52 APPENDIX. [sect. 



this inquiry in the shape of expeditions lost, hopes defeated, 

 projects abandoned, and theories proved false, make our tra- 

 veller's successful solution of it to become the more completely 

 triumphant. It has taken a long series of years to help us to 

 know as much of the geography of Africa as we do. 



The earliest voyages to the eastern coast were 



Earliest at- those to Tarshish and to Ophir, mentioned in 



tempts at the . . . * 



exploration of Scripture. The Phoenicians under Pharaoh Ne- 



central Africa, c ] 10 are ga ^ ^o have circumnavigated this con- 

 as well as of . . , ., . . , 

 its coasts. tinent in three years. Likewise it is reported 



that Sataspes, a Persian nobleman, was com- 

 manded by Xerxes to attempt such a voyage, as a penal sen- 

 tence commuted from death, but he did not succeed. 



According to Strabo, Eudoxus, a native of Cyzicus, made 

 a like attempt. The Carthaginians actively tried both to ex- 

 plore the interior, and to survey the coasts. The Periplus of 

 Hanno contains a journal of his voyage with the latter view. 



Antiquity is almost silent about any explorations of the 

 interior. Whatever references to these have been transmitted 

 to us by the ancients, they differ from those of Dr Livingstone 

 in the significant respect, that they were all attempted from 

 the north of the continent, while his were accomplished from 

 the south. In fact, most of the ancient and modern expe- 

 ditions not only set out from a point differing from his, but 

 also refer more to central north than to central south Africa. 

 Until his labours threw new light on the latter, the former 

 lias hitherto been far the best known. 



Herodotus says that five young Nasaraonians penetrated 

 across the Great Desert from the north, possibly as far as the 

 Niger. It is thought that this great historian knew the true 

 sources of the Nile. Cambyses sent two divisions of his 

 army to explore towards the south and south-west; but with 

 disastrous results. Alexander visited the temple of Jupiter 

 Amnion, which stood in the oasis to the west of Alexandria. 

 Under the Ptolemies attempts at exploration were made; also 



