M. CailUaud's Discoveries in Upper Egypt, 8(C. [April I, 



200 



age.) Sept. 9, 1819, in company with 

 M. Letorzue, and returned to Fiance 

 on the 10th of December last. He has 

 traversed all the known Oases, and 

 ascended the Nile to the tenth degree 

 of latitude ! 



At the time of his arrival in Egypt, 

 Mohammed Aly was projecting an 

 expedition into the higher regions of 

 Uubia: his son, Ismael Pacha, was to 

 command the army ; and M. C. who 

 was well known to the viceroy, was 

 allowed to accompany it. He accord- 

 ingly joined the vanguard; and, de- 

 parting from Daraou, in November 

 1820, arrived, Jan. otli, of the following 

 year, at Dongolah. On the 8th of 

 February he had advanced to Mount 

 Barkal, in the country of Chaguy : 

 there, among a multitude of ruins, are 

 several temples, and a great number 

 of pyramids. At Ghcndy he was ena- 

 bled to ascertain the geographical 

 position of the river Atliara, the an- 

 cient Astaboras; and arrived, at length, 

 at Assour, not far from the seventeenth 

 degree of latitude. Here he disco- 

 vered an ancient city, with consider- 

 able ruins ; its position coincides 

 exactly with that which ancient au- 

 thors assign to MeriJe. Eighty Pyra- 

 mids have been raised there, and there 

 is little reason to doubt that this was 

 the ancient metropolis of the Ethio- 

 pians. 



lietween the fiftecnih and sixteenth 

 degrees of latitude, he ascertained the 

 efflux or mouth of the Bahr-el-Abgad, 

 or the White Nile ; as also the Bahr-el- 

 Azraq, or the Blue River, called also 

 the Abaouy. The former of those 

 arms is the most considerable ; it 

 comes from the west, and doubtless 

 issues from the higher regions, called 

 tiie Mountains of the Moon. 



He arrived, at length, in Feb. 1822, 

 at Singue, a country situated bet\\ een 

 the two branches of the Nile, with 

 Mahometan inhabitants; though there 

 are Pagans, that worship trees, the 

 moon, and stars, in the kingdom of 

 Bertat, fifty leagues more to the north. 

 It was at Singue that Prince Ismail 

 stopped, and it terminated the career 

 of M. Cailliaud's expedition. A fatal 

 distemper was making havock in the 

 army ; eight Europeans had fallen 

 victims to it: there were mountains 

 to be scaled, and forests to be pene- 

 trated, often dangerous from wild 

 beasts. The inhabitants, also, no less 

 savage, were ever raising up fresh 



difRculties to oppose the advance of 

 the Egyptians. 



In this excursion, M. Cailliaud ad- 

 vanced to as great a distance from 

 Meroe, as Meroe is from Egypt. No 

 European traveller had arrived so 

 near the Equator on that side : Brown 

 stopped at 16° 10', and Bruce at the 

 eleventh degree. 



Through the whole of the countries 

 which they traversed, M. C. and his 

 companion were enabled to make ob- 

 servations interesting to geography, 

 astronomy, and physics. They tre- 

 quently determined the latitude and 

 longitude; attentively marking, also, 

 the variations of the needle, the nature 

 of the soil, the climate, and its tempe- 

 rature. As to the course of the Nile, 

 they traced it, as it were, step by step, 

 — ascertaining its numerous cataracts, 

 and, among others, that in the country 

 of Chaguy, which, in fact, consists of a 

 long ledge of cascades, through an ex- 

 tent of forty-five leagues. The moun- 

 tains also were noticed and described, 

 together with the animal and vege- 

 table productions. 



Plans and designs have been taken 

 of all the monuments situated above 

 the second cataract. Between Cbcndy 

 and Gerry, at some distance from the 

 river, M. C. discovered, very recently, 

 extensive ruins, the circnndercncc of 

 which includes 2500 feet ; beyond that 

 the ruins of Naka, and, further on, 

 those of Soba: all these were mea- 

 sured, and notices of them recorded. 

 And thus the empire of Weroe appears 

 to have had a number of flourishing 

 cities unknown to the Greeks. These 

 new discoveries will enable us to ap- 

 preciate the accounts in ancient au- 

 thors. Now that the country begins 

 to be better known, it will not be diffi- 

 cult to measure the three thousand sta- 

 dia of the Isle of Meriie, between the 

 rivers which represent the Astosaba, 

 the Astapus, and the Astaboras. 



Asa prelude to these discoveries, 

 MM. Cailliaud and Letorz^e ven- 

 tured on a bold excursion to the Oasis 

 of Syouah. About the end of 1819, 

 they set out from Fayouro, with a few 

 companions; and, after fifteen days' 

 march through the Libyan Sands, — 

 wherein they had to combat with the 

 Arabs, — they arrived at the Temple of 

 Omen-Beydah (Amnion); here they 

 ascertained (as Brown had done,) its 

 latitude and longitude, and, moreover, 

 took all requisite measurements. 



For 



