CHAPTER I.
In the discussion of the construction of this Geography, I shall confine myself, as much as possible, to general statements; reserving more particular details to a future time, when more materials may arrive: for it is to be observed that although Mr. Horneman has transmitted much valuable matter, yet that it is not altogether of the kind required for the construction of mathematical geography. Fortunately, however, the observations of Mr. Browne and others, enable me to derive more advantage from those of Mr. Horneman, than could have been obtained from them, alone.
The geographical positions of Cairo, Alexandria, and Fezzan, have undergone some small change in the present maps,[14] in consequence of recent, and it may be supposed, more accurate information. Cairo is placed 2 min. and Alexandria 13, more to the west, in consequence of the French observations: and Mourzouk, the capital of Fezzan, 39 G. miles more to the south-east, on a general result of the authorities; amongst which Mr. Horneman’s is allowed its due weight. Some other trifling changes have been made, in the positions of Siwah, and of El Bareton, or Parætonium: but none of them are more than shades of difference, in respect of the geography at large.
The chief alteration is that of Mourzouk, which, by the former accounts, was said to lie directly south from Mesurata: and this alteration is grounded on the line of distance of Mr. Horneman, which does not allow of so great an interval between Egypt and Fezzan, as that position requires, by nearly 25 G. miles; which after all, is no great proportion, in more than 800. It is conceived that Mr. Horneman’s time, although kept in a coarse way, ought still to be preferred to the mere report of the bearing from Mesurata, on a distance of seventeen or eighteen journies.
I shall begin by tracing in detail the route of Mr. Horneman from Egypt to Fezzan, dividing it into four parts: 1. From Cairo to Siwah: 2. Siwah to Augila: 3. Augila to Fezzan: and 4. Remarks on the position of Mourzouk.
I. Cairo to Siwah.
Mr. Horneman’s time may be taken at about 123 hours,[15] which at 2,05 G. miles, the ordinary caravan rate, reduced to direct distance, is equal to 252 G. miles. If taken at 2½ B. miles per hour, which is the ordinary road distance, with an allowance of ¹⁄₂₀ for inflexions, (the Desert routes are remarkably straight,) we have 255. Now, Mr. Browne’s route, along the sea coast from Alexandria, and thence inland from the neighbourhood of Parætonium, gives about 259½, or 6½ more than the lowest of these calculations; 4½ more than the highest. Mr. Browne’s rout lay first along the coast, 75½ hours; from whence he made a course of about S 19 W (true) 62¼ hours, to Siwah, in the parallel of 29° 12′ by observation. Considering the sinuosities of the coast, which he kept to, almost the whole way, perhaps no more than 144, or 145 G. miles, ought to be allowed in direct distance.
His station on the coast, at about 20 miles east of Parætonium, should be in lat. 31° 7′, according to M. D’Anville; so that the bearing of S 19 W cuts the parallel of Siwah, in longitude 26° 24′: and my former position of it, in the Geography of Herodotus, p. 574, is 26° 21′ 30″. And as Mr. Horneman does not profess to be perfectly accurate in his account of the time, (doubtless because he had lost his papers) I shall adopt the position given by Mr. Browne; but which differs, as has been shewn, only 4½ miles from the other.
It is proper to be remarked, that the people of Siwah, report the distance of Cairo, from that place, to be twelve journies only: but it becomes necessary to inquire what kind of journies these are, in order to turn this, and other reports of the same kind to use. These journies then, are meant for those of light travellers, going few in number together; and not of caravans, where, amongst a number of camels, there must of course be some of slow pace, (to which the whole caravan must, of necessity, conform,) not to mention the increased number of delays by accidents. The people of Siwah reported the length of the following journies, which are in point:
| Siwah to | Charje, in the Greater Oasis | 12 days. |
| Derna | 14 | |
| Faiume (through the Lesser Oasis) | 12 | |
| Cairo | 12 |
A mean of these, gives about 20,6 per day; the journies to Charje and Faiume giving 19⅔, the others 21½.[16] As Siwah lies directly between Derna and the Greater Oasis, we have one line of 26 days, pretty satisfactorily determined in point of distance, and here the result is 20,6 also. Twelve such days would give only 247, of course, for the distance between Cairo and Siwah: so that a rate of 21½ is required. Pliny, lib. v. c. 9, reports twelve journies between Memphis and Ammon, requiring a rate of 21 per day.
There is yet another statement of the distance, and that is, fifteen ordinary caravan journies, taken at 16¼ or 16½. The result is 247½; about equal to the 12 days of light travelling.
Possibly, I have taken the distance rather too high, at 259½; but I know not how to do away Mr. Browne’s line from the neighbourhood of Parætonium, considering that Mr. Horneman must have given his time from recollection. At all events, Siwah cannot be many miles out, in its longitude; but whilst the longitudes of the places on the sea coast remain in a state of uncertainty, one is not likely to get nearer the truth.
Mr. Browne appears to have been 17 days from his station in lat. 28° 40′, and not far to the SW of Siwah, to Alexandria. A rate of 15⅓ miles is the result; but Mr. Browne being exceedingly ill, the whole way, it is most probable that his attendants relaxed in their speed.
II. Siwah to Augila.
Mr. Horneman’s time from Siwah to Augila is 87½ hours,[17] which, at 2,05 G. miles, give 179,35: but taken on the road distance at 2½ B. miles, as before, 181½. Taken on Horneman’s 11 mean days, at 16½, it is also 181½. The Arabian geographers reckon it 10 days, implied of 19 G. miles each, equal to 190. Herodotus also allows 10 days between Ammon and Augila.
It is certain, that Mr. Beaufoy’s MSS. allow 13 days by the route of Gegabib (the Valley of Dates), which, by Mr. Browne’s information, lies to the NW of Siwah, whilst the ordinary route, by Schiacha, leads by the west; but we can hardly suppose that the northern road is two days farther about than the other. Mr. Horneman, it is true, lost his papers at Schiacha, and may not have recollected the exact account of time during the three first days, to that place. I have accordingly allowed 186, as a mean between Mr. Horneman and Edrisi.
Mr. Horneman could not obtain a satisfactory account of the distance between Augila and Bengasi, on the sea coast. Edrisi allows 10 days from Barca; but these, reckoned at 19 each, meet the line from Siwah, in 30° 7′, which gives a bearing of W 18° N from the latter; whereas it seems to be the universal opinion, that they lie nearly in the same parallel.[18]
Delisle and D’Anville go much beyond Edrisi’s distance. The latter allows 215 from Barca, which is very probable: and he may perhaps have allowed it from the relations of modern travellers. I have accordingly adopted it; and it meets the line of 186 from Siwah, in lat. 29° 30′, lon. 22° 50′. In this position it bears about W ½ N from Siwah.
Ptolemy allows 3° 16′ diff. lat. between Derna (Darnis) and Augila, which would place the latter, on our Map, in 29½°. He also makes the line of bearing between Ammon and Augila to be nearly parallel to the sea coast, between Parætonium and Derna; and it is certain, although Ptolemy thought otherwise, that the coast lies much to the north of west.
It may be that the longitudes of the places on the coast of Barca, are too far to the west, in M. D’Anville’s Maps. Lucas appears to reckon Augila 11 days only, from Bengasi.
III. Augila to Fezzan.
From Augila to Fezzan, Mr. Horneman’s time is not kept regularly in hours, the whole way; owing, perhaps, to the excessive fatigues he underwent in the Harutsch or Black Desert, in which whole days only, are given; but these were exceedingly long, being usually from morning till night.
All that could be done, was, to reduce these particular days to hours, and add them to the enumerated hours in the Journal; whence there results a total of 195 to 196 hours, at the highest calculation: and these, with proper deductions for the badness of the paths, in the Harutsch, may be taken at 395 G. miles in direct distance.[19]
M. Delisle states the distance at about 405, or 10 more than the above result. He probably collected it from the Journals of modern travellers, as the Arabian geographers allow no less than twenty of their journies between Augila and Zuila, which place is about 60 G. miles short of Mourzouk.
I shall here set forth the reports of divers persons, respecting the distance between Cairo and Fezzan; which has been taken above, chiefly on the report of Mr. Horneman: and, when reduced to a straight line comes out 829 G. miles.
Messrs. Browne and Ledyard state the distance to be fifty caravan days; which at 16½, give 825 G. miles.
Edrisi allows forty journies, between Cairo and Tamest (Temissa). These, at 19 each, are equal to 760 G. miles: to which, if 73 are added, as Horneman allows, from Temissa to Mourzouk, the total is 833. This route leads through Bahnasa, in the Lesser Oasis; and, by circumstances, near Siwah also; as a river occurs at eight days from Bahnasa. Thence it goes to the south of Augila, and by Seluban, which may be intended for the Plain of Sultin.[20]
It is obvious, that if Augila should lie yet more to the south, or nearer in a line between Cairo and Fezzan, this would lengthen the given line of distance; and that by 10 or 12 miles.
The comparison of the different authorities, then, is as follows:
| By Horneman, | 829 | ⎱ ⎰ | mean 827 |
| By Browne and Ledyard, | 825 | ||
| By Edrisi, (direct) | 833 | ||
| By Edrisi and Abulfeda, reckoned fromSiwah only, and thence through Augila and Zala | 877 | ||
| By the bearing and distance from Mesurata | 854[21] |
Thus Horneman’s account falls short of the interval between Cairo and Mourzouk, when the latter is placed in reference to Mesurata, by 25 miles only; and the reported caravan distance falls only four short of Horneman’s. The reports of the Arabian geographers ought not to be put in competition with either.
IV. Respecting the Position of Mourzouk, Capital of Fezzan.
Mr. Horneman in his Journal transmitted from Tripoly, states the latitude of Mourzouk, by observation, to be 25° 54′ 15″; a parallel so different from the result of the other authorities, that it becomes necessary to examine those authorities, minutely. The reported observation, differs nearly two degrees from the parallel assigned it in the Proceedings of the Association printed in 1798. Without attempting to account for so great an (apparent) error, I shall proceed to adduce the authorities for its parallel, as assumed in the present map.
1. Mr. Beaufoy, from the information of certain Tripoline merchants, has given 17½ journies of the caravan, in a direct south bearing, from Mesurata on the sea coast.[22] These journies are given at 8 hours, or 20 British miles per day: and I allowed for them 15 geographical miles, in direct distance; but I shall now, finding by experience that the paths in the Desert are generally very straight, allow 16½; whence the 17½ days will be found to produce 288¾, or say 289 G. miles. If these miles were entirely difference of latitude, Mourzouk would not be lower than 27° 22′ 2″, as Mesurata is said to lie in 32° 10′.
2. Another authority adduced by the same gentleman, allows 23 days from Tripoly, by the way of Gwarian and Sockna, which turns out much the same as the former result. The distance from Tripoly to Fezzan, through Mesurata, is 24½ days; consequently that by Sockna, is the shortest, although now generally disused, on account of its being unsafe.[23]
The intersection of the two lines of distance from Augila and Mesurata; that is, 395 G. miles from the former, and 289 from the latter, place Mourzouk in latitude 27° 23′; and at 30 G. miles east of the meridian of Mesurata. Consequently, the bearing will be about S. ½ E, instead of south, as reported.
3. Edrisi says, that the distance from Sort to Zuila, is nine journies, which, on his scale of 19 per day, are equal to 171 G. miles: and Abulfeda says that they lie N. and S. from each other. Zuila is a point in Horneman’s route, about 60 G. miles to the E by N or ENE of Mourzouk: and Sort, according to M. D’Anville, lies in about 30° 28′. Consequently, Zuila, if in the same meridian, should be in latitude 27° 37′, or 14 min. to the N. of Mourzouk. By the construction, Zuila bears about S 7° W from Sort, which, in respect of the difference of latitude, is much the same thing: and hence, Mourzouk ought not to be to the south of 27° 23′, or thereabouts.
4. Ledyard was told, that Augila lay west from Siwah; and Wadan, (or Zala,) in the way to Fezzan, WSW from Augila. Horneman gives much the same idea; saying that they went W by S from Augila, at setting out. Unfortunately, Mr. Horneman omits to state the distance between Fezzan and Tripoly, although he travelled it.
5. Zala, (called also Wadan,[24]) is said by Edrisi, page 40, to be nine days SE from Sort; and midway between Augila and Zuila; that is ten days from both.[25] A glance at the map will shew how utterly improbable it is, that Mourzouk should be below the parallel of 26°, considering its relative situation to Wadan and Zuila.
Lastly, if it be admitted that Fezzan is the country of the Garamantes, (and I know not where else to look for it, according to the ancient descriptions,) then, its distance from the sea coast, as stated by Strabo, p. 835, at nine or ten days journey, agrees exactly, if reckoned to Garama, the ancient capital. Pliny confirms it strongly, by placing the Garamantes beyond the Mons Ater, (of which more, under the article Harutsch,) which will be proved clearly to mean the rocky Desert of Souda, between Fezzan and Mesurata.
It should be remarked, that this alteration in the position of Mourzouk, which is about 39 miles to the SE of its position in the map of 1798, does not, in any material degree, affect the interval of space between it and Tombuctoo.[26]