34 DISCOVERIES OF THE ANCIENTS. 
a darling of fate, over whom the perils that over- 
whelm the rest of mankind would lose their influ- 
ence. The army, however, suffered immensely 
during this march ; and, but for a seasonable 
shower, the consequences might have been fatal. 
At length, they beheld with astonishment, in the 
heart of this immense desert, a spot covered with 
luxuriant verdure, flowing rivulets, and all the 
beauties of perpetual spring. The king then 
sought the most aged of the interpreters of the 
oracle, and inquired his own origin and destiny. 
The spears of the invincible phalanx, drawn up 
in battle array, threw a wonderful light on the 
eyes of the prophet. He at once saw and owned 
Alexander as the son of Jupiter, and worthy of 
divine honours ; a declaration with which the 
monarch departed better satisfied than some of 
his followers. 
Under the liberal and enlightened administra- 
tion of the Ptolemies, it cannot be doubted, that 
great efforts would be made to extend the know- 
ledge of interior Africa. The same may proba- 
bly be said of the Romans, whose writers evident- 
ly show that their countrymen felt on this subject 
the same mixture of wonder and curiosity, which 
animated the natives of Egypt and Greece. The 
fruit of this spirit of inquiry appears in the ex- 
tended knowledge of the geographical writers of 
the first and second centuries. Of the steps, how- 
