ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. 131 



Bahr-el-Azrek, in 1837 and 1838 had made the existence of the 

 " Mountains of the Moon" appear very doubtful. The Blue Nile, 

 the Astapus of Ptolemy, issuing from the Lake of Coloe (now called 

 Lake Tzana) winds from amongst the colossal Abyssinian Mountains; 

 but towards the south-west an extensive low tract of. country appears. 

 The three exploring expeditions sent by the Egyptian government 

 (one in November 1839 from Chartum to the confluence of the 

 Blue and the White Nile, under the command of Selim Bimbashi; 

 another in the autumn of 1840, which was accompanied by the 

 French engineers Arnaud, Sabatier, and Thibaud; and a third in 

 August 1841), first unveiled the high mountains which, between 

 the parallels of 6- 4, and probably still farther to the south, run 

 at first from west to east, and afterwards from north-west to south- 

 east, and approach the left bank of the Bahr-el-Abiad. The second 

 of Mehemet Ali's expeditions first saw. the mountain chain, accord- 

 ing to Werne's account, in lat. ll, where (rebel Abul and Grebel 

 Kutak rise to 3400 (3623 Eng.) feet. .The high land continued 

 and approached nearer to the river more to the south, between 4f 

 lat., to the parallel of the island of Tschenker in 4 4/, where the 

 expedition of Commander Selim and Feizulla EfFendi terminated. 

 The shallow river makes its way between rocks, and detached mount- 

 ains rise again in the country of Bari to 3000 (3197 Eng.) feet. 

 These probably belong to the Mountains of the. Moon as represented 

 in our most recent maps, although they are not indeed mountains 

 covered with perpetual snow such as Ptolemy had described (lib. iv. 

 cap. 9). The limit of perpetual snow in these latitudes would not 

 certainly be found below an elevation of 14,500 (15,450 Eng.) 

 feet. Perhaps Ptolemy transferred to the country of the sources of 

 the White Nile the knowledge which he may have had of the high 

 mountains of Habesch, which are nearer to Upper Egypt and to 

 the Red Sea. In Godiam, Kaffa, Miecha, and Sami, the Abyssinian 

 Mountains rise to 10,000 and 14,000 (10,657 and 14,920 Eng.) 

 feet, according to exact measurements; not according to Bruce, who 

 gives the elevation of Chartum exceedingly wide of the truth, i. e. 

 4730 (5041 Eng.) feet, instead of 1430 (1524 Eng.) feet! Riip- 

 pell, one of the most accurate observers of the present day, found 

 Abba Jaret, in 13 1.0' of latitude, only 66 (70 Eng.) feet lower 



