BABYLON AND PERSIA

DAREIOS I.; FOREIGN WARS. 417Now there is not one word in this that does nottell. But when we come to such a passage as the fol¬lowing, it is not hard to say that observation hasgiven place to hearsay :"Above, to the northward of the farthest dwellers in Scythia, thecountry is said to be concealed from sight and made impassable byreason of the feathers which are shed abroad abundantly. The.earth and air are full of them, and this it is which prevents the eyefrom obtaining any view of the region."We are familiar through Grimm'.s nursery-taleswith the old German snow-myth, of Frau Hollaemptying her feather-beds, and so we are pleasedand amused to see our dear old friend's good com¬mon-sense giving him the clue to what seemed tohim at first only an absurd rumor :^ " "With respect to the feathers which are said by the Scythians tofill the air and to prevent persons from penetrating into the remoterparts of the continent, or even having any view of those regions,my opinion is, that in the countries above Seytliia it always snows,less, of course, in the summer, than in the winter time. Nowsnow when it falls looks like feathers, as every one is aware, whohas seen it come down close to him. These northern regions, there¬fore, are uninhabitable l)y reason of the severity of tlie winter ; andthe Scythians, witii their neighbors, call the snow-llakes feathers,because, I think, of the likeness which they bear lo litem."One can gather a good deal more valuable in¬formation through fanciful stories about cannibals,one-eyed men, and griffins. It is plain that the goldwhich the latter guard is that of the Oural mines,which certainly were known to the Greeks of Olbiaand the other Black Sea colonies ; and as certainlythere was an overiand route frequented by Greektraders;it is said that seven interpreters wereneeded for the journey, the way lying through na-2 E