described. Again, it would be contrary to the habits of the animal to fly, and leave the females behind-their practice being for the male gorillas to advance to the attack, and cover the retreat of the females. Nor could any great number of gorillas have subsisted in such a spot as Hanno has described. The enormous quantity of vegetable food which they consume would soon have exhausted the supply that any island to be found in that region could have contained. Hanno's wild men, he thinks, were either pongos or chimpanzees. The females belonging to either of these species might have been captured and carried off, though it would have been no easy matter to Overpower them.

Subsequently to Hanno's time, a certain Sataspes, who had been condemned to death by King Xerxes, was reprieved on condition of making a voyage through the pillars of Hercules, and following the African coast until he emerged at the Red Sea-the reverse route to that pursued by the Egyptian adventurers. Sataspes doubled Cape Soloeis, and proceeded a long way beyond; but at length lost heart, and turned back. turning home, it is related that he underwent his original

sentence.

Re

In the time of Ptolemy Euergetes, according to Cornelius Nepos, Eudoxus of Cyzicus repeated with success the Egyptian exploit. He sailed through the Straits of Babel Mandeb, and pursued his course until he too emerged at the Straits of Gibraltar. He afterwards attempted to make the voyage in the opposite direction, but with no more success than had befallen Sataspes. This seems to have been the last expedition of the kind essayed by the ancients. The southern coast of Africa remained unknown for fifteen hundred years, until laid open by Diaz and De Gama.

CHAPTER VI.

ANCIENT TRAVELLERS: HERODOTUS, STRABO, PLINY.

PASSING on from the times which must be regarded as more or less legendary, we come to those of sober history. Under the head of "Ancient Travellers" it has been already explained that we comprehend all those who can claim the title previously to the Christian era. Of these there are not many. They are Herodotus, Ctesias, Megasthenes, Strabo, and Pliny. If Aristotle had really accompanied Alexander the Great in his Asiatic expedition, he would have been entitled to be included in the list. But the story of his having done so is to be found only in late writers, and it is generally rejected by scholars as fabulous. Xenophon again, though doubtless he travelled to a very considerable distance from his native land, must be regarded rather as a soldier and a military historian, than a traveller. Nay, when we come to revise even our short catalogue we shall be obliged to strike two of them out; for the information to be gathered from the scanty remains of the writings of Ctesias is nearly all to be found in other writers also; while of Megasthenes's personal history we know next to nothing, and of all that he wrote only a few fragmentary quotations survive in the works of Eusebius and others.

Among the three which remain by far the most eminent is Herodotus. He has not escaped the fate which almost every

great traveller has encountered from the outset of history. He has indeed been pre-eminently singled out as the mark for obloquy, more than one writer styling him "the father of lies," and it has only been the slow advance of human knowledge -acquired as this has been by the continued researches of one explorer after another-that has at last vindicated his character for perfect truthfulness. "In order to form a fair judgment of Herodotus," says a modern writer, "we must distinguish between those parts, in which he speaks from his own observations, and those where he merely repeats what he was told by priests, interpreters and guides. By the latter he was, undoubtedly, often deceived. In many places indeed, he intimates his own suspicions to that effect, adding to their reports the words 'saying what I can hardly believe,' or 'others must judge of the truth of this,' and the like. But whensoever he speaks from his own observation, Herodotus is a very model of veracity and accuracy. The more those countries, of which he speaks in his own person, are explored by modern travellers, the more firmly has his authority, as a correct reporter of men, manners, and things been established. There is scarcely a traveller who goes to Egypt, the East, or Greece, who does not bring back a number of facts, which place the accuracy of Herodotus in the most brilliant light. Many things which used to be laughed at as impossible or paradoxical are found to be in strict accordance with the truth." (Professor Schmitz in "Smith's Dict. of Biog.")

As regards his personal history, little is known respecting it. He was born at Halicarnassus in Caria, a Dorian colony governed by a king, and the date of his birth is commonly given as 484 B.C. (Aul. Gell. xv. 23). Suidas states that our historian, unable to endure the tyranny of Lygdamis, who was

king of Halicarnassus in his early youth, migrated to Samos, where he learned Ionic Greek, in which he wrote his history. Later in life he returned to his native city, but was againcompelled to leave it, and ultimately settled at Thun in Italy, where he died at an advanced age.

He is not only one of the most truthful of historians, but the simplicity and naïveté of his style have a charm such as few later writers possess. Perhaps this very characteristic excellence may be one reason why his accuracy has been called in question, his true narratives having all the attractiveness of fiction. Here is one of his Egyptian stories about Rhampsinitus, King of Egypt, which he received and has related as veritable fact, but which for spirit and graphic power may match with any fairy tale that ever was written.

Rhampsinitus was a King of Egypt who had collected enormous wealth-so great, that none of his posterity ever possessed such an accumulation of money, or anything near it. He was troubled how to secure the custody of his riches, and ordered a chamber of solid stone to be built in order to receive it. This building had one outer wall; and in this the builder, who was aware of the purpose for which it was erected, left one of the stones uncemented, so that it might be removed and again replaced, without discovery. He did not make any use of this himself. Perhaps he did not live long enough for the purpose. But on his death-bed he confided the secret to his two sons, advising them forthwith to avail themselves of the information, by robbing the royal treasury. With this edifying parental admonition he departed this life; and his sons, who seem to have been two genuine chips of the old block, proceeded dutifully to obey the injunction. They went by night, discovered and removed the stone, and helped themselves

h

liberally to Rhampsinitus's treasures. The king, who seems to have employed himself after the same fashion, as the king celebrated in the nursery rhyme-in "counting out his money -speedily discovered the diminution of his stores, and took measures accordingly. He ordered some traps to be made, and placed them round the jars, in which the coin was stored.

Presently the thieves again made their entrance, and one of them was caught in a trap, from which he was unable to release himself. Finding all his efforts vain he told his brother, that his own life was clearly forfeited, and that of his brother would be sacrificed also, if he should be recognised. He therefore suggested to his brother that he should kill him, cut his head off and carry it away with him. The brother, who appears to have been the most brilliant member of this remarkable family, fell in readily with this suggestion. He cut his brother's head off and departed, carrying it with him, and replacing the stone as before.

The king, when he came in the morning, to see what had been the effect of his traps, was exceedingly puzzled to find that a thief had indeed been caught, but one without a head— though it was evident enough, by the cleverness with which the chamber had been entered, that the thief in question had been by no means wanting in brains during his lifetime. Resolved to discover the accomplices, which he evidently must have had, he hung up the headless body against a wall, and placed a guard near it, ordering them to take note of any one, who might exhibit any signs of mourning over the body, and bring them to him. He knew that the withholding of the rites of sepulture was regarded by the Egyptians as so terrible a calamity, that they would never permit it, if it was in their power to prevent it.