TOO EXPEDITIONS BEFORE ALEXANDER. [CHAP.
favour, but it is unfortunate that no details should be forthcoming
which would serve to corroborate it, such as notices of the
countries that were visited, of the climate that was experienced,
or of the strange sights and remarkable tribes that were met with.
We might at least have expected to hear something of the dis-
appearance of the northern constellations in a southern latitude,
since it was by them that the Phoenicians were wont to steer.
Still more remarkable is the omission of all notice of the great
southward extension of the continent of Africa, which must have
made a greater impression than any other feature on one that
sailed, round it, and yet remained altogether unknown to the
geographers of a later time, who believed, with Herodotus, that
the coast of Africa trended away to the west shortly after passing
Cape Guardafui. The ignorance which existed among the ancients
on this point, we may observe, facilitated their belief in the
accomplishment of the task, because the chief difficulty which
stood in the way of it was unknown to them. In modern times,
Argument ^Q Point w^ich ^as keen regarded as lending the
from the Sun strongest support to the truthfulness of the narra-
being seen on ... _ .
the Right tive, is the statement of the navigators that in
Hand* passing round Africa they had the sun on their
right hand. Such no doubt would be the case when they were
within the southern hemisphere; and this fact, taken in con-
nexion with the incredulity of Herodotus on the subject, seems at
first sight an instance of that kind of evidence which has been
noticed above1, as most convincing in establishing the truth of
a story—viz. the mention of a phenomenon, which appeared
marvellous to the men of a former age, but is easily explained by
the knowledge of modern times. Such a statement, it may be
said, could not have been invented. In reality, however, this
principle does not apply in the present instance,
Criticism of r -L • + + * * /
it. for the question turns on the acquaintance with
astronomy which was possessed, not by Herodotus,
or even by the Greeks, his contemporaries, but by the Phoe-
nicians or the Egyptians, from whom Herodotus derived the tale.
Now the learned among the Egyptians were well aware that
Syene was under (or close to) the tropic—that is to say, that the
1 v. supra, p. iB.