30 
DISCOVERIES OF THE ANCIENTS. 
in lifting the veil, by which those vast regions 
were covered. 
All the nations who inhabited within or beyond 
the desert were generally known by the name of 
Ethiopians, The term becomes thus nearly syno- 
nymous with that of Negro^ though it does not 
always imply complete blackness of complexion ; 
Ptolemy and Phny even distinguish a race by the 
name of White Ethiopians. The tract, however, 
peculiarly considered as the kingdom of Ethiopia, 
was that which lay " under Egypt," by which 
was meant Nubia, with part of Abyssinia. This 
kingdom, with its capital, Meroe, was chiefly 
known by the formidable irruptions made thence 
into Egypt, which repeatedly subjected that coun- 
try to Ethiopian dynasties. Diodorus represents 
them as the most ancient of nations, and their 
country as the cradle of civilization, adding, that 
Egypt w^as indebted to them for its boasted sci- 
ence. But, according to Herodotus, an earlier 
and higher authority, all the civilization which 
Ethiopia ever possessed was introduced by colo- 
nists from Egypt. It is a more probable report, 
that many of the objects of ancient worship were 
drawn from this region, whose mysterious remote- 
ness naturally tended to inspire sentiments favour- 
able to the growth of superstition. 
The first journey into the interior, undertaken 
for the purpose of discovery, is that remarkable 
