Had he continued his voyage after ſailing 80 miles, he might perhaps have gone as far in 16 hours as is mentioned by Xenophon, with no better ſailors than thoſe of the Greeks.
I am aware that in this ſtatement I vary conſiderably from that of a gentleman, whoſe knowledge and abilities I reſpecting and it is on that account incumbent on me to Rate my reaſons for thus differing with him in opinion[1]
Mr. Rennel thinks that 37 Greek miles is the mean diſtance, which the ſhips of antiquity failed in the ſpace of one day. As this is much leſs than I have aſſigned, I ſhall take the liberty to examine the authorities he cites for what he alledges. The firſt inſtance he adduces is that of Miltiades, who, as he ſays, under favour of an eaſterly wind, paſſed in a ſingle day from Elæus, in the Cherſoneſe of Thrace, to Lemnos. The diſtance is 38 Greek miles only."
I am ſorry to remark ſeveral inaccuracies in this ſhort account. The ſtory in Herodotus is as follows: "The Pelaſgians, who were in poſſeſſion of Lemnos, admoniſhed by the Pythian oracle to give ſatiſfaction to the Athenians, for ſome injuries and cruelties which they had committed, and being required by the Atheians to ſurrender their iſland, replied, that they would do ſo when the north wind[2] ſhould carry a ſhip in one day from the Athe-
