Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/234

 GARAMANTES. The ooonby of tb* GanuBsntes wis known to Herodotus, who iDentioDs the people twice: first, as dweDinf; S. of the Nasamones, and £. of the Maeae, m the '* Coontiy of Wild Beasts," that is, the second of the three belts into which he divides N. Libya (ir. 174). In the second passage (iv. 183) he savs that the Ganunantes are a ytrj great natbn> inh»- biting one of thoee oases formed by salt-hills, whidi he places at intervals of 10 days' journeys along the interior of N. Africa. (Comp^ Ataramtics; At- Lamtm; Auoila.) This one lies between Angila and the Atarantes; bnt here arises a difficulty, inas- much as the regular allowance for the caravans fbom A^lah to ZuUa on the E. border of Femm is 20 days, and it took Homennann 16 days' very rapid travelling to accomplish the distance. The best solution of the difiiculty appean to be the sup- position that one station has been omitted by Hero- dotus (or by the oopybts), namely, the small oasis of Zola, which is just half-way between At^tlak and ZuUa. Herodotus makes the distance from the Lotophagi (i. e. the coast between the Syrtes) thirty days, which conreeponds exactly to the time occupied by the caravans in the journey from Tri- poli to Fmuuit which appears to have been the est** blished route in all ages. He describes the country te having many fruit-bearing palms, and as being cultivated for com by manuring it with salt, by which some suppose him to mean the white clay which is atiil used for manuring the sandy soiL His stoiy of the oxen with singularly thick hides, and with horns bending so far forward that the ^leasts were obliged to walk backwards as they fed <comp. Mek, I 8 ; Plin. viiL 45. s. 70), is not so ab- aurd as it may seem; for, although modem travellers have not confirmed this part, as they have the rest, "of the old inquirer's story, we have evidence from the Nubian monuments (Gan, pL zv.) that the an- cient neatherds of AfHca, like their successors to this day, exercised their ingenuity in giving artifi- cial fbnns to the horns of their cattle. (Heeren, Afrietm NoHom^ voL i. p. 222: for other stories About cattle walking badtwards as they fed, see Alexander Hyiidensis, op. i«4. v. p. 221, e.; Aelian. AT. A, zvi. 38; Aristot cbPort AnimaL iL 17.) In another, and a very sad part of his account, Herodotus is but too well supported by modem testimony. He telb us of a d^raded negro tribe, who dwelt in caves (rote TpvykMrns AlBUnras) among or near the Ganmantes, who hunted them with chariots, for these negroes were the swiftest runners known. The wretches thus, like their race in all ages, hunted after for slaves, lived on reptiles, and used a speech wldch resembled no other langua^, but was like the shrieking of bate. (Gomp. MeU, i. 8; Plin. V. 5, 8.) The Roek TVMoot, so called from their dwellfaig fai caves (Troglodytae), in the TibetU range of mountains, are still hunted fy the chiefkains t^ Feaanf though, by a kind of retribution, these Tibhoot are the sncoessoTB of the ancient Libyans, who have fled from more powerfnl conquerors into the former haunts of their negro game. (Lyon, NamUim, ^c, pp. 250, fell.) To complete the n- semUance, the people of Anjehk compare the lan- guage of theM degraded tribes to the whistling of birds. (Hornemann, p. 143.) The account of Herodotus contains an apparent ineonsisteDGX ; for the Gammantes an described in the former passage (c 174) in terms which would fitf better apply to these Aethtopian Troglodytes, as avoiding men and all aode^, possessing no wea- GARAMANTES. 075 pons of war, and unable to defend themselves. Tliis deecription corresponds exactly to what Mela (i. 8) and Pliny (v. 8) say of a people whom tbey call Gamphasantes; and hence some critics have proposed to alter the reading in Herodotus : but, besides the fact that there is not a shadow of variation in the MSS., the position assigned by Herodotus to this people ■ precisely that occupied by the Garamantes; and the same statemento aro repeated by later geographers, expressly on the authority of Herodotus. (Steph. B. s. v.; EusUth. ad Dum, Per, 217.) The discrepancy is, probably, one of those so of^en found in a writer who picks up news eageriy from all quarters ; for it is evident that the one account was obtained through the Nasamones and Cyrenaeans, and the other through the merchants who traded be- tween Fettan and Egypt; and we may fairly suppose that the one class of informants repeated only what they had heard of some of the degraded tribes who larlced, as has been seen, in comers of the country. If any change be necessary, we suspect it to be, of the two, father in the Roman oompilen; for their story seems copied from Herodotus. From the time of Herodotus to that of the Cae- saiB, we have no forther information worth men- tion. When the Romans had become the masters of N. Africa, they found it necessary to repress the barbarian tribes ; and this office was committed, in the case of the Garamantes, to Cornelius Balbus Gaditanus the younger, who, as proconsul, defeated them in a sense sufficient to warrant his investment with triumphal insignia, b. c. 19, though, of course, conquest was out of the question. (Flor. iv. 12 ; Tac. AiMu iil 74, iv. 26, HieL iv. 50.) The resulto ob- tained from this expedition in the form of additional knowledge are recorded by Strabo(xvH. pp. 835,838), Mela (i. 4. § 4, 8. § 7), and Pliny (v. 5, 8). Strafao places them 15 days' journey from the oases of Am- mon (Spoak), and 10 days' journey from the Aethio- pians on the Ocean ; a striking proof of the scanti- ness of his informatioa respecting Inner Libya: he describes their position relative to the N. coast with tolerable accuracy. Mela copies Herodotos, mixii^ up with his story a statement which Herodotus makes concerning Uie Ausenses. Pliny (v. 5) gives a good description of the pndtion of the Garamantes, with an account of the expedition of Balbus, and a list of the cities whose images and luunes graced his triumph : he also speaks of the difficulty cf keefMng open the road, becauM of the predatory bands be- longing to the tribe, who filled up the wells with sand. He mentions Phazania as if it were distinct from the country of the Garamantes. Ptolemy also (iv. 6. § 30) gives a list of their cities, none of which need paitioular mention, except the metropolis Garsma (Tapdtai: Germa, with considerable ruins). This dty has 13^ houn in its longest day, is distent 1| hour W. of Alexandria, and has the sun vertical twice a year, 15^ on each side of the summer sol- sticew (Ptol. viii. 16. § 7.) The Garamantes were a Libyan (not Negro) people, of the old race called Amaseigh [Gastu- LiA J, a name perhaps preserved in that of the mo- dem capital Mamwuk, The inland trade between K(S7P^ Cyivnaica, the Tripolis, and Carthage, on the one hand, and the interior of Afirica on the other, was to a great extent carried on by them. (The TVaeek of Hornemann, Captain Lyon, Denham and Clapperton, Richardson, Btfth, Qverweg, &c; Ren- nell, Geog, o/Berod, vol. ii. pp. 273, foil.; Heeren, A/rictm NaUone, vol i. pp. 221, foU.) [P. &]