202 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. [CHAP.
truth from Taxiles, who at that time was in the king's company.
There are two methods of catching these apes. As they are
quick in imitation, and also easily make their escape into the
trees, their pursuers, when they see one sitting on a tree, place
water in a bowl within sight of it, and with this they dabble their
own eyes; afterwards they set a bowl full of birdlime instead of
water, and going away watch from a little distance off. Then the
ape descends from the tree, and when it has smeared its eyes with
the birdlime, and can no longer use them because they are
tight shut, they rush upon it and capture it alive. This is one
method, and the other is the following. The men first clothe
themselves with sacks, in the style of trousers, and when they quit
the spot, leave behind other sacks of a thick material, smeared
within with birdlime; when the apes get inside these, they are
easily captured1."
Nor do modem books on Natural History furnish anything
more quaint than Posidonius' account of the appearance of the
Barbary apes, which he saw in a forest by the sea-shore, when
sailing along the African coast on his way from Gades to Italy2;
or a more exciting story than Polybius' narrative of the capture of
the swordfish in the Straits of Messina, where they were hemmed
in within a narrow space, when pursuing the shoals of tunnies.
This last proceeding is reported as follows by Strabo :—
" Polybius goes on to describe the capture of the sword-fish,
which takes place in the neighbourhood of Scyllaeum. A man is
posted on the look-out, to give a general signal to the occupants,
two in number, of each of a multitude of small two-oared skiffs.
One of these rows, while the other takes his stand in the bows with
his harpoon, when the look-out man has signalled that the sword-
fish are in sight, for as they swim they show one-third of their
bodies above water. Now when the skiff comes close to one of
them, the fisherman launches his harpoon, and then draws it
out again from the fish's body, leaving the head of the weapon
behind; for this is barbed, and is purposely affixed loosely to the
shaft, and has a long cord attached to it. With this they play the
wounded fish till it is tired of struggling and trying to escape;
1 Megasthenes ap. Strabon., 15. i. 29.
* Posidon., ap. Strabon., 17. 3. 4.