138 
History. learn, however, from his writings, that, 1700 years be- 
fore Christ, a commercial intercourse subsisted between 
the Midianites, who inhabited the country on the 
northern extremity of the Persian Gulf, and expt, by 
way of Palestine. From that period, till within 500 
years of the Christian era, the Hebrew writings make 
frequent allusions to the commerce of eastern countries, 
and it is probable that the Pheenicians were at this time 
acquainted with many countries, particularly to thewest, 
of which history makes no mention. The geography 
of the Hebrews themselves, however, does not appear to 
hy of the Dave extended, at this period, beyond Mount Caucasus to 
Ties. the north, the entrance of the Red Sea to the south, 
B.C. 500. and the Archipelago to the west, including the coun- 
tries of Asia Minor, Armenia, Assyria, and Arabia in 
Asia, with Egypt, and a little of Abyssinia in Africa. 
an The Greeks, about the same period, reckoning Delphi 
Grecks, the centre of the habitable world, were acquainted with 
B. C. 500. little more than the country included under the name 
Greece, together with the islands in the Archipelago, 
the western part of Asia Minor, the sea-coast of Egypt 
and Lybia in Africa, and a little of the south of Italy, 
Beyond this circle all was involved in darkness and 
conjecture, With regard to the Egyptians, with whom 
it has been supposed that the science of geography ori- 
ginated, there are no authenticated faets to show, that 
they had ever been distinguished for enterprise or ad- 
venture, previous to the period of which we are speak- 
ing, still less that they had ever led the way in geo- 
graphical discoveries. From the peculiar circumstances 
of their situation, they must have been obliged, at an 
early period, to apply themselves to topography, as they 
did to geometry ; but there is every reason to believe 
that, for their knowledge of foreign countries, th 
were indebted to the Pheenicians and others, who vi- 
sited them for the purpose of commerce. 
The Greeks Such was the condition of the most enlightened na- 
colonize the tions of the world. with regard to ecngnaphital know- 
_— Jiter. 4ge; at the commencement of the fifth century, before 
ae a and the birth of Christ. In the course of the next seventy 
part of years, however, many interesting and important dis- 
Spain. coveries were made by the Greeks. Colonies of that 
B.C. 500 to people, either driven from their native country by in- 
430. testine commotion, or induced by the prospect of wealth 
to go in quest of new settlements, successively esta- 
blished themselves in Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and 
even some of the southern provinces of Spain. For 
their success in these enterprises, they are said to have 
been greatly indebted to the geographical and nautical 
charts which they contrived to obtain from the Pheeni- 
cians, and which, with the sphere alleged to have been 
First artifi- constructed by Anaximander the Milesian, and disciple 
cial sphere of Thales, were the first attempts of which we have any 
pt eg authentic information, towards delineating the whole, 
nanier oF any considerable portion of the earth’s surface. But 
B.C. 568, Whatever might have been the merits of Anaximander’s 
globe, or of the Phoenician maps, it is certain that the 
Greeks had not borrowed from either, any correct no- 
tions with regard to the figure of the earth. It was reser- 
ved for Herodotus to contradict, from his own personal 
ptt observations, the idea of the habitable world being a cir- 
tas, ular plane, surrounded by the river Ocean. This distin- 
B. C. 484 to guished writer, who has been styled the father of his- 
413. tory, and who, as an attentive and intelligent traveller, 
has never been surpassed, perhaps seldom equalled by 
any, either in ancient or modern times, was a native of 
Halicarnassus, in lesser Asia. Imbibing, in all probabi- 
lity, that spirit. of commercial enterprise for which his 
countrymen were distinguished, and possessing confi- 
1 
Limits of 
the geogra- 
Geography 
Claims of 
the Egyp- 
tians to the 
origin of ge- 
ography 
Discoveries 
GEOGRAPHY. 
dence in himself sufficient to raise him above’ vulgar 
ey tag and opinions not founded in facts, he push- 
ed his researches into many countries, which till that 
time had never been explored. He visited the Greek 
colonies on the Black Sea, and measured the extent of 
the latter from the Bosphorus and the mouth of the 
Phasis at the eastern extremity. He traversed the | 
country between the Borysthenes and Hypanis, now a 
part of southern Russia, explored the coasts of the Palus 
Meeotis, (sea of Azof) and obtained correct informa- 
tion with regard to the situation and extent of the Cas- 
pian Sea. He visited Babylon and Suza, and was well 
acquainted with the greater part of the Persian mo- 
narchy. He Poetic through the whole of Egypt, 
where he obtained a great deal of interesting informa« 
tion respecting the caravans from the interior of Africa, 
and also visited the Grecian colonies of Cyrene. From 
his description of the straits of Thermopylae, it is obvi« 
ous that he had been in Greece, peas traced the 
course of the Ister (Danube,;) from its mouth almost to 
its source. He terminated this career of discovery and 
adventure, as useful to others as honourable to himself, 
in. the southern of Italy, where it is also suppos 
that he finished his much admired history. 
In estimating the extent of the geographical informa- Limits of 
tion furnished by Herodotus, we are by no means to limit the geogr 
it to the circle which he described, and which we have Phy of H 
just traced out. Possessing in an eminent degree those 
ualifications which distinguish the intelligent traveller 
from the mere tourist, he was enabled;to collect. much 
valuable information respecting countries which he had 
no opportunity of mieiting; and the accounts, which he 
gives of these countries have been confirmed by the 
most unquestionable of all evidence, the striking simi- 
larity in the characteristic features of their ancient and 
modern inhabitants. _ Viewing it in this light, the geo- 
graphy of Herodotus extended to the greater part of 
Poland and European Russia, western ‘Tartary, the 
country on the Indus from its source to the confines of 
the Cashmere, Arabia, and the northern parts of Afri- 
ca, He sometimes mentions Carthage, and gives an 
account of a traffic carried on without the intervention 
of language, between the Carthaginians and a nation 
beyond the Pillars of Hercules, which has been consi- 
dered as applicable to that of Senegambia, There is 
nothing explicit, however, in the text of Herodotus, with 
regard either to the name or the situation of the coun- 
try. 
subjects, which still continue to agitate the scientific 
world, we mean the Niger, the Nile, and the pretended 
eircumnavigation of Africa by the Pheenicians. With 
regard to the Niger, the only passage in Herodotus 
that can possibly allude to this river, is the account 
which he gives on the authority of Etearchus, king of 
the Ammonians, of a journey into the interior of Africa, 
undertaken by five young Nasamons, a people situated 
at the extremity of the Gulf of Sydra. These travel- 
lers having, in the first part of their journey, passed, 
through an inhabited country, came to an immense 
sandy desert, through which they continued their route 
westward, till they reached an extensive plain covered 
with vegetation. While they were enjoying the shade, 
and eating the fruit of the trees which they found there, 
they were fallen upon by men of a very diminutive 
size, who conducted them across a swampy country, 
till they came to a town inhabited by black people, 
y. d : 
Before concluding this short review of the travels of His 
our author, it may not be improper to notice the infor- of the 
mation which he gives, or is supposed to give, on three 8 
jotus. 
are 
