[204] Pliny, IX. 9: “Sed enixioris operæ, quam in unius diei præmium
conscii sibi opperiuntur in posterum: nec piscibus tantum sed et
intrita panis e vino satiantur.”
[205] In Lapland the “sea-swallows” render great aid in the salmon
season. For some cause these small marine birds elect to follow the
inward and outward course of the fish, and are thus infallible guides
to the fishermen, with whom they become so tame that they will light
on their fingers, and take, if not “the choicest of the spoil,” scraps
of fish. No wonder they are termed “The Luck-bringers.” See S. Wright,
_The Romance of the World’s Fisheries_ (London, 1908), p. 69.
[206] Oppian, _hal._, V. 447. In mediæval times instances of dolphins
aiding fishermen are related by Albertus Magnus, _De Animalibus_, VI.
p. 653, and by Rondolet, _Libri de piscibus marinis_, etc. (Lugduni,
1554-5), XVI. p. 471. At the present day in Lake Menzalah porpoises
shepherd the fish: the Egyptian, however, spares to his helpers
their lives, but naught else. The natives of Angola were much more
recognisant of service, as an interesting description by an old
traveller of a fish drive there evidences: “They use upon this coast to
fish with harping irons, and waite upon a great fish which cometh once
a day to feed along the shoare which is like a grampus. Hee runneth
very near the shoare, and driveth great skuls of fish before him; the
negroes runne along and strike their harping irons about him, and kill
great store of fish, and leave them in the sand till the fish hath
done feeding and then they come and gather up the fish. This fish will
many times runne himself aground, but they will presently shore him
off again, which is as much as four or five men can doe. They call him
Emboa, which is in their speech a Dogge: and will by no means hurt or
kill any of them.” _The Strange Adventures of Andrew Battell of Leigh
in Essex._ (_Haklutus Posthumus or Purchas his pilgrimes_ (ed. Glasgow,
1905-7), vol. VI. p. 404.)
[207] The evidence is collected and discussed by K. Klement, _Arion_
(Wien, 1898), pp. 1-64, and by H. Usener, _Die Sintfluthsagen_ (Bonn,
1899), pp. 138-180.
[208] _Aegyptiaca_, book v. _frag._ 6 (_Frag. hist. Gr._, III. 510 f.
Müller).
[209] Pausanias, III. 25. 7, recalls that among the votive offerings at
Tænarum “is a bronze statue of the minstrel Arion. Herodotus tells his
story from hearsay, but I have actually seen the Dolphin at Poroselene
that was mauled by fishermen and testified its gratitude to the boy who
healed it. I saw that Dolphin answer to the boy’s call, and carry him
on his back when he chose to ride.”
[210] _Noctes Atticæ_, 6. 8. 1-7.
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