THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 339 



About twenty minutes before twelve o'clock we were 

 about four leagues diftant from the ifland, as near as I 

 .could judge upon a parallel. Having there taken my ob- 

 fervation, and all deductions made, I concluded the latitude 

 of the north end of Jibbel Teir to be 15° 38' north ; thirty- 

 two leagues weft longitude from Loheia, fifty-three eaft 

 longitude fro£i; Mafuah, and forty-fix leagues eaft of the 

 meridian of Jidda. Jibbel Teir, or the Mountain of the Bird, 

 is called by others, Jibbel Douhan, or the Mountain of 

 Smoke. I imagine that the fame was the origin of our 

 name of * Gibraltar, rather than from Tarik, who iirft landed 

 in Spain ; and one of my reafons is, that fo confpicuous 

 a mountain, near, and immediately in the face of the moors 

 of Barbary, muft have been known by fome name, long be- 

 fore Tarik with his Arabs made his defcent into Spain. 



The reafon of its being called Jibbel Douhan, the 

 Mountain of Smoke, is, that though, in the middle of 

 the fea, it is a volcano, which throws out fire, and though 

 nearly cxtinguifhed, (mokes to this day. It probably 

 has been the occalion of the creation of great part of 

 the neighbouring iflands. Did it burn now, it would be of 

 great ufe to fhipping in the night, but in the earlieft hif- 

 tory of the trade of that fea, no mention is made of it, as in 

 a ftate of conflagration. It was called Qrrieon in Ptolemy, 

 the Bird-Ifland, the fame as Jibbel Teir. It is likewife call- 

 ed Sheban, from the white fpot at the top of it, which fe#ms 

 to be fulphur, and a part feems to have fallen in, and to 



U u 2 have 



' Jibbel Teir, the Mountain of the Bird ; corruptly, Gibraltar. 



