THE PHOENICIANS. 37 



Cornewall Lewis' own work to show how authors may suffer 

 by this mode of treatment.* 



Take, for instance, the case of Himilco, who was sent 

 during the prosperous times of Carthage to examine the 

 north-western coasts of Europe. His writings have unfor- 

 tunately perished, and our knowledge of them, derived from 

 the " Ora maritima," a geographical poem by Avienus, is 

 thus summed up by Sir Cornewall Lewis : " The report of 

 Himilco, that the voyage from Gades to the Tin Islands (i.e. to 

 Cornwall) occupied at least four months; and that navigation 

 in these remote waters was impeded by the motionless air, by 

 the abundance of seaweed, and by the monsters of the deep 

 fables which the ancient mariners recounted of unexplored 

 seas would not be very attractive for the traders of the 

 Carthaginian colonies." This argument does not seem to 

 be quite satisfactory, because, if Himilco really did make this 

 voyage, then such voyages were possible ; and, on the other 

 hand, if he did not do so, and if his statements were such 

 mere fables, we may safely assume that the shrewd merchants 

 of Carthage would detect the imposition, and would extract 

 the truth, if not from Himilco himself, at any rate from 

 some of those by whom he was accompanied. 



But let that pass ; we will examine the four " fables " 

 specially referred to by Sir G. C. Lewis. It is unnecessary 

 to say anything about the "motionless air;" it would be 

 doing an injustice to Sir Cornewall Lewis to suppose that 

 he regarded this as a serious objection. It may be an 

 invention, but it is not an improbability. Neither is the 

 time occupied by an exploring expedition any test of 

 that which would be required for a commercial voyage. 

 Nor will I lay any stress on the statement that Himilco's 



* In the long chapter which he de- Hieroglyphics, the name of Dr. Young 

 votes to the Egyptian Chronology and is not once mentioned. 



