HIMILCO, a celebrated navigator of Carthage, a contemporary of Hanno, and equally distinguished for his maritime discoveries. He was the first who ventured to traverse the Northern Ocean, and to examine the shores of Great Britain; but the details of this voyage, which must have been remarkable for its boldness at that early period, have nearly disappeared in the lapse of years (Plin. ii. 67). Festus Avienus, in his work entitled Ora Maritima, has preserved to us a few particulars, which, as it is the earliest notice taken of our island, it may be interesting to give: "Here is the point of a high ridge, called in ancient times Gestrymnis; the whole lotty mass of rocks faces the warm south. In front of this promontory opens the bay Gestrymnicus, in which are found the islands Gestrymnides, rich in tin and lead. The country is populous, and the inhabitants are remarkable for their pride, their active industry, and their commercial spirit. They traverse, in small boats made of skins, the boisterous sea and whirlpools of their ocean, abounding in sea monsters. Two days sail, you reach the island of the Hiberni, and near them you have the island of Albion." The Gestrymnides are evidently the Scilly Islands, which were afterwards called Cassiterides. This voyage is supposed to have taken place in the sixth century before the Christian era.