Stories of Africa and Ancient Egypt
by a numerous delegation of lions that they unanimously decided to take another route, and turned westward. This brought them into an arid part of the desert, and they were in sore straits until they fortunately discovered an oasis. Here they met with dwarf natives, described as being about half the size of ordinary men, and by them taken to a city inhabited by blacks. How they finally returned to their own country I do not know. This legend, or historical incident, whichever it may be, was long regarded with suspicion, but when the dwarfs of Central Africa, the “pigmies,” were discovered, their existence was looked upon as strong evidence tending to sustain the story told by Herodotus. It is true that these dwarfs were in a very different part of Africa, but that was easily explained, since they might have been driven south by the invasion of a more northern and warlike race. The Emperor Nero, to come down to the comparatively recent period of eighteen centuries ago, sent a military expedition in the year 60 A.D. to explore the upper waters of the Nile, and if possible to find out the source of the river. His expedition succeeded in reaching a point about 500 miles south of Khartoum, which is about in an east and west line with the strait of Bab-elMandeb. These old Romans were not stopped by the Nile cataracts, but when they met the sudd, even their Roman fortitude was choked in the mass of weeds. 202