the desperate extremity of devouring each other. Cambyses, struck at length with just horror, desisted, and returned to Thebes, but not till he had lost a large proportion of his army. Of the other expedition, which had gone against the Ammonians, the fate remained for ever buried in impenetrable mystery. It could only be known, that it never either reached Ammon, or returned to Egypt. It was hence inferred, that the whole must have found a grave in the vast ocean of sand which intervened. These examples proved an awful beacon to future conquerors and explorers; they heightened the mingled sentiment of veneration and terror with which these interior abodes were contemplated. This desert seemed as a barrier fixed by nature, which she would never permit any mortal to pass with impunity. These regions remained, therefore, undisturbed till the arrival of a new conqueror, who was not wont to be deterred by any common obstacles. Alexander,* when the career of conquest carried him to Memphis, determined to proceed, and visit the temple of Jupiter Ammon. With the frantic wish of being owned as the offspring of that Deity, was probably mingled a romantic curiosity to behold the mysteries that were hid in the depth of these awful solitudes. He viewed himself probably as

a darling of fate, over whom the perils that overwhelm the rest of mankind would lose their influence. The army, however, suffered immensely during this march; and, but for a seasonable shower, the consequences might have been fatal. At length, they beheld with astonishment, in the heart of this immense desert, a spot covered with luxuriant verdure, flowing rivulets, and all the beauties of perpetual spring. The king then sought the most aged of the interpreters of the oracle, and inquired his own origin and destiny, The spears of the invincible phalanx, drawn up in battle array, threw a wonderful light on the eyes of the prophet. He at once saw and owned Alexander as the son of Jupiter, and worthy of divine honours; a declaration with which the monarch departed better satisfied than some of his followers.

Under the liberal and enlightened administration of the Ptolemies, it cannot be doubted, that great efforts would be made to extend the knowledge of interior Africa. The same may probably be said of the Romans, whose writers evidently show that their countrymen felt on this subject the same mixture of wonder and curiosity, which animated the natives of Egypt and Greece. The fruit of this spirit of inquiry appears in the extended knowledge of the geographical writers of the first and second centuries. Of the steps, how

ever, by which this knowledge was procured, no record is to be found, with the exception of a short and incidental notice by Ptolemy,* of two Roman expeditions. The one was made by Septimius Flaccus, who, marching directly south from Garama, came in three months to the country of the Ethiopians; the other by Julius Maternus, who, on learning that the Ethiopians had attacked Garama, marched in four months from Leptis Magna to Agisymba, a country inhabited by that people. These two generals, therefore, crossed the desert; but no details are given of their march, or of the region with which it terminated. Ptolemy even expresses some doubts as to its possibility; which, however, evidently arise only from his own imperfect knowledge as to the extent of this part of the continent.

*B. I. ch. 8.

CHAPTER II.

DISCOVERIES DURING THE MIDDLE AGES.

The Arabians.-Their entrance into Africa; their Establishment on the Niger.-Kingdoms of Ghana, Wangara, &c.— Limits of their Knowledge.-Leo Africanus.-Changes in Central Africa. Foundation of Tombuctoo.-Description of that City.-Ghinea.-Melli.-Gualata.

THE rise of the Mahometan power, and the vast hordes of Saracen invaders which poured into Africa, caused a complete revolution in the moral and political aspect of that continent. This revolution, of which the ultimate effect was to extinguish all the intelligence, activity, and civilization, by which it had been illustrated, evinced at first a completely opposite tendency. The Caliphate was held, during several ages, by a race of monarchs who rank among the most accomplished by whom any throne has been swayed; the arts of peace were brought to perfection even in the bosom of war, and the nations placed under their rule, cherished almost exclusively the lights of science, which were fast expiring in every other region. The migratory spirit of this cele

brated people, their commercial habits, their zeal in the pursuit of geographical science, all impelled them to direct their steps into the yet unknown regions of interior Africa. The desert, that barrier which deterred all former approach, appeared far less formidable to an Arabian explorer. It recalled to him the image of his native country, where he had long been familiar with every expedient, by which such an expanse could be traversed in safety. The camel, transported into a congenial soil, afforded the means, not only of effecting a passage once for the purpose of discovery, but of establishing a regular and constant communication across it. The first route appears to have been from Fezzan, by way of Agades, being the one still followed by the Cassina caravan. The passage is less difficult at this than at any other point; the immense breadth of the desert being broken by the large oases of Fezzan and Agades, and by several others of lesser magnitude. After passing it, they found a shore, whose fertility and beauty were probably much heightened in their view by the length of the dreary approach. to it. But the eyes of this commercial people were peculiarly attracted by a commodity, which, precious in itself, has always been much overrated in the opinion of mankind. From the regions immediately to the south was brought in abundance gold, not disguised in chemical combinations,