THE PERIPLTJS OF HANNO. 115 



region was subdued ; the Tyrian factory became a 

 mighty empire. Many of the roving tribes were 

 broken in ; the others were driven into the desert or 

 the wild Morocco. A line of fortified posts and block 

 houses protected the cultivated land. The desire to 

 obtain red cloth and amber and blue beads secured the 

 allegiance of many unconquerable desert tribes, and by 

 their means, although the camel had not yet been 

 introduced, a trade was opened up between Carthage 

 and Timbuctoo. Negro slaves bearing tusks of ivory 

 on their shoulders and tied to one another, so as to 

 form a chain of flesh and blood, were driven across the 

 terrible desert ; a caravan of death, the route of which 

 was marked by bones bleaching in the sun. Gold 

 dust also was brought over from those regions of the 

 Niger ; and the Carthaginian traders reached the 

 same land by sea. For they were not content like 

 the Tyrians to trade only on the Morocco Coast as 

 far as Mogadore. By good fortune there has been 

 preserved the log-book of an expedition which sailed 

 to the wood-covered shores of Guinea ; saw the hills 

 covered with fire as they always are in the dry season, 

 when the grass is being burnt ; heard the music of 

 the natives in the night, and brought home the 

 skins of three Chimpanzees which they probably 

 killed near Sierra Leone. 



When Phoenicia died, Carthage inherited its settle- 

 ments on the coasts of Sicily and Spain and on the 

 adjoining isles. Not only were these islands valuable 

 possessions in themselves, Malta as a cotton planta- 

 tion, Elba as an iron mine, Majorca and Minorca as 

 a recruiting ground for slingers ; they were also 

 useful as naval stations to preserve the monopoly of 

 the western waters. 



