Note 194 — Chapter XII · THE STONE OF HERCULES.

The following passage from Heeren well illustrates, in the incoherence of each sentence, the consciousness that the people he described was too large for his grasp. “But, leaving these distinct voyages of discovery out of the question, the extent to which this enterprising people carried their regular navigation is truly wonderful. Though voyages across the open seas have been the consequence of our acquaintance with the new world beyond the Atlantic; yet their hardy and adventurous spirit led them to find a substitute for it, in stretching from coast to coast into the most distant regions. The long series of centuries during which they were exclusively the masters of the seas, gave them sufficient time to make this gradual progress, which perhaps was the more regular and certain in proportion to the time it occupied. The Phœnicians carried the nautical art to the highest point of perfection at that time required, or of which it was then capable.”