PHYSICAL CONTEMPLATION OF THE UNIVERSE. 495 



land trade thus first connected the inhabitants of the coasts of 

 the North Sea with those living on the shores of the Adriatic 

 and the Euxine. 



The Phoenicians of Carthage, and probably those inhabiting 

 the cities of Tartessus and Gades, which had been colonised 

 two hundred years earlier, visited a considerable portion of the 

 north-west coast of Africa, even beyond Cape Bojador, although 

 the Chretes of Hanno is neither the Chremetes of the Meteoro- 

 logica of Aristotle, nor yet our Gambia.* Here were situated 

 the numerous Tyrian cities, whose numbers were estimated by 

 Strabo at 300, which were destroyed by Pharusians and Nigri- 

 tians. Amongst these was Cerne (Dicuil's Gaulea according 

 to Letronne), the principal station for ships, as well as the chief 

 emporium of the colonies on the coast. The Canary Islands 

 and the Azores, (which latter were regarded by Don Fernando, 

 the son of Columbus, as the Cassiterides discovered by the 

 Carthaginians,) and the Orkneys, Faroe Islands, and Iceland, 

 became the respective western and northern intermediate 

 stations for passing to the New Continent. They indicate 

 the two directions by which the European portion of the 

 human race first became acquainted with the natives of North 

 and Central America. This consideration gives a great, and 

 I might almost say, a cosmical importance to the question 

 whether and how early the Phoenicians of the mother-country 

 or those of the Iberian and African settlements (Gadeira, 

 Carthage, and Cerne). were acquainted with Porto Santo, 

 Madeira, and the Canary Islands. In a long series of events 

 we willingly seek to trace the first and guiding link of the 

 chain. It is probable that fully 2000 years elapsed from the 

 foundation of Tartessus and Utica by Phoenicians, to the 

 discovery of America by the northern course, that is to say, 

 to Eric Randau's voyage to Greenland, which was followed by 

 voyages to North Carolina; and that 2500 years intervened 

 before Christopher Columbus, starting from the old Phoenician 

 settlement of Gadeira, made the passage by the south-west 

 route, f 



* On the Chremetes, see Aristot., Meteor., lib. i. p. 350 (Bekk.) ; and 

 on the most southern points of which Hanno makes mention in his 

 ship's journal, see my Rel. Hist., t. i. p. 172; and Examen crit. de la 

 Geog. t. i. pp. 39, 180, and 288 ; t. iii. p. 135. Gosselin, Hecherches mr la 

 Geog. System, des Anciens, t. i. pp. 94 and 98; Ukert, th. i. 1, s. 61-66. 



t Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 826. The destruction of Phoenician colonies 



