-Atlantes.

Herodotus's

van gossip.

is that of the ATLANTES. It may be placed almost AFRICA. wherever the reader pleases on the great commer- CHAP. VIII. cial route leading to Bornou. The Mount Atlas in its vicinity certainly cannot be identified, unless the Position reader chooses to consider it as represented by the unknown. mountains of Mandara, to the south of Bornou. Herodotus is evidently trusting to mere caravan gossip, Sources of and is also misled by his own conjectures. He sup- information posed that the sandy ridge which includes the salt mere carahills, terminated at the Pillars of Heracles, because he thought it was parallel with the Wild Beast tract and the Inhabited Country. Consequently, whilst Confusion he is evidently alluding to the caravan route through Mount Fezzan towards Bornou and Soudan, he has got Atlas. some confused notion of the snow-capped summits of the Atlas range, far away in Morocco, towards the western coast of Africa; and the western extremity of this chain had probably been frequently seen by Carthaginian merchants, on their way to the gold countries of the Senegal, and from them he apparently received much of his information.

respecting

identified

Tegazah.

southward

of salt hills.

The salt mine described by Herodotus is supposed Salt mine by Heeren to be identical with the large salt mines with the of Tegazah, described by Leo Africanus as situated mines of about twenty days' journey from Timbuctoo. Ibn Batuta says, that the houses of the people are built of rock salt, and covered with the hides of camels. Southward of the sandy ridge the country became Desert entirely desert, "without animals, without wood, country and without springs, rain, or any kind of moisture."1 of the chain A gleam of light was however thrown upon this dis- Story told tant region by an exploring expedition from the by Herodocountry of the Nasamones; and the results obtained expedition by this first recorded attempt to penetrate the dark Nasamones interior of the African continent, reached the ears of desert, to a the great father of history. It seems that the Greeks, large river flowing to whom Herodotus was indebted for his informa- from west tion, were inhabitants of Cyrene, in the promontory of northern Tripoli, now called the Green Mountain. These Cyrenaeans had penetrated as far as the oasis

1 iv. 185.

tus of an

of five

through the

to east, and

containing crocodiles, inhabited

and to a city

by short black men.

CHAP. VIII.

AFRICA. of Ammon, or Siwah, to consult the oracle. Here
they had an audience with Etearchus, the king of
the Ammonians; and after a conversation upon a
variety of subjects, they chanced to talk about the
river Nile, and the circumstance that no one was
acquainted with its fountain-heads. Etearchus then
remarked, that at one time certain Nasamones, a
powerful but sensual tribe of nomades, occupying
the region of the Syrtis,' once came to the oasis to
consult the oracle, and were asked if they could
supply any information concerning the deserts of
Libya. They replied that there were some daring
youths amongst them, sons of the most powerful
men, who having reached man's estate formed many
extravagant plans, and amongst others chose five of
their number by lot, and deputed them to explore
the deserts of Libya, and see if they could make any
additions to the then existing state of geographical
discovery. The five young men set out on their
expedition well supplied with water and provisions.
They first passed through the Inhabited country,
then the Wild Beast country, and after this they
crossed the desert and made their way towards the
west. After a journey of many days, during which
they traversed much sandy ground, they at length
saw some trees growing in a plain. Accordingly
they approached and began to gather the fruit, upon
which some small men, who were shorter than men of
middle stature, came up and seized them and carried
them away. These natives were totally ignorant
of the language of the Nasamones, nor could the
latter understand the speech of the natives. How-
ever the natives conducted their prisoners through
vast morasses, until they reached a city where all
the natives were as short and black as themselves.
By the city flowed a great river running from the
west to the east, and containing crocodiles." Such
was the account given by Etearchus, king of the
Ammonians, to the Cyrenaeans who reported it to
Herodotus, and the Cyrenaeans added that the king
1 See p. 546.

2 ii. 32.

1

assured them that the Nasamones returned home in AFRICA. safety, and that the short black men whom they had CHAP. VIII. seen were all necromancers. Etearchus considered that the river flowing past the city of black men from west to east was the Nile, and Herodotus thinks there is reason for this theory, for the Nile flows from Libya and intersects it in the middle; and he conjectures, inferring things known from things unknown, that the Nile sets out from a point corresponding with the Ister.'

credibility

tion of the

the Niger,

city with

The river seen by the Nasamones has been sup- General posed to refer to the Yeou, or river of Bornou, and of the story. the vast morasses to Lake Tchad; we however Identifica strongly incline to the older opinion expressed by river with Rennell, that the river alluded to was the Niger, and and of the the city of short black men was Timbuctoo. The old Timwesterly course of the Nasamones commenced long buctoo. after they had entered the desert, and they crossed none of the salt hills, nor indeed passed along the beaten caravan track which would alone have led them to the Lake Tchad, as it led Denham and Clapperton. Herodotus supposed that the route of the Nasamones led to the south of the salt hills, whereas it led to the west. The recent origin of Timbuctoo is no objection to this view, any more than the small stature of the natives; and if we may regard the Nasamones as represented by the modern Tuarics, they are the very men to have performed a similar exploit to that described by our author. Every traveller describes the Tuarics as the finest race ever seen; tall, straight, and handsome, with a certain air of independence and pride, which is very imposing. Three Tuarics once told Richardson that they had eaten nothing for fifteen days, and that lamented traveller adds that there can be no doubt of the fact, as both the Tibboos and the Tuarics can at a pinch remain without food for ten or twelve days together. We therefore see every reason to believe in the thorough authenticity of the story of the expedition of the Nasamones, and that these first labour

1 ii. 33.

AFRICA. ers in the field of African discovery, actually reached CHAP. VIII. the banks of the Niger, and penetrated the old city where now stands the still mysterious Timbuctoo.

Conclusion.

Here then, on the very verge of ancient and modern knowledge, we take our farewell of the father of history. The spirit of the old Halicarnassian, bearing his tablets on his breast, has led us a long and pleasant pilgrimage through the ancient world; and ever and anon have we halted on our way to refresh our memories and spirits with the contents of his immortal page, whilst modern discovery, pointing out the various scenes which met the good old father during his early travel, has vouched for the credibility of those everlasting writings, to which nature herself is the best and eternal witness.

APPENDIX I.

TRAVELS OF HERODOTUS.

FOR the sake of reference, and as an illustration of the geography of Herodotus, it has been thought advisable to bring together in the present shape, by the assistance of Dahlmann, Ukert, and others, such allusions and notices throughout our author's history, as seem to indicate a personal visit to any locality, and at the same time to sketch out such a range of travel as he may be supposed to have undertaken, if we may place any reliance upon the evidence thus supplied.

In Asiatic Greece Herodotus was, of course, personally acquainted with the several districts of his native land, Doris, Ionia, and Æolis; but in European Greece there was no province, and probably no place of consequence, which he did not examine with his own eyes. He seems to have consulted the oracle in the oak forests of Dodona,3 inspected the treasures at Delphi, and traced out similarly consecrated gifts at Thebes. At Athens, which he compared with Ecbatana," he doubtless remained a considerable time. He also travelled in the Peloponnesus, and perhaps visited Corinth; and likewise entered Lacedaemon, where he probably obtained a list of the glorious 300 Spartans who fell at Thermopylae; and from thence he might have journeyed to the peaceful neighbourhood of Olympia, on the western coast, and seen the six ruined cities of Triphylia built by the ancient Minyae. That he also bent his steps to Northern Greece, is almost proved by his graphic descriptions of the battle-fields of Thermopylae and Plataea, and by his account of the gorge, or defile, through which the