I allude to the western part of Africa, which, whether on the shores of the sea, or in the interior districts, is of the greatest importance in the double respect of agriculture and commerce. It appears that the ancients were only acquainted with the northern coast of Africa, which extends from the straits of Gibraltar to the isthmus of Suez, and with the eastern coast, contiguous to the Red Sea. The southern part was totally unknown to them; while their notions of the western coast were very confined, and they did nothing but sail along it: even this route, which is now so easy, was to them a dangerous adventure: the Phenicians, Persians, Greeks, Carthaginians, and Romans, successively attempted to reconnoitre in this direction; and it is said, that the Phenicians cleared the pillars of Hercules, passed the straits, and established colonies and factories on several parts of the coast. But the accounts which we have received of all those expeditions, are so replete with fables, and evident contradictions, that it is difficult to place in them any degree of confidence. According to Herodotus, a few Phenicians left the Red Sea during the reign of Necas, king of Egypt; and after a three years’ voyage, returned to their country by the straits of Gibraltar, but they saw only the coast. Eudoxia, to avoid the wrath of Ptolemy Lathyrus, succeeded in the same enterprise; but no advantage was derived from her voyage. Satas, in the time of Xerxes king of Persia, and Hanno and Himilcon, by order of the republic of Carthage, made similar attempts at discovery, by proceeding from the pillars of Hercules; but they failed in their undertaking. The Nasamones, or ancient inhabitants of the kingdom of Tunis, undertook a similar voyage, though without success. Hence, all those navigators, and many others who might be mentioned, far from affording us information, only gave rise to doubts, and prove the general ignorance and fear which pervaded the ancient sailors. Certain it is, that if such expeditions did take place, the ships kept at a great distance from the continent: for we have no proofs of the appearance of these people, much less their residence, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The Romans, who were so ardent in extending their empire, did not succeed in fixing it on the western coast of Africa. It is believed that they penetrated from the isthmus of Suez as far as the Niger, and thence to Mount Atlas. But if they reached this famous mountain, it certainly stopped their discoveries in that part of the world: for they thought, that under the torrid zone, the lands burned, and the rivers were torrents of fire; an opinion which was long credited, even by the learned men of those times: and when the Christians, who were the first that presumed to suppose, the countries under the torrid zone to be inhabited, expressed such an opinion, they were looked upon as heretics.