ANCIENT KNOWLEDGE OF AFRICA. 31 



Diodorus and Strabo, according to the miserable food on 

 which they usually subsisted ; some as eaters of lish, 

 of elephants, and of turtles; while others are said to 

 have fed on locusts, on roots, and even on the tender 

 branches of trees. Many sought shelter also in places 

 which had no regular claim to be considered as human ha- 

 bitations. These were either cavities dug out of the rock, 

 with an opening to the north for coolness, or they were 

 formed by twisting together the branches of several large 

 shrubs, and constructing thus a species of shady arbour; 

 while some tribes, still more forlorn, merely climbed the 

 trees to seek safety and shelter among the branches. These 

 representations were once deemed fabulous, and might still 

 have been thought so, had not Bruce and other modern tra- 

 vellers proved the existence of similar rudeness among the 

 Shangalla and other tribes that border on Abyssinia. 



The districts now surveyed form the whole of Africa 

 respecting which the Greeks had obtained any precise and 

 determinate knowledge. It comprised a wide extent of 

 shore, but extended a very short distance inland ; being 

 bounded on each side by two unknown coasts, which 

 stretched so far that it was not possible to conjecture their 

 termination. Two tempestuous oceans, a desert the most 

 <lreary on the face of the earth, and infested by multitudes 

 of huge and ferocious animals, were the barriers that 

 hemmed in so closely the ancient settlers, and could scarcely 

 in any instance be passed with impunity. Yet the prin- 

 ciple of curiosity cannot be extinguished in the human 

 breast, and is even rendered more ardent by the greatest 

 obstacles. To lift up a portion of that veil within which 

 the vast mysteries of unknown Libya were shrouded, ap- 

 peared an achievement rivalling the glories of conquest, and 

 promised to confer immortal renown. The most active and 

 adventurous spirits accordingly, who sought to acquire ce- 

 lebrity by exploring the earth, looked to Africa as affording 

 the grandest theatre of fame and adventure. 



Two expeditions of discovery, the earliest known, and 

 perhaps that ever existed, are related by Herodotus. One 

 of the most illustrious of the native kings of Egypt was 

 Necho, whose name ranks second only to that of Sesostris, 

 and who lived about two hundred years before the histo- 

 rian. The habits and prejudices of the ancient Egyptians 



