443 
CHAP. XXIIL 
Maritime Discoveries of the Phenicians. — Expedition of Hanno. — Cireumnaviga- 
tion of Africa under the Pharaoh Necho. — Coleus of Samos. — Pytheas of 
Massilia. — Expedition of Nearchus, — Circumnayigation of Hindostan under 
the Ptolemies. — Voyages of Discovery of the Romans.— Consequences of the 
Fall of the Roman Empire. — Amalfi. — Pisa. — Venice. — Genoa. — Resump- 
tion of Maritime Intercourse between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. — 
Discovery of the Mariner’s Compass. — Marco Polo. 
AmonG the nations of antiquity, navigation, as may well be sup- 
posed, was in a very rude and imperfect state. Unacquainted 
with the mariner’s compass, which during the darkest and most 
tempestuous nights safely leads the modern seaman over the 
pathless ocean, the sparkling constellations of a serene sky, or 
the position of the sun, were the only guides of the ancient 
navigator. He therefore rarely ventured to lose sight of land, 
but cautiously steering his little bark along the shore, was 
subject to all the delays and dangers of coast navigation. Even 
under the mild sky and in the calm waters of the Mediterranean, 
it was only during the summer months that he dared to leave 
the port; to brave the fury of the wintry winds was a boldness 
he never could have thought of. Under such adverse circum- 
stances, it is surely far less astonishing that the geographical 
knowledge of the ancients was so extremely limited when com- 
pared with ours, than that with means so scanty they yet should 
have known so much of the boundaries of ocean. P 
But the spirit of commercial enterprise triumphs over every 
difficulty. Stimulated by the love of gain, and the hope of dis- 
covering new sources of wealth, the Phoenicians, the first great 
maritime nation mentioned in history, were continually enlarging 
the limits of the known earth, until the fatal moment when 
the sword of the conqueror destroyed their cities, and extin- 
guished their power for ever. 
The first periods of Phoenician greatness are veiled in the 
inysterious darkness of an unknown past, yet so much is certain, 
