36 ANCIENT KNOWLEDGE OF AFRICA. 



Leone, and that the bay and island of the Gorillae were 

 Sherbro' Island and Sound ; while the other terminates the 

 voyage on the frontier of Morocco, at the entrance of the 

 river Nun. The one supposes a run of about 600 miles, 

 the other one of nearly 3000 ; and yet each theory is sup- 

 ported by profound and able arguments. In such a case 

 who shall decide 1 I really have made some attempts to do 

 so, without being able to come to so clear a decision as 

 would justify me in interposing between two such mighty 

 champions. But he who will undertake the study of the 

 original works will be gratified by finding all the resources 

 of learning, ingenuity, and acuteness exhausted by these 

 two great writers on this curious subject. 



The individual who in that early age made the most re- 

 solute and persevering efiforts to explore Africa was Eu- 

 doxus, a native of the city of Cyzicus, who lived about 130 

 years before Christ. Alexandria was then the centre of 

 naval enterprise, and her Greek princes the most zealous 

 patrons of all useful undertakings. Eudoxus, happening to 

 \'isit that city, was introduced to Ptolemy Euergetes, whom 

 he ably assisted in prosecuting those schemes of discovery 

 on which this monarch's mind appears to have been deeply 

 intent. Where so much was unknown on every side, it 

 was a subject of grave deliberation in what direction he 

 should first proceed ; and an expedition to trace the upper 

 course and fountain of the Nile was at one time contem- 

 plated. But the spirit of adventure was soon turned towards 

 another object by the arrival of a native of India, whom 

 one of the king's vessels had saved from shipwreck, and 

 who offered to act as pilot in leading Eudoxus to that opu- 

 lent and celebrated region. The latter performed the voy- 

 age to India prosperously, and returned laden with wealth. 

 Though not quite satisfied with the manner in which he 

 was treated by the king, he yet undertook another expedi- 

 tion to the same quarter. On emerging from the Red Sea, 

 he was driven by a storm upon the eastern coast of Africa, 

 where he observed the land taking such a direction as in- 

 spired the idea that it might, by no vast circuit, lead round 

 to the Straits of Gibraltar. To be the circumna\igator of 

 Africa became from that moment the object to which the life 

 of Eudoxus was devoted. On his return to Alexandria, 

 Euergetes was dead, and the succeeding sovereign gave him 



