570

abounded with wild beasts, and were inhabited by a race of inhospitable Ethiopians, who lived in caves, and surpassed even the wild animals in swiftness. Sailing three days further along a desert coast, they came to a small island situated in a deep bay, where they founded a colony, and gave it the name of Cerne. They now entered another bay, and, passing along a great extent of coast, found many islands and rivers with great numbers of crocodiles and hippopotami. Farther south, a remarkable phenomenon arrested their attention: during the day a profound silence reigned along the shore, and the land was covered with a thick forest; but when night came on, the shore blazed with fire, and echoed with tumultuous shouts and the sound of cymbals, trumpets, and other musical instruments.

The Carthaginians, struck with terror, dared not land, but made all sail along these shores, and came to another region, which filled them with no less astonishment. The continent appeared to be all in a blaze; torrents of fire rushed into the sea; and when they attempted to land, the soil was too hot for the foot to tread upon. One object, in particular, surprised them, appearing at night to be a huge fire mingling with the stars; but in the daytime it proved to be a mountain of prodigious height, to which they gave the name of the Chariot of the Gods. After continuing their voyage three days longer, they lost sight of these fiery torrents, and entered another bay, where, on an island, they found inhabitants covered all over with shaggy hair, like satyrs. To these monsters they gave the name of Gorilla. The males evaded all pursuit, as they climbed precipices, and threw stones at their pursuers; but three females were caught, and their skins were carried to Carthage. Here the narrative closes, by saying that the further progress of the expedition was arrested by the want of provisions.

No voyage of discovery has afforded more ample room than this for the speculations of learned geographers. Many of the circumstances in the narrative, which at first wore a marvellous aspect, have been found to correspond with the observations of modern travellers. The fires and nocturnal music represent the habits prevalent in all the negro countries -repose during the heat of the day, and music and dancing prolonged through the night. The flames, which seemed to sweep over an expanse of territory, might be occasioned by the practice, equally general, of setting fire, at a certain season of the year, to the grass and shrubs; and the Gorilla were evidently that remarkable species of ape to which we give the name of chimpansé. Much difference of opinion prevails as to the extent of the coast traversed; some writers contending that the voyage did not extend south of the limits of Morocco, and others that it reached beyond Sierra Leone.

It does not appear that the Greeks and Romans ever navigated much along the western coast of Africa. The trade in this quarter was carried on chiefly by the Phonicians. Ivory was so abundant that the natives made it into cups, and ornaments for themselves and their horses. The Phoenicians carried thither Athenian cloths, Egyptian unguents, and various domestic utensils. It was generally believed that the coast turned off to the east, from a point just beyond the limit of the Carthaginian discoveries, in a direct line toward Egypt, and that Africa thus formed a peninsula, of which the greatest

length was from east to west. Curiosity and commerce also attracted the attention of the ancients toward the eastern coast of Africa. As early as the time of Solomon, voyages were made down the Red Sea to regions farther south; but whether the Ophir of the sacred Scriptures was in Africa, Arabia, or India, cannot be determined. All knowledge of these voyages became lost, and in the time of Alexander, navigation did not extend in that quarter beyond Cape Guardafui.

The circumnavigation of Africa-except, perhaps, in a single instance, already noticed-was reserved for a modern date. The Portuguese, who took the lead in maritime discovery during the fifteenth century, spent sixty years in voyaging along the African coast, before they reached the Cape of Good Hope. Bartholomew Diaz discovered this cape in the year 1486. "The violent storms which he encountered here caused him to bestow upon it the name of the Cape of Tempests; but King John of Portugal, elated with the prospect of a passage to India, which this discovery, as he justly deemed, secured to his nation, gave it the name which it has ever since borne. His preparations for the discovery of India were interrupted by his death. But his earnest desires and great designs were inherited by his successor, Emanuel; and on the 8th of July, 1497, Vasco de Gama sailed from Lisbon on a voyage to India. The preparations for this expedition, which are described with minuteness by the Portuguese historians, show how important the undertaking was deemed by all the nation. The day before sailing, Gama and his crew went to a chapel on the sea-shore, about four miles from Lisbon, and devoted themselves to religious services, in which they spent the whole of the following night. On arriving at the shore, where they were to embark, they found it covered with the population of Lisbon. Long processions of priests, dressed in robes, sung anthems and offered up invocations for the success of the enterprise. The multitude caught the fire of devotion, and joined aloud in the prayers. The relatives and friends of the mariners shed tears. Gama himself wept at parting. But he hurried from the affecting scene, and hastened on board his vessel. The sails were hoisted, the fleet of three ships departed; but the people lingered till they were quite out of sight. Such was the interest felt in this expedition, deemed so daring and dangerous. We can only add here, that, leaving the Cape de Verd Islands on the 28th of July, after many adventures, this navigator discovered the Cape of Good Hope on the 20th of November, and, doubling that promontory, steered westward into the Indian Ocean.

Thus the outline of Africa was explored; but the vast regions of the interior were still unknown. The sources of the Nile, the origin and course of the Niger, the situation of a vast interior capital, called Timbuctoo, were still subjects involved in mystery; nor was it till after several adventurous travellers, in modern times, such as Bruce, Park, Laing, Adams, Denham, Clapperton, Landers, and Cailliée, had penetrated these regions, that the actual truth was known. And even now, as before intimated, a very considerable portion of Africa is marked on the map as "unexplored regions." The tract called Ethiopia, and crossed by the equator, is nearly equal to Europe in extent, but no traveller here has ever returned to describe it.

CHAPTER CCLXXIX.

Introduction - Physical Geography.

EGYPT is a country in the north-eastern part of Africa, and is bounded as follows: on the north by the Mediterranean Sea, on the east by Asia and the Red Sea, on the south by Nubia, and on the west by the Great Desert of Sahara. It is about six hundred miles long, and three hundred broad, having an area of one hundred and eighty-six thousand square miles, with a population of two million five hundred thousand.

By looking at the map of Africa, it will be seen that Egypt lies between the Great Desert and the Red Sea. In the mountains of Abyssinia the great River Nile has its rise; and such is its copious supply of water, that it sustains its current through a course of twenty-four hundred miles, where it enters the sea. As it annually overflows its banks, depositing considerable quantities of fertilizing mud, its valley, which but for this river had been a mere continuation of the Great Desert, is one of the most fruitful portions of the globe. So obvious is this, that an ancient writer, often quoted, says that "Egypt is the gift of the Nile."

The situation of Egypt in respect to other countries is remarkable. By way of the Mediterranean, it is accessible to the countries which surround that celebrated sea. Across the Isthmus of Suez, its caravans pass into Arabia and the countries of the East. Through the Red Sea, it has communication with the Indies. By means of caravans, it is connected with the interior of Africa and the states of Barbary.

The common division of Egypt is into three parts.

1. Lower Egypt, or Bahireh, comprises that part lying near the mouths of the Nile, which enters the sea by seven channels. This tract, called the Delta, from the resemblance it bears to the Greek letter of that name, is the most fertile portion of Egypt. Here are the great seaports of Alexandria, Rosetta, and Damietta. 2. Middle Egypt, or Vostani, consists of a narrow, but fertile valley, through which the Nile flows in a single stream. In this quarter are Cairo, the capital, the pyramids, and Fayoum. 3. Upper Egypt, or Said,

ingenious is the manner of raising and managing bees in that country. When the verdure and flowers fail in one part of Egypt, the proprietors of bees put

and, in the evening, reënter their hives, without ever mistaking their abode. Cotton is raised in great abundance. It is sown in April, and the land is irrigated, to promote its growth. The neighborhood of the river is preferred for its cultivation. The plough is generally used.

The remarkable animals of Egypt are the crocodile, ichneumon, serpents of various kinds, including the deadly asp, and many species of lizards. Vultures and storks are common, and held in esteem for the services they perform in removing decaying flesh, which might infect the atmosphere. Partridges, quails, and bustards are found in the deserts: the ibis, worshipped in ancient times, is still to be seen in the marshes. The lion, hyena, and antelope are found in the desert, and the hippopotamus is met with

in the Nile.

CHAPTER CCLXXX.

Ancient and Modern Cities - Antiquities — Ancient Geography of Egypt.

THERE is no kingdom more distinguished in history than ancient Egypt, and none whose name excites more awful and solemn ideas. The dim records of her remote annals are coeval with the origin of social union and the arts which improve and embellish human life. Yet her early dynasties are involved in obscurity, and, but for the astonishing documents which serve to attest their truth, we might treat them as the inventions of the poet and the fabulist. Some description of these wonderful vestiges seems a proper introduction to the history of ancient Egypt, and, as they cannot be separated from the places they occupy, we shall give our account of them in connection with a brief sketch of the principal modern towns and

cities of Egypt, - thus combining the ancient with the modern geography.

It is necessary to state here that the history of Egypt embraces three very distinct periods. The first extends from the foundation of the monarchy by Menes, four thousand years ago, to the conquest of the country by Alexander, 332 B. C. This is properly the period within which the ancient history of Egypt falls; the period at which Egypt attained its greatest extent, and reached its highest splendor and prosperity. It was in this period that the city of Thebes, the palaces of Luxor and Karnac, the pyramids, Lake! Mæris, and other mighty monuments, whose vestiges remain to excite the astonishment of the beholder, were constructed. It was during this period that Abraham visited the country, and found it a rich, populous, and flourishing empire; it was during this period that Joseph, and Jacob, and Moses dwelt in