Book 2
3.4
From this Eudoxus drew the conclusion, that it was possible to circumnavigate Libya; he therefore returned home, and having collected together the whole of his substance, set out on his travels. First he visited Dicaearchia,Pozzuolo, close by Naples. and then Marseilles, and afterwards traversed the whole coast as far as Gades. Declaring his enterprise everywhere as he journeyed, he gathered money sufficient to equip a great ship, and two boats, resembling those used by pirates. On board these he placed singing girls, physicians, and artisans of various kinds, and launching into open sea, was carried towards India by steady westerly winds.Gosselin observes, that this steady westerly wind, so far from carrying him towards India, would be entirely adverse to him in coasting along Africa, and doubling Cape Bojador; and infers from hence that Eudoxus never really went that expedition, and that Strabo himself was ignorant of the true position of Africa. However, they who accompanied him becoming wearied with the voyage, steered their course towards land, but much against his will, as he dreaded the force of the ebb and flow. What he feared actually occurred. The ship grounded, but gently, so that it did not break up at once, but fell to pieces gradually, the goods and much of the timber of the ship being saved. With these he built a third vessel, closely resembling a ship of fifty oars, and continuing his voyage, came amongst a people who spoke the same language as that some words of which he had on a former occasion committed to writing. He further discovered, that they were men of the same stock as those other Ethiopians, and also resembled those of the kingdom of Bogus.A name common to many sovereigns of the different parts of Mauritania; the king Bogus, or Bocchus, here spoken of, governed the kingdom of Fez. However, he abandoned his [intended] voyage to India, and returned home. On his voyage back he observed an uninhabited island. well watered and wooded, and carefully noted its position. Having reached Maurusia in safety, lie disposed of his vessels, and travelled by land to the court of Bogus. He recommended that sovereign to undertake an expedition thither.
