St 



cjwts up much turfy matter^ and the nation of the Hiberni mdely 

 inhabits it. Near it the island of the Albiones extends itself. The 

 people of Cadiz used to trade on the coasts of the ^strumnides, and 

 they, as well as those who colonized Carthage, passing between the 

 Pillars of Hercules, commonly navigated these seas, which Himilco, the 

 Carthaginian, could scarcely reach in four months, as he has himself 

 related from his experience."* And the Geographer adds, that 

 Himilco, the Carthaginian, affirmed he had seen and proved this 

 allegation in his voyage, a.nd that the account was of great antiquity, 

 and deduced from the vei^j oldest annals of the Carthaginians. 



Here then, a Carthaginian who was sent to discover lands unknown 

 to his countrymen, expressly mentions Ireland, the extent of its popu- 

 lation, the religious character of its people, as having obtained for it 

 the cognomen of jff^acred, " so aptly supported by the passages 



* Ast hinc duobus in Sacram, — sic insulam ; 



Dixere Prisci — solibus cursus rati est : 

 Hax; inter undas multum cespitem jacit, 



Eamque late gens Hibernorum colit ; - 1 



Propinqua rursus insula Albionum patet. ^, 



Tartesiisque in tenninos -(EstrumniduHi 

 Negotiandi mos erat, Carthaginis 



Etiam Colonis, et vulgus inter Herculis ' 



Agitans Columnas haec adibant aequora, inoiijL 

 Quae Himilco Poenus mensibus vix quatuor, 

 Ut ipse semet rem probasse retulit, 

 Enavigantem posse transmitti asserit. '**-^t''" *^*^^*^^'*" 



♦ •» * * • « 



Hac olim Himilco Poenus Oceano super 

 Spectasse semet et probasse retulit : 

 Hoec nos ab imis Punicorum annalibus 

 Prolata longo tempore edidimus tibi. — 



Fest. Avien. de Oris Maritimis, v. 38, &c. 



