Beyond Sabaea to the east, Agatharcides possessed no information, though,
like all the ancients, he is desirous of supplying his want of it by
indulging in the marvellous: it is, however, rather curious that, among
other particulars, undoubtedly unfounded, such as placing the Fortunate
islands off the coast beyond Sabaea, and his describing the flocks and herds
as all white, and the females as polled;--he describes that whiteness of
the sea, to which we have already alluded, as confirmed by modern
travellers. From these unfounded particulars, our author soon emerges again
into the truth; for he describes the appearance of the different
constellations, and especially notices that to the south of Sabaea there is
no twilight in the morning; but when he adds, that the sun, at rising,
appears like a column--that it casts no shadow till it has been risen an
hour, and that the evening twilight lasts three hours after it has set; it
is obvious that the information of that age (of which we may justly suppose
the library of Alexandria was the great depository) did not extend beyond
Sabaea.
That Agatharcides had access to and made ample use of the journal of
Nearchus (of which we have given such a complete abstract), is evident from
various parts of his work; but it is also evident, by comparing his
description of those countries and their inhabitants, which had been
visited and described by Nearchus, that he had access to other sources of
intelligence, by means of which he added to the materials supplied by the
latter.
Pages:
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182