52 



HISTORY OF THE SEA, 



there, had already drawn toward it in a particular degree the 

 attention of the ancient world. The manner in which its coasts 

 converged, south of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, sug- 

 gested the idea of a peninsula, the circumnavigation of which 

 might be effected even by the limited resources of the early 

 naval powers. The first attempt in this direction originated in 

 a quarter which had been accustomed, from its agricultural avo- 

 cations, to hold itself aloof from every species of maritime 

 enterprise. It was undertaken by order of Necho, king of 

 Egypt, — the Pharaoh Necho of the Scriptures, — and is recorded 

 by Herodotus as follows : 



"When Necho had desisted from his attempts to join the 

 Red Sea with the Mediterranean by means of a canal at the 

 Isthmus of Suez, he despatched some vessels, under the guidance 

 of Phoenician pilots, with orders to sail down the Red Sea and 

 follow the coast of Africa : they were to return to Egypt by the 

 Pillars of Hercules and the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians, 

 therefore, taking their course by way of the Red Sea, sailed 

 onward to the Southern Ocean. Upon the approach of autumn 

 they landed in Libya and planted corn in the place where thej 

 first went ashore. When this was ripe they cut it down and 

 set sail again. Having in this manner consumed two years, 

 in the third they passed the Pillars of Hercules and returned to 

 Egypt. This story may be believed by others, but to me it 

 appears incredible, for they affirm that when they sailed round 

 Libya they had the sun on their right hand." 



In the time of Herodotus, the Greeks were unacquainted 

 with the phenomenon of a shadow falling to the south, — one 

 which the Phoenicians would naturally have witnessed had they 

 actually passed the Cape of Good Hope, for the sun would have 

 been on their right hand, or in the north, and would thus have 

 projected shadows to the south. As this story was not one likely 

 to have been invented in the time of Necho, it is the strongest 

 proof that could be adduced of the reality of the voyage. Doubts 



