OBSERVATIONS, &;c. 
2.19 
map, as Mr. Salt's. He states, in his fifth Book, Chapter III. that on 
leaving Arkeko, he took his road southward ; that it continued in 
that direction till he had passed Shillokeeb, when he turned west- 
ward through the mountains, and reached Hamhama. Unfortu- 
nately, he does not afterwards state his bearings, but reached Zila, 
at the foot of the mountain, where he finds a rivulet, and declares 
that he had constantly ascended since he left Arkeko. 
According to the map it would nevertheless appear, that he had 
constantly, from his leaving Arkeko, moved to the eastward, till 
he reached Zila, on the sea shore, when he had again turned to the 
west. I need not observe, that his having constantly ascended 
during a journey of fifty miles, is incompatible with Zila's being on 
the sea shore, and having a current of fresh water running near it ; 
nor can his own description of the neighbourhood be reconciled 
with a maritime position. Mr. Bruce's journal, and his own chartj 
differ also in a very unaccountable manner ; Dixan is given by him, 
at the end of the chapter above mentioned, as lying in latitude 14® 
5 7' 55" north, and longitude 40° 7' 30" east of Greenwich; but in 
the chart it is laid down in latitude 15° 9' north, and longitude 39 
h2! east. It would be difficult to account for this contradiction, but 
it is unnecessary, both positions being due S. E. of Massowah, and 
therefore equally erroneous ; for in that direction Ras Gedam rises 
to a height, that precludes the possibility of Taranta, or even a 
much more lofty mountain, being seen at a distance of sixty miles ; 
but to the westward of Gedam, a valley runs all the way to the 
foot of Taranta, along which this object may be seen from Mas- 
sowah, in, as I have before stated, a southerly direction. 
The real situation of Dixan is, I conceive, sufficiently ascertained 
