[193] “That Africa is clearly surrounded by the sea, except where it borders on Asia, Necho, King of the Egyptians, was the first, _we know_, to demonstrate. That prince, _having finished his excavations for the canal leading out of the Nile into the Arabian gulf_, despatched certain natives of Phœnicia on ship-board, _with orders to sail back_ through the Pillars of Hercules into the north, (Mediterranean) Sea, and so to return into Egypt. The Phœnicians consequently, having departed out of the Erythræan sea, proceeded on their voyage in the Southern Sea: when it was autumn, they would push ashore, and, sowing the land, whatever might be the part of Lybia they had reached, await there till the harvest time: having reaped their corn they continued their voyage. Thus, after the lapse of two years, and passing through the Pillars of Hercules in the third, they came back into Egypt, and stated what is not credible to me, but may be so, perhaps, to others,--namely, that in their circumnavigation of Libya, _they had the sun upon the right hand_.”--HEEREN, ii. c. 44. [194] The following passage from Heeren well illustrates, in the incoherence of each sentence, the consciousness that the people he described was too large for his grasp. “But, _leaving_ these distinct voyages of _discovery_ out of the question, the extent to which this enterprising people carried their _regular_ navigation is truly wonderful. _Though_ voyages across the open seas have been the _consequence_ of our _acquaintance with the new world_ beyond the Atlantic; _yet_ their hardy and adventurous spirit led them to find _a substitute_ for _it_, in stretching _from coast to coast_ into the _most distant regions_. _The long series of centuries_ during which they were exclusively the masters of the seas, gave them _sufficient time_ to make this gradual progress, which perhaps was the more _regular_ and _certain_ in proportion _to the time_ it occupied. The Phœnicians carried the nautical art to the highest point of perfection at _that time_ required, or of which it was _then_ capable.” [195] A vessel proceeding from the Bight of Benin to any point of the coast, northwards, has first to make and pass the equator, steering south and west till she has done so. She then hauls up to the west and north, and runs eastward only after she is to the northward of her port. [196] In the north the coast is sufficiently dangerous. In my cruise along it in 1845, I had in company, or saw only four vessels: two of these went ashore, the other two were wrecked, the one an English brigantine, the other a French steamer of war. Eighty souls perished.