That there should be any
doubt on the subject appears surprising; for, as Dr. Vincent very justly
remarks, we have Hanno's own authority to prove that he never was within 40
degrees of the Cape.
That the Carthaginians, before the voyage of Hanno, had discovered the
Canary Islands, is rendered highly probable, from the accounts of Diodorus
Siculus, and Aristotle: the former mentions a large, beautiful, and fertile
island, to which the Carthaginians, in the event of any overwhelming
disorder, had determined to remove their government; and Aristotle relates
that they were attracted to a beautiful island in such numbers, that the
senate were obliged to forbid any further emigration to it on pain of
death.
The voyages of the Carthaginians were, from the situation of their
territory, and the imperfect state of geography and navigation at that
period, usually confined to the Mediterranean and to the western shores of
Africa and Europe; but several years antecedent to the date usually
assigned to the voyages of Himilco and Hanno, a voyage of discovery is said
to have been accomplished by the king of a nation little given to maritime
affairs. We allude to the voyage of Scylax, undertaken at the command of
Darius the son of Hystaspes, about 550 years before Christ.
