ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. 127 



iques qui se rattachent au nom d' Atlas," in Fe*russac's Bulletin 

 universel des Sciences, Mars 1831, p. 10. 



Considering that our present (it is true, very limited) geological 

 knowledge of the mountainous parts of North Africa does not make 

 us acquainted with any trace of volcanic eruptions within historic 

 times, it is very remarkable to find among the ancients so many 

 indications of a belief in the existence of this class of phenomena, 

 in the Western Atlas, and in the neighboring west coast of the con- 

 tinent. The streams of fire, so often mentioned in Hanno's ship- 

 journal, may indeed have only been strips of burning grass, or signal 

 fires kindled by the wild inhabitants of the coasts to give to each 

 other notice of the danger threatened by the appearance of the hos- 

 tile vessels. The lofty flame-enlightened summit of the "chariot of 

 the gods" (fowl/ ojtypa), may recall obscurely the Peak of Teneriffe; 

 but farther on Hanno describes a singular conformation of ground. He 

 finds in the Grulf near the Western Horn, a large island, and in it a salt 

 lake which again contains a smaller island. South of the bay of the 

 Grorilla Apes, the same conformation is repeated. Is this a descrip- 

 tion of coral productions, of " lagoon islands (Atolls)," or volcanic 

 " crater lakes" in the middle of which a cone has been upheaved ? 

 The Triton lake was not in the neighborhood of the lesser Syrtis, 

 but near the Atlantic coast. (Asie Cent. t. i. p. 179.) The lake 

 disappeared in consequence of earthquakes which were accompanied 

 by great outbursts of fire. Diodorus (lib. iii. 53, 55) says expressly, 

 jtvpbs sxtyvtqpa.'ea, fit-yaKa. But the most wonderful conformation is 

 ascribed to the " hollow Atlas" in a passage hitherto little noticed, 

 occurring in one of the philosophic Dialexes of Maximus Tyrius. 

 This Platonic philosopher lived in Rome, under Comniodus. The 

 situation of his Atlas is " on the continent, where the Western 

 .Lybians inhabit a projecting peninsula. The mountain has in it 

 towards the sea a semicircular deep abyss." The precipices are so 

 steep that they cannot be descended; the abyss below is filled with 

 trees, and " one looks down upon their summits, and on the fruits 

 which they bear, as if one was looking into a well." (Maximus 

 Tyrius, viii. 7, ed. Markland.) The description is so graphic and 

 so individually marked, that it doubtless conveys the recollections 

 impressed by a real prospect. 



