On
The Other Hand, It Has Found Able Supporters In D'Anville, Huet, Gessner,
Murray Of Goettingen, Gosselin, And Malte Brun;
And in our opinion, though
it may not be easy to ascertain what was really the country which be
reached
In his voyage, and though some of the particulars he mentions may
be fabulous, or irreconcileable with one another, yet it seems carrying
scepticism too far to reject, on these accounts, his voyage as altogether a
fiction.
The account is, that Pytheas departed from Marseilles, coasted Spain,
France, and the east or north-east side of Britain, as far as its northern
extremity. Taking his departure from this, he continued his voyage, as he
says, to the north, or perhaps to the north-east; and after six days'
navigation, he arrived at a land called Thule, which he states to be 46,300
stadia from the equator. So far there is nothing improbable or
inconsistent; but when he adds, that being there at the summer solstice, he
saw the sun touching the northern point of the horizon, and at the same
time asserts that the day and night were each of six months' continuance,
there is a palpable contradiction: and when he adds, that millet was
cultivated in the north of this country, and wheat in the south, and that
honey abounded, he mentions productions utterly incompatible with his
description of the climate and latitude.
As, however, this voyage forms an important epoch in the history of
discovery, it may be proper to endeavour to ascertain what country the
Thule of Pytheas really was.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 82 of 1007
Words from 22367 to 22630
of 273188
