The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 2 (of 6)Pliny, the Elder
History
The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 2 (of 6)
Pliny, the Elder
Natural history -- Pre-Linnean works
The Euxine, however, is never entered by any animal[2345] that is
noxious to fish, with the exception of the sea-calf and the small
dolphin. On entering, the tunnies range along[2346] the shores to the
right, and on departing, keep to those on the left; this is supposed
to arise from the fact that they have better sight with the right eye,
their powers of vision with either being naturally very limited. In the
channel of the Thracian Bosporus, by which the Propontis is connected
with the Euxine, at the narrowest part of the Straits which separate
Europe from Asia, there is, near Chalcedon, on the Asiatic side, a rock
of remarkable whiteness, the whole of which can be seen from the bottom
of the sea at the surface. Alarmed at the sudden appearance of this
rock, the tunnies always hasten in great numbers, and with headlong
impetuosity, towards the promontory of Byzantium, which stands exactly
opposite to it, and from this circumstance has received the name of the
Golden Horn.[2347] Hence it is, that all the fishing is at Byzantium,
to the great loss of Chalcedon,[2348] although it is only separated
from it by a channel a mile in width. They wait, however, for the
blowing of the north wind to leave the Euxine with a favourable tide,
and are never taken until they have entered the harbour of Byzantium.
These fish do not move about in winter;[2349] in whatever place they
may happen to be surprised by it, there they pass the winter, till the
time of the equinox.
Manifesting a wonderful degree of delight, they will often accompany
a vessel in full sail, and may be seen from the poop following it
for hours, and a distance of several miles. If a fish-spear even is
thrown at them ever so many times, they are not in the slightest degree
alarmed at it. Some writers call the tunnies which follow ships in this
manner, by the name of “pompili.”[2350]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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