long stay in Egypt, and an intimate communication with the native priests, he learned much that was accurate, as well as somewhat that was incorrect and exaggerated, respecting the wide region which extends from the Nile to the Atlantic. He justly describes it as much inferior in fertility to the cultivated parts of Europe and Asia, and suffering severely from drought; yet there were a few spots, as Cinyps and the high tracts of Cyrene, which, being finely irrigated, might stand a comparison with the richest portions of the globe. Generally, however, in quitting the northern coast, which he terms the forehead of Africa, the country became more and more arid. Hills of salt arose, out of which the natives constructed their houses, without any fear of their melting beneath a shower, in a region where rain was unknown. The land became almost a desert, and was filled with such multitudes of wild beasts as to be considered their proper inheritance, and scarcely disputed with them by the human race. Farther to the south, the soil no longer afforded food even to these wild tenants ;-there was not the trunk of a tree nor a drop of water; total silence and desolation reigned. Such is the general picture which Herodotus draws of this northern boundary of the great African desert, which must be acknowledged to be at once accurate and just.

In the tract westward from Egypt, behind the great "African forehead," the first object was the celebrated and sacred shrine of Ammon, dedicated to the Theban Jove, and to which the Greeks ascribed a higher prophetic power than even to their own Delphic Oracle. This temple, situated in the midst of almost inaccessible deserts, was distin

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guished for a fountain which, warm at midnight, became always colder and colder till noon. Ten days' journey beyond Ammon lay Ægila, occupied by the Nasamones, a numerous people, who in winter fed their flocks on the seacoast, and in summer repaired to collect and store up the dates here growing on extensive forests of palm-trees. To this people are ascribed various singular customs, among which was their mode of foreseeing the future by laying themselves to sleep on the tombs of their ancestors, watching the dreams which arose in this position, and treasuring them up as oracles. Bordering upon them had formerly been the Psylli, famous for the charming of serpents, an art not yet wholly lost in this region; but that tribe, suffering once under a severe drought, had been so ill-informed as to proceed southward in hope of finding water, where, being involved in those vast and burning deserts, they entirely perished, and their place was taken by the Nasamones. Beyond them, the Macae inhabited a beautiful region watered by the river Cinyps, on whose bank rose "the hill of the Graces," covered with a profusion of the finest foliage. Such is still the gay and brilliant aspect which the neighbourhood of Bengazi presents. To the south of the Nasamones, in a region almost resigned to wild beasts, the Garamantes inhabited an extensive valley, now called Fezzan. They are represented under characters of which the present natives retain no trace,— as a solitary and timid people, shunning the intercourse and society of men, destitute of arms, and not even attempting to defend themselves against foreign aggression.

After the Gindanes and the Lotophagi, who ate

the lotus, and made wine from its fruit, came the Machlyes and the Auses, dwelling round the lake of Tritonis; the scene of the reported birth and oracle of Minerva, with which were connected many celebrated fables of ancient mythology. It is with reluctance that reference is here made to what the venerable father of history has related respecting the conduct of the young ladies in this region; and we should hope that scandal on this subject may have been as busy in the coteries of Sais and of On as in some modern circles. Can it be believed, that among the Gindanes they should form threads of skin, and tie a knot on it for every lover who had sought and won their favour, measuring their importance by the number of these knots; or is it probable that, at the marriage of the Nasamones, the favour of the bride should have been shared by all the guests equally with the husband? Nor is there much to admire in the annual festival celebrated by the virgins of the Auses, when their fair hands were employed in throwing stones against each other with such fury that several were commonly left dead on the spot. The fate of these sufferers was peculiarly hard, since it was supposed to justify the most unfavourable suspicions respecting their previous life. After all, this rough sport of the Libyan belles is not much ruder than one which we shall find still practised among the most distinguished dames of Bornou.

Proceeding farther westward, Herodotus finds a tribe of the Auses, called Maxyes, who cultivated the ground; and he is now on the border of the Carthaginian territory, of which, for reasons that Major Rennel cannot fully comprehend, he forbears

to treat. He follows the direction of the interior, from the Garamantes, beyond whom were Ethiopians dwelling in caves, and running so swiftly that the former people were obliged to hunt them in chariots, -a proceeding very unsuitable to the meek character elsewhere ascribed to them, and which, we fear, may have been practised with the evil intent of carrying off these poor victims as slaves. Our author comes next to the Atlantes, and relates several things, which, with better knowledge, he would probably have omitted. He pretends, for example, that none of them bear proper names; that they neither eat animal food nor dream dreams; and, what is not quite so improbable, that, on seeing the sun rise, they pour reproaches and execrations on him, for the manner in which he burns and destroys their land. Behind them rises the long and lofty range of Atlas, whose head is said to remain for ever invisible and wrapt in clouds, and which the natives believe to be the pillar of heaven,—a creed adopted, or perhaps invented, by the Greeks and Romans. Herodotus here stops, frankly owning that his information did not enable him to go farther. The only other accounts which had reached him respected a nation beyond the Pillars of Hercules, with whom the Carthaginians carried on trade in a very peculiar manner. This wild and timid race would not approach or hold parley with the strangers, who, on drawing near to the shore, kindled a fire, uttered loud cries, and laid on the sand a certain quantity of goods. The natives hearing them, and seeing the smoke, came down, surveyed the deposite, placed beside it a certain portion of gold, the precious article of their

traffic, and withdrew. The Carthaginians approached to examine the tender thus made, and, according to their estimate of its value, either carried away the gold, or left the whole untouched; in which last case the natives understood that more of the precious metal was expected. Thus the parties went backwards and forwards, till the exchange was adjusted.

If the accounts given by Herodotus of this western region be tinctured with fable, the narrative of Diodorus shows still more that the ancients had made it one of the grand theatres of their mythology. To it they refer the ancient and early reign of Saturn, under the appellation of Ouranus or Heaven; the birth of Jupiter, and his nursing by Amalthea; the impious race of the Titans, and their wars with the sky; Cybele, with her doting love for Atys, and frantic grief for his fate. Diodorus re

presents the Atlantic people as claiming these objects for themselves; but it seems much more probable, that the warm imagination of the Greeks, attracted by the mysterious grandeur of the region, transported thither the creations of their own fancy. Our author, however, makes a positive averment as to the existence of a race of Amazons there, still more warlike and formidable than those on the banks of the Thermodon. They did not, like these last, positively exterminate or expel the male sex from their confines; but, reserving to themselves all the high cares of war and government, employed their lords in keeping the house, tending the children, and performing all the functions which are elsewhere exclusively assigned to females. As soon as the wife had gone through the necessary trouble of bearing a child, she handed it to the husband to be