Greeks, as well as the Atlantic, are parts of the same ocean; Clio, 203: and as he also says, Melpom. 13, 36, that the Hyperboreans, whom he places to the northward of the Scythians and Issedones, EXTENDED TO THE SEA; this is saying, in other words, that the sea bordered on, and confined Europe and Asia on the north. We have here then, in express terms, a north, a south, and a west sea; but no eastern sea; so that he considered the eastern part of the world, as composed of land only for he says, that "the Indians are the last nation towards the east; and that beyond them is a vast desert, unknown and unexplored." Melpom. 40. Again he says, Melpom. 8, They affirm, without proving it, that the ocean, commencing at the east, flows round the earth."

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The geography of Herodotus consists almost entirely of a series of relative positions of countries, to each other; but without distances or dimensions, except in certain instances. Hence, we can only refer to those ideas of juxtaposition, the measures given by succeeding geographers; particularly Eratosthenes and Strabo, whose ideas of relative position seem to have differed but little from those of our Author: for we clearly discover his principal errors perpetuated in the systems of those geographers. Wherefore, reasoning from analogy, it may be inferred, that the dimensions of countries, and regions, given generally by them, were those extant in the days of Herodotus; save only such as were corrected by the materials furnished by the expedition of Alexander; which expedition, besides the eclat

of the military history belonging to it, furnished in Greece and Egypt, an epoch of geographical improvement and correction, which may not unaptly be compared with that of the discoveries of the Portuguese, along the coasts of Africa and India; or of that of the present time, in which geography has been improved in every quarter of the globe.

But, in effect, the expeditions of Alexander and of Xenophon, how fruitful soever in geographical notices, in detail, did not afford materials for correcting the former errors of the Greeks, respecting some of the most important relative positions, in the gross as for instance, the Caspian sea was supposed by Herodotus to be opposite to the coast of the Persian Icthyophagi; and the sea of Colchis to that of Persia: and these errors existed not only in the days of Herodotus, but continued to those of Eratosthenes and Strabo also. The cause of their perpetuation will be shewn in the sequel.

His ideas of the proportional extent of the known parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, were very defective for he reckoned the two latter much too small, in respect of Europe. But it is again to be remarked, that succeeding geographers, down to Pliny inclusive, ran into the same kind of error, and even to a greater degree: for instance, the Europe of Eratosthenes and Strabo, exceeded in their ideas, the parts of Asia known to Herodotus: and those of Africa, in a yet greater degree. Pliny erred yet more in his proportions. Ptolemy was the first who approached the truth, in giving the relative proportions of the known regions of the globe, al

though the absolute measures in longitude given by him, were in excess to a degree perfectly unaccountable whilst the errors of his predecessors, although in excess likewise, appear to be so, only in the proportion which the distance by the road, or by the coasting voyage of a ship, exceeds that by the direct line. And this seems, indeed, to point out the source many of their errors.

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Another error of Herodotus was, his taking the Isthmus of Asia Minor, much too narrow. A like error, but in a greater degree, appears to have arisen in his estimation of the breadth of Arabia; which is inferable from his statements of the respective positions of Egypt and Cilicia; Colchis, and the Persian gulf; an error also perpetuated by succeeding geographers for Pliny, lib. vi. c. 28, compares the Peninsula of Arabia, to that of Italy, not only in form and position, but in point of size also! Thus the most prominent features of this geography, as far as we can collect from the records of the times, did not greatly vary, from the days of Herodotus, to those of Pliny.

In so ancient a book, one must not be surprised at finding corruptions in the numerals, or even in the proper names. With respect to the first, we sometimes find them false, in places where a knowledge of the ground affords the means of detecting them and hence, the same may be inferred in other places, where, through want of the requisite information, they escape detection. As to names, it appears that they are more correct, than one had a right to expect. It is, however, certain, that in the account

of the Persian Satrapies, certain names occur, that cannot be referred to any particular position. Some of these may have been lost, altogether, in subsequent times; as there is an instance in that of the Caspian's country, whose name was grown obsolete before the time of Strabo. Others may have been corrupted; and others again were probably no more than names of the principal cities of the several countries, applied to the countries themselves; a custom very prevalent in the East, to the great confusion of history, and of geography. But, on the whole, during the interval of five or six centuries, between Herodotus and Ptolemy, the names do not appear to have undergone much change.

The scope of the geographical knowledge of our Author may be briefly comprised in the following description:

Of EUROPE and ASIA, collectively, the northern boundary was the ocean, whose shore was supposed to continue from the south of the Baltic, eastward; and perhaps touching the parallel of 60. On the north-east, the mountains of Altai, at the head of the Irtish river, and the country of the Oigurs or Yugures, which is far advanced within Great Tartary, seem to have terminated his knowledge; and on the east, the great sandy deserts of Tartary, and the country of India; but of this last, his ideas appear to have been the most indistinct possible, both in respect of its extent, and of its history. The Peninsula of India is darkly pointed out by the tract which extends very far to the south of Persia, and whose inhabitants are black; but it is given under too confined limits.

The eastern extremity of Herodotus's world, was a vast Desert, unknown and unexplored, and consequently in extent, indefinite. The remainder he knew to be surrounded by the ocean; including AFRICA, which he confined within limits which were very much narrower than the truth, both in respect of its length and breadth; although much wider than appears in the systems of other geographers.

In the discussion of this subject, we shall treat the three divisions of EUROPE, ASIA, and AFRICA, according to our author's distribution of their space, in the order here mentioned: adding thereto a particular description of the 20 Satrapies of Persia, according to the arrangement of DARIUS HYSTASPES. These last comprised a great proportion of the known part of the world, at that day. But before we enter finally on the discussion of the geography, it may be proper to ascertain what portion of distance was intended by the itinerary stade of the Greeks, since their geography appears to have been regulated by this scale.