=202.= The ships of Carthage penetrated all the then known seas; and though confined to coast navigation, they explored the Atlantic from Norway to the Cape of Good Hope. Hanno, the son of Hamil´car, conducted sixty ships bearing 30,000 colonists to the western shores of Africa, where he planted a chain of six colonies between the Straits and the island of Cer´ne. He then went southward with some of his ships as far as the River Gambia, and visited the Gold Coast, with which his countrymen thenceforth carried on a regular traffic. On his return he placed an inscription, commemorative of this voyage, on a brazen tablet in the temple of Kro´nos, at Carthage. Himilco, his brother, led another expedition the same year to the western coast of Europe, but of this the history is lost. =203.= These extensive voyages in the interest of trade brought the products of the world into the Carthaginian markets. There might be seen muslins from Malta; oil and wine from Italy; wax and honey from Corsica; iron from Elba; gold, silver, and iron from Spain; tin from Cornwall and the Scilly Isles; amber from the Baltic; gold, ivory, and slaves from Senegam´bia. =204.= While commerce was so abundant a source of wealth, agriculture was the favorite pursuit of nobles and people. The fertile soil of Libya yielded a hundred-fold to the farmer. So fond were wealthy Carthaginians of the healthful toils of the field, that one of their great men wrote a work, in twenty-eight volumes, on methods of husbandry; and this alone, of all the treasures of their literature, was thought by their Roman conquerors worthy of preservation. =205.= We have slightly anticipated the course of events, in order to present a connected account of the government, religion, and trade of Carthage. Of her wars with the Sicilian Greeks, from the disastrous defeat of Hamilcar at Him´era, B. C. 480, to the peace of B. C. 304, we have no space for the details. The final period of Carthaginian history, comprising the Roman wars and the destruction of the city, will be found in Book V. RECAPITULATION. Carthage, a colony of Tyre, became sovereign of the shores and islands of the western Mediterranean, a rival of Greece, and an ally of Rome. Her army and navy were largely composed of European and African mercenaries. Her government was republican, with two judges at its head, foreign affairs being transacted by a council of citizens. Religious ceremonies claimed a large share of attention, both in war and peace. Commerce extended by land to the interior of Africa; by sea, from the Baltic to the Indian Ocean; and products of all the world filled the Carthaginian markets. Agriculture was a favorite employment with nobles and common people. QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW. Book I.—Part II.