44 VIEWS OF NATURE. 



and since the publication of his large map of the basin of 

 the Laguna de Titicaca, in June, 1848, we learn that 

 the above elevations given for the Sorata and Illimani are 

 3960 feet and 2851 feet too high. His map gives only 

 21,286 feet for the Sorata, and 21,149 feet for the Illimani. 

 A more exact calculation of the trigonometrical operations 

 of 1838 led Mr. Pentland to these new results. He ascribes 

 an elevation of from 21,700 to 22,350 feet to four summits of 

 the western Cordilleras; and, according to his data, the Peak 

 of Sahama would thus be 926 feet higher than the Chim- 

 borazo, but 850 feet lower than the Peak of Aconcagua. 



(6) p. 2— " The desert near the basaltic mountains of 



ITarudsch." 



Near the Egyptian Natron Lakes, which in Strabo's time 



had not yet been divided into the six reservoirs by which 



they are now characterized, there rises abruptly to the north 



a chain of hills, running from east to west past Fezzan, 



where it at length appears to form one connected range 



with the Atlas chain. It divides in north-eastern, as Mount 



Atlas does in north-western Africa the Lybia, described by 



Herodotus as inhabited and situated near the sea, from the 



land of the Berbirs, or Biledulgerid, famed for the abundance 



of its wild animals. On the borders of Middle Egypt the 



whole region, south of the 30th degree of latitude, is an 



ocean of sand, studded here and there with islands or oases 



abounding in springs and rich in vegetation. Owing to the 



discoveries of recent travellers, a vast addition has been 



made to the number of the Oases formerly known, and which 



the ancients limited to three, compared by Strabo to spots 



upon a panther's skin. The third Oasis of the ancients, now 



called Siwah, was the nonios of Amnion, a hierarchical seat 



and a resting-place for the caravans, which inclosed within 



its precincts the temple of the horned Amnion and the spring 



of the Sun, whose waters were supposed to become cool at 



certain periods. The ruins of Ummibida (Omm-JJei/dah) 



incontestably belong to the fortified caravanserai at the Temple 



of Amnion, and therefore constitute one of the most ancient 



monuments which have come down to us from the dawn of 



human civilization.^ 



* Crdllaud, Voyage a Syouah, p. 14 ; Ideler, Fundgruben des Orients 

 bd. iv. s. 399—411. 



