12
people must have been indigenons, because no man would ever
leave Asia, Africa or Italy, and brave the horrors of the deep,
to become a resident of so desolate and wretched a region. It
appears, both from his testimony and from other sources, that
the Frisians of the coast and the islands have, from the earliest
ages, been remarkable for their courage and independence. For
an amusing version of the story of the two ambassadors, whose
appearance in the theatre at Rome is commemorated by Tacitus,
Annal. 13, 54, the reader is again referred to the Appendix II.
The pictures of the Sahara, and of the wild tribes who
traverse it, are drawn partly from the writer's personal obser-
vation of desert-life and scenery, and partly from authorities
which will be given hereafter.
The leading incidents of the story are taken from a tradition
contained in the first chapter of the second volume of Kohl's
work, and the name of the poem is from the same source.
It may be unnecessary to say, that the narrative is intended
to serve merely as a thread to connect the strong contrasts of
life and nature offered by the peculiar regions that have been
selected for description.
