and situated on the bank of a large river, running from 
west toveast. Though the vague and indefinite na- 
ture of the account itself, the authority on which it 
rests, and the circumstance of its being obviously in- 
troduced for the purpose of proving that the Nile runs 
from the west, tend to throw considerable doubts on 
the truth, or at least the accuracy of this.relation, yet 
some eminent” ers are of opinion, that the 
town i -is‘no other than Tombuctoo 
on the banks of the Niger. 
Nile. Of the Nile, Herodotus speaks with more precision; 
and, as his information on the subject appears to have 
been derived from personal observation, it is on this 
account entitled to more credit. After detailing at 
some | the manner of ascending the river, and 
describing minutely the nature and inhabitants of the 
countries through which it passes before entering Egypt, 
he concludes by affirming that it certainly runs from 
the west, though he jos So lg that beyond the 
country of the Automoles it had never been explored. 
The Automoles, otherwise called Asmach, were origi- 
nally descended from a colony of Egyptian fugitives, 
but, at the time of Herodotus, inhabited a province 
subject to the king of Ethiopia, and lying as far to 
the south of his tal Meroe, as Meroe was from the 
great cataract, According to Eratosthenes, and other 
ancient , this town was situated on an 
island formed by the junction of the Atbar or Tacazze 
Sion Derren sa tran ee Sener eens ty 
e testimony of Mr Bruce, who discovered ificent 
ruins to the north of Chandi, opposite the ‘sland of Kur- 
, nethes this opinion be correct, it fixes the situation of 
in 17 degrees of north latitude, about 6 degrees 
south of the cataract, and 6 north of the Automoles. 
Herodotus, therefore, must have been acquainted with 
the course of the western branch of the Nile, as far as 
the eleventh parallel ; and of its course beyond this, no 
subsequent traveller has yet given any satisfactory in- 
formation. f 
» With to the circumnavigation of Africa ‘by 
the Pheenicians, Herodotus relates the story apparently 
as he received it, without determining any thing as to 
its being true or false. When Neco king of Egypt had 
completed his famous canal between the Nile and the 
Arabian gulf, he dispatched vessels manned with Phe- 
nician sailors, who, after navigating the ocean to the 
south of the Red Sea, were to return to Egypt by the 
pillars of Hercules and the Mediterranean: e*This they 
are said to have accomplished in less than three years, 
.-» including their stay on the coast of Africa, while they 
sowed and reaped a crop of corn. On their return, they 
related among other wonders, that in sailing round 
Lybia, the sun appeared to be on their right.‘ This,” 
says Herodotus, ‘“ appears to me altogether incredible, 
but it may not perhaps appear so to others.’? -On this 
it has been remarked by those, who are dis- 
d to admit the truth of the circumnavigation in 
question, that the very cireumstance which the histo- 
rian rejects as incredible, is one of the strongest argu- 
ments possible in favour of the tradition. The truth of 
this remark is too obvious to be disputed, and we are 
ready to admit the full force of the argument which it 
affords. At the same time we cannot by any means con- 
sider it as decisive. The Pheenicians we think might 
have sailed far enough to the south in the Indian Ocean 
to have observed the phenomenon of the sun to the 
north of the zenith, though they had never attempted, 
far less executed the circumnavigation of Africa; and 
we cannot avoid observing in passing, that they who 
#C. 604 
an 
GEOGRAPHY. 
139 
ave disposed on all occasions to magnify the discoveries, History. 
and exalt the merits of the ancients, would do wellto “yr” 
be on their d, lest pull down with one hand 
what they have taken pains to erect with the other. 
May not the incredulity expressed by Herodotus with 
regard to the position of the sun, be brought forward 
with some plausibility, as presumptive evidence against 
the commonly received opinion with regard to the ex- 
tent of his own travels up the Nile? It is difficult to 
conceive how he could possibly have advanced so. far 
as to the eleventh parallel of latitude without having 
heard at least of the sun being observed towards the 
north, | To say that such ajourney as this would never 
be undertaken while the sun was advancing towards 
the tropic of Cancer, on account of the overflowing 
by _ Nile, is hardly a satisfactory solution of the dif- 
culty. 
It has already been observed, that before the time of Discoveries 
Herodotus, the C inians had established a com- of the Car- 
mercial intercourse with some of the nations on the 
western coast of Africa; though it is not exactly known 
when this intercourse began, or how far it extended. 
There is reason, however, to believe, that the voyage 
of Hanno; which some say reached to the mouth of 
the Senegal, was not earlier than the end of the fifth, 
or beginning of the fourth century before Christ, and 
that it was about the same time that the Carthaginians 
first became acquainted with the Canaries, the northern 
provinces of Spain, and the British islands. The latter, 
indeed, had in all probability been visited at a much 
earlier period by the Phoenicians, who carried on a lu- 
crative trade in din with the. inhabitants of Cornwall. 
During this same period, the Greeks continued to cul- 
tivate geography with ardour and success. Hippo- yippocra- 
crates, the celebrated physician of Cos, retracing the tes. 
footsteps of Herodotus, and sometimes penetrating be~ B. C. 420. 
yond his predecessor, collected many valuable observa- 
tions on the temperature and humidity of different cli- 
mates as_affecting the human constitution, and may 
perhaps be justly styled the father of physical geo- 
hy. The subject in all its bearings wanted only 
tobe reduced to a regular and systematic form, to be 
placed:on a footing with the other sciences, and fortu- 
nately the execution of this task fell to one who of all 
men perhaps was the best qualified to do it justice. 
Aristotle directing towards it the energies of his power- Aristotle, 
ful mind, stamped a value on the discoveries and ob- B. C, 340. 
servations of others, which till his time they had never 
possessed. He collected and combined the whole of 
these facts into one system of geographical knowledge, 
deduced from them the spherical figure, of the earth, 
(the fundamental principle of all geography), and in 
this smple form put the science, along with others, in- 
to the hand of his royal pupil, to smooth the march of 
conquest, and make some reparation for the violated 
liberties of sb gif; g 
The expedition of Alexander constitutes anera in the p; . 
history of ancient geography. As eager to be thought Lop meg 
the patron of science as the conqueror of the world, he der and his 
was careful on all occasions to blend the two charac- followers. 
ters, and judiciously left to posterity an accurate geo. * © 33. 
spphicel account of his expeditions, as the most du- 
rable monument of his military glory. His succes- 
sors indeed, however anxious they were to imitate him 
in other respects, did not shew the same predilection 
for literary fame. But from the school which he esta- 
blished in Alexandria, the light of science continued to 
emanate with increasing splendour ; and even to one of 
his generals, Seleucus Nicanor, who carried his victo- 
