The Mighty Deep 



dence ; no doubt with a feeling of wonder ; and 

 probably it was to them merely a coincidence. 

 Very little was then understood of the most 

 everyday and commonplace workings of Nature. 



Not much, indeed, can be said with certainty 

 of what the Phenicians did truly discover. 

 Some observations they must have made of the 

 heavenly constellations ; and the Pole-star at 

 least must have been known to them, other- 

 wise it is impossible to imagine how they could 

 have steered their vessels at night, in an age 

 when the Mariner's Compass was unknown. 

 They are supposed to have sailed far south on 

 the west coast of Africa, if they did not actually 

 round the Cape of Good Hope. 



It does not appear that their knowledge was 

 passed on to the Greek nation. Either they 

 were curiously reticent of what they knew, or 

 else such records as they may have left were 

 destroyed and forgotten. 



In after times the Carthaginians, descendants of 

 Phenician Colonists, were, like their forefathers, 

 sea-lovers, sea-explorers, searching the main, not 

 as travellers search now from pure love of know- 

 ledge, or from a liking for adventure, but for the 

 sake of commerce. The Carthaginians, however, 

 instead of being able to make use of previous 



6 



