Juba, in those books descriptive of Arabia, which he has dedicated to Caius Cæsar, the son of Augustus, informs us that there are mussels[1] on those coasts, the shells of which are capable of holding three semisextarii; and that, on one occasion, a whale,[2] six hundred feet in length and three hundred and sixty feet broad,[3] made its way up a river of Arabia, the blubber of which was bought up by the merchants there. He tells us, too, that in those parts they anoint their camels with the grease of all kinds of fish, for the purpose of keeping off the gad-flies[4] by the smell.