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tween the

habitants of

bians, or Automoli, would thus both be placed in africa. the triangle of Sennaar; and here Calliaud was CHAP. VII. struck by the close resemblance between the modern Reseminhabitants and the Aegyptians represented on the blance bemonuments; and nearly every freeman is a land- modern inowner like the members of the military caste in Ae- Sennaar gypt. The people speak pure Arabic, though per- ancient Aehaps, if inquiry was made after the local dialects, gyptians. traces might yet be found of the Aegyptian language, and Mr. Cooley has pointed out two or three of the ancient names of the country which seem to be Aegyptian. But we must now conclude this chapter, and proceed to the third and last division. of Africa described by Herodotus.

1 Calliaud, Voy. à Meroe, vol. ii., quoted by Mr. Cooley.

CHAPTER VIII.

AFRICA.

CHAP. VIII.

LIBYA PROPER.

Extent of the Libya Proper of Herodotus.-Face of the country.The Kong Mountains, basin of the Niger, and Mountains of the Moon.Great plain spreading from the Kong Mountains northward to the Mediterranean. Supposed by Herodotus to consist of three belts, viz. 1st, Inhabited country along the coast; 2nd, Wild Beast country of the Atlas; and 3rd, Sandy Waste, or desert.-Corresponding to the modern names of Barbary, Beled-el-Jered, and Sahara.-FIRST BELT, or INHABITED COUNTRY.-General description.-Occupied, according to Herodotus, by three races, viz. Greeks, Phoenicians, and Libyan nomades.— Four divisions of country occupied by four races, viz. Cyrene by the Greeks; Carthage by the Phoenicians; Tripoli and Tunis by the Libyan nomades; and Morocco and Algiers by the Libyan husbandmen. -Necessity for placing the Libyan husbandmen in the Second Belt, or Wild Beast region.-I. CYRENE.-General description of the country.Herodotus's account of the colonization of Cyrene.-Theraeans under Corobius reach the Libyan Platea.-Pass over to the continent and settle in Aziris.-Remove to Cyrene.-Increase in numbers.-Divided into three tribes by Demonax.-Lands and the office of priesthood assigned to the king. Connexion between the Cyrenaeans, Libyans, and Aegyptians. Three harvests of Cyrene.-The Cyrenaean lotus.-Topographical notices.-Cyrene, containing the statue of Aphrodite sent by Ladice, and that of Athene sent by Amasis.-Fountain of Thestes in Irasa.-Leucon.-Hill of the Lycaean Zeus.-Barca founded by emigrants from Cyrene.-Inhabitants transplanted to Barca in Bactria.— II. LIBYAN NOMADES.-Extended from Aegypt westward to Lake Tritonis, or the Lesser Syrtis.-The Lake Tritonis of later writers identified with the salt lake of El Sibkah in Southern Tunis.-Character of the country of the nomades.-Its zoology according to Herodotus.-Attempted identifications by modern naturalists.—Division of the nomades into twelve nations.-Their general manners and customs.-Abstained from the flesh of cows and swine.-Cauterized the heads of children four years old, either on the crown or the temples.-Extraordinary good health.-Worship of the Sun and Moon, and of Athene, Triton, and Poseidon.-Greeks derived from them the aegis of Athene, the festival exclamations in the temples, and practice of four-horse chariot driving.— Libyan mode of interment.-The Twelve Nations.-1. Adyrmachidae, who followed Aegyptian customs, but were otherwise filthy and slavish. -2. Giligammae, opposite the Libyan Platea, the first region of the silphium plant.-3. Asbystae, inland of Cyrene, who drove four-horse chariots, and followed Cyrenacan customs.-4. Auschisae, including the Cabales, dwelt near the Hesperides, and followed Cyrenaean customs.

CHAP. VIII.

5. Nasamones, a powerful nation on the Syrtis, who, during summer, AFRICA. removed to Augila.-Fed on locusts, and had their women in common. -In swearing, laid their hands on tombs.-In divining, slept on the sepulchres, and accepted their dreams as oracles.-Pledged their faith by drinking out of each other's hands.-Buried their dead in a sitting posture.-Lived in portable huts made of basket-work.-6. Psylli, who made war on the south wind, and were buried in sands blown from the Sahara.-7. Garamantes, who properly belonged to the oasis of Fezzan. -8. Macae, who occupied the banks of the Cinyps, which was the best corn land in the world.-9. Gindanes, whose women wore an ancle ring for every lover.-10. Lotophagi, who lived on cakes made from the farinaceous part of the fruit of the Rhamnus Lotus.-11. Machlyes, who dwelt on the right bank of the river Triton.-Argonautic legend connected with this locality.-12. Auses, who lived on the left bank of the river Triton.-Worshipped a native goddess corresponding to the Athene of the Greeks.-Lived apart from their women, whom they had in common. III. CARTHAGE. General description of the country. - City situated on a peninsula at the bottom of the Gulf of Tunis.-Boundaries of the Carthaginian empire.-Jealousy of the people an effectual bar to the progress of geographical science.-Herodotus's ignorance of Carthage.-SECOND BELT, or Wild Beast region, or Beled-el-Jered.—General description.-According to Herodotus included the Libyan husbandmen. Three nations of husbandmen.-1. Maxyes, who wore a tuft on the right side of their heads, and daubed themselves red.-2. Zaveces, whose women drove the war chariots.-3. Gyzantes, who subsisted on honey and monkeys.—Island of Cyraunis, now called Karkenah and Gherba.- Lake from which gold-dust was obtained by dipping in feathers smeared with pitch.-Geography of Western Africa further illustrated by two stories told by Herodotus.-Carthaginian story of the dumb barter carried on with the natives of the gold coast.-Persian story of the voyage of Sataspes.-THIRD BELT of Sandy Waste, or the Sahara.-General description.-Basin of the Niger and the Kong Mountains to the south of the Sahara.-Herodotus's account.-Sandy ridge stretching from the Aegyptian Thebes to the Pillars of Heracles, and containing a chain of inhabited salt hills at intervals of ten days' journey between each.-Five nations of salt hills mentioned by Herodotus.-1. Ammonians, who possessed a temple to Zeus, the ramheaded god of Thebes, and a hot spring sacred to Helios.-Neighbouring city of Oasis in the Island of the Blessed, inhabited by Samians.-2. Augilae, whose date country was visited by the Nasamones.-3. Garamantes, who covered the earth with salt before cultivating it, and possessed kine walking backwards.-Hunted the Aethiopian Troglodytae.-Included a timid tribe who shunned all other men, and had neither weapons nor knew how to fight.-4. Atarantes, who had no names and cursed the sun.-5. Atlantes, who ate no meat and dreamed no dreams.-Description of Mount Atlas.-The salt mine where the houses were built of blocks of white and purple salt.-Actual extent of Herodotus's personal knowledge in Libya and sources of his information. Visited Cyrene, and the neighbouring Libyan nomades.— Collected information from the nomades.-Could not have reached Carthage. Obtained information however from Carthaginian travellers.-General ignorance of Western Africa.-His description of the chain of salt hills in the Sahara derived from doubtful information collected at Thebes from a variety of sources.-Attempt to identify the people and places on the modern map.-Narrative of Herodotus probably refers to the caravan route towards the interior.-1st station-Ammonium.-Identified with Siwah.-Twenty days journey from Thebes.-Intermediate station at El Wah supposed to be omitted by Herodotus.-2nd station

AFRICA.

Proper of

Augila. The great mart for dates.-3rd station-Garamantes.-Identified with Fezzan.-Station at Zuila twenty days' journey from Augila.— Intermediate station at Zuila supposed to be omitted by Herodotus.Explanation of the people's placing salt upon the soil.-Horns of kine perhaps bent forwards by artificial means.-Hunting of the Troglodyte black men in the mountains of Tibesti explained by the modern razzias for the kidnapping of the villagers into slavery.-Timid race of Garamantes perhaps identical with the inhabitants of Terboo.-4th stationAtarantes.-Route probably took a southerly direction towards Soudan and Nigritia.—Station perhaps to be identified with that at Tegerry.5th station-Atlantes.-Position unknown.—Sources of Herodotus's information mere caravan gossip.-Confusion respecting Mount Atlas.-Salt mine identified with the mines of Tegazah.-Desert country southward of the chain of salt hills.-Story told by Herodotus of an expedition of five Nasamones to a large river flowing from west to east, and containing crocodiles, to a city inhabited by short black men.-General credibility of the story.-Identification of the river with the Niger, and of the city with old Timbuctoo.-Conclusion.

THE Libya Proper of Herodotus comprised the CHAP. VIII. whole of Northern Africa between the Atlantic, the Extent of Mediterranean, and the western frontier of Aegypt; the Libya and its southern boundary may perhaps be indiHerodotus. cated by the supposed course of the Niger, or Joliba. It thus included the region of Mount Atlas and desert of Sahara; but before we proceed to develope our author's description, it will be necessary to glance at the face of the country.

Face of the country.

Throughout the entire breadth of Central Africa, The Kong from the Mountain of Lions which overlooks the Mountains, Atlantic at Sierra Leone, to the chaos of rocky Niger, and masses which form the highlands of Abyssinia, there of the Moon. is supposed to run a vast chain of elevations of im

basin of the

Mountains

mense extent and enormous height. Its eastern quarter is thought to have been known to Ptolemy and the Arabian geographers, under the general name of the Mountains of the Moon.' Its western quarter is known on modern maps as the Kong Mountains, and runs along the north of the Gulf of Guinea; thus enclosing the kingdoms of Ashantee, Dahomey, and Benin. At the eastern extremity of the Kong Mountains the river Niger, Joliba, or Quorra, having flowed from west to east, and passed the mysterious city of Timbuctoo, at length forces

It is still a mooted point whether the name of Mountains of the Moon ought not to be applied to the Snowy Mountains of Eastern Africa, rather than to the imaginary central chain.

its prodigious mass of waters through an opening in AFRICA. the range, and proceeds southward to the sea, form- CHAP. VIII. ing in its lower course the greatest delta in the known world. Farther to the east we may suppose the Kong Mountains to be connected with the Mountains of the Moon; but it must be remembered that the very existence of the latter is more than doubtful. Park and Clapperton passed the Kong Mountains, but the far interior has never been explored; and though it has been presumed that very lofty elevations lie to the south of the region of Bornou, yet the great problem still remains unsolved, namely, whether Central Africa is occupied by the Mountains of the Moon, or by vast steppes, like those of Central Asia. Recent discoveries would lead us to adopt the latter opinion.

spreading

to the

by Herodo

sist of three

ed country

But to return to the western region. Northward Great plain of the Kong Mountains and the basin of the Niger, from the an immense low plain spreads towards the Mediter- Mountains ranean. This plain is chiefly occupied by the great northward Sahara, or "sea of sand;" but a comparatively nar- Mediterrarow tract of mountainous country, including the chain nean. of Mount Atlas, separates Sahara from the Mediterranean coast. The three belts of territory thus in- Supposed dicated, namely, the Mediterranean coast, the tus to conAtlas chain, and the desert, were apparently sup- belts, viz. posed by Herodotus to extend in parallel lines from 1st, Inhabitthe frontier of Aegypt to the shore of the Atlantic. along the The first belt, or coast region, he calls the "In- const; 2nd, habited country;" the second belt, or Atlas chain, country of he calls the "Wild Beast country;" and the third and 3rd, belt, or desert region, he calls the "Sandy Waste," Waste, or and describes it as stretching from the Aegyptian desert. Thebes to the Pillars of Heracles, and as including the salt hills or oases hereafter to be noticed.1 Niebuhr mentions a fourth belt, consisting of the desert,2 but this is evidently the same as the Sandy Waste. It must be remarked, that this arrangement of CorrespondHerodotus is not only founded upon the natural modern features of the country, but also strictly corresponds

Wild Beast

the Atlas;

Sandy

names of

1 iv. 181. Comp. ii. 32.

2 Diss. on the Geog. of Herod.

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