38                 DISCOVERY OF

ciples, the existence of the Western Continent might
have been conceived by the ancients. But whether
they had the sagacity to form such conjectures, we are
not authorised to say.
  Of the two hemispheres which comprise the whole
terraqueoils globe, the ancients had certainly no prac-a
tical knowledge of more than what we now denominate
the Eastern, containing the continents of Europe, Asia
and Africa. They supposed the. pillars of Hercules,
consisting of the rock of Gibraltar on one side, and
Mount Calpe on the other, to be the western boundaries
of the earth; and on the east they carried their ideas
no farther -than the Ganges. In the south, they had
some confused notions of Africa, extending into the tor-
rid zone; but they scarcely believed it possible that men
could exist in those sultry climes. With regard to the
north, their notions were sometimes ridiculously strange
concerning the inhabitants of -the terra incognita, (the
unknown country) of Europe and Asia.
  Although we have no reason to believe that the
ancients ever ventured to explore the continent of
America by practical observation, whatever might have
been their ideas respecting the existence of such a coun-
try; yet, there are some historians who would seem to
favor the opinion, that the 'Carthaginians, the Welsh,
and the Norwegians discovered this country at a very
early period, and prior, of course, to the famous voy-
age of Columbus.
   Those who contend for the Carthaginians have no
other support than a few obscure passages from the
ancients, who would really seem to be but little ac-
quainted with this island, which they describe and place
at a short distance beyond the pillars of Hercules, or
the straits of Gibraltar. We shall first notice DiodorLus
Siculus, a Sicilian historian and a Stoic philosopher,
in the time of Julius Caesar.
   ";Phoenices vetustissimis temporibus extra columnas
Herculis navigantes ingentibus ventorum procellis ad