Ευτε πύλας ικανε, διερχόμενος μέγα αξι It seems to be highly probable, therefore, that if the character of Hector is rightly ascribed to the country of Asiatic Turkey, or to its great river Euphrates; Andromache, his wife, will represent one of the two seas which constitutes the Scean Gates, as above explained, that is to say, either the Persian Gulf, or the Arabian Gulf; and then the difficulty will be to ascertain which of the two it is. But this difficulty, as well as the explanation of it, will best appear from the following extract from the second volume of Harris's Collection of Voyages and Travels, 243, where Père Averil treats of the Caspian Sea: "What has puzzled the most refined naturalists is, that notwithstanding the continual access of the waters of so many rivers, this sea is not considerably augmented, or ever transgresses its bounds: some have been of opinion, that the Black Sea draws a great share of those waters into its bosom; but that ridge of mountains placed betwixt these two seas by nature, seems to separate them so far as not to admit of any probability for that assertion. On the other hand there are two reasons that rather incline me to believe, that this lake (the Caspian Sea), how far remote soover from the Persian Gulf, discharges a great part of its waters there; the first is, that on the south side of the Persian Gulf, opposite to the province of Kilan, are dangerous whirlpools, the noise of which, as the water is thrown into the Gulf, is so great, occasioned by the rapidity of the waters, that in calm weather it may be heard at a great distance, and consequently these abysscs are avoided by mariners. The second is, that by the constant experience of those inhabiting near the Persian Gulf, it is confirmed, that, at the end of every autumn, they observe a vast quantity of willow leaves thereabouts; and it being beyond all contradiction, that this sort of tree is not so much as known in those southern parts of Persia, whereas the northern part, bordering on the Caspian Lake, and especially the province of Kilan, are stored with them near the sea-shore; it is more than probable, that those leaves are not carried by the winds from one extremity of the empire to the other, but rather with the waters, that carry them along through the subterraneous channels and caverns to the before-mentioned Gulf." I apprehend therefore that Andromache primarily represents the Caspian Sea, that (owing to the subterraneous connection between that sea and the Persian Gulf) she then represents the Persian Gulf; but that at the point of those whirlpools in the Persian Gulf, mentioned in the extract above, there is the commencement of another subterraneous passage through the sands of Arabia, and that Andromache ultimately represents the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea; for it will presently appear that the Persian Gulf may be more appropriately assigned to another character. But in regard to that sea which is above stated to be finally and more particularly represented by Andromache, it may be observed, that, independently of her standing for a portion of sea (with reference to what has already been remarked in respect of the usual personifications by women, of portions of sea rather than of land) it may be seen by inspecting the map, that the Arabian Gulf exhibits a strong resemblance of a female figure; her headdress being composed of the two small inlets at the north end of the gulf towards the isthmus of Suez; her face being at Haura in Arabia, her neck at Jambo, her breast just above Jedda; the outline of her robe extending through Serrain, Ghezan, and Lohia; her leg at Moka, and her ankle at the straits of Bab el Mandel; the whole as copied from the map in Fig. 166. As to the extract above offered from Harris's voyages, if it be compared with the following short passage (and its context) in the mouth of Andromache, 6 Il. 410, -εμοι δε τε κέρδιον ειν Σεν αφαμαρτωση χθονα δυμεναι, I think it will appear satisfactorily that Homer had the same natural phænomenon in view as Père Averil; and as I understand him, he gives a much more minute and detailed account of it. For in the following lines, 6 II. 399, Η οι επειτ' ήντησ' αμα δ' αμφιπολος κιεν αυτή Παιδ' επι κολπον εχεσ' αταλάφρονα νηπιον αυτως Εκτορίδην αγαπητον αλίγχιον αζερι καλω and in these, 467, Αψ δ' ο παις προς κολπον εύζωνοιο τιθήνης I take Andromache's nurse (τιθηνη) to represent VOL. V. K |