On their conversion the secret, which neither Alexander could extort from Tyre, nor Rome from Carthage, would be surrendered, like the architecture of Mauritania, to Islam; and thus it was that Vasco di Gama, when he reached the Indian ocean, found the compass in common use. It provokes no remark: it was not then the Chinese compass, but the same as that which, in the Mediterranean, had been derived from the Saracens.[163] The only objection which I have not disposed of, is that of Voltaire,--that the Saracens, if they had had the compass, would not have left to us the discovery of America. I will here remark, that it does not apply, because they did not navigate the Atlantic. It is good against the Phœnicians. But who can assert that they did not discover America?--the tradition of the _Atlantic Island_ cannot be explained away:--knowing the dimensions of the earth they would not, like Columbus, mistake America for India.[164] Beyond the Atlantic are to be found traces of their worship, of their manufacture,[165] of their symbols,[166] and even of the instrument by which the way was found. The temples are placed according to the cardinal points. Having now set aside every objection that has been raised, I proceed to the indications or proofs contained in classical writing. Homer speaks of vessels finding their way without pilots, gliding through the waters as if endowed with natural organs.[167] The passage, it is true, has been accepted as a poetic image;[168] in Virgil’s hands it is no more. He speaks of “_keels_ feeling their way.” Homer was describing _particular ships_, and those Phœnician--the name is indeed Phæacean: a Hebrew lexicon will show that these two names apply to one people. The Phæacians were remarkable for industry, wealth, and refinement; they were distinguished by their “baths, beds, and changes of raiment.” They were εὐδαίμονας χαὶ ἰσοθέους, “happy and equal to the gods,” neither molesting nor being molested.[169] The daughter of their prince, Nausicaa, has been chosen as the type of industry and purity; they were, therefore, preeminently _noble_ and surprisingly _tranquil_; such is the interpretation in Hebrew of the names by which they and their island were known--_Phaik_[170] and _Carcar_;[171] Phæacia,[172] and Corcyra. As if to prevent any doubt, Homer gives to the island another name, or epithet, Σχερίη, the Hebrew for “_Mart_.”[173] The three words, _Phaik_, _Corkura_, and _Scheria_, are meaningless in Greek, but descriptive in the Phæacian; and Homer’s lines, shadowing forth the mariner’s compass,[174] apply to their vessels. By his golden arrow, Abaris “traversed the winds,” by it he “steered.” Pythagoras forced him to reveal his secret.[175] There was then a secret in reference to steering, not as to dexterity in _conning_ a vessel, but in finding the point to which her course lay.