1693 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 
certained by meafure, yet none of them have fettled’ thar’ 
only medium of judging.. The Mikeas, or pillar, is the fub-- 
ject to be meafured, and they are not. yet agreed within. 
20 feet of its extreme height, nor about the divifion of.any 
part of it As this accufation appears to be a ftrong one, 
I-fhall fet down the proof for. the reader’s confideration, . 
that it may not be fuppofed I mean to criticife improperly, 
or to do any author. injuftice.. | 
~ 
Ano firft of the Mikeas. Mr Thomas Humes, a-gentle:- 
man. quoted by* Dr Shaw, who had been a- great many 
years a factor.at Cairo, fays, that the Mikeas.1s:58:feet Eng: . 
lifh in height. Now, there is really no reafon why fuch an: 
enormous pillar fiould have been built; as the Nile would: 
drown all Cairo before it was-to rife:to this height ; accord-. 
ingly, as we have.feen, its height is not fo much by near 22> 
feet. Dr Perry + next, who. has-wrote largely upon the fub-- 
ject, fays,the Mikeas, or column, is: divided into 24 peeks, . 
‘and each peek or-cubit is.24.inches.nearly.. Dr:Pococke-4, . 
who travelled at the fame: time, agrees in the divifton of ‘24 . 
peeks, but fays.that.thefe: peeks are unequal. The.16 low-- 
er: he fuppofes are- 21 inches, the 4:next,; 24 inches, and | 
the uppermoft, 22. So that one of.thefe. gentlemen makes . 
the Mikeas 43 feet, which is above fix feet more than the- 
truth, and the other 48, whichis above 11; befides the fecond | 
error which Dr Pococke-has committed, by.faying the divi-- 
fons are of three.different dimenfions,.when they really are - 
s not: 
“%*:Shaw’s ‘Travels, chap. ii. feat. 3-p. 382. ¢ Defcript. of the Eaft, vol. I. p. 256. 
$.A View of the Levant, p. 282. 284. 286. 
