duced into the stories. I have already explained how
the diving for pearls started the story of the great palace of treasures
under the waters which was guarded by dragons. As the pearl had the
reputation of shining by night, it is not surprising that it or some of
its surrogates should in course of time come to be credited with the
power of "revealing hidden treasures," the treasures which in the
original story were the pearls themselves. Thus the magic fern-seed and
other treasure-disclosing vegetables[292] are surrogates of the
mandrake, and like it derive their magical properties directly or
indirectly from the pearl.

The fantastic story of the dog and the mandrake provides the most
definite evidence of the derivation of the mandrake-beliefs from the
shell-cults of the Erythraean Sea. There are many other scraps of
evidence to corroborate this. I shall refer here only to one of these.
"The discovery of the art of purple-dyeing has been attributed to the
Tyrian tutelary deity Melkart, who is identified with Baal by many
writers. According to Julius Pollux ('Onomasticon,' I, iv.) and Nonnus
('Dionys.,' XL, 306) Hercules (Melkart) was walking on the seashore
accompanied by his dog and a Tyrian nymph, of whom he was enamoured. The
dog having found a _Murex_ with its head protruding from its shell,
devoured it, and thus its mouth became stained with purple. The nymph,
on seeing the beautiful colour, bargained with Hercules to provide her
with a robe of like splendour."[293] This seems to be another variant of
the same story.

[273: In Eastern Asia (see, for example, Shinji Nishimura, "The
Hisago-Bune," Tokio, 1918, published by the Tokio Society of Naval
Architects, p. 18, where the dragon is identified with the _wani_, which
can be either a crocodile or a shark); in Oceania (L. Frobenius, "Das
Zeitalter des Sonnengottes," Bd. I., 1904, and C. E. Fox and F. H. Drew,
"Beliefs and Tales of San Cristoval," _Journal of the Royal
Anthropological Institute_, Vol. XLV, 1915, p. 140); and in America (see
Thomas Gann, "Mounds in Northern Honduras," _Nineteenth Annual Report of
the Bureau of American Ethnology_, 1897-8, Part II, p. 661) the dragon
assumes the form of a shark, a crocodile, or a variety of other
animals.]

[274: Sir Arthur Evans, "Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult," _op. cit.
supra_: W. Hayes Ward, "The Seal Cylinders of Western Asia," _op. cit._:
and Robertson Smith, "The Religion of the Semites," p. 133: "In
H