M DISCOVERIES OF THE ANCIENTS. 
again obtain a footing upon this sea. Discon- 
tinned thus for several ages, we may easily sup- 
pose the recollection of it to have been entirely 
lost. 
The Greeks, whom no report of the existence 
of Tarshish and Ophir seems ever to have reach- 
ed, were thus left entirely to their own efforts for 
exploring the east of Africa. The first narrative 
of a voyage thither is indistinct, and rests even 
under strong imputations of fable. Evemerus, a 
Messenian, sent by Cassander, king of Macedonia, 
is said to have discovered, opposite to the southern 
coast of Arabia Felix, three islands, which bore 
the general name of Panchaea. They consisted 
of one very large, with two smaller, which lay to 
the east ; and from the farthest of which India 
was descried like a cloud in the distant sky. The 
territory yielded myrrh and frankincense in such 
extraordinary abundance, that the whole world 
was thence supplied with these fragrant aromatics. 
A profusion of the most beautiful trees and shrubs, 
with every thing which can minister to use or 
beauty, is said to have rendered this region com- 
pletely a paradise. The government was that of 
a limited monarchy, where great power was vested 
in the people, and the priests were held in extra- 
ordinary veneration.* The general voice of anti- 
* Diodorus, V. 42. 
