The foregoing extracts are all taken from the ninth and tenth books of the Odyssey, both which solely regard America, and I shall presently return again to the consideration of them; but that immense continent, the immemorial seat of multitudes of colonies from the Old World, could never have been overlooked by Homer in the Iliad either, if the view of that Poem, which I presumed to offer in the fifth volume, has any foundation: And in conformity with what might be so reasonably expected, I find that continent to be noticed in the Iliad under its two great divisions of North and South, in characters no less distinguished than those of the two Ajaxes. The whole of America, indeed, both North and South, is sometimes designated there under the person of one of them, the greater Ajax as drawn in Fig. 176, just as Agamemnon stands often for France, together with Spain and other of its dependencies: and it should seem that in this larger view the following lines, descriptive of Ajax arming himself, are to be understood : 7 11. 211, Τοιος αρ' Αιας ωρτο πελώριος ερκος Αχαιων The figure of Ajax given above, in No. 176, has the face fronting the Pacific Ocean, with the nose formed by the Promontory of California: the vast extent of the country, represented by him, is implied by the word πελώριος; the height of its mountains is insinuated by a reference to the length of their shadows, δολιχόσκιον ; and the enormous mass of ice at the northern end of America, by σακος ηύτε πύργον : the terms wor¢ ετε μακρα βιβας would seem to allude to South America, from its being shaped, on its western side, as divided by the river Plate, like the human leg and foot, and τρομος αινος and υποτρεσαι refer evidently to the earthquakes of South America. But undoubtedly, the two lines which describe Ajax in the catalogue, are immediately referable to North America only: 2 Il. 557, Αίας δ' εκ Σαλαμινος αγεν δυοκαιδεκα νέας for besides that in the name of Salamis there may possibly be an allusion to the old town of Salem there, as those lines state Ajax to have ranged his forces on the side of the Athenians, who, as I have said above, were typical of the English; it seems to follow, from that circumstance, that he is to be considered as representing that portion of America only in which English settlers have been established, for a time, to which I think none but a fabulous limit can be assigned. The following inquiry of Priam and answer of Helen seem to relate also to North America only: 3 Il. 225, Το τριτον αυτ' Αιαντα ιδων ερεειν' ο γεραιός and when he is called by Virgil clypei dominus septemplicis, it has regard to the strong resemblance to the figure 7, formed by the outline of the coast of Labrador for its top, and by the outline of the United States of America, and the promontory of Florida for its strait line, as represented in its due place, at the back of the head of fig. 176. The lesser Ajax is drawn in Fig. 177, in which, of the three human faces which it exhibits, in conformity with the map of South America, I should select the upper one in particular for him, or that which looks westward, into the Pacific, that being the quarter where the rich mines presently mentioned are most abundant. His prototype, as lying in South America is, distinctly marked by Homer; to shew which it is only necessary to cite the few first lines of the account given of him in the catalogue: 2 II. 527, Λοκρων δ' ηγεμόνευεν Οίληος ταχυς Αίας The word μew notices the inferiority of South America to North America, in point of extent, with an oblique allusion to the rich mines contained in the former; Oiλnos (from ois,) refers to the very peculiar breed of sheep found in Peru; and λwoOwens, to the equatorial line, which, as the term implies, passes over the breast of South America. If with these few remarks, thus premised, the reader would follow the two Ajaxes through their several operations in the Iliad, as connected with |