in the Mountains of the Moon. 223 



the designation given by Ptolemy to the mountains in which 

 those sources are situate, rh rrn lo^rivm ogog, " the mountains 

 or hill-country of the Moon,'" is simply a translation of the 

 Saw4hili expression, " the mountains of Moezi." 



On the present occasion, it is pi'oposed to continue the in- 

 vestigation of the position of the sources of the Nile, on the 

 assumption of the general correctness of the opinions thus 

 expressed. And in order that we may ai'rive at a proper 

 understanding of the subject, it is necessary that we should 

 bring together all the particulars relating to the.upper course 

 of that river which we find recorded by the geographer of 

 Alexandria. 



In the prolegomena to his Geography * when commenting 

 on the labours of Marinus of Tyre, who flourished in the pre- 

 ceding century, Ptolemy states that the former writer had 

 learned from a certain Diogenes, who is described as one of 

 those who traded to India, that, as he was returning home 

 a second time, and had approached Aromata (Cape Gardafui), 

 he was driven back by the north wind ; so that in twenty-five 

 days he reached the lakes from which the Nile flows, and 

 which are situate at a short distance to the north of Cape 

 Prasum, the extreme point on the east coast of Africa known 

 to the navigators and geographers of that period. On this, 

 Ptolemy observes,! that he himself had been informed by 

 some mei'chants who traded between Arabia Felix and the 

 east coast of Africa, as far as the city of Rhapta, that the lakes 

 of the Nile are not near the ocean, but at a considerable dis- 

 tance inland. It is unnecessary to dwell on these statements, 

 further than to remark that Diogenes must evidently be con- 



The following remarks of Professor II. H. Wilson may further be cited as bear- 

 ing on this point :— " The Greeks sometimes translated appellatives, as in the case 

 of the Gynmosophists, the naked sages, Sanydsis and Digamharus. So also the Hyl- 

 lobii, or dwellers in woods, which is a literal translation of Vdnaprastha ; the 

 designation of the Member of the third order or anchoret, to whom it is pre- 

 scribed by Menu to dwell in a forest." — Quarterly Oriental Magazine (March 

 1827), vol. vii., p. 69. 



* Lib. i., cap. ix., p. 9 (Edit. Bertii, p. 11). 



t Lib. i., cap. xvii., p. 17 (Edit. Bertii, pp. 19, 20). 



