Travels in Syria and the Holy Land | Page 9

second [p.xix]
edition of Burckhardt's Nubia, and from the information transmitted to
England by Mr. Salt, he has been enabled to insert in the same map, the
position of the ruins of an ancient city situated about 20 miles to the
north-eastward of Shendy.
These ruins had already been partially seen by Bruce and Burckhardt,
[Burckhardt passed through the vestiges of what seems to have been a
dependency of this city on the Nile, at seven hours to the north of
Shendy, and two hours to the south of Djebail; the latter name, which is
applied by Burckhardt to a large village on a range of hills, is evidently
the same as the Mount Gibbainy, where Bruce observed the same ruins,
which have now been more completely explored by M. Cailliaud. See
Travels in Nubia, p.275. Bruce's Travels, Vol. iv. p.538, 4to.] and there
can be little doubt that Bruce was right in supposing them to be the
remains of Meroe, the capital of the great peninsula of the same name,
of which the general geography appears to have been known with
considerable accuracy to men of science in the Augustan age, although
it had not been visited by any of the writers whose works have reached

us. For, assuming [To illustrate the following observations, as well as
some of the preceding, a small drawing of the course of the Nile is
inserted in the margin of the map of Syria which accompanies the
present volume.] these ruins to mark the site of the city Meroe, and that
the latitude and longitude of Shendy have been accurately determined
by Bruce, whose instruments were good, and whose competency to the
task of observation is undoubted, it will be found that Ptolemy is very
nearly right in ascribing the latitude of 16.26 to the city Meroe.[Ptolem.
l.4,c.8.] Pliny [Plin. Hist. Nat. l.2,c.73.] is equally correct in stating that
the two points of the ecliptic, in which the sun is in the zenith at Meroe,
are the 18th degree of Taurus, and the 14th degree of Leo. The 5000
stades which Strabo[Strabo, p. 113.] and Pliny [Plin. ibid.] We learn
from another passage in Pliny, (l.6,c.29,) that the persons sent by Nero
to explore the Nile, measured 884 miles, "by the river", from Syene to
Meroe.] assert to be the distance between Meroe and Syene is correct,
at a rate of between 11 and 12 [p.xx]stades to the geographical mile; if
the line be taken in direct distance, as evidently appears to have been
the intention of Strabo, by his thrice stating (upon the authority of
Eratosthenes,) that the distance from Meroe to Alexandria was 10,000
stades.[Eratosth. ap. strab. p. 62. Strabo, p. 113, 825.] The latitudes of
Ptolemy equally accord in shewing the equidistance of Syene from
Meroe and from Alexandria; the latitude of Syene being stated by him
at 23-50,[Ptolem. l.4,c.6.] and that of Alexandria at 31-0. [Ptolem. ibid.]
The description of the island of Meroe as being 3000 stades long, and
1000 broad, in form like a shield, and as formed by the confluence of
the Astasobas, Astapus, and Astaboras,[Eratosth. ap. Strab. p.786. Strab.
p.821. Diodor. Sic. l.l,c.33. Heliodor. AEthiop. l.10,c.5] is perfectly
applicable to the great peninsula watered on the east by the Tacazze,
and on the west by the Bahr el Abiad, after receiving the Bahr el Azrek.
The position of the city Meroe is shewn by Artemidorus, Ptolemy, and
Pliny,[Artemid. ap. Strab. p.771. Ptolem. l.4,c.8. Plin. Hist. Nat.
l.6,c.29.] to have been, like the ruins near Shendy, near the northern
angle of the island, or the confluence of the rivers. The island between
Djebail and Shendy which Bruce calls Kurgos, answers to that which
Pliny describes as the port of Meroe; and finally, the distance of "15
days to a good walker," which Artemidorus [Artemid. ibid.] places
between Meroe and the sea, giving a rate of about 16 English miles

a-day, in direct distance, is a correct statement of the actual distance
between the ruins near Shendy and Souakin. [It is fair to remark, that
there are two authorities which tend to place the city of Meroe 30 or 40
miles to the southward of the ruins near Shendy. Eratosthenes states it
to have been at 700 stades, and Pliny at 70 miles above the confluence.
But it is rare indeed to find a coincidence of many ancient authorities in
a question where numbers are concerned, unless one author has
borrowed from another, which is probably the case in regard to the two
just quoted.]
[p.xxi]It will hardly be contested, that the modern name of Merawe,
which is found attached to a town near the ruins of an ancient city,
discovered by Messrs. Waddington and Hanbury in the country of the
Sheygya, is sufficient to overthrow the strong evidence