CHAPTER XXII.
BELESYS FINDS BICHRI SOMEWHAT HEAVY.
It did not take us much more than a month to sail to the mouth of the Euphrates, although during the time we made one sojourn with the Arabians, and another with the fish-eating Gedrosians on the opposite coast.
On receiving the announcement from me of the aged King David's death, Chamai and his fellow-countrymen observed a week's mourning, fasted, rent their clothes, and combed neither their hair nor their beards; but at the end of the week they made plentiful ablutions, and held a festival in honour of Solomon, the King's son and successor.
It was early in the morning that we reached the river-mouth, and having entered it, proceeded till we came to a little town dedicated to the god Oannes. There is no stone found in the country, and the place, like all the other towns on the Euphrates, is built entirely of bricks, the fortifications being circular walls constructed of bricks, baked and unbaked, cemented with layers of bitumen. On the right were the remains of vast forests, which, according to the statements of the learned, were, three hundred years ago, the haunts of the elephant. On the other side, extending as far as the eye could reach, was a long stretch of meadow-lands and corn-fields. Looking up the river, we could count some hundreds of tents pitched among the crops or sheltered by the forest, the fires of the encampment sending up columns of smoke, and groups of horses being picketed everywhere amongst them. A few boats and two large ships of Phœnician build were moored to the shore; but what struck us most of all was the swarms of soldiers, many of them with swords drawn and lance in hand, who were posted everywhere alike on the river-bank, in the pastures, among the crops, and along the skirts of the forest.
"The army of the Assyrians!" cried Himilco.
"The gods be praised!" said Hannibal, in an ecstasy of delight; "now shall I set eyes upon something like an army once again. See, how admirable their position! how skilful their groupings! I must make the acquaintance of their officers."
He was stopped short in his panegyric by the shouts of a troop of horsemen who were galloping towards us, and ordering us, in Chaldean, to bring our ships immediately to a standstill, and to tell them who we were. From the stern of my ship I answered the officer in command as courteously as I could, and he, in reply, ordered me to remain where I was whilst he reported my statement to his superior. In about a quarter of an hour he returned from the camp whither he had gone, and brought with him a troop of cavalry, at the head of which rode a burly fellow armed in a complete suit of mail, and carrying a lance.
Hannibal again began to praise the order and accoutrements of the troop and their leader to Chamai, who, while admitting the superiority of Assyrian cavalry, contended that the infantry of Judah was second to none; but before they had finished their military discussion, the Chaldean had halted just opposite our ships, and was calling out that our principal officers must come ashore and state our demands in the presence of Belesys, the King's commander-in-chief.
Hanno knew enough of Chaldean to remember that the word "belesys" in that language signified "terrible," and muttered that it was a formidable name for a man to have.