no 0/Eloth. 



Eioth cL. nor^nay be fuppofed to have made it. For Tliny gives us exprefsly 

 iiomGaza. CL. Milcs aiid Strobo MccLX. Stadia^ or^ as they are common- 

 ly computed) CVII5 Miles. Though, as eight &^<^i^ were not 

 always commenfurate with, but fomewhat lefs than, one Mile, 

 thefe MccLX. Stadia of Straho, may be neither more nor lefs 

 than the cl. Miles olTTtny. And befides; as an open Trade 

 and Commerce had been kept up, for many Ages, betwixt Elana 

 and Gaza ; it may be well imagined, that thefe Geographers had 

 made themfelves well acquainted with the Diftance, which 

 had been commonly and traditionally computed, betwixt them. 

 And then again ; as Elana and Gaza lye nearly under the 

 fame Meridian ; and, as it may be further prefumed, from the 

 Nature and Quality of the interjacent fandy Defer t, that the 

 Road betwixt them was, the greateft Part of it, upon a Level; 

 any given Diftance in Miles, or in Degrees of Latitude equiva- 

 lent tofuch Miles, will be, as near as can be required, one and 

 the fame Diftance. The Diftance therefore of cl. Miles, betwixt 

 Elana and Gaza^ as it is related by Tl'iny and Straho, will be 

 exadlly commenfurate with a°. o'. as ihQ Latitudinal Diftance 

 of thefe Places is laid down in my Book of Tra'vels : confe- 

 quently g°. x7'. or CCLX. Miles, cannot be received, for the true 

 and the real Diftance. 



In the Map like wife, which goes along with this Account, we 

 find the cl. Miles, (which have been fo often mentioned,) to be 

 extended, in Trickt Lines, from Eloth to Gaza ; as if they were in- 

 tended for a Scale of Direction, whereby to compute their re- 

 Ipective Diftances. Yet the Author has placed, along the very 

 Side of thefe Trickt Lines ^ the Scale of Latitudes ; in Order, as 

 it fliould feem, to fupport, whereas, inFa6t, They mutually 

 contradidl and confute, each other. Becaufe both thefe Scales 

 can never be underftood to point out one and the fame Diftance : 

 inafmuch as this w^ould be to make cl. equal to cclx. 

 The Con- Sq much then in Vindication of the principal Paflages in my 

 Book of Travels, which have been objedied to by this Author. 

 I might now take the fame Freedom, in my Turn, to controvert 

 77je Defcription of the Eaft. But, as I have no Inclination, 

 unlefs in my own Defence, to criticife The Labours of other 

 Authors', fo it will be enough, in the prefent Controverfy, if 

 I have fufficiently illuftrated and defended my own. 



The INDEX. 



