16 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



iituation, that can account for this variance, as in the cafe of 

 Ptolemy ; for the new town of Alexandria is built from eaft 

 to weft ; and as all chriftian travellers neceffarily make their 

 obfervations now on the fame line, .there cannot poffibly 

 be any difference from iituation. 



Mr Niebuhr, whether from one or more obfervations he 

 does not fay, makes the latitude to be 31 12'. From a 

 mean of thirty-three obfervations, taken by the three-feet 

 quadrant I have fpoken of, I found it to be 31° 1 1 ' 16"; So 

 that, taking a medium of thefe three refults, you will have 

 the latitude of Alexandria 31 11' 32", or, in round num- 

 ber, 31 ii' 30", nor do I think there poffibly can be 5" dif- 

 ference. 



By an eclipfe, moreover, of the iirft fatellite of Jupiter, 

 obferved on the 23d day of June 1769, I found its longi- 

 tude to be 30 ij' 30" ea.i\ t from the meridian of Green- 

 wich. 



We arrived at Alexandria the 20th of June, and found 

 that the plague had raged in that city and neighbourhood 

 from the beginning of March, and that two days only be- 

 fore our arrival people had begun to open their houfes 

 and communicate with each other ; but it was no matter, 

 St John's day was paf, the miraculous nucta, or dew, had 

 fallen, and every body went about their ordinary buiinefs in 

 iafety, and without fear. 



With very great pleafure I had received my inftruments 

 at Alexandria. I examined them, and, by the perfect ftate 

 In which they arrived, knew the obligations I was under 



to 



