610 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER | 
——Non ili flamma,necunde, = == 
Nec frerilis Libye, nec Syrticus obfitit Ammons 
. Ifet in occafus, mundi devexa fecutus:, 9) 
Ambiffetque polos, Nilumque a_fonte bibiffer m 
Occurrit fuprema dies, naturaque folum 
unc potuit finem vefano ponere regi. 
| : _ Lucan. 
Ir muft no doubt feem prepofterous to thofe that are 
not very converfant with the claffics, that a prince fo well 
inftructed as Alexander himfelf was, who had with him in 
his army many philofophers, geographers, and -aftrone- 
mers, and was in coniftant correfpondénce with Ariftotle, a 
man of almoft univerfal knowledge, that, after having feen 
the Nile in Egypt coming from the fouth, he fhould think 
he was arrived at the head of 1t while on the banks of the 
Indus, fo far to the N. E. of its Ethiopian courfe.. This: 
difficulty, however, has a very eafy folution in the prejudi- 
ces of thofe times. The ancients were incorrigible as to. 
their error in opinion concerning two feas, 
Tue Cafpian Sea they had failed through in feveral direc> 
tions; and had almoft marched round it; and whilf they 
conquered kingdoms between it and the fea, its water was 
fweet, it neither ebbed nor flowed, and yet they moft ridi- 
culoufly would have it to be part of the ocean. On the 
other hand, they obftinately perfifted in believing that, from: 
the eaft coaft of Africa, about latitude 15° fouth, a neck of 
land ran eaft and north-eaft, and joined the peninfula of In- 
dia, and by that means made this part of the ocean a lake. 
In vain fhips of different nations failed for ages to Sofala, 
and faw no fuch land; this only made them remove the 
i | neck 
