238 
which the Atlantidis has given rise, I may observe, 
that the position given to this island by the respectable 
author of the philosophical history of the' primitive 
world, does not correspond with the indications which 
we have received from the priest of Sais. According 
to the former, it would not have been situated on the 
shores of the Atlantic sea, but on the Mediterranean, 
which never has been called Atlantic; nor opposite the 
entrance which the Greeks call Hercules s pillars, that is 
to say, the straits of Gibraltar, from which, according 
to this author, it would have been more than four hun- 
dred miles distance. On this hypothesis, no straight 
line drawn from the island could have been continued 
to the straits, without passing over intermediate coun- 
tries, on account of the projection of the coast of this 
sea. Besides, the narrow space on which the author 
places this island, could never contain a country of as 
large an extent as Lybia and Asia together, however we 
mayreduce^the countries known then under these names. 
Still less would it contain a territory over which were 
reigning so many kings, famous by their power, who 
extended their dominion over great adjacent countries, 
and who were proud of so much strength. 
I must also observe, that the position given to this 
island by Mr. Bory de St. Vincent, in his essays on the 
Fortunate Islands, does not correspond with the circum- 
stances related by the priest of Sais. Mr. Bory sup 
poses it to have been in the Atlantic sea, and not on the 
shores of this sea, as the priest declared. It would not 
have Lybia on the one side, nor Tyrrhenia on the other. 
By the situation i nd form which he gives it, the Atlan- 
tidis could not have had any intermediate islands, in or- 
