100 
plint's natural htstoby. 
[Book YI. 
who travelled a considerable distance beyond Meroe, and after 
him by Aristocreon and Basilis, as well as the younger Simo- 
nides, who made a stay of five years at Meroe, when he 
wrote his account of Ethiopia. Timosthenes, however, the 
commander of the fleets of Philadelphus, without giving any 
other estimate as to the distance, says that Meroe is sixty 
days' journey from Syene ; while Eratosthenes states that the 
distance is six hundred and twenty-five miles, and Artemi- 
dorus six hundred. Sebosus says that from the extreme point 
of Egypt, the distance to Meroe is sixteen hundred and 
seventy-five miles, while the other writers last mentioned 
make it twelve hundred and fifty. All these difi'erences, how- 
ever, have since been settled ; for the persons sent by JSTero 
for the purposes of discovery have reported that the distance 
from Syene to Meroe is eight hundred and seventy-one 
miles, the following being the items. Erom Syene to Hiera 
Sycaminos'^^ they make to be fifty-four miles, from thence 
to Tama seventy-two, to the country of the Evonymitse,^® 
the first region of Ethiopia, one hundred and twenty, to 
Acina fifty-four, to Pittara twenty-five, and to Tergedus 
one hundred and six. They state also that the island of 
Gagaudes lies at an equal distance from Syene and Meroe, 
and that it is at this place that the bird called the parrot was 
first seen ; while at another island called Articula, the animal 
known as the sphingium^^' was first discovered by them, and 
after passing Tergedus, the cynocephalus.^^ The distance from 
thence to [N'apata is eighty miles, that little town being the 
only one of all of them that now survives. Erom thence to 
the island of Meroe the distance is three hundred and sixty 
miles. They also state that the grass in the vicinity of Meroe 
becomes of a greener and fresher colour, and that there is some 
slight appearance of forests, as also traces of the rhinoceros and 
elephant. They reported also that the city of Meroe stands 
at a distance of seventy miles from the first entrance pf the 
island of Meroe, and that close to it is another island, Tadu 
by name, which forms a harbour facing those who enter the 
27 See B. v. c. 10, where Meroe is also mentioned. 
28 Or the sacred " sycamore tree." 
29 Situate beyond the Great Cataract, and on the western bank. 
^ See the Notes to the preceding Chapter, in p. 95. 
31 Or dog's-headed ape, described in B. viii. c. 80. It is supposed to be 
the baboon. 
