82 



NOTES AND QUERIES. [2-< s. vi. 135.. Jvm 31. '58. 



reach an island, or to cross a channel of moderate 

 width. Navigation was moreover suspended dur- 

 ing the winter months (Plin. N. H. ii. 47. ; Veget. 

 de Re Mil. v. 9.). A modern vessel takes water 

 and provisions for the whole or a large part of its 

 voyage, and stands out to sea, steering its course 

 by the compass, and by astronomical observa- 

 tions : it is likewise assisted by charts. An an- 

 cient vessel crept along the shore ; advanced 

 merely from one port or landing-place to another; 

 stopped at night, when the difficulty of steering 

 was greater ; and took in water and food at the 

 successive stations. The mean rate of a day's sail 

 (exclusive of the night) is estimated by Rennell 

 at about thirty-five miles {ib. p. 360.), and at 

 every interval of this length it put into land. It 

 was therefore dependent on its communications 

 with the coast, and its successful progress could 

 only be ensured under one of two conditions : 

 either that the coast was friendly, or that, if the 

 coast was unfriendly, it had sufficient force to 

 overawe the natives. The first of these cases was 

 the ordinary state of navigation in the Mediterra- 

 nean ; either when a. Phoenician ship sailed along 

 the northern coast of Africa, or when a Greek ship 

 made its way along the coasts of Greece and Italy. 

 The second case is exemplified by the early voy- 

 ages of the Phoc£eans, which they are said to have 

 made in long narrow ships of war, and not in 

 merchant vessels built for carrying a cargo (He- 

 rod, i. 163.). Other examples arc found in the 

 expedition of Nearchus from the mouth of the 

 Indus to the head of the Persian Gulf, whose re- 

 lations with the natives are described throughout 

 as hostile and suspicious, and who chiefly ob- 

 tained food by tlie method of plunder (Arrian, 

 Indica, c. 20. sqq.) ; in the expedition of Hanno, 

 who sailed along the western coast of Africa with 

 a fleet which (according to his own account) con- 

 sisted of sixty war penteconters, and 60,000 men 

 and women ; and in the voyage of Polybius along 

 the same coast, who is expressly stated to have 

 been furnished by Scipio with a fleet for the pur- 

 pose ("ab eo accepta classe," Plin. v. 1.). 



Major Piennell, proceeding from the remark 

 that " the difficulties of coasting-voyages do not, 

 in respect of their length, increase beyond arith- 

 metical proportion," inquires, " What should have 

 prevented Scylax, Ilanno, or the Phoenicians from 

 extending their voyages, had their employers been 

 so inclined, and preparations had been made ac- 

 cordingly?" (Z&. p. 354.)._ 



It is true that a coasting-voyage might have 

 feeen indefinitely lengthened under the conditions 

 favourable to its performance : for example, it is 

 quite conceivable that an ancient ship, starting 

 from a port of Syria, might have followed the 

 coasts of Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy, as far as 

 Massilia, and have repeated this course continu- 

 ously, backwards and forwards, until it had com- 



pleted as great a distance as would be necessary for 

 the circumnavigation of A frica. But these were not 

 the conditions under which the voyage of the Phoe- 

 nicians, ordered by Neco, was undertaken. We are 

 not informed that they were provided with a suf- 

 ficient force to compel submission at the places 

 where they landed : on the contrary, the account 

 of their landing in the autumn in order to sow 

 their corn, and of their waiting until the harvest, 

 implies that they relied for food upon their own 

 resources. It seems incredible that a few vessels, 

 thus situated, could have made their way from 

 the Red Sea to the Straits of Gibraltar. The 

 probability is, that the crews would have fallen 

 victims to the jealousy and hostility of the bar- 

 barous natives. Navigation in early times was 

 generally connected with piracy ; and an unknown 

 ship arriving on a coast would not fail to be re- 

 garded as an enemy. The mere difficulty of lan- 

 guage would in such a length of coast as that in 

 question, and with so vast a succession of different 

 savage tribes, have rendered friendly communica- 

 tion impossible. The Peripliis of Hanno mentions 

 that he took with him interpreters ; but even his 

 limited expedition reached a point at which his 

 interpreters could not un<lerstand the language of 

 the natives (§11. 14.). He assigns the failure of 

 food as the reason for turning back. 



The length of time mentioned by Herodotus 

 seems likewise insufficient, if we subtract the in- 

 tervals between seed-time and harvest, and allow 

 for the other casualties of such a navigation. 

 Herodotus states that the expedition of Scylax 

 occupied thirty months in its voyage down the 

 Indus, and thence to the Red Sea ; whereas the 

 time allowed for the circumnavigation of Africa is 

 under three years, with a further deduction for 

 the periods requisite for bringing the crops to 

 maturity. It may be added that the Phoenicians 

 could not have provided themselves with seeds 

 proper for the different climates and soils to be 

 passed over ; and as they could as easily have ob- 

 tained provisions from the natives, as information 

 respecting the proper seed and the seed itself, it 

 is difficult to understand how the mode of pro- 

 curing food to which they are described to have 

 had resort could have been successful. More- 

 over, the proper time for sowing would not have 

 fallen in autumn in the southern hemisphere, as 

 Gossellln has remarked. It may be considered 

 as certain that neither Neco nor Herodotus had 

 any idea of the great length of the voyage from 

 the Red Sea to the Straits of Gibraltar, and that 

 they both believed Africa to be a peninsula of 

 which the Nile was the base. (Compare Vincent, 

 vol. ii. p. 565.) 



The only circumstance in the account which 

 invests it with credibility, is the report of the 

 navigators, disbelieved by Herodotus himself, that 

 they had the sun on their right hand : the most 



