Nd-w Piiblicalions; 26^ 



Europe. With the extent and fubdivifions of the fouthern 

 countries on the Danube, he appears to have been well ac- 

 quainted. His Scythia is the Wcftcrn Sarmatia of fome later 

 writers among the antients, the Ukraine of modern geo- 

 graphy. But his notion of the form of this country was in- 

 corre6t, as he fuppofed it to be one-half lefs than it really 

 was. Mr. Rennell purfues his examination further,- through 

 the countries which Herodotus has defcribed as bordering on 

 Weftern Scythia ; remarks, after Gibbon, that the Genoefe 

 conftruAed thofe fortifications of the Crimea, whofe origin 

 . has been by fome referred to earlier times; traces the courfe 

 of the famous expedition of Darius into Weftern Scythia; 

 attends Herodotus into the countries beyond the Euxine fea ; 

 defcribes the Hyperboreans of the Romans as being the 

 fame with the Gog and Magog of the Scriptures, the Juje 

 Majuje of the prefent Orientals ; and takes occafion to men- 

 tion Herodotus, Pythagoras, Anacharfis, Peter Alexiowitz, 

 and Sir Jofeph Banks, as the only men who have fplendidly 

 diftinguiflied themfelves by dangerous, ardent, and fu'ccefsful 

 travels in purfuit of knowledge. 



The Afia of Herodotus comes next mider Mr. Rennell's 

 examination. Its weft and fouth-weft boundaries were the 

 fliores of the Arabian gulph, and of the Mediterranean and. 

 Euxine feas : its eaftern limits were the country of the Oi- 

 gurs, the defert of Kobi, and India taken inclufively : on 

 the fouth, its only boundary known to Herodotus was the 

 Erythrcan fea. The north of Afia was to him unknown. He 

 had little knowledge of India. And the length of Afia eaft- 

 ward was lefs known to Herodotus than to fome later o-po- 

 graphers among the antients. With the bounds and extent 

 of the Cafpian fea he was better acquainted than the fol- 

 lowers of Alexander. He knew it to be a lake ; they fup- 

 pofed it to communicate with the great northern ocean. 

 China, Chinefe and Weftern Tartary, Thibet,, the penin- 

 fula beyond the Ganges, and the greater part of Siberia, 

 were entirely unknown to Herodotus. To him and the 

 other Greeks of his time Eaftern Scythia was little known. 

 The Maflageta;, the Sacae, and the Dahje, weie the preat 

 Scythian tribes; lie has defcribed the geography of the 



Vol. Vll. M m • Perfian 



