308 FIGURE OF THE EARTH. 



Erytlircan or ludian seas ; while still later, as some historians maintain, their 

 boidiie<s readies such a jtoiut that they navigate the shores of Africa by the 

 east, double the Cape of Good, Hope, afterwards long forgotten, and regain their 

 country at the end of three years by the before-mentioned straits of Gades, or 

 Gibraltar.* 



The Carthaginians, possessing the same enterprising and mercantile genius 

 with their ancestors of Phenicia, and bcnelitiug by the experience of the latter, 

 projected still more important, if not more daring, expeditions. Hanno, with a 

 numerous lleet, traces the western coast of Africa and attains the mouth of the 

 river Senegal, while Ilimilco, sailing in the opposite direction, stops not short 

 of England, where he loads his vessels with the coveted metal stored in that 

 region. 



Similar expeditions, made with ever-increasing frequency and boldness, such 

 as the voyage of Coloeus of Samos, which extended to the entrance of the At- 

 lantic, and so strongly excited the curiosity of the Greeks, and kthe much later 

 one of ]*ytheast of Marseilles, who advanced as far as the Feroe islands, and 

 even entered the Baltic, although they might be undertaken solely with the 

 vicAvs of adventure or cupidity, could not but be conducive to the progress of 

 astronomy and its kindred sciences, as well in regard to the preliminaries they 

 required, as the observations and notices collected in these protracted wander- 

 ings. However closely attracted to the land by necessity or interest, can we 

 suppose that these early navigators did not often lift their eyes to contemplate 

 the celestial vault, induced as well by the requirements of safety as by the 

 curiosity inherent in man of seeing and learning something new ? In this 

 way the old impressions that the earth was plane and undefined, that the stars, 

 quenched in the sea, were again kindled at their rising, and others of the same 

 kind, would necessarily give way, not alone in the conceptions of the thoughtful, 

 but in the opinion of the vulgar, and be replaced by ideas more creditable to 

 human sagacity, and conformable to the truth and simplicity of nature. To this 

 result v.'ould conduce, indirectly but still effectually, the travels undertaken by 

 land, whether towards the north in search of amber, furs and materials of con- 

 struction, towards the east for ivory and spices, or towards the west for metals. 

 The wars among nations would also promote this result, as necessarily tending 

 to a mixture of races, and a comp irison of conflicting ideas. Among influences 

 of this kind we may especially distinguish the expedition of Alexander, at 

 once enlarging beyond example the limits of the known world, and bringing 

 into propitious coincidence a vast material and a most favorable conjuncture of 

 circumstances for new and fruitful meditation ; the conquests of the Romans, 

 extend into one almost all the nations of the known world, and attracting 

 to the common centre whatever that Avovld contained which could minister to 

 an nnboundfi^d love of ostentation and luxury ; the Gothic irruption, covering 

 the world with ruins from which the germs of knowledge might spring with a 

 new and more vigorous life; and the subsequent appearance of the Saracens, 



*Tliis voyage of circunmaviiratiou, of which Herodotus speaks as having been undertaken 

 about the bcgimiing of the sixth century before our era, and at the instance and direction of 

 Nccos, King of Egypt, has always met with warm asserters and oppiigners. To us the ar- 

 guments of the latter seem to have the most weight, though amongst the ibrmer appears the 

 ^H'arned and judicious Cesar Cantu. In so disputable a matter, doubtless, the reader need 

 not resign himsiOf blindly to the opinion of any one; but, for our present purpose, it is suf- 

 ficient to know, that if sucli a voyage was really performed, it led to no results worthy, from 

 their ciuiosity or importance, to be transmitted to modern times. As regards other ancient 

 voyages around Africa, there are still stronger reasons for discrediting them than that at- 

 tributed to the Pheniciaus. 



tTlie reality of the voyage of Pytheas, to the west and north of Europe, is generally ad- 

 mitted, but the descriptions given by him of the lands and seas ho visited are regarded as 

 exaggerated, as thoy are certainly in many points obscure, even when wo concede their 

 foundation in fact. 



