Cape AFRICA. October, and that having doubled Cape Guardefui CHAP. I. and passed by the land of frankincense, they found the monsoon of the Indian Ocean favourable to their enterprise, and resolutely proceeded towards the frankin- Mozambique Channel; being probably encouraged Monsoon of by the fact, which they may very well have bethe Indian lieved, that should they find themselves impeded in blowing their course, the monsoon would certainly change north-east. again the ensuing March, and could easily waft them back again to the Straits of Babel-mandeb. cense. Ocean, from the Sun perpetually on the Onward then we may suppose the intrepid voyright hand. agers to have proceeded. After crossing the equator, they would observe that the remarkable phenomenon which had sometimes taken place in the more southerly quarter of the Arabian Gulf was now perpetual, and that the sun was always on their right hand, or Current of rather to the north of their vessels. On reaching bique Chan- the 10th degree of south latitude, they would begin nel running to feel the current of the Mozambique Channel, which would run in their favour the whole way Good Hope round the Cape of Good Hope. By the end of Tropic of January, B. c. 612, that is, in the midst of the sumCapricorn. mer of the southern hemisphere, they might have the Mozam round the Cape of R. C. 642, April. reached the tropic of Capricorn. They would thus have a great part of the summer and autumn before them, for accomplishing the most difficult part of their voyage, namely, the doubling of the southern of Africa. We must of course presume Doubling of promontory of Africa. the Cape of that in about two months and a half more they Good Hope. achieved this dangerous undertaking; the current of the Mozambique Channel carrying them safely round the Cape, at the most favourable season of the year, which, according to the above calculation, we fix about the middle of April. The Phoenicians Wind from next entered the Atlantic Ocean, and turned their prows towards the mysterious north. It must here be remarked, that in the Atlantic, from the 30th degree of south latitude northwards to the equator, there prevails in the open sea a regular south-east wind, which is called the trade wind; but that off the coast and within the influence of land, a south Atlantic Ocean. the south blowing along the coast. CHAP. I. Thomas's erly wind prevails, varying only some points to the AFRICA. eastward or westward, according to the season or time of day. This is more particularly the case in April and May, and consequently during this part of the voyage the Phoenicians would find a fair wind and but little bad weather. Three months more, at the least, would elapse before they could reach the equator and St. Thomas's island, and this would bring them to the middle of July; but as July. St. they may have been delayed by the state of their island. ships, or by prolonged attempts to procure water or provisions, the probabilities are that they did not reach St. Thomas's until much later in the year. One thing however is certain, that whether they reached St. Thomas's in July, in August, or in September, they could not leave it and commence the westward voyage along the coasts of Guinea and Sierra Leone before the beginning of November; for in this quarter a south-west wind, accompanied Unfavourby rainy weather, blows until October, when it is and current succeeded by a north-east wind and dry weather, October. which would be more favourable to their progress. A brief notice of the currents of the Atlantic would also give the reader a further insight into the circumstances of the voyage. able wind lasting till course of of the At There are two great counter-currents on the west- General ern coast of Africa, one coming from the north, and the currents the other from the south, and these two apparently antic. meet near St. Thomas's island, and form together the great equatorial current which runs westward towards the opposite coast of South America. By a glance at the map of Africa, it will be seen that the northern current, keeping along the coast, must take an easterly course through the Gulf of Guinea before it meets the southern stream; and that the great equatorial current running out due west, necessarily flows parallel with it, though in an oppo- October, site direction. As however the Phoenicians would ing from the be sure to keep close to the coast, they would avoid north-east: the danger of being carried out into the open Atlantic ward proby the equatorial current; at the same time, in their the current. Wind blow slow west gress against CHAP. I. B. C. 611, March. for the Sep vest. Slow pro gress against AFRICA. westward voyage from St. Thomas's, they would have to contend against the northern current, which runs close along the shore. Giving them therefore the advantage of the north-easterly wind, already mentioned, they would make but slow progress against the current, and lowering the mean rate of sailing to 18 miles a day, it must have taken them at least four calendar months to get from St. Thomas's to the mouth of the river Senegal.' This River Sene- brings us to the Senegal by the beginning of March, gal. Stay B. C. 611, when 19 months of the voyage were comtember har pleted. At this river the Phoenicians may have waited until the harvest in the ensuing September, and may then have again set sail and proceeded towards the Pillars of Heracles. The first part of the current this voyage would be very slow, for they would to the limits have to contend both against the northern current east trade and the north-east trade wind; and not less than wind. 40 days of sailing, at the rate of 15 miles per day, can be allowed them for clearing the limits of this Favourable trade wind. Having passed beyond the trade, the through the prevalent winds would be fair the whole way through Pillars of the Pillars of Heracles to the mouth of the Nile, a the mouths distance of about 2800 miles, which would occupy about 110 days, at the rate of 25 miles per day. The voyage from the mouth of the Senegal to that of the Nile would therefore occupy 150 days, or about five months, and the Phoenicians would thus return to Aegypt in February, B. c. 610, being the third year of the entire voyage, and after having been absent for a period of two years and six months. of the north winds Heracles to of the Nile. Story of the In connexion with the voyage, we have to deal Phoenicians obtaining with the subject of provisions. Herodotus's account supplies on of the sowing of the seed and waiting for the harage by sow- vest seems at first sight to be a mere fiction. But waiting for the interval between seed-time and harvest in the their voy ing corn and 1 A very long and learned, but most bewildering, account of the currents of the Atlantic Ocean is given by Major Rennell; but it is to him, and to the valuable physical Atlas of Mr. Johnstone, that I am indebted for all the actual facts I have brought forward to illustrate this presumed circumnavigation of Libya. 3 CHAP. I. ble. well victu as Sofala, plied at An tropical climate of Africa, would be only three AFRICA. months; and though the Phoenician vessels were well fitted to carry a large supply of provisions,' yet the harvest, some extraordinary arrangements were doubtless not incredimade to enable crews to supply themselves during such a very long voyage as the one under consideration. That voyages did often extend over two or three years is proved from sacred as well as from profane history, and the idea of travellers depending in some shape on a harvest of their own, is not confined to the present instance; for in the preparations made by Tamerlane for his march into China, in A. D. 1405, were included waggon loads of seedcorn, to sow the fields on the road. With respect Probably to the victualling of the Phoenician fleet, we may alled as far observe that the power of the Aegyptian king Neco, and again combined with their own experience, would enable fresh sup the navigators to obtain sufficient provisions through- gola. out the whole length of the Arabian Gulf; whilst their commercial relations with the people lower down along the eastern coast of Africa, would procure them still further supplies, and they might be nearly as well victualled when they arrived at Mozambique or Sofala, as when they left the head of the Arabian Gulf. Between Sofala on the eastern coast, and Angola on the western shore, they might not have been able to secure a fresh supply; but Angola is a fruitful and productive country, and here it is probable that they made their first long halt after leaving Aegypt. The Senegal river, we Bank of the have seen, was not reached before March, B. c. 611, river the and probably not till much later, but this would most likely depend upon the length of their presumed stay at Phoenicians Angola. This river is the most likely spot through- chosen for out the whole voyage, where the Phocnicians, having sowing arrived by analogy at some idea of the probable length of the remaining part of their voyage, might 1 See note to page 337. 2 1 Kings x. 22, quoted by Rennell. The voyages of Hanno, of Seylax, and of Nearchus, beside those of the Phoenicians to the Cassiterides, are too well known and authenticated to require mention. 3 Sheref. Timur, vi. 28, quoted by Rennell. Senegal spot for the to have corn. AFRICA. resolve to victual themselves for the whole of that CHAP. I. interval. The harvests in this quarter are said to be in September, and the seed-time in June or the beginning of July; but though this was a long time to wait, yet the people of the country might not have had a stock sufficient for themselves and the strangers also, without the aid of the expected harvest; and the time might also have been most profitably employed in repairing the ships and restoring the crews to health and spirits. Examination into the to be at tached to relation. Story of having the sun on the right hand, no evidence of its truth. Failure of Sataspes no evidence of its falsehood. We have thus proved that the circumnavigation credibility of Libya was practicable under certain circumstances; it now remains for us to ascertain the deHerodotus's gree of credit which ought to be attached to the narrative, which was evidently believed by Herodotus and his contemporaries, but rejected by succeeding authors, and doubted by many of the ablest geographers of modern times. The story which the Phoenicians told of their having had the sun on their right hand by no means obliges us to believe that they did circumnavigate the continent, for the same phenomenon might have occurred at a certain time of the year northward of the Straits of Babel-mandeb. Neither, on the other hand, does the failure of Sataspes oblige us to conclude that the Phoenicians were equally unsuccessful; for we have already seen how much more easily the voyage might have been conducted from the eastern than from the western side. The Phoenicians, who must have had some experience of the trade winds, might have been able to take advantage of the monsoon of the Arabian Gulf, then of that of the Indian Ocean, and then might have been carried round the Cape by the Mozambique current; and, in short, would have met with but little impediment beyond the probable want of provisions and water until they arrived at the Gulf of Guinea. Sataspes, however, would no sooner have reached this latter station than all his troubles would have commenced. The strong current from the Cape, strengthened by the southcast trade wind, would have carried him away in ans assisted by monsoons and currents which would have been adverse to Sataspes. |