so auspicious a position of heaven, it had been strange if she had missed so to have done; for herein you see Jupiter in the ascendant, in sextile aspect of the sun, and the. moon, who is lady of the horoscope, and governor of the hour in which she weighs anchor, is appl3'ing ad Trinum Veneris. In 17 1 2, Whiston, the English astronomer, had predicted the destruction of the world, on the appearance of a certain comet. It was so implicitly believed that the captain of a Dutch ship, off London Docks, threw his powder into the Thames, to keep it from exploding. § An odd instance of the so-called power of prophecy is told. A certain ship, the Xanthe, was to sail from an Eng- lish port on an excursion on a certain day, and, in order to keep servants from going in her, a storm was advertised to befall her, — and actually occurred! II In a modern Greek tale, sailors' wives sit on the strand and throw stones in the water, auguring of their husband's return by the wavelets thus created. A certain Canadian weather-prophet, Wiggins, predicted a great storm on a certain day in 1882, which he said would destroy ships at sea. A New York newspaper says: " Cap- tain Parsons, of the ship John R. Bergen, which lies at the *01d English Tract. + Miscellanies (1696). , . ^, ,^ „ , „^ tNauticmn Astrologicum (1710), In Brand, Popular Antiquity, Vol. ni, p. a41. 8 (Jrant.— Mysteries, p. .'47. 1 Folk-lore Kecord (1879). OF THE SEA AKD OF SAILORS. 455 dock in Jersey City, had been trying to ship men for three days, and was unable to get a crew on board. He attributed his failure to the superstition of sailors, and their fear of putting 'to sea before the term of Wiggins' predicted storm had passed." * Drake says no ship of the Gloucester fishing fleet would then put to sea, although the loss was great. The same author says of a celebrated Salem witch, Moll Pitcher, who lived in 175 2-1 800, "The common sailor and the master, the cabin-boy and the owner, equally resorted to her humble abode to know the luck of a voyage. It is asserted that many a vessel has been deserted when on the eve of sailing, as a consequence of Moll's unlucky vaticination." We also learn that in the Shetland Islands, even to this day, f " Spey wives and dealers in charms and incantations Still ply a roaring trade. There are drunken old hags in Lerwick itself who earn their livelihood by imposing upon the credulity of ignorant sailors and silly servant-girls." " Wraiths and portent receive implicit credence. Many of the survivors of the great storm of 20th July, 1881, assert that they owed their safety to the warnings they had re- ceived. A woman washing her husband's clothes in a burn sees his trousers fill with water, and infers from that an intimation of his approaching death." To insure luck, not only were sacrifices and prayers made, but various charms have been used by seafaring men to insure them safe voyages, or a plentiful supply of fish. Runes were used by the old Norse sailors for this pur- pose,J and have been described in a previous chapter. Run- hofdi was their inventor, and they were engraved on oar, rudder or ship. Such charms to control the storm-spirit were known in antiquity. § Assyrian fragments, recently deciphered, contain charms for controlling the seven evil storm spirits. Greek sailors used formulae for invoking the winds, called Anemo- Kostai. One is still extant, composed by Simonides. In- scriptions of a votive character were written on the ships themselves, or on the sails. || Plutarch says, " Like those ships that have inscribed on them 'a prosperous voyage,' 'a protecting providence,' or ' preservation against danger,' * Legends of New England, p. 243. + Good Word0885. * See Chapter ni. i Eecords of the Past. iMorals. — Goodwin's Translation. 456 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS and yet, for all that, endure storms, and are miserably shattered and overturned." * Ships in the middle-ages carried such votive sentences, painted or engraved on a tablet which was affixed^ to the poop, just as the name of the ship is now placed in mer- chant vessels. This was called the "Dieu Conduit "(God leads). Instead of these inscriptions, some figure or letter, or symbolic representation, was often substituted for it. f On the sails of Egyptian vessels, as depicted on the monuments, are seen painted representations of the sacred Ibis, or Vult- ure, and on the prow, as well as on the rudder, were the sacred lotus and eye. The eye is still painted on the prows of Chinese junks, although it is, as they allege, for the ship to see her way by. " No have eye, how can see ? no can see, how can sabee ? " was the well-known response of a junk captain to a sneer- ing " Fanqwei," who asked him the reason of its existence. The cross, or a relic of it, was one of the most popular charms at sea. St. Helena, as we have seen,J calmed the angry Adriatic, by throwing in a piece of it. Portuguese and Spanish sailors used to carry with them small crosses or rosaries, that had been blessed by the priests, as charms against storms and disasters. A cross-bun was taken to sea by Sunderland fishermen, and one version of the Flying Dutchman's tale accounts his delivery as affected by a return to him of the cross, on which he had sworn. § Holy water, as we have seen, was also effectual as a charm. According to a French authority, St. Vincent calmed an angry sea with it. Portuguese sailors called these crosses, relics, etc. carried by them to sea as charms, by the name of feti^ao. and the name fetish is since given to charms of this nat- ure, supposed to influence fate or the weather. These fetishes are common among primitive people, and are often used to control the elements. Du Chaillu says African tribes use a fetish to appease Noumba, who dwells in the ocean. Relics of the saints were also powerful -as charms. Be- sides the numerous instances met with previously in these ♦ JaL — Glossaire Nautique. Aubin. — Dictionnaire de la Marine. + Wilkinson. — Manners and Customs of the Egyptians. t See Chapter II. jSec Chapter III. 29 "NO HAVE EYE, HOW CAN SEE?" 4d7 458 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITION^ pages, we learn that *Turketal, a famous Anglo-Saxon chancellor, had a thumb of St. Bartholomew, warranted to preserve him from storms and tempests. Although it was thought that the presence of a dead body on shipboard would raise a gale, there was yet a belief in the efficacy of human charms, and it frequently occurred that a dead man's hand and other human relics were carried to sea, as charms against shipwreck. Animal charms were of the same class, and were more frequently' used, f Pliny says the skin of a sea-calf was a protection against lightning, and | Augustus is said to have worn one for this reason. § Esquimaux fasten a seal skin to the prows of their canoes, as a charm against bad weather and storms. Foxes tails and eagles' beaks served equally well. In an Esquimaux tale, an old woman gives a man a charm, made of a merganser's skin, which, when nailed to the prow of his boat, causes it to fly swiftly over the waves. In another tale, a gull's wing aids a man to raise a spell, by which a calm is brought about. Each feather picked up during the wren hunt on the Isle of Man, was a charm against wreck and disaster. I Sea shells were popular charms among the Indians of our own coast, and Negroes of the gold coast wear fetishes, consisting of a bag of shells as large as a hen's egg, which they believe brings them luck, and keeps them from storms at sea. The eyes of cuttle-fish, in Peru, and whales and sharks' teeth, in Fiji, were equally efficient charms. Fish charms were used by Columbia River Indians. ** Two bones found in the head of a fish, the Scisena Aquila, were powerful charms with the Romans, and, if given or loaned, not sold, were of great virtue in storms. Fish amulets were very common during the middle ages. These were stones having a fish engraved upon them, and bearing generally the word Ichthus (fish), signifj'- ing the Savior. Sometimes the reverse bore the words, " May'st thou save us." These were especially powerful against shipwreck. They were denounced by the fathers of the Church, the Council of Laodicea (366) prohibiting clergymen from wearing them, and a later council (in 721), * Turner. — Angrlo-Sazons. + Natural History, Bk. II, ch. 56. t Suetonius.— Octavlus. ch. 90. ! Rink.— Traditions of the Esquimaux. I Tyler.— Primitive Culture, V ol. I. *• Jones.— Oedulltiee, p. 1S6. OF TItE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 459 interdicted their use entirely. A recent traveler says they are still seen and used as charms in parts of Bosnia. * Women in Berlin often carry a fish-scale, as a charm, in their purses. f An odd charm for the toothache was "An eel, a spring-back, True indeed — true, in sooth, in sooth. You must eat the head - Of said spring-back." J Reginald Scot says a bone from the carp's head stanches blood. An old fish amulet has engraved on it the bark of St. Peter, sailing over a fish (Leviathan, or Satan) with doves (the faithful) perched on mast and stem. In a Scotch invocation of the fifteenth century we read, " In holy kirk, my haip is maist. That holy schip." A stone with a ship engraved on it was a favorite charm in .Scotland, during the middle ages, against shipwreck. § Aleuts made a powerful charm, by wearing a belt of sea weed, in magic knots. A pebble thrown up by the sea was also a marvelous charm, whose power no animal could resist. A widespread superstition has for centuries prevailed concerning the caul — the thin membrane enveloping the heads of some new-born children, and it was regarded as a fortunate omen to the possessor, to be carefully pre- served, and was thought to indicate by its condition the health of the wearer. The old dramatists give examples of this belief. H Face says to Dapper; "Ye were born with a caul o' your head "j and another speaker has it, — **" Were we not born with cauls upon our heads? Thinkest thou, Chichon, to come off twice a-row Thus rarely from such dangerous adventures?" • Blind.— Contemporary Eertew, August, 1882. +Shortland. — New Zealand. i Discovery of Witchcraft., £ Bancroft.— Native Races, Vol. Ill, p. 144. IB. Jonson.— Alchemist, 1610. •»Dl«by.— Elvira, In Brand, lH, US. 460 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Mariners- have likewise preserved the tradition of its efficacy as a charm and preventive against drowning and shipwreck. The first notice we have of it in this connection is in a rondeau by Claude de Malleville (1797). *It has been long used as a charm against drowning in Iceland, where it is called a Fylgia, ox tutelary spirit, part of the soul being thought to abide in it. fin Scotland, it is called a Silly- hoo, or Hally-how. Scotch fishermen and sailors implicitly believe in its efficacy. "Many an emigrant has gone to the_ possessor of such a powerful charm, got a nail's breadth of it, sewed it with all care into what was looked upon as a safe part of the clothes, and wore it during the voyage, in the full belief that the ship was safe from wreck, and would have a prosperous voj-age." JMarryat alludes to the superstition: "A sailor here (in Shetland) passes off a diamond for a caul, to avoid being robbed of it." §He tells also of a sailor who has a caul sewed up in his canvas trousers, which he values at twenty pounds. The dominie calls it a vulgar errbr that it would save from drowning, but receives the sage response, "A vulgar error saving from Davy Jones' locker is as good as anything." 11 In an old English will of 1658, Sir John Offley leaves a caul as a valuable legacy. They are frequently advertised for sale in English papers. **One reads; "To the gentle- men of the navy, and others going long voyages, at sea. To be disposed of, a child's caul, worth twenty g^uineas." ff Another: "To persons going to sea, a child's caul, in a perfect state, to be sold cheap." J| Another advertiser an- nounces his caul as "having been afloat with its late owner forty years, through all the perils of a seaman's life, and the owner died at last in his bed, at his place of birth." Besides these, there were notices of cauls for sale in the London Times, February 20, 1813, and one in the Western Daily News, of Plymouth, February 9, 1867, offering one for five guineas,' and three in the Liverpool Mercury, in 1873, ranging in price from thirty shillings to four guineas.§§ •Thorpe.— Northern Mythology, I, 111. + Gregor.— Folk-lore of Scotland. t Phantom Ship. § Jacob Faithful. I Brand.— Popular Antiquities, III, p. 114, note. *♦ London Morning Post, August 25, 1779. Jones, p. 113. ++ London Times, February 2L 1813. Jones, 112. U London Times, May 8, 1848. Jones, p. 112. % Jones. — Credulities, p. 112. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 461 I saw a notice in the Chicago Times, of November, 1883, of an advertisement of a caul for sale, taken from an Eng- lish paper. * Sir Hugh J. Rose says: "Ship captains coming into* Cadiz harbor, I have found, sometimes preserve a child's caul on board, as a charm against shipwreck." f It' was customary, says Gibbons, among mariners of the south of Europe a century ago, to suspend a child's caul in the, cabin of a ship to save her from sinking, and these curious membranes were much sought after by credulous mariners. Coral was long thought efficacious as a charm. J Isidore of Seville says it is a charm against lightning and hail. It was also an amulet against fascination, and was thought to turn pale when the wearer was sick. Ovid says it will stop bleeding. Orpheus says, — "The coral, too, in Perseus' story named. Against the scorpion is of might proclaimed, " alluding to a superstition that it counteracted the poison of a scorpion's sting; and also to Ovid's story that it was red- dened by the blood of the Gorgon Medusa's head, shed by Perseus. Lucullus says it exhales a moist odor, that preserved any- one against lightning. Another old writer says it is soft when it is first gathered, hardening gradually; and Reginald Scot tells us, § " The corall preserveth such as beare it from fascination or be- witching, and in this respect they are hanged' about chil- dren's necks. But from whence that superstition is derived, and who invented the lie, I know not, but I see how readie the people are to give credit thereunto by the multitude of coralls that waie employed." I The Romans entertained this superstition, that coral protected a child from the effects of the evil eye. Ferdi- nand I. of Naples wore such a charm, and used to point it toward anyone supposed to be noxious. Many Neapoli- tans still believe it will turn pale when the wearer is ill. ** Another old English writer asserts that it stops bleed- ing at the nose, and checks dysentery. * Spain. + Boxing the Compass (1883). t Jones. — Credulities. SDiscoverie of Witchcraft (1580). I Jones. — Broad, Broad Ocean, p. 145. •* C. Leonardl.— Speculum Lapidarum (1717). 462 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Amber was a favorite amulet in ancient times. * Amber necklaces are enumerated by St. Eloi, in the seventh cent- ury, as remains of heathen superstition. f In Iceland, a stone called the oskastein (wishing-stone) is used by fishermen at sea. It is obtained by marking a raven's egg, three da3's before hatching, seething it in water, and replacing it under the bird. When the brood hatches, the stone is found in the egg. J An old work quoted by Jones tells us that "a wpod- pecker and a sea-dragon under its feet, on the stone den- trites," was a good charm to open locks or tame wild beasts, and that " a quail and a sea-tench, engraved in a gem, would render one invisible." That well-known charm, the horseshoe, has long been a favorite with the mariner. § They are often nailed to the masts of the boats of western England, and are occasionally seen among the fishing-boats on our own coasts. II They were regarded as a great security in Scotland, and were thought better if from a " wraith horse " — the fabled progeny of a water-stallion. ** In Pomerania, a horseshoe or half a nail in the deck, forward of the mainmast, will protect from lightning. ff Thatcher says they were used by sailors in 182 1. Jl Cheever says of the sailor, about that time, " He still in- sists that the horseshoe shall be nailed to the foremast, as a protection against the evil one." Rockwell recotds their occasional use in 1841. §§ Bunches of garlic are hung about Greek and Turkish vessels, as charms against storms, or the evil eye, and laurel as a charm against lightning. Tiberius Caesar is said to have worn a chaplet of laurel, for this reason. Cornish fishermen keep bits of sea-weed, " lady's tree," in their houses, as charms. III A turf from the churchyard was thought, in Iceland, a sure preventive of sea-sickness. ** Scotch fishermen passed their boats through a bight of the halyards to counteract the evil effects of witchcraft. * Jones.— Credulities, p. 170. ■f Maurer. — Islandische Sagen. I, 3. tThe Magick of Kiran, King of Persia, and Harpocration (1685). I Folk-lore Record, Vol. HI. IGregor. — Scotch Folk-lore. **Tenne. — Volkssagen a\is Pommern, p. 347. ■H Superstitions (1821). « Sea and Sailor (1826). 65 Jones.— Credulities. II Maurer.— Islandische Sagen. *** Gregor.— Folk-lore of Scotland. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 463 Galway fishermen use charms to prevent drowning. They are of various objects, hung in a bag about the neck, — there often being as many as six in one bag.' Lord Bacon said a man might be safe at sea, if he only wore a planet ring. * Meg Merrilies gave the boatswain a charm, written on a parchment, carried in a bag about his neck, which would save his ship from destruction. f Under the keel of an old Spanish ship, whose wreck was found in the Orkney^, in i8 — , was a coin, dated i6i8, wrapped in canvas, and evidently placed there as a charm. English fishermen in many localities, when they wound the hand with a fish-hook, carefully preserve the latter from rust, as a charm to cure the hand. STERN OF EGYPTIAN SHIP. J Chinese have charms of strips of red cloth on the rud- der and sails, and pieces of red paper with characters or sentences on them, are pasted on each thwart and seat in the boats. Gilt-paper images of boats and ships are placed near the compass as charms. Old pieces of nets are hung about the junks to catch spir- its, and priests are supposed to use them also for this pur- pose. Images were early placed on the prows or poops of ships, and were at first, as we have said, of a sacred nature. Phoenician vessels carried representations of the Pataikoi, or Cabiri, and Greek vessels bore the images of their pro- » Sir Walter Scott.— Guy Mannerlng. i Notes and Queries * Gray. — Chinese. 464. LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS tecting gods. * Early Egyptian sculptures show us vessels carrying at their prows and sterns the sacred ram, or the Ibis head. f Ovid says, " The waves dash against the figures of the deities," and names Minerva (Athene) as the protecting or tutelary goddess of his ship, which bore her image on the poop. I Paul's ship had Castor's image on it. § Lucan says, — " No golden gods protect the shining prow," and the Romans always carried their Lares, or tutelary gods, to sea with them, and finally affixed them to some part of the poop, naming them TutelcE. In Lucan's description of a great ship, there are said to be niches there, reserved for the gods. This custom of carrying the images on the poop deck doubtless made it more sacred, as it is to this day re- served on all ships for the use of officers and passengers. On Chinese junks a similar reason has made the proiv the post of honor. These images were replaced in the middle ages by those of the saints, for whom the ships were named. In addition, streamers and pennants carrying the same name, were also used. The axe-like prow of the Venetian gondolas is the shining blade of St. Theodore, their patron saint. II Edward III. of England embarked, in 1350, on board the Thomas, and an image of that saint was sent with him, to insure protection. A figure of the Virgin, captured on board a Spanish ship, was sent to the same monarch, in' 1370. ** Da Gama, when asked by the Zamorin of Calicut to give him the golden image of the Virgin which his ship car- ried, answered " that the image was not of gold, but ol wood gilded; but, nevertheless, as it had preser\'ed him a( sea, he desired to be excused from parting with it." 1 St. Francis Xavier found in his da)"- (1560) images i' Chinese junks, where meat and drink was placed before them, and incense burned. \\ Images of Tienhow are st .1 carried" in these junks, and on the shrines are written thhje * DUmlchen.— Die flotte einer Konige iEgyptiens (1880). + Fasti. t Acts XXXVIII, 7. § Pharsalia. — Kowe's Translation. IJones.— Credulities, p. 59. »* Jones.— Credulities, p. 60. tt Jones. — Credulities. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 465 sentences: "Wherever this ship may sail, O Goddess, grant her a prosperous voyage," " Enable us by trading to acquire wealth," "When on the wide water, continue, O Goddess, to show us thy favor." Norse ships carried images of wood shaped like dragons, serpents, etc., on their prows, and the law prescribing their removal to prevent frightening the landvaettir, has already been alluded to. We read the following remarkable legend of these im- ages: * " Thorir had a large ship built in the wood, and prayed Bishop Sigurd to hallow it, and he did. Thereafter, Tho- rin fared out to Iceland, and caused the ship to be, broken up, when he grew weary of sailing, but the beaks of the ship he had set up over his outer door, and they were there long afterward, and were so full of weather-wisdom, that the one whistled before a south wind, and the other before a north wind." The belief of the sailor and the fisherman in these many oniens, lucky signs, auguries, etc., are survivals of ancient superstitions — reminiscences of the many impositions prac- ticed on credulous people by Chaldean magicians and astrologers, Greek and Roman augers, mediaeval sorcerers, and cunning charlatans of all ages. They are, for the most part, fragments of a system of signs and tokens, by which shrewd men pretended to guess the future. Such beliefs still survive in nearly every land, among the mass of the people. Every collection of folk- lore will be found full of them. Beliefs in regard to luck are equally ancient in their origin. Certain persons or ani- mals were deemed unlucky, because of their supposed influ- ence on the weather or good fortune of the believer, gener- ally through some implied connection with evil spirits. Certain days were unfortunate, because of their supposed connection with some evil influence, either in a conjunction of planets, or by the supposed diabolical character of the day itself, derived from deeds done in it, or from the deity from which it was named. Certain places were alike unlucky because they were thought to be the abode of evil spirits. Such beliefs are common to savage, uncivilized and uneducated mi ads, and are also shared by many persons of considerable i^ltelligence. » Grettir Sagf -Morris and Magnusson, p. 125. CHAPTER XIV. MISCELLANEOUS LEGENDS. " The burying waters close around their head. They sink! forever numbered with the dead." Falcotur. — The Shipwreck, Canto III. ' The second night, when the new moon set. O'er the merry sea we flew. The cockle-shell our trusty bark Out sails of the green sea-rue. " Hogg. >HERE are many superstitions ' r^ .^ » .r'-^K. HUH connected with drowning, and t^X ^^m*^^& #hP with drowned bodies. Death '* by drowning was particularly abhorred in antiquity, when it was thought that fire must burn the bodj' or earth cover it, and when the sea was particularly feared and detested by many, because it swal- lowed up the bodies of those perish- ing therein. As this was the abode of Typhon, and the quencher of the beneficent sun, and also, early in the middle ages, the purgatory of souls, it was considered especially unfortu- nate to be buried in it. This idea is manifested in the traditions of the proximity of the sea- bottom to Hades, of St. Brandan's burning islands, and in the name, still extant, of Davj' Jones' locker at the bottom of the sea. Sometimes, in antiquity, a badge was tied or fastened to the body, so as to identify it if found — very much as mod- ern sailors tattoo the body. There was in antiquity, and during the middle ages, an almost universal belief that devils and demons abode at the bottom of the sea, and lay in wait for people, and some- times dragged them down. These beliefs have been fully 466 LEGENDS OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 467 discussed in a preceding chapter.* Water-spirits, mermaids, and such folk, were also thought to seize people, or en- tice them below. This subject has also been treated at length. f These ideas led to a belief that the spirits of the drowned still inhabit the waters after their death. Jin Brit- tany, these spirits are called criers, and they returned in the shape of birds. Teutonic nations believed there was a land at the bottom of the sea, where the spirits of the drowned abode. Burmese say a demon, Ruuhu, devours the drowned. In Russian belief Rusalkas,§ or water- sprites, are the spirits of drowned people. Sometimes, however, their end was not so lamentable. In Mohammedan belief, drowned persons are martyrs. In Mexican legend, they went to the greatest of three heavens, and in Greenland traditions, they reside in the lower, or ocean heaven. Brazilian Indians said the souls of drowned persons lived apart from the rest; and, in German belief, they haunt rivers and wells. I Widows in Matamba, Africa, duck themselves to drown their husbands' ghosts, which thereafter live on the ocean. ** The prevalent idea that demons lurked in the depths, to entrap the unwary bather, led to a further widespread super- stition that it was unsafe to attempt to save the life of a drowning man. ff "The belief that some harm is sure to come to him who saves the life of a drowning man is unin- telligible, until it is regarded as a case of survival of culture. In the older form of the superstition, it is held that the rescuer will, sooner or later, be drowned himself; and thus we pass to the fetichistic interpretation of drown- ing as the seizing of the unfortunate person by the water- spirit or nixy, who is, naturally, angry at being despoiled of his victim, and henceforth bears a special grudge against the bold mortal who has thus dared to frustrate him." It is also probable that the inhumanity or cruel policy of wreckers, who believe that "dead men tell no tales," as- sisted the growth of these ideas. These fears of evil results from aiding drowning people prevailed in many parts of Great Britain. Sir Walter ♦See Chapter II. + See Chapter IV. t L. F. Sauvfe, in Melusine, February, 1885. S Ralstx>n.— Songs of the Russian People. I Tylor.— Primitive Culture, Vol. II, p. 28. •* Jones.— Credulities, pp. 67, 658. •tt Flake.— Myths and Myth-Makers, p. 215. 468 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Scott says they were, in his day, in full force in Shetland and in the Orkneys. Bryce, the pedlar, says, in the "Pirate": "To fling a drowning man a plank may be the part of a Christian, but I say, keep hands off him, if ye wad live and thrive free frae his danger." "Are ye mad! You that have lived sae lang in Zetland, to risk the saving of a drowning man ? Wat ye not if you bring him to life again he will be sure to do you some capital injury." * So in Scotland. Sailors and fishermen in many Scotch villages feared to pick up the body of a drowned person on the beach, believing that the one so doing would meet with death in the same manner. English seamen fear to pick up any object on the coast, washed ashore from a wreck, for fear lest the drowned owner may claim his property and them with it. f Scotch fishermen fear to go to sea in a boat from which persons have been drowned. I Some j'ears ago, a man fell overboard from a Russian ship in Leith docks. The crew tried to rescue him at first, but when they found that he would surely drown, they ran away, fearing to haul out the body. § Barry tells the fol- lowing: "A drunken man walked into the water and was drowned, no one trying to save him. On his clothing being afterward examined, no cross was found about his neck. He was declared by the villagers to be ' drowned because he had no cross on his neck.' It is generally believed here that you must wear a cross when you go to bathe." The cross here replaces the steel, supposed in Norse legend to deter a Nyck from approaching. - II A still more curious incident is related by EUrick: "I myself saw a fellow fall overboard and drown, after a long struggle, during which neither the crew of the vessel nor his comrades made the slightest efforts to save him. While he was battling against the angry waves, the crew stood quite composedly on deck, and said in chorus, 'Jack! Jack! give in! Dost thou not see that it pleases God! ' " ** Similar things are recorded of Bohemian fishermen, in 1864, who say that "Waterman" will drown them, and take ♦Grant.— Mj-steries of All Nations, p. 396. tjones. — Credulities, p. 67. t Grant.— Mysteries, p. 396. 8 Ivan at Home (18701. I Sketches of Austria, in Jones* Credulities, p. 63. ** J. V. Grohman.— Aberglauben und GebrBuch aus BShmen, p. 12. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 469 away their luck in fishing. They also pray on the river- bank, and offer wax candles and bread. The Chinese have a repugnance toward aiding drowning men. They say the soul of a drowned person is in a kind of ocean purgatory, whence it is released only by finding some one to take its place. * In a Chinese tale, " The Fish- erman and his Friend," the hero refuses to aid a woman who is drowning, for this reason. fThe Hong Kong authorities were obliged to insert a clause in junk charters, requiring them to save life, if the necessity occurred. J Gray tells of many instances that came under his observation, where Chinese refused to aid drowning men, claiming that their spirits flitted along the water, demanding a sacrifice. Salt was thrown into the place where any one was saved from drowning, to appease their spirits. § Hindoos would not save any one who fell into the sacred Ganges, but would help him to drown, if near by, and it was a sin to try to save yourself. II Kamtchatdales would not speak to a man rescued from drowning, take him into their houses, or give him food. ** It was a sin to save a drowned man, a good deed to aid in drowning him. ff Koosa Kaffirs pelted them with stones, or else ran away from drowning men. Theal says they think people are drowned b}- spirits, and they would not try to save a boat's crew from death by drowning. Fijians used to eat those rescued from a watery grave. JJ Malay islanders will not save drowning men. Death b}' drowning having been so universally thought an undesirable end, we find charms for avoiding it used frequently, and have treated the subject of the caul, so commonly used for this end, as well as other charms used for the same purpose, at some length in the last chapter. Indians of Queen Charlotte's Sound used a fetish of fish- bone; and African tribes generally use such charms. These were especially worn by bathers, in the hope of keeping away the cramp. Various curious charms have been used * Giles.— Chinese Tales by Ping Sung Ling. t Black.— Folk-Medioiue, p. 28. t China. 8 Ward.— Hindoos. VII, p. 318. \ Kraoheninnikow. -Voyage to Siberia, Part ILP- 1^ «Steller.— Kamtchatka, 2T4. ttUchtenstein.— South Africa, Vol. I, p. 259. ttBastian.- Mensch, Vol. in, p. 210. 470 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS for this. Rings made of the nails or screws of a coffin were deemed especially efficacious for this purpose. Bacon says; "There are two things in use to prevent the cramp, viz., rings of sea-horse teeth, worn upon the finger, and fillets of green rushes tied about the calf of the leg, the thigh, etc., where the cramp usually comes." *Part of a will in the "Ordinary," by Wm. Cartwright, in 1651, has this clause, "I, Robert Monk, the of give to thee, Joan Pollock, my biggest cramp ring." These were considered more valuable after being blessed by a sovereign, and we have several notices of this ceremony in England, which was only discontinued by Edward VI. A manuscript of Cardinal Wiseman gives the formula for blessing these. Prayers used for the same purpose are given by Dr. Pegge.f I A writer of the time of Henry VIII. says, " The Kynge's majestic hath a gret helpe in this matter, in hallowinge ye crampe rynges, and so given without money or petition," " The Kynges of Englande doth halowe every yere cramp rynges, ye which rynges worne on one's fynger doth helpe them whych hath the crampe." The patella, or knee-bone, of a sheep, or even of a hu- man being, was also worn for the same purpose. § In Northamptonshire, England, shoes and stockings were placed in the form of a cross; and boys wore an eel-skin about the leg. Many hugged themselves with the delusion that they were not born to be drowned. Says Cicero: " He that is born at the rising of the dog-star cannot be drowned in the sea." So Gonzales, in " Tempest," — " I have great comfort in this fellow, Methinks he hath no drowning mark upon him." And Proteus, in " Two Gentlemen of Verona," — "Go, go, begone, to save your ship from wreck Which cannot perish, having thee aboard, Being destin'd to a drier death on shore." The same idea is involved in the superstition that a ship would not be lost with a king on board, as related in the last chapter. * Brand.— Popular Antiquities. ■tCurialia Miscellanea. t Andrew Boorde. in Brand. Popular Antiquities, Vol. Ill, p. 23u 5 Brand.— Popular Antiquities, Vol. Ill, p. 325. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 471 We have also seen in a previous * chapter many instances of a belief in the appearance of the spirits of drowned per- sons. It is thought in many places that these apparitions are real, and these ghosts are frequently heard calling their names, especially near a scene of wreck, f In Cornwall, fishermen avoid a wreck in stormy weather, believing that ghosts haunt it. In Penrose, they are often heard "hailing 'their own names " in the gale, and it is known as the " call- ing of the dead." Fishermen on the Norfolk coast say that when anyone is drowned, a voice is heard, portending a squall. A Cornish legend is told of a man who was walking on the sea-coast, when he heard a voice say, " The hour is come, but not the man." Soon after, a dark figure leaped over the cliff into the sea. l Lord Teignmouth records similar beliefs as existing in the parish of Ullsvang, in Norway: "A very natural belief that the voice of a person drowned is heard wailing amidst the storm, is apparently the only acknowleged remnant of ancieht superstition still lingering along the shores of the fiord. § I have already chronicled the Danish belief that the spec- tres of drowned persons, called "Strand Varsler," promenade unconsecrated beaches. A peasant was seized by one of these, who would be carried to a church to be baptized, but he evaded the ghost. A woman, who took a ring from a dead body on the beach, was chased by a Strand Varsler. A similar belief is that in the "Gongers," ghosts of drowned persons, prevalent in Norway. We have seen many tradi- tions of islands, such as Poelsetta, Horum, Heligoland, Great Britain, etc., inhabited by the spirits of the drowned. At Sent, on the Breton coast, the skeletons of the drowned are said to promenade the beaches. We read in the "Gud- run Lay ": " Gloom arose, winds blew, and ever there came upon the winds a sound oJf grievous mourning and lamen- tation, for the drowned lay restless in their graves." ' A certain South American tribe, if the body cannot be found, catch the soul, thus: "A line is stretched across the river, so that the soul shall not escape down the stream. A bag is set on the bank, distended, and near it some food. A feast is held there, and it is believed that the soul will come out to partake of it, and be caught.'' ♦See Chapter Vin. + Bottrell.— Traditions and Fireside Stories of West Cornwall (18T0). t Eemiuisoeuces (1S30). e See Chapter VIH. 472 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS Fjjians say you should not bury a limb in the sea, or the body will surely follow it. It has also been widely believed that the bodies of the drowned may be found, by floating some object or other, — and that they would come to the surface at a certain speci- fied time. * Sir Thomas Bro\yne says it was believed in his time that the body would float on the ninth day, and he did not question the statement. He also says that women float face downward, a notion entertained by Plin}',! who said that they did so that they might hide their shame. Both aver that men's bodies float face upward. I Pigafetta, in his account of the voyage of Magellan, records that the bodies of Christians, when thrown overboard from the ships, floated face upward, toward heaven, while those of Mahommedans, on the contrary, were turned face downward. It has been widely believed that the position of a drown- ed body would be indicated by floating a loaf of bread down stream, when it would stop over the spot where the body was. It was necessary to put in the loaf a little quicksilver, or, some said, a lighted taper. An old account of thus find- ing a body in Kennet river, near Hull, is given in the " Gen- tleman's Magazine": § "After diligent search had been made in the river for the child, to no purpose, a twopenn3' loaf, with a quantity of quicksilver put into it, was set floating from the place where the child, it was supposed, had fallen in, which steered its course down the river upward of half a mile, before a great number of spectators, when, the body hap- pening to lie on the contrary side of the river, the loaf sud- denly tacked about, and swam across the river, and gradu- ally sank near the child, when both the child and the loaf were brought up with grabbers ready for the pur- pose." II Henderson says this was practiced near Durham, Eng- land, so late as i860. It was also believed that the body would float on the ninth day, when the gall-bladder would burst, and a cannon was often fired over the water for the purpose of breaking it. Ideas similar to these are held in many parts of England * Pseudoxica Epidenuca (1646). ' •tNatunal History. t GoodriatL— ilan upon the Sea, p. 228. I Vol. xs:s^-Jl, p. isgr Bi L/lk-lore of the Northern Countries of England, p. 60. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 473 and Scotland. * A wooden club is said to have served as well as the loaf, in Eton, f In Ireland, a body is said to have been found by the use of a bundle of floating straw, "with a paper containing certain characters written on it by the parish priest. I In France, loaves consecrated to St. Nicholas, with a lighted wax taper in them, were used for this purpose, and in § Germany, a piece of bread, with the drowned person's name on it. A wooden bowl in St. George's church, on the Weser, is said to have served as well. In Bohemia,! a fresh cut loaf with a lighted taper in it was used. It is believed in many parts of America, that the body may be found by means similar to these. ** Sir James Alex- ander says: "The Indians imagine that, in the case of a "drowned body, its place may be discovered by floating a chip of cedar wood, which will stop and turn round at the exact spot. An instance occurred within my own knowledge, in the case of Mr. Lavery, of Kingston Mills, whose boat upset, and three persons were drowned, near Cedar Island, nor could the bodies be found until this experiment had been tried." ff A writer in " Notes and Queries " claims that it is a scientific fact that a loaf and quicksilver indicate the posi- tion of a body, as the weighted loaf is carried by the current just as the body is. JJ In Norwegian streams, those in search of a dead body row to and fro with a cock in the boat, who will crow when it is over the spot where the corpse lies. :§§ Near Samland, Prussia, the Rufen, or sound of a cer- tain bell, will cause the sea to give up its dead. In Java and China, a live sheep thrown into the water is thought to indicate the position of the body, by sinking near it. Many other superstitions connected with dead bodies have been related in preceding chapters. It was believed that they were potent storm-raisers on board ship, and it is still believed that their presence at sea bodes no good. ♦Choice Notes, p. 41. + Choice Notes, p. 4S. _ t Melusine, February 5, 1885. § Kolk-lore Record, 1879. ! Wuttke.— Beutsche Volksaherglaubwi, p. 239. "L'Acadle 0849), Vol. I, p. 19. ++ J. Bailie, December, 1883. a Liebrecht, Zur Vblkskunde, p. 132. §§ Frischbier.^E^Tisslsohea Wbrterbuoh, in Meluslne, February 5, 1885. 30 474 LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS * Aubin says it was believed unlucky to bury a body at sea from the port side, only animals being thus treated. f Grant and Melville say it is held to be unlucky, on board merchant ships, to wear a dead man's effects until the voyage is over. But this does not hold true on board of our men-of-war, where the effects of a dead comrade bring high prices at the usual auction. The narrative of the loss of the " Wager " furnishes us with a remnant of antique beliefs in regard to unburied bodies. The crew of that vessel found the body of a sailor who had been murdered, and left unburied. "The body had never been buried, and to such neglect did the men now ascribe the storms which had lately afflicted them; nor would they rest until the remains of their comrade were placed beneath the earth." I Epes Sargent says it was believed in the middle ages that the compass-needle would not traverse, with a dead body in the same boat. § So Browne asserts that Eusebius Nierembergfius, a Spanish Jesuit, wrote that the human body was magnetic, and, if laid in a boat, and set adrift,' would go to the northward by its own attraction. This brings us naturally to the superstitions concerning the compass, and the loadstone. Besides dead bodies, there were many other substances which were thought to affect the quality of the magnet. Pliny, Ptolemy and Plutarch all say that garlic destroys its attractive powers, and the former asserts that a diamond or a needle dipped into mercury, had a similar effect on the loadstone. Gilbertus, a middle-age writer, declares, on the other hand, that a needle touched to a diamond would be- come magnetic. Various strange ideas have been entertained concerning the variation of the magnetic needle. When Columbus dis- covered that the needle changed its variation, and began to point to the eastward, his crew became terrified, thinking it portended great evils. || The Chinese declare that the needle, in the seventeenth centur3', pointed south, and that it has since reversed. ** Browne says: " Now the cause of this variation may be * Dictionnairs de Jlarins (17021. + Grant.— Mvsteries, p. 3St7. See also Dana, Two Years Before the Mast, Chap- ter VI. t Note to Rogers' Columbus. § Vulgar Errors. IITylor,VoLI, p.375. '■'Sir Thomas Browne.— Pseudoxlca Epidemlca. OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 475 the inequality of the earth variously disposed of, and differ- ently mixed with the sea." Local attraction, he says, "may proceed from mutations of the earth by subterranean fires, fiends, mineral spirits, or otherwise." This phenomenon of local attraction has given rise to many curious stories of loadstone mountains, rocks, etc. Pliny speaks of a loadstone mountain which attracts ships, and Serapion says boats in Ceylon were not nailed together, but sewed with thongs of leather, to prevent injury to them on approaching the loadstone mountain, as iron nails would would be drawn out and the boat fall to pieces. Middle-age writers continued and elaborated these legends. * The ship of the Third Calendar was endangered by being driven by adverse winds near this mountain, and was finally lost, all the nails being drawn out by the attrac- tion. El Kazwini and El Wardee again vouch for the wonderful story-teller, as they relate equally marvelous . things of the wonderful mountain, adding that shoals of dead fish are found near it. In Persian story, Aboul Foueris is wrecked upon a magnetic rock. f Ogier the Dane, in middle-age legend, sails with one thousand knights, and is wrecked by a storm. They take to the boats, and are again wrecked, being cast upon Avalon Island, by the attraction of the loadstone mountain or castle. J According to the Gudrun Lay, a fleet of Danes is mysteriously stopped at sea by the attraction of a. rock called Gyfers. §A poem written in the twelfth century by Henry of Valdeck, tells us that Duke Ernest, while sailing in the Kleber Meer, encountered there a rock named Magnes, and his ship was dragged down "among many a wreck of keels, whose masts stand like forests." Magnus Magnussen reported that his ship, during his voyage to discover Greenland, was stopped by a loadstone at the bottom of the sea, in deep water, and with a fresh breeze blowing. II That redoubtable traveler, Sir John Mandeville, tells us this tale: "In an isle clept Crues, ben schippes withouten nayles of iren, or bonds, for the rockes of the adamandes; for they be alle fulle there aboute in that sea, that it is * Lane.— Arabian Nights, I, pp. 161-207. + Keary.— Outlines of Primitive Balief, p. 452. t Ludlow. — Popular Bpics of the Middle Ages, p. 221. iSH. Von Valdeofc— Herzog Ernest von Bayern's ErhOtung , ' "She sets her foot upon the ship. No mariners could she behold; But the sails were o' the taffetie. And the masts of beaten gold." New Zealanders, J Fijians, Samoans and Hervey Inlanders have traditions of . mysterious voyages in great ships, which they say were undertaken by their primitive ancestors, .when their countries .were colonized. , ., .. Such tales, of ancestral gods coming in ships or canoes, are abundant, and may contain in them an element of truth, but many give evidence of being sun-myths. The ship of legendary deluges became a symbol in early Christian art. § It is often figured as the church militant. St. Ambrose says it is the church, and the mast is the cross. St. Augustine says the ark is the figure of the city of God. In a French church, Christ is shown carrying the church in a ship. Early churches were eyen, built in the form of a ship, and in old French the name for the nave of a church and the ship were the same {JVef)^ "A ship entering port was a favorite heathen emblem of the close of life," says Lindsay. The bark of St. Peter in a storm is also symbolical, and .the celebrated picture in the porch of St. Peter's is an exam- ple of this symbolism. Ships of St. Nicholas and St. Ursula, often seen, are doubtless symbols of Christian qualities, but forgetful worshipers invented later legends, to explain their presence with those saints. •Ludlow. — Popular Epics of the Middle Agres.-;.^ - ■fScotch and EngUshLegendaiT Ballads. . ' ^ t Ellis. Polynesian Hesearches. Gill.— Myths and Songs of the South Paoiflo, g Lindsay.— Early Christian Art. 31 490 ■ - ' LEGENDS AND SUPERSTITIONS A Mosaic in the Vatican, by Giotto, represents the church as a ship, commanded by Christ, and devils as winds are trying to overthrow her. *In pictures in the Catacombs, the ship is the church, resting on the fish, Christ, who also steers. The dove fills the sails, and the prophets, as doves, keep lookout aloft. In St Calixtus, is the ship of the world, and Jonah, being cast into the jaws of a monster. In another, this ship strug- les. with the stormy waves of life, and the hand of God is stretched to aid her. The ship often typifies certain qualities or actions in the legends of Argo, Isis, and in other ancient representations. Many events in the lives of the saints are also typified by the presence of a ship in paintings. The Ship of State is a frequent figure, as is beautifully exemplified in Long- fellow's poem. A modern instance of the typical use of the ship is in the arms of the city of Paris. The isle of Paris is, or was, ship-shaped, and so the ship was adopted to rep- resent it in the coat of arms. A ship is marked St. Jude's and St. Simon's days in the Runic calendar, as' they were fishermen. It is frequent as an inn sign in rharitime towns, and a ludicrous instance is that of an inn in London, where a ship and a shovelare intended to typify Sir Cloudesly Shovel. The ship occurs as a hieroglyphic character; Norse gods swore by board of ship. In Japan it- is lucky to dream of sailing in a ship. -. f A boat of glass was the symbol of initiation into the Druidical mysteries, probably typifying the Deluge or the •universal redemption. An old Welsh adage was, "All must come unto the ship of the world." The moon was also represented as a ship. Manichaeans called the half-moon " Navis vitalium aquam " (ship ofitbe living waters). The Egyptian Isis boat was double prowed, and says J Bryant, the ancients often described the Ark as'h double-prowed ship, and called it Mea, and Selene, or the moon. ■- § In English weather-lore, the moon, with her horns up or on her back, is a boat, and hence contains water, and it will not rain. In old legends, the moon is a mermaidy or a silver boat, sometimes both, and Isis, patron of navigation, is also the n-.oon. - - 1 ' Palmer.— Early rhristian Symbolism, p. 53. + Davies. — Celtic Researches, . ■ ' • - , * Ancient Mytbology. - ■ - ' ■ ' -' ■ EDjer.—Er.irliEh Folk-lore. . i ■- OF THE SEA AND OF SAILORS. 491 These legendary and mythical ships have been the sub- jects of much speculation by mythologists. Many of these conjectures and ideas concerning them have been recorded in other places; We have seen that the sun, the moon, the clouds and the world, have been regarded by them as typi- fied by the legends and myths concerning the ship. We have also seen that the horse and ship were closely con- nected in these legends. As also remarked, the ships Skid- bladnir and Hringhorn have been regarded as typifymg the summer and winter — or nature in her growth and in her decay. As Cox says: " The Argo, the Shell of Aphrodite, the Panathenaic ships are descendants of the Yoni, symbol of fertility." The same idea, we have seen, was also be- lieved to be represented in Wades' boat, Guingelot. The worship of Priapian deities was undoubtedly extended, and the analogy of pelvis (Latin for thigh) to pleva (Sanscrit for ship), has been urged to support this theory, which is ex- tended by Cox so as to include the various boats of sacred ceremonies, the forbidden lotus, the goblets of various myths, the boat-shaped cup of the Holy Grail, famous drink- ing horns, the salt-grinding queen, and even Aladdin's magic lamp. * Bryant regarded all these mystical ships as typical of the Ark, as well as the sun-cup of Hercules, the drinking- cups of Grecian festivals (called Scyphi), the man-bearing dolphin, the winged horse of Perseus, the whale of Jonah, and other mythical paraphernalia of legend. It is perhaps safest "to conclude that each and all of these elements had their effect in giving rise to the many ship- legends. Nature-myths, as first causps, are most reasonably urged, and here, the analogy of the sun's dipping below the horizon, of the moon's sailing through the clouds, of the earth's rolling through space, of the clouds skimming the ether above, ,to the silent, swift, majestic motion of the ship on the waters, would seem to be sufficient any or all of them, to lead men's minds to represent the greater by the smaller. These myths were, then, principal causes of the legends concerning the ships of fable and song, while we may, perhaps, accede to the lesser influence of other causes in f rami 5g these myths.