8TBAITS OF OIBRALTAE. 299 



on the side of the Atlantic, while at the presnt time 

 it is double that distance between Spartel and Tra- 

 falgar. 



Turanius Gracilis, who was bom on the shores of 

 the strait 100 years B.C., gives the width from Mel- 

 laria, in Spain, to Cape Blanco, on the African side, 

 as about foui -h-nd-a-half miles, or, more accurately, 

 7800 yards. 



Strabo estimates the greatest breadth at nearly 

 seven miles, or about 12,000 yards. 



Pliny, who had been quaestor in Spain, and had 

 visited the strait, gives about seven-and-a-half miles 

 for the narrowest part, and about ten miles for the 

 widest. 



Bishop Victor, about a.d. 500, found the distance 

 about twelve miles ; the Spanish measurement at pre- 

 sent is fourteen miles. 



These various estimates are good evidence that the 

 strait has been gra lually enlarged from remote times 

 to the present. Besides this, Avienus relates that 

 between Africa and Europe there were two wooded 

 isles, on which were built a temple and altars iu 

 honour of Hercules. These were called the Pillars of 

 Hercules. The same author mentions that the Car- 

 thaginians were obliged to build flat-bottomed vessels 

 to sail over the shallow water. Finally, he says, we 

 know that Hannibal reports that there was a bottom- 



