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CHAP. XXIII. 



Maritime Discoveries of the Phoenicians. — Expedition of Hanno. — Circumnaviga- 

 tion of Africa under the Pharaoh Necho. — Colaeus of Samos. — Pytheas of 

 Massilia. — Expedition of Nearchus. — Circumnavigation of Bundostan under 

 the Ptolemies. — Voyages of Discovery of the Romans. — Consequences of the 

 Fall of the Eoman Empire. — Amaffi. — Pisa. — Venice. — Genoa. — Resump- 

 tion of Maritime Intercourse between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic — 

 Discovery of the Mariner's Compass. — Marco Polo. 



Among the nations of antiquity, navigation, as may well be sup- 

 posed, was in a very rude and imperfect state. Unacquainted 

 with the mariner's compass, which during the darkest and most 

 tempestuous nights safely leads the modern seaman over the 

 pathless ocean, the sparkling constellations of a serene sky, or 

 the position of- the sun, were the only guides of the ancient 

 navigator. He therefore rarely ventured to lose sight of land, 

 but cautiously steering his little bark along the shore, was 

 subject to all the delays and dangers of coast navigation. Even 

 under the mild sky and in the calm waters of the Mediterranean, 

 it was only during the summer months that he dared to leave 

 the port ; to brave the fury of the wintry winds was a boldness 

 he never could have thought of. Under such adverse circum- 

 stances, it is surely far less astonishing that the geographical 

 knowledge of the ancients was so extremely limited when com- 

 pared with ours, than that with means so scanty they yet should 

 have known so much of the boundaries of ocean. 



But the spirit of commercial enterprise triumphs over every 

 difficulty. Stimulated by the love of gain, and the hope of dis- 

 covering new sources of wealth, the Phoenicians, the first great 

 maritime nation mentioned in history, were continually enlarging 

 the limits of the known earth, until the fatal moment when 

 the sword of the conqueror destroyed their cities, and extin- 

 guished their power for ever. 



The first periods of Phoenician greatness are veiled in the 

 mysterious darkness of an unknown past, yet so much is certain. 



