of the Phoenician vessels and the want of provision, are not so formidable on examination as at the first appearance.* A third objection against the credibility of Since this dissertation was sent to the press I have met with the following account of an adventure, which adds to the credibility of the circumnavigation of Africa in small embar cations. In 1534, when the Portuguese had established a government in India, Badur, king of Kambaya, being at war with the Great Mogul, sought assistance from the Portuguese, and offered them the liberty of building a fort at Diu. As soon as this liberty was granted and the plan of the fort was drawn, James Botello, a person skilled in the affairs of India, having been in disgrace with John, king of Portugal, and being anxious to recover the favour of that prince, resolved to carry the first news of it to him. Having obtained a copy of the plan, he set out from India in a bark sixteen feet long, nine broad, and four and a half deep, with three Portuguese, two others, and his own slaves. He pretended that he was going to Kambaya, but when he was out at sea, made known his design to go to Lisbon, at which they were all astonished. Being overcome by fair words, they proceeded on their way, till, finding themselves reduced to distress, the slaves agreed to kill Botello; but, after killing a servant, they were put to death themselves. With the four who remained Botello held on his course, doubled the southern cape of Africa, and at length arrived at Lisbon, where the bark was immediately burned, that no man might see it was possible to perform that voyage in so small a vessel. The king was greatly pleased wtih the news, and restored Botello to his favour, without any other reward for so daring an adventure. See a collection of Voyages and Travels, in quarto, printed at London, 1745, by Thomas Astley, vol. i., p. 82. this early circumnavigation is, that several writers of the greatest eminence among the ancients, and most distinguished for their knowledge of geography, regarded this account rather as an amusing tale than the history of a real transaction, and either entertained doubts concerning the possibility of sailing round Africa, or absolutely denied it."* That the Roman geographers and historians did doubt and disbelieve the story is very evident; and the causes are not far to be sought. The first was the jealousy of the Phoenicians. "Whatever acquaintance with the remote regions of the earth the Phoenicians or Carthaginians acquired, was concealed from the rest of mankind with a mercantile jealousy. Everything relative to the course of navigation was a secret of state as well as a mystery of trade. Extraordinary facts. are recorded concerning their solicitude to prevent other nations from penetrating into what they wished should remain undivulged."+ One of these extraordinary facts is thus related by Strabo. The Romans, being desirous to discover the places whence the Carthagin * Robertson's India, p. 175. † Robertson's America, vol. i., p. 13 ians fetched tin and amber, "sent a vessel, with orders to sail in the wake of a Phoenician vessel. This being observed by the Carthaginian, he purposely ran his vessel among rocks and sand-banks, so that it was lost, together with that of the inquisitive RoThe patriotic commander of the former was indemnified for his loss by his country."* man. A second reason was the pride of the Romans. If, as Pope tells us, "With honest scorn, the first famed Cato viewed Rome, learning arts from Greece whom she subdued;" the same pride would make their wise men scorn to learn geography or navigation, theoretically, from those best able to teach them. It is acknowledged that the Romans "did not imbibe that commercial spirit and ardour for discovery which distinguished their rivals.”+ It must also be observed, that there was but little intercourse between them, and that the Carthaginians were deficient in those sciences for which the Romans were famous. Among the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, the study and knowledge of their youth were confined to writing, arithmetic, and mercan * Forster's History of Voyages and Discoveries, ch. i. tile accounts, while polite literature, history, and philosophy were in little repute; and by a law of Carthage, the study of the Greek language was prohibited, lest any communication should be carried on with their enemies.* A third reason was the opinion which the wisest men among the Romans had formed, and to which they obstinately adhered, concerning the five zones, and the impossibility of passing from one hemisphere to the other, because of the torrid zone lying between. This doctrine of the zones is so fully represented by Dr. Robertson,† that I need only refer the reader to what he has written on the subject. But, notwithstanding the doubts and the infidelity of the Roman philosophers, and the great deference paid to them by this learned and cautious inquirer, there is one circumstance which almost convinced him of the reality of Necho's voyage as related by Herodotus. It is this, that the Phoenicians, in sailing round Africa, "had the sun on their right hand;" which Herodotus, with his usual modesty and candour, says, "with me has * Rollin's Ancient History, book ii., part i., sect. 7. no credit, though it may with others." On this the doctor judiciously remarks, "The science of astronomy was in that early period so imperfect, that it was by experience only that the Phoenicians could come at the knowledge of this fact; they durst not, without this, have ventured to assert what would have appeared to be an improbable fiction."* Indeed, if they had not known it by experience, there is not the least conceivable reason for their inventing such a report, nor even for the entrance of such an idea into their imagination. The modest doubt of Herodotus is another argument in favour of the truth and genuineness of it; for, as he had no experience to guide him, and the idea was new, it was very proper for him to hesitate in admitting it, though he showed his impartiality by inserting it in his relation, So much for the voyage performed by the Phoenicians under the orders of Necho, which is the first proof produced by Herodotus of his position that "Lybia is surrounded by the sea except where it joins Asia." His second proof is not so conclusive, nor is the design of his introducing it so obvious. It is the relation of a voyage undertaken by * Robertson's India, note 54. |