"As the wind was at first very favourable to us, the fugitives from Delphi began to flatter themselves with the hopes of a prosperous voyage; but when we got into the straits of Calydon,[15] the swell and rolling of the waves alarmed them not a little;" here Cnemon, interrupting, begged him to explain, if he could, the cause of that agitation. "The Ionian sea," continued Calasiris, "from being wide beyond, is there contracted, and pours itself, by a narrow channel, into the Crissæan gulf; whence, hastening to mingle its waters with the Ægean, it is stopped and thrown back again by the Isthmus of Peloponnesus; which is opposed, probably, as a rampart by divine providence, lest it should overflow the opposite land: and a greater reflux being occasioned in the strait than in the rest of the gulf, from the encounter of the advancing and retreating tides the waves, owing to this repercussion, boil, swell, and break in tumult one over the other." This explanation was received with the applause and approbation of all; and the old man continued his narration. "Having passed the strait, and lost sight of the Oxian[16] Isles, we thought we discovered the promontory of Zacynthus, which rose on our sight like an obscure cloud, and the pilot gave orders to furl the sails. We inquired why he slackened the vessel's speed, when we had a prosperous wind: 'Because,' said he, 'if we continue to sail at the rate we do at present, we shall arrive off the island about the first watch of the night; and I fear lest, in the darkness, we may strike upon some of the rocks which abound under the sea on that coast: it is better therefore for us to keep out at sea all night, carrying only so much sail as may suffice to bring us under the island in the morning.' This was the opinion of the pilot: however we made land sooner than he expected, and cast anchor at Zacynthus just as the sun rose. "The inhabitants of the port, which was not far distant from the city, flocked together at our arrival, as to an unusual spectacle. They admired the construction of our vessel, framed with regard both to size and beauty; and from thence formed an idea of the skill and industry of the Phœnicians. Still more did they wonder at our uncommon good fortune in having had so prosperous a passage, in the midst of winter, and at the setting of the Pleiades. "Almost all the ship's company, while the vessel was being moored, hurried off to the city to buy what things they wanted. I strolled about in search of a lodging, somewhere on the shore, for the pilot had told me that we should probably winter at Zacynthus: to remain on board the ship would have been very inconvenient, because of the noisy crew, and our fugitives could not be so well concealed in the city as their situation required.