" To them Herodotus was much indebted for the geographical
knowledge which he displays of those parts of the world; and it is by no
means improbable that the spirit of commercial enterprize which invited the
Greek merchants on the Euxine to penetrate among the barbarous nations of
the north-east, also led them far to the east and south-east; and that from
them, as well as from his personal enquiries, while at Babylon and Susa,
Herodotus derived much of the information with which he has favoured us
respecting the country on the Indus, and the borders of Cashmere and
Arabia. Having thus pointed out the sources from which Herodotus derived
his geographical knowledge, we shall now sketch the limits of that
knowledge, as well as mention in what respects he yielded to the fabulous
and absurd notions of his contemporaries.
He fails most in endeavouring to give a general and combined idea of the
earth; even where his separate sketches are clear and accurate, when united
they lose both their accuracy and clearness. He seems to doubt whether he
should divide the world into three parts; and at last, having admitted such
a division, he makes the rivers Phasis and Araxes, and the Caspian Sea, the
boundaries between Europe and Asia; and to Europe he assigns an extent
greater than Asia and Libya taken together. His knowledge of the west of
Europe was very imperfect: in some part he fixes the Cassiterides, from
which the Phoenicians derived their tin.
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