CHAPTER II 
HISTORY OF DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION 
In ancient times our acquaintance with the surface of 
the Earth was very limited, and until the beginning of 
the Christian era practically nothing was known of East 
Africa beyond Cape Guardafui. In the Second Century 
two Greek navigators, Theophilus and Diogenes, sailed 
round this Eastern Promontory and reached a harbour 
which they called Rhapta. Soon afterwards another 
sailor, Dioscorides, sailed yet further south and reached 
Cape Prasum (on the Mozambique coast?). According 
to the account of these mariners, as Ptolemy informs us, 
the island of Menuthias lies not far off, and can be 
reached in two days either from Rhapta or from Cape 
Prasum, while it is about the same distance to the 
Pyrolean Archipelago. This latter name points to islands 
of a volcanic nature and may be held to signify the 
Comoro Isles, and in that case Menuthias cannot mean 
anything but what is now called Madagascar, a conclusion 
rendered still more probable by other items of inform¬ 
ation. When we are told that Menuthias is covered 
with forest and possesses rivers, Zanzibar and Pemba are 
excluded; while the statements that the only wild beasts 
found are crocodiles, that large tortoises live there and 
that the natives make use of dug-outs as boats, agree 
thoroughly with a description of Madagascar. 
At the beginning of the Middle Ages the Arabs repeat¬ 
edly obtained more accurate information concerning the 
island; the Arabic geographer Edrisi, who collected 
reports from traders and navigators, mentions in his map 
