28 GEOGRAPHY OF THE HOMERTC PERIOD. [CHAP.
what is described in the Odyssey, must be relegated to the region
of myth. In two instances only can we trace with
8 tolerable certainty a basis of truth underlying the
story—in the account of the land of the Lotophagi,
and in that of the dangers of Scylla and Charybdis. As regards
the former of these we are told that Ulysses was driven out to sea
by a violent wind from Malea—a cape which in all ages has
been dreaded on account of its storms—and that on the tenth
day he reached the country of the Lotophagi, There the natives
gave to his companions the lotus to taste; "and whosoever of
them did eat the honey-sweet fruit of the loltis, had no more wish
to bring back tidings nor to come back, but chose rather to abide
there with the lotus-eating men, ever feeding on the lotus, and
forgetful of returning1." A storm such as is here described would
naturally carry a ship towards the coast of Africa; and as a
district is found there, in the neighbourhood of the Lesser Syrtis,
where the lotus-shrub grows, and bears a sweet fruit—a fact which
might easily reach the ears of the Greeks through the Phoenicians
—it is reasonable to suppose that we are dealing with reality.
Polybius himself visited this region of Libya, and has left a
description both of the tree and of its fruit3, and his account is
confirmed by those who have recently followed in his footsteps.
Scylla and Charybdis also, notwithstanding the weird imagery with
which they are decked out in the Homeric story, may well have
been an embodiment of the dangers presented by the rocks and
1 Od. 9. 94—7-
2 Polyb. 12. «. The description is so graphic that it deserves to be quoted
in full. " The lotus is not a large tree; but it is rough and thorny, and has a
green leaf, like the rhamnus, a little longer and broader. The fruit is like
white myrtle-berries when they are come to perfection; but, as it grows, it
becomes purple in colour, and in size about equal to round olives, and has a
very small stone. When it is ripe they gather it; and some of it they pound
up with groats of spelt, and store in vessels for their slaves; and the rest they
also preserve for the free inhabitants, after taking out the stones, and use it for
food. It tastes like a fig or a datet but is superior to them in aroma. A wine
is made of it also by steeping it in water and crushing it, sweet and pleasant to
the taste, like good mead; and they drink it without mixing it with water. It
will not keep, however, more than ten days, and they therefore only make it
in small quantities as they want it. Vinegar also is made out of it," (Shuck-
burgh's translation.)