542 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



SiMONiDES the Lefs flaid five years in Meroe ; after him, 

 Ariftocreon, Bion,and Bafilis -. It is not then probable that 

 men of their character omitted to afcertain the fad; whe- 

 ther or not the place where they lived was an ifland. Dio- 

 dorus Siculus has faid, that Meroe was in the form of a 

 fliield, that is, in the figure of that triangular fliield called 

 Scutum, pointed at the bottom, and growing broader to- 

 wards the top where it is fquare. Nothing can be more 

 exaft than this refemblance of the lowerpartof Atbara, that 

 is, from Gerri to the Magiran, the part we fuppofe Diodorus 

 was acquainted with, and it is fcarcely poffible that he could 

 have fixed upon this refemblance without having feen fome 

 figure of it delineated upon paper. 



As this muft fuppofe a more than ordinary knowledge in 

 Diodorus, we fliall examine how the meafures he has given 

 lis of the ifland correfpond with the truth. He fays, that 

 the ifland is 3000 iladia long, and icco ftadia broad. Now 

 taking 8 Iladia for a mile, v/e have 375 miles, and meafu- 

 ring with the compafs from the river Falaty, where, as I have 

 faid, Atbara becomes an ifland by the confluence of the ri- 

 vers, I find that diftance to be 345 miles, of 60 miles to a de- 

 gree, fo that without making any allowance for the difad- 

 vantages of the country, it is impofiible at this day to have 

 a more accurate eflimation. As for the breadth, it is fcarce- 

 ly poffible to guefs at what part Diodorus means it was mea- 

 fured, on account of the figure of the fliield, as I have al- 

 ready obferved, as conflantly varying. But fuppofe, as is 

 moit probable, that the breadth of the ifland was referred to 



the 



* Piln. lib. vi. c. 



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