George
Cornewall Lewis, one is often reminded of what Sainte-Beuve
somewhere says of the great scholar Letronne, when he had spent
the hour of his lecture in demolishing some pretty or popular
belief: "Il se frotta les mains et s'en alla bien content."
When it came to ancient history, Sir George was undeniably fond
of "the everlasting No." In the present case his skepticism
seems on the whole well-judged, but some of his arguments
savour of undue haste toward a negative conclusion. He thus
strangely forgets that what we call autumn is springtime in the
southern hemisphere (_Astronomy of the Ancients_, p. 511). His
argument that the time alleged was insufficient for the voyage
is fully met by Major Rennell, who has shown that the time was
amply sufficient, and that the direction of winds and ocean
currents would make the voyage around southern Africa from east
to west much easier than from west to east.]

[Footnote 350: "No trace of it could be found in the
Alexandrian library, either by Eratosthenes in the third, or by
Marinus of Tyre in the second, century before Christ, although
both of them were diligent examiners of ancient records."
Major, _Prince Henry the Navigator_, p. 90.]

[Sidenote: Voyage of Hanno.]

Of Phoenician and other voyages along the Atlantic coast of Africa we
have much more detailed and trustworthy information. As early as the
twelfth century before Christ traders from Tyre had founded Cadiz
(Gades),[351] and at a later date the same hardy people seem to have
made the beginnings of Lisbon (Olisipo). From such advanced stations
Tyrian and Carthaginian ships sometimes found their way northward as far
as Cornwall, and in the opposite direction fishing voyages were made
along the African coast. The most remarkable undertaking in this quarter
was the famous voyage of the Carthaginian commander Hanno, whose own
brief but interesting account of it has been preserved.[352] This
expedition consisted of sixty penteconters (fifty-oared ships), and its
chief purpose was colonization. Upon the Mauritanian coast seven small
trading stations were founded, one of which--Kerne, at the mouth of the
Rio d' Ouro[353]--existed for a long time. From this point Hanno made
two voyages of exploration, the second of which carried him as far as