540 TRAVELS TO DTBCGVER 



tlier Gojam, nor any place that is not fo limited, can ever- 

 be taken for that illancL 



I WILL not pretend to fay that any pofitive proof fliouldn 

 be founded upon the aftronomical obfervations of the an- 

 cients, unlefs there are circumftances that go hand in hand 

 with, and corroborate them ; but we fhould be at a very 

 great lofs indeed, notwithftanding all the diligence of mo- 

 dern travellers, were we to throw the celeftial obfervations - 

 of the ancients entirely behind us. We have, from various 

 concurring circumftances, fixed our Meroe at Gerri, or be- 

 tween that town and Wed Baal a Nagga, that is about lat, 

 16° 10' north ; and Ptolemy, from an obfervation of the Sol- 

 ftice, fixes it at 16" 26', fo that the error here, if any, feems 

 to be of no confequence, as the direction of the city might 

 extend to the northward. The obfervations mentioned by 

 Pliny are not fo accurate, nor do they merit to be put in 

 competition with thofe of Ptolemy, for very obvious reafons; 

 yet ilill, when flridly examined, they do not fail, inaccurate 

 as they are, to throw fome light upon this fubjed. He fays 

 the fun is vertical at Meroe twice a-year, once when he 

 enters the 18° of Taurus, and again when he is in the i4tli . 

 degree of the Lion.^ 



Here are three impofTibilities, which plainly fliew that 

 ihis error is not that of Pliny, but of an ignorant tranfcri- 

 ber ; for if the zenith of Meroe anfwered to the 1 8th degree ■ 

 of Taurus, it is impoffible that the fame point fhould an- 

 fwer to the i4rh degree of the Lion ; and if Syene was 5000 

 fl:adia from the one, it is impoflible it could be no more 

 from the other which was fouth of it, if they were all 



three 



