Waddington and Hanbury in the country of the
Sheygya, is sufficient to overthrow the strong evidence just stated. It
may rather be inferred, that the Greek Meroe was formed from a word
signifying "city" in the ancient AEthiopic language, which has continued
up to the present time, to be attached to the site of one of the chief
cities on the banks of the Nile,--thus resembling in its origin many
names of places in various countries, which from simple nouns expressive
in the original language of objects or their qualities, such as city,
mountain, river, sacred, white, blue, black, have been converted by
foreigners into proper names.
The ruins near Merawe seem to those of Napata, the chief town of the
country intermediate between Meroe and Egypt, and which was taken by the
praefect Petronius, in the reign of Augustus, when it was the capital of
Queen Candace;[Ptolem. l.4,c.7. Strabo, p.820. Plin. Hist.
Nat.l.6,c.29.] for Pliny, on the authority of the persons sent by Nero
to EXPLORE the river above Syene, states 524 Roman miles to have been
the interval between Syene and Napata, and 360 miles to have been that
between Napata and Meroe, which distances correspond more nearly than
could have been expected with the real distances between Assouan,
Merawe, and Shendy, taken along the general curve of the river, without
considering the windings in detail.[We must not, however, too
confidently pronounce on REAL distances until we possess a few more
positions fixed by astronomical observations.]
The island of Argo, from its extent, its important ruins, its fertility,
as well as from the similarity of name, seems to be the Gora, of
Juba,[Ap. Plin. ibid.] or the Gagaudes, which the explorers of Nero
reported to be situated at 133 miles below Napata.
[p.xxii]In placing Napata at the ruins near Mérawe, it is necessary to
abandon the evidence of Ptolemy, whose latitude of Napata is widely
different from that of Merawe; and as we also find, that he is
considerably in error, in regard to the only point between Syene and
Meroe, hitherto ascertained, namely, the Great Cataract, which he places
37 minutes to the north of Wady Halfa, still less can we rely upon his
authority for the position of the obscurer towns.
Although the extreme northern point to which the Nile descends below
Berber, before it turns to the south, is not yet accurately determined
in latitude, nor the degree of southern latitude which the river reaches
before it finally takes the northern course, which it continues to the
Mediterranean, we cannot doubt that Eratosthenes had received a
tolerably correct account of its general course from the Egyptians,
notwithstanding his incorrectness in regard to the proportionate length
of the great turnings of the river.
"The Nile," he says "after having flowed to the north from Meroe for the
space of 2700 stades, turns to the south and southwest for 3700 stades,
entering very far into Lybia, until it arrives in the latitude of Meroe;
then making a new turn, it flows to the north for the space of 5300
stades, to the great Cataract, whence inclining a little eastward, it
traverses 1200 stades to the small Cataract of Syene, and then 5300
stades to the sea.[Ap. Strab. p.786. The only mode of reconciling these
numbers to the truth, is to suppose the three first of them to have been
taken with all the windings of the stream, the two last in a direct
line, and even then they cannot be very accurate.] The Nile receives two
rivers, which descending from certain lakes surround the great island of
Meroe. That which flows on the eastern side is called Astaboras, the
other is the Astapus, though some say it is the Astasobas," &c.
This ambiguity, it is hardly necessary to observe, was caused by the
greater magnitude of the Astasobas, or Bahr el Abiad, or White [p.xxiii]
River, which caused it to give name to the united stream after its
junction with the Astapus, or Bahr el Azrek, or Blue River; and hence
Pliny,[Plin. Hist. Nat. l.5,c.9.] in speaking of Meroe, does not say
that it was formed by the Astapus, but by the Astasobas. In fact, the
Astapus forms the boundary of the island, as it was called, on the S.W.
the Astasobas, or united stream, on the N.W.
WILLIAM MARTIN LEAKE, Acting Secretary of the African Association.
ERRATA. [Not included]
CONTENTS.
Journal of a Tour from Damascus, in the Countries of the
Libanus and Anti-Libanus ...................................page 1
Journal of an Excursion into the Haouran, in the Autumn and
Winter of 1810,.................................................51
Journal of a Tour from Aleppo to Damascus, through the Valley
of the Orontes and Mount Libanus, in February and March,
1812...........................................................121
Journal of a Tour from Damascus into the Haouran, and the
Mountains to the E. and S.E. of the Lake of Tiberias, in the
Months of April and May, 1812..................................211
Description of a Journey from Damascus through the Mountains
of Arabia Petraea and Desert el Ty, to Cairo, in the Summer
of 1812........................................................311
Journal of a Tour in the Peninsula of Mount Sinai, in the Spring
of 1816........................................................457
APPENDIX.
No. I. An Account of the Ryhanlu Turkmans.......................633
No. II. On the Political Division of Syria, and the recent
changes in the Government of Aleppo............................648
No. III. The Hadj Route from Damascus to Mekka....................656
No. IV. Description of the Route from Boszra in the Haouran,
to Djebel Shammor..............................................662
No.
