William Tyler Olcott

“ Eridanus is an inconspicuous constellation, but on a clear night in midwinter, when the moon is absent from the sky, the stream can be traced without difficulty, spreading out like a great horseshoe south and west of the wellknown constellation Orion. ”

“ It seems reasonable to suppose, however, that the art of stellar representation was not confined to any one country, or a particular tribe, and as the nomadic herdsmen travelled from place to place, they left in each a smattering of the star lore that was as much a part of their lives as a knowledge of flocks and herds. ”

“ This would seem to infer that some sort of a craft was supposed to traverse the stream, and might be an allusion to the Ark, if the stream was originally intended to represent the Flood, as many authorities think.
We have, then, in the constellation Eridanus the diverse representations of a river on which there is a boat, and a gathering place for ostriches, with their nests, eggs, and egg-shells in evidence. This confusion of stellar imagery is one of the features of constellational study, and is at first blush difficult to account for. ”