PTOLEMY. 
western coast expired on the borders of the de- 
sert. It appears, therefore, that he knew nothing 
beyond the Niger in central Africa, which, in his 
system, locks in with the southern extremity of 
the Atlas ; the rivers flowing from which are thus 
brought into almost the immediate vicinity of the 
Niger. 
Ptolemy had finally to dispose of the route of 
three months from the country of the Garaman- 
tes, and of four months from the Leptis Magna, 
made by Flaccus and Maternus into the country 
of the Ethiopians.* The suspicion and dissatis- 
faction which he shews on the subject of their 
statements, concurs to prove the inadequate idea 
which he entertained of the breadth of the desert 
which they must have traversed. Such marches 
must evidently have carried them far beyond the 
limits of Libya Interior, placed as it was by him 
almost in contact with Northern Africa. He, 
therefore, places his Ethiopia Interior much far- 
ther south, beyond the equator, nearly in the 
latitude of Raptum ; although there is no reason 
to suppose that the expeditions in question could 
have passed the Niger, if they even arrived on 
its shores. 
The decline of the Roman empire was followed 
* Lib. 1. 8. 
