but on the fifth day of the ninth month


 


I rose at about the second yawning of the whale
-for he opened his mouth once in every hour,
so that we reckoned our time by it—well, about
the second yawning, as I said, a sudden great
uproar was heard, and what sounded like the
commands of officers and the rhythmic cry of
rowers. Startled, as you may suppose, we crept
up to the very mouth of the monster, and standing inside the teeth, we beheld the most amazing
sight I ever saw-namely, giants a hundred yards
tall, sailing towards one another on huge islands
as if they were triremes. Now I know that what
I am going to recount will seem highly incredible, nevertheless I shall tell it.
The islands were long, but not particularly
high, and each was as much as twelve miles in
circumference. About twenty-eight of the giants
sailed on each, part of them seated in order on
either side, and rowing with great pine-treesbranches, leaves and all—for oars. Aft, as if on
the poop, stood the pilot on a high hill, handling
a bronze rudder five hundred yards long. At the
prow stood as many as forty in armor, fighting.
They were like men in all respects save their
hair, but that was of flaming fire, so that they had
no need of helmets. They had no sails, but the
wind, striking against the trees, which grew in
forests on each, filled them, and drove the island
whithersoever the pilot wished. A boatswain


 



stood over the rowers to give them their time, and
the islands moved quickly at his order like so
many great ships.