Before Chrift 524. 



53 



Albions) where they found copious mines of tin and lead, and an high- 

 fpirited and commercial people, who ufed boats covered with leather. 

 This defcription, though the pofition of the iflands is defcribed in a 

 manner remarkably obfcure, anfwers to no other country io well as 

 our Britif}) iflands ; and it is extremely probable, that Himilco eftablifh- 

 ed a Carthaginian colony, and fettled the firfl commercial intercourfe 

 between Britain and Carthage *. 



The objedl of Hanno's voyage being to make difcoveries.and eflablifh 

 colonies, on the weft coafl of Africa, 30,000 people embarked with him 

 in 60 fhips of 50 oars each f. On various parts of the coafl he founded 

 at leaft feven towns, or trading pofts, whereof the fartheft, reckoned as 

 many days' courfe beyond the Straits as Carthage was within them, was 

 on a fmall ifland lying in a bay, to which he gave the name of Kerne 

 (or Cerne), and apparently that which is now called Mogadore %. From 



* DIonyfius Periegetes [y. 563I defcribes the 

 iflands of the Hefperides (which he feemiiigly 

 places near to Britain) as ' the native country of 

 ' tin, inhabited by the wealthy Ions (or defcend- 

 ' ents) of the illullrious Iberians,' who were ap- 

 parently the people defcribed by Skylax and Avi- 

 enus, as living near Gadir, befide the lefTer river 

 Iberus, now Rio Tinto in Andaluiia. From the 

 antient Iberians Tacitns conjeftures the Silures 

 (the old inhabitants of South Wales) to be de- 

 fcended. \_Fit. Agric. c. II.] The cin'ef ifland of 

 the duller near the fouth-well extremity of Bri- 

 tain is called Sigdells in Antonine's Maritime Iti- 

 nerary, Silura by Solinus, \j. z\\ Sillins by Sul- 

 picius Severus, [/.. iij and is now called tJilley. 

 Avienus fays, \Ora maritima, v. 113] that the 

 Tartefians ( fo he calls the people of Gadir) were 

 accuitomed to trade to tlie Oeilrymnidcs, and he 

 then adds, that the huftjandmen or planters (' co- 

 ' /oni') and people of Carthage alfo went to them, 

 which icems to infer the edablifliment of a per- 

 manent colony. It appears extremely probable, 

 that Hefperides, Oeftrymnidcs, and Caifiterides, 

 are but different names of the fame duller of 

 iflands, the chief one of which got the name of 

 Silura, Silleni, or Silley, which name now com- 

 prehends the whole : and, if fo, Avienus perfetlly 

 agrees with Strabo, who fays that the firtl voyages 

 were made to thefe iflands from Gadir. 



The Icltlement of a colony of farmers mull have 

 required a more extenfive territoiy than the Silley 

 iflands, tliough they may perhaps have been much 

 largei- formerly than now. [See IVhitiikcr's Hij}. 

 of Manchefltr, pp. 385, elfeqq, where in p. 392 by 

 ' one tadam water' we mull underlland one fathom 

 oi depth, and not oi breadth.'} The probability of 

 Inch a lettlement corroborates the fuppofltion, that 

 the Phcenidans of Gadir and Carthage confidered 

 the extremity of the main land of Britain as a part 

 of the iflauds. [See above, p. 45, Note.] 



Ocampo, a Spanifli author, has compofed a 



Routlere of Himilco's voyage : but, as his only 

 foundation is the obfcure and mutilated work of 

 Avienus, it is almoll needlefs to fay, that it can 

 only contain ingenious conjefture in place of fatis- 

 fadtory elucidation. 



f Of Hanno's voyage we have only a Greek 

 tranflation, or rather abridgement. We may 

 therefor fufpedl the number of people to be erro- 

 neous, as it is not probable that fo many would 

 embark before the coafl; was explored, the fl;ations 

 for the new coionifts chofen, and the plan of the 

 emigration and fettlement ducly arranged. As 

 the numbers Hand, the veflels mufl; have carried 

 500 perlons each, befidcs provifions, materials for 

 building, and other bulky llores. Mr. Le Roy 

 endeavours to account for the great number of 

 pallengers in each fliip by obferving, that not many 

 days elapfed before the number was lefTened by the 

 fettlement of Thyniiaterium, that in a fliort time 

 all the propofed fettlers were landed, and that, as 

 they undoubtedly failed in the finefl; feafon of the 

 year, the people would find no Incovenlence in liv- 

 ing upon deck. \_Navim des anciens, p. 192.] 



\ Polybius, who failed along the coall, defcribes 

 Kerne \_np. Plin. L. vi, c. 31] as oppofite to 

 Mount Atlas, and about a mile from the main 

 land ; and wltli him Ptolemy nearly agrees, who 

 plainly places Kerne north from tlie Fortunate 

 iflands or Canaries. Thefe marks, and the con- 

 fideration, that the Carthaginians would probably 

 not make as much real dillance on an unknown, 

 as on a known, coaft, may almofl: fix the much- 

 contelled pofition of Kerne, which can anfwer to 

 no other place fo well as the little ifland of Moga- 

 dore, the harbour of which is a fmall bay between 

 it and the cor^il of Morocco. It is wonderful, tiiat 

 men of learning, with the clear evidence of Poly- 

 bius and Ptolemy, and fome other antient anthors, 

 before their eyes, (hould let their fancy run fo wild, 

 as to take the confiderable ifland of St. Thomas, 

 almoll under the equinoftial line, or Madeira, alfo 



