uest of which country was effected by Sefac in his father's life-time. Neptune afterwards excited the Libyans to a rebellion against Sefac, and slew him; and then invaded Egypt under the command of Atlas or Antaeus, the son of Neptune, Sefac's brother and admiral. Not long after, Hercules, the general of Thebais and Ethiopia for the gods or great men of Egypt, reduced a second time the whole continent of Libya, having overthrown and slain Antaeus near a town in Thebais, from that event called Antea or Antaeopolis: this, we say, is the notion advanced by Sir Isaac Newton, who endeavours to prove, that the first reduction of Libya, by Sefac, happened a little above a thousand years before the birth of Christ, as the last, by Hercules, did some few years after. Now, though we do not pretend to adopt every particular circumstance of Sir Isaac Newton's system, yet we cannot forbear observing, that it appears undeniably plain from scripture, that neither the western extremity of Libya, nor even the other parts of that region, could possibly have been so well peopled before the time of David or Solomon, as to have sent a numerous army to invade Egypt. For Egypt and Phoenicia, from whence the greatest part of the ancestors of the Libyans came, and which were much nearer the place from whence the first dispersion of mankind was made, could not themselves have been greatly overstocked with inhabitants any considerable time before the reign of Saul. And that such an invasion happened in the reign of Neptune, or at least of his son Antaeus, has been most fully evinced by this most excellent chronologer.
From the defeat of Antaeus, nothing remarkable occurs in the history of Mauritania till the times of the Romans, who at last brought the whole kingdom under their jurisdiction; for which see the article Rome. With regard to the customs, &c. of this people, it would seem, from what Hyginus intimates, that they fought only with clubs, till one Belus, the son of Neptune, as that author calls him, taught them the use of the sword. Sir Isaac Newton makes this Belus to have been the same person with Sesostris king of Egypt, who over-ran a great part of the then known world.
2. All persons of distinction in Mauritania went richly attired, wearing much gold and silver in their clothes. They took great pains in cleansing their teeth, and curled their hair in a curious and elegant manner. They combed their beards, which were very long, and always had their nails pared extremely close. When they walked out in any numbers, they never touched one another, for fear of disconcerting the curls into which their hair had been formed.
3. The Mauritanian infantry, in time of action, used shields made of elephants' skins, being clad in those of lions, leopards, and bears, which they kept on both night and day.
4. The cavalry of this nation was armed with broad short lances, and carried targets or bucklers, made likewise of the skins of wild beasts. They used no saddles. Their horses were small and swift, had wooden collars about their necks, and were so much under the command of their riders, that they would follow them like dogs. The habit of these horsemen was not much different from that of the foot above-mentioned, they constantly wearing a large tunic of the skins of wild beasts. The Phutezi, of whom the Mauritians were a branch, were eminent for their shields, and the excellent use they made of them, as we learn from Homer, Xenophon, Herodotus, and scripture. Nay, Herodotus seems to intimate, that the shield and helmet came from them to the Greeks.
5. Notwithstanding the fertility of their soil, the poorer sort of the Mauritians never took care to manure the ground, being strangers to the art of husbandry; but roved about the country in a wild savage manner, like the ancient Scythians or Arabes Scenite. They had tents, or mapalia, so extremely small, that they could scarce breathe in them. Their food was corn, herbage, &c. which they frequently did eat green, without any manner of preparation; being destitute of wine, oil, and all the elegancies as well as many necessaries of life. Their habit was the same both in summer and winter, consisting chiefly of an old tattered, though thick garment, and over it a coarse rough tunic; which answered probably to that of their neighbours the Numidians. Most of them lay every night upon the bare ground; though some of them shrewed their garments thereon, not unlike the present African Kabyles and Arabs, who, according to Dr Shaw, use their lykes for a bed and covering in the night.
6. If the most approved reading of Horace may be admitted, the Mauritians shot poisoned arrows; which clearly intimates, that they had some skill in the art of preparing poisons, and were excellent dartmen. This last observation is countenanced by Herodian and Ælian, who entirely come into it, affirming them to have been in such continual danger of being devoured by wild beasts, that they durst not stir out of their tents or mapalia without their darts. Such perpetual exercise must render them exceedingly skilful in hurling that weapon.
7. The Mauritians sacrificed human victims to their deities, as the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, &c. did.
The country people were extremely rude and barbarous; but those inhabiting cities must undoubtedly have had at least some smattering in the literature of the several nations they deduced their origin from. That the Mauritians had some knowledge in naval affairs, seems probable, not only from the intercourse they had with the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, as well as the situation of their country; but likewise from Orpheus, or Onomacritus, who affirms them to have made a settlement at the entrance into Colchis, to which place they came by sea. Magic, sorcery, divination, &c. they appear to have applied themselves to in very early times. Cicero and Pliny say, that Atlas was the inventor of astrology and the doctrine of the sphere, i.e. he first introduced them into Mauritania. This, according to Diodorus Siculus, gave rise to the fable of Atlas's bearing the heavens upon his shoulders. The same author relates, that Atlas instructed Heracles in the doctrine of the sphere and astrology, or rather astronomy, who afterwards brought those sciences into Greece.