I lost no time in setting our men to work to restore all damages. The cargo had been too well packed to sustain any material injury, and I had a selection from various bales of merchandise carried out into a field and displayed under the shade of a clump of trees. I took Jonah likewise on shore, bidding him bring his trumpet. No sooner did he feel the dry ground beneath his feet, than he began to yell and to jump for joy.
"Out of reach here, of the jaws of Leviathan!" he roared triumphantly. "Now I am safe. Here on dry land I care not what monster I face; and the sooner the better!"
I put a check, in some degree, upon his excitement, by ordering him to take his trumpet and to sound it as loud as he could; and the noise he made had the effect not only of summoning the residents of the neighbouring village, but of collecting a considerable number of the shepherds who were pasturing their flocks upon the adjacent hills. Assured of our peaceful intentions, they all flocked to us with perfect confidence, raising as they came the cry of "Pheaces! Pheaces!" as an intimation to their companions that some Phœnician merchants had arrived.
The people were all Dorians; tall, well-built men, with fair complexions, straight noses, and dark curly hair clustering over lofty foreheads. Nearly all of them came quite unarmed. Some of them were attired in old kitonets, evidently of Phœnician production; others wore a tasteless imitation of the same, made of coarse cloth of their own manufacture. For the most part they were bare-headed, the exceptions being the few who wore a kind of flat hat of plaited straw. There were some women of the party, and these well-nigh all were much to be admired in face and form; they were attired in long plain dresses, almost as simple as sacks, with openings at the seams to allow the head and arms to pass through; but these were covered by short open bodices, coming just below the waist, and becomingly slashed on either side. No jewellery nor any ornament whatever was to be seen about their persons.
Before my visitors arrived, I took the precaution of making an enclosure for my merchandise by driving some strong upright stakes into the ground and running a rope along from one to another, and told Hanno to make the natives understand that they could not be allowed to pass the rope. They readily understood him, and appeared to be altogether very intelligent, although somewhat reserved in their manner.
One of their number, who carried a long copper-headed staff and wore a cloth band round his head, acted as spokesman. He was evidently a sort of chief, and his companions waited in silence while we listened to what he said. The Dorians appear to be addicted to long speeches, and the chief stepped forward, and scarcely raising his eyes, made us a formal harangue. Hanno interpreted sufficiently well to enable me thoroughly to comprehend the purport of his speech. He began by bidding us welcome, and proceeded to pay us a variety of compliments, addressing us as demi-gods, calling us kinsmen of the tutelary deities of our ships, and concluded by asking that he and his people might be allowed to inspect the wonderful commodities that we had brought from the divine city of Sidon.
I was already aware that all the tribes that bear in common the name of Hellenes are accustomed to regard the Phœnicians as being of divine origin. The magnitude of our ships, the length of our voyages, the mysterious remoteness of our cities, all combine to confirm them in their belief, and it was not for our advantage at present to undeceive them; the time would come when they would be brought into closer relationship with our colonies, and they would find out by experience that we were ordinary mortals like themselves. Meanwhile they regarded us as superior beings, and listened with eager attention to whatever tales we pleased to pour into their ears.
By my instructions, Hanno informed the chief that we had brought with us many strange things from Caucasus, the land of giants; from Cilicia, where the mountains are the open mouths of the infernal world and spit out flames of fire; from Sidon, the metropolis of the gods; from Arabia, the land of the devout, where men live for three centuries and more; and from Egypt, where there are bull-gods, crocodiles, and serpents two stadia long. I made him understand that if his people could bring us ox-hides, Chalcidian copper, woven wool, or goats' horns, we, in exchange, could give them coats, glass beads, perfumes, nectar, or nearly anything they liked to ask for; and without delay, he despatched a number of the men back to the village, to procure such goods as we required.