DISCOVERIES OF THE ANCIEKTS. 5 
began in the islands called Cyclades, the earliest 
seat of Grecian science. There it was adopted, 
in order to discriminate between the opposite 
shores of Greece and of Caria. It appears from 
Homer, that the latter actually contained a 
small district called Asia, which, from this sin- 
gular accident of its position, has given its name 
to a third part of the habitable globe. As know- 
ledge extended, the name of Asia soon spread over 
the whole peninsula, of which Caria formed 
the western extremity. It gradually took a far 
wider range ; yet this peninsula continued to be 
called Asia Proper, or Asia Minor, which last 
name it retains to this day. In the same manner, 
the coast of Libya naturally formed a third conti- 
nent, which was called Africa, or Southland, ex- 
pressive of its relative position to Greece. Ac- 
cordingly, we find here a district, which, down to 
the twelfth century, was called Africa Proper, and 
sometimes Africa Minor ; to which we may add, 
that Libya, the native name of this region, is, 
by the most ancient writers, generally extended to 
the whole continent. From these three positions, 
the progress of discovery spread in every direction ; 
and each newly explored region was added to the 
quarter from which the discoverer had taken his 
departure. At length the adventurers from dif- 
ferent sides met ; and at that point, the boundary 
line of two continents was fixed. The meeting of 
