FOOTNOTES:
[1] This epithet given to the springs from which the Nile rises, was borrowed from a very elegant English poem that appeared in Dr Maty’s Review for May 1786. It was sent to me by my friend Mr Barrington, to whom it was attributed, although from modesty he disclaims it. From whatever hand it comes, the poet is desired to accept of my humble thanks. It was received with universal applause wherever it was circulated, and a considerable number of copies was printed at the desire of the public. Accident seemed to have placed it in Dr Maty’s book with peculiar propriety, by having joined it to a fragment of Ariosto, then first published, in the same Review. It has since been attributed to Mr Mason.
[2] He was long a slave to the Bey of Constantina, and appears to have been a man of capacity.
[3] This will be explained afterwards.
[4] Ludolf, lib. i. cap. 15.
[5] This is a running figure cut through the middle like the check of a bank note.
[6] Hippo. Reg. from Ptol. Geog. lib. iv. p. 109.
[7] Hippo. Reg. id. ib.
[8] Aphrodisium. id. ib.
[9] Thabarca, id. ib.
[10] Plin. Ep. xxxiii. l. 9.
[11] Liv. Epit. xxx. l. 9.
[12] Strabo lib xvii. p. 1189. It signifies the river of Cows, or Kine. P. Mela lib. i. cap. 7. Sil. It. lib. vi. l. 140.
[13] Ptol. Geog. lib. iv. Procop. lib. vi. cap. 5. de Ædif.
[14] Val. Max. lib. ii. cap. 6. § 15.
[15] Ptol. Geog. lib. iv.
[16] Ptol. Geog. lib. iv. p. 106.
[17] Ptol. Geog. lib. iv. p. 111.
[18] Ptol. Geog. lib. iv. p. 108.
[19] Vide Itin. Anton.
[20] Procop. Bell. Vand. lib. ii. cap. 13.
[21] Ptol. Geog. lib. iv. p. 111.
[22] Shaw’s Travels, chap. viii. p. 57.
[23] Shaw’s Travels, cap. v. p. 119.
[24] Sal. Bel. Jug. § 94. L. Flor. lib. iii. cap. 1.
[25] Shaw’s Travels, chap. v. p. 118.
[26] Itin. Anton. p. 3.
[27] Itin. Anton, p. 3.
[28] Shaw’s Travels, cap. v. p. 115.
[29] Cel. Geog. Antique, lib. iv. cap. 4. and cap. 5. p. 118.
[30] Itin. Anton. p. 2.
[31] Ptol. Geog. lib. iv. p. 110.
[32] This fountain is called El Tarmid. Nub. Geog. p. 86.
[33] Sal. Bell. § 94.
[34] Itin. Anton, p. 4.
[35] Shaw’s Travels, cap. v. p. 126.
[36] Itin. Anton. p. 4.
[37] Id. Ibid.
[38] Shaw’s Travels, p. 117. cap. 5.
[39] Boch. Chan. lib. i. cap. 25. Shaw’s Travels, cap. iv. p. 115.
[40] Itin. Anton. p. 104.
[41] Ptol. Geog. p. 4.
[42] Shaw’s Travels, sect. vi. p. 156.
[43] Jerboa, see a figure of it in the Appendix.
[44] Itin. Anton. p. 4.
[45] The north boundary of the Holy Land.
[46] It is a post where a party of men are kept to receive a contribution, for maintaining the security of the roads, from all passengers.
[47] Ezek. chap. xxvi. ver. 5.
[48] Mrs Bruce died in 1784.
[49] The nucta, or dew, that falls on St John’s night, is supposed to have the virtue to stop the plague. I have considered this in the sequel.
[50] Strabo, lib. xiv. p. 781.
[51] It is called Mamilho.
[52] Newton’s Chronol. p. 183.
[53] Strabo, lib. xiv. p. 684.
[54] Strabo, lib. xiv. p. 780.
[55] This is an old prejudice. See Herodotus, lib. ii. p. 90. sect. 5.
[56] Berytus.
[57] Laodicea ad mare.
[58] Herod. lib. ii. p. 90.
[59] Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 922.
[60] Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 922.
[61] Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 920. Q. Curt. lib. iv. cap. 8.
[62] Plin. lib. v. cap. 10. p. 273.
[63] We see many examples of such leaves both at Palmyra and Baalbec.
[64] Marmol, lib. xi. cap. 14. p. 276. tom. 3.
[65] Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 922.
[66] A peasant Arab.
[67] Means a narrow or shallow entrance of a river from the ocean.
[68] Herod, p. 108.
[69] Shaw’s Travels, p. 293.
[70] See a figure of this animal in the Appendix.
[71] See Appendix.
[72] Shaw’s Travels, p. 294.
[73] The Mamaluke Beys.
[74] Vid. Introduction.
[75] Ptol. Geograph. lib. 4 Cap. 5.
[76] Shaw’s travels p. 294.
[77] Herod. lib. 2. cap. 8.
[78] This has been thought to mean the Convent of Figs, but it only signifies the Two Convents.
[79] See Mr Irvine’s Letters.
[80] Herod. lib. ii. p. 99.
[81] Herod. lib. ii. cap. 8.
[82] See the Chart of the Nile.
[83] Pococke, vol. I. cap. v. p. 39.
[84] Plin. lib. 5. cap. 9.
[85] Plin. lib. 36. cap. 12.
[86] Diod. Sic. p. 45. § 50.
[87] Shaw’s Travels, p. 296. in the latitude quoted.
[88] Shaw’s Travels, cap. 4. p. 298.
[89] Id. ibid. 299.
[90] Id. ibid.
[91] Id. ibid.
[92] Ptol. Geograph. lib. iv. cap. 5.
[93] Herod. lib. ii. p. 141. Ibid. p. 168. Ibid. p. 105. Ibid. p. 103. Edit. Steph.
[94] Herod. lib. ii. § 97. p. 123.
[95] Shaw’s Travels, cap. 4.
[96] Strabo. lib. vii. p. 914.
[97] Id. ibid.
[98] Id. ibid.
[99] Strabo, ibid.
[100] Id. ibid.
[101] Named Binny. See Appendix.
[102] Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 936.
[103] Norden’s travels, vol. ii. p. 19.
[104] Herod. lib. ii, cap. 19.
[105] Dagjour.
[106] Norden’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 17.
[107] I cannot here omit to rectify another small mistake of the translator, which involves him in a difference with this Author which he did not mean.—
Mr Norden, in the French, says, that the master of his vessel being much frightened, “avoit perdu la tramontane;” the true meaning of which is, That he had lost his judgment, not lost the north wind, as it is translated, which is really nonsense.
Norden’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 59.
[108] Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 936.
[109] Signifies the Narrow Passage, and is meant what Phylæ is in Latin.
[110] Messoudi
[111] Itin. Anton. p. 14.
[112] It is called Hamseen, because it is expected to blow all Pentecost.
[113] Theophrast. Hist. Plan. lib. iii. cap. 8—lib. iv. cap. 2.
[114] Strabo lib. vii. p. 941.
[115] A poor saint.
[116] Diod. Sic. lib. I.
[117] Plin. lib. 26. cap. 14.
[118] See Norden’s views of the Temples at Esné and Edfu. Vol. ii. plate 6. p. 80.
[119] This inclined figure of the sides, is frequently found in the small boxes within the mummy-chests.
[120] Diod. Sic. lib. 1.
[121] See the figure of this Insect in Paul Lucas.
[122] Gen. xxxi. 27, Isa. chap. xxx. ver. 32.
[123] Eccles. chap. i. ver. 10.
[124] Ezek. chap. xxviii. ver. 13.
[125] Nay, prior to this, the harp is mentioned as a common instrument in Abraham’s time 1370 years before Christ, Gen. chap. xxxii. ver. 27.
[126] Diod. Sic. Bib. lib. i. p. 42. § d.
[127] Strabo, lib. 17. p. 943.
[128] Nah. ch. 3. ver. 8, & 9.
[129] A similar instrument, erected by Eratosthenes at Alexandria, cut of copper, was used by Hipparchus and Ptolemy.—Alm. lib. I. cap. II. 3. cap. 2. Vide his remarks on Mr Greave’s Pyramidographia, p. 134.
[130] Signior Donati.
[131] Diod. Sic. Bib. lib. I. p. 45. § c.
[132] Vide Norden’s map of the Nile.
[133] Juven. Sat. 15. ver. 76.
[134] Idris Welled Hamran, our guide through the great desert, dwelt in this village.
[135] The ancient Adei.
[136] The Bishareen are the Arabs who live in the frontier between the two nations. They are the nominal subjects of Sennaar, but, in fact, indiscreet banditti, at least as to strangers.
[137] They were Shepherds Indigenæ, not Arabs.
[138] Qui Ludit in Hospite fixo—Was a character long ago given to the Moors.
Horace Ode.
[139] This kind of oath was in use among the Arabs, or Shepherds, early as the time of Abraham, Gen. xxi. 22, 23. xxvi. 28.
[140] Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 944.
[141] This word, improperly used and spelled by M. de Volney, has nothing to do with these Ansaris.
[142] Cicero de Somnio Scipronis.
[143] Pliny, lib. ii. cap. 73.
[144] Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 944.
[145] Strabo, lib. ii. p. 133.
[146] Spectacle de la Nature.
[147] Strabo, lib. 17. p. 944.
[148] L’histoire d’astronomie, de M. de la Lande, vol. i. lib. 2.
[149] Vide Mr Norden’s Voyage up the Nile.
[150] It is no town, but some sand and a few bushes, so called.
[151] Ptol. Almag. lib. 4. Geograph. pag. 104.
[152] The Arabs call these narrow passes in the mountains Fum, as the Hebrews did Pi, the mouth. Fum el Beder, is the mouth of Beder; Fum el Terfowey, the mouth or passage of Terfowey; Piha Hhiroth, the mouth of the valley cut through with ravines.
[153] Ptolem. Geograph. lib. 4. p. 103.
[154] That is, I am under your protection.
[155] On the east coast of Arabia Felix, Syagrum Promontorium.
[156] Itin. Anton. a Carth. p. 4.
[157] So the next stage from Syené is called Hiera Sycaminos, a sycamore-tree, Ptol. lib. 4. p. 108.
[158] Plin. lib. xxxvii. cap. 5.
[159] Ditto.
[160] Tavernier vol. II. Voyag.
[161] Theophrastus Περιλιθων.
[162] Clamps.
[163] It is a Keratophyte, growing at the bottom of the sea.
[164] Vide the track of this Navigation laid down on the Chart.
[165] Ezek. chap. xxvii. 6th and 29th verses.
[166] Ajam, in the language of Shepherds, signifies rain-water.
[167] Vide his Journal published by Abbé Vertot.
[168] Gen. chap. xiii. ver. 17th.
[169] Gen. chap. xiii. ver. 6th. Exod. chap. xiii. ver. 17th.
[170] Exod. ch. xii. 33.
[171] Such is the tradition among the Natives.
[172] Diod. Sic. Lib. 3. p. 122.
[173] Dionysii Periegesis, v. 38. et Comment. Eustathii in eundem. Strabo, lib. xvi. p. 765. Agathemeri Geographia, lib. ii. cap. 11.
[174] Jerome Lobo, the greatest liar of the Jesuits, ch. iv. p. 46. English translation.
[175] I saw one of these, which, from a root nearly central, threw out ramifications in a nearly circular form, measuring twenty-six feet diameter every way.
[176] Anciently called Pharos.
[177] The Koran is, therefore, called El Farkan, or the Divider, or Distinguisher between true faith and heresy.
[178] See the article Ashkoko in the Appendix.
[179] 2 Chron. chap. xx. ver. 37th.
[180] See the Map.
[181] El Har signifies extreme heat.
[182] Vide Irvine’s letters.
[183] Levit. chap. xvi. ver. 5.
[184] Native of Tripoli; it is Turkish.
[185] See the article Balessan in the Appendix.
[186] Cape Fever.
[187] This is a common sailor’s phrase for the Straits of Babelmandeb.
[188] Captain of the port.
[189] Philosoph. Transact. Vol. 27. p. 186.
[190] A late publication of Dr Madan’s, little understood, as it would seem.
[191] Sovereign of Arabia Felix, whose capital is Sana.
[192] Gen. xv. 18.
[193] Gen. xvi. 12.
[194] The island of the Shepherds.
[195] Or Porcupine.
[196] Yemen, or the high land of Arabia Felix, where water freezes.
[197] Arabia Deserta.
[198] Deregé, from that word in Hebrew.
[199] It signifies Pharaoh’s worm.
[200] Ligustrum Ægyptiacum Latifolium.
[201] Arabia Felix, or Yemen.
[202] That is, the Peek of Arabia Felix, or Yemen.
[203] Governor of the Province of Tigré in Abyssinia.
[204] See the article Pearl in the Appendix.
[205] Jibbel Teir, the Mountain of the Bird; corruptly, Gibraltar.
[206] Millet, or Indian corn.
[207] See the article Tortoise in the Appendix.
[208] A Subaltern Governor.
[209] Poncet’s Voyage, translated into English, printed for W. Lewis in 1709, in 12mo, page 121.
[210] This must not be attributed wholly to the weather. We spent much time in surveying the islands, and in observation.
[211] Exod. xxxviii 39.
[212] Lib. 21. cap. 6.
[213] These are far from being synonymous terms, as we shall see afterwards.
[214] See the article papyrus in the Appendix.
[215] Gen. xxxvii. 3 and 2 Sam. xiii. 18.
[216] Prov. vii. 16.
[217] Vide Appendix, where this tree is described.
[218] The quantity of similar drugs brought from the New World.
[219] Boch. lib. 4. cap. 3.
[220] Herod. lib. 2. cap. 29.
[221] Joseph. antiquit. Jud.
[222] At Gerri in my return through the desert.
[223] It is very probable, some of these words signified different degrees among them, as we shall see in the sequel.
[224] Diod. Sic. lib. 1. cap.
[225] This was the name of the king of Amalek; he was an Arab shepherd, slain by Samuel, 1 Sam. xv. 33.
[226] Ludolf lib. 1 cap. 4.
[227] That is, they shall cut off from the cattle their usual retreat to the desert, by taking possession of those places, and meeting them there where ordinarily they never come, and which therefore are the refuge of the cattle.
[228] Gen. chap. xxxvii. ver. 25. 28.
[229] Ezek. chap. xxvii. ver. 13.
[230] Rev. chap. xviii. ver. 13.
[231] Gen. vi. 14.
[232] Gen. xxxv. 4.
[233] 2 Kings, xvii. 4.
[234] Nahum, chap. iii. 8.
[235] Misphragmuthosis.
[236] Manethon, Apud. Josephum Apion. lib. 1. p. 460.
[237] Eight years less than the Greeks and other followers of the Septuagint.
[238] Isaiah, chap. xviii. ver. 2.
[239] Joshua, iii. 16.
[240] Procop. de bello vind. lib. 2. cap. 10.
A Moorish author, Ibn el Raquique, says, this inscription was on a stone on a mountain at Carthage. Marmol. lib. 1. cap. 25.
[241] Gen. ix. 25, 26, and 27. verses.
[242] These people likewise call themselves Agaazi, or Agagi, they have over-run the kingdom of Congo south of the Line, and on the Atlantic Ocean, as the Galla have done that part of the kingdom of Adel and Abyssinia, on the Eastern, or Indian Ocean. Purch. lib. ii. chap. 4. Sect. 8.
[243] Jerem. chap. xiii. ver. 23.—id. xxv. 24.—Ezek. chap. xxx. ver. 5.
[244] Numb. chap. xii. ver. 1.
[245] Exod. chap. iv. ver. 25.
[246] 2 Chron. chap. xiv. ver. 9.
[247] Gen. chap. 21. ver. 30.
[248] Gen. chap. 13. ver. 6. and 9.
[249] Isa. chap. xlv. ver. 14.
[250] Ezek. chap. xxx. ver. 8. and 9.
[251] Ezek. chap. xxix. ver. 10.
[252] Ezek. chap. xxx. ver. 4.
[253] Jerem. chap. xiii. ver. 23.
[254] Jerem. chap. xxv. ver. 24.
[255] Ezek. chap. xxx. ver. 5.
[256] Isa. chap. xviii. ver. 2.
[257] Uranologion. P. Petau.
[258] Banbridge, Ann. canicul.
[259] An astronomer greatly above my praise.
[260] Jamblich. de Myst. sect. 8. cap. 5.
[261] Sozomen, Eccles. Hist. lib. 7. cap. 15.
[262] Herw. theolog. Ethnica, p. 11.
[263] I apprehend this is owing to the circumstances of the climate, in the four months, the time of the inundation, the heavens were so covered as to afford no observations to be recorded.
[264] Porpyhry Epist. ad Anebonem.
[265] Exod. chap. xxviii. ver. 21.
[266] Exod. chap. xxviii. ver. 36.
[267] Deut. chap. xxxi. ver. 24.
[268] Vide the hieroglyphics on the drawing of the stone.
[269] Ezek. chap. xxix. ver. 11.
[270] Psalm. chap. lx. ver. 9. and Psal. cviii. ver. 10.
[271] 2 Sam. chap. viii. ver. 14. 1 Kings chap. xi. ver. 15, 16.
[272] 1 Kings, chap. ix. ver. 26. 2 Chron. chap. viii. ver. 17.
[273] 1 Chron. chap. xxii. ver. 14, 15, 16. Chap. xxix. ver. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,—Three thousand Hebrew talents of gold, reduced to our money, amount to twenty-one millions and six hundred thousand pounds Sterling.
[274] The value of a Hebrew talent appears from Exodus, chap. xxxviii. ver. 25, 26. For 603,550 persons being taxed at half a shekel each, they must have paid in the whole 301,775; now that sum is said to amount to 100 talents, 1775 shekels only; deduct the two latter sums, and there will remain 300,000, which, divided by 108, will leave 3000 shekels for each of these talents.
[275] 2 Chron. chap. viii. ver. 17.
[276] 1 Kings, chap. x. ver. 22.
[277] 1 Kings, chap. x. ver. 22. 2 Chron. chap. ix. ver. 21.
[278] Vid. Voyage of Dos Santos, published by Le Grande.
[279] See the map of this voyage.
[280] Apud Euseb. Prœp. Evang. lib. 9.
[281] Dionysii Periegesis, ver. 38. and Comment. Eustathii in eundem. Strabo, lib. 16. p. 765. Agathemeri Geographia, lib. 2. cap. 11.
[282] Ezek. chap. xxvii. ver. 6.
[283] Ezek. chap. xxvii. ver. 26.
[284] Dr Douglas, Bishop of Carlisle.
[285] Vide L’Esprit des Loix, liv. xxi. cap. 6. p. 476.
[286] Plin. lib. vi. cap. 22.
[287] Strabo, lib. xv.
[288] I know there are contrary opinions, and the junks might have been various. Vide Salm.
[289] Pto. Geog. lib. 4. cap. 7.
[290] id. ibid.
[291] Agath. p. 60.
[292] 1 Kings, chap. xxii. ver. 48. 2 Chron. chap. xx. ver. 36.
[293] 2 Kings, chap. viii. ver. 22. 2 Chron. chap. xxi. ver. 10.
[294] 2 Kings, chap. xiv. ver. 22. 2 Chron. chap. 26. ver. ii.
[295] 2 Kings, chap. xvi. ver. 6.
[296] 2 Kings, chap. xvi. ver. 6.
[297] Ezek. chap. xxvi. ver. 7.
[298] 2 Kings, chap. xxiv ver. 13. and 2 Chron. chap. xxxvi. ver. 7.
[299] Dan. chap. vi. ver. 8. and Esther, chap. i. ver. 19.
[300] Ezra, chap. v. ver. 14 and chap. vi. ver. 5.
[301] Dan. chap. v. ver. 30.
[302] Lucan lib. x. ver. 280.
[303] Vide Montesq. liv. 21. chap 8.
[304] Lucan, lib. 9. ver. 515.
[305] Athen. lib. 5.
[306] This is probably from Atbara, or the old name of the island of Meroë, which had received that last name only as late as Cambyses.
[307] Plin. lib. 6. cap. 23.
[308] Strabo, lib. 17. p. 932.
[309] Mon. Aduli.
[310] Strabo, lib. ii. p. 98.
[311] Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. 2. cap. 67.
[312] Dodwell’s Dissertat. vol. I. Scrip. Græc. Min. ld. Ox. 1698. 8vo.
[313] Plut. Vita. Ant. p. 913. tom. 1. part 2. Lubec. 1624. fol.
[314] Strabo, lib. 3.
[315] Plin. lib. vi. cap. 23.
[316] Strabo, lib. 2. p. 81.
[317] Strabo, lib. ii. p. 98.
[318] Ptol. lib. iv. cap. 9. p. 115.
[319] Ptol. lib. vii. cap. 3.
[320] It should properly be Saba, Azab, or Azaba, all signifying South.
[321] Such as Justin, Cyprian, Epiphanius, Cyril.
[322] By this is meant the country between the tropic and mountains of Abyssinia, the country of Shepherds, from Berber, Shepherd.
[323] Matth. chap. xii. ver. 42. Luke xi. 31.
[324] Pin. de reb. Solomon, lib. iv. cap. 14th.—Josephus thinks she was an Ethiopian, so do Origen, Augustin, and St Anselmo.
[325] 1 Kings, chap. x. ver 1. and 2 Chron. chap. ix. ver. 1.
[326] Matt. chap. xii. ver. 43. and Luke, chap xi. ver. 31.
[327] 1 Kings, chap. x. ver. 9. and 2 Chron. chap. ix. ver 8.
[328] 2 Chron. chap. xxv. ver. 18. 19.
[329] 1 Kings, chap. xi. ver. 1.
[330] Acts, chap. viii. ver. 27 and 38.
[331] This shews the falsehood of the remark Strabo makes, that it was a custom in Meroë, if their sovereign was any way mutilated, for the subjects to imitate the imperfection. In this case, Candace’s subjects would have all lost an eye. Strabo, lib. 17. p. 777, 778.
[332] 2 Sam. chap. xvi. ver. 22. 1 Kings, chap. ii. ver. 13.
[333] What immediately follows will be hereafter explained in the Narrative.
[334] The temple which the Queen of Saba had seen built, and so richly ornamented, was plundered the 5th year of Rehoboam, by Sesac, which is 13 years before Menilek died. So this could not but have disgusted him with the trade of his ancient habitation at Saba.
[335] Numb. chap. xv. ver. 38, 39. Deut. chap. 22. ver. 12.
[336] We see this happened to them in a much shorter time during the captivity, when they forgot their Hebrew, and spoke Chaldaec ever after.
[337] I shall have occasion to speak much of this priest in the sequel. He was a most inveterate and dangerous enemy to all Europeans, the principal ecclesiastical officer in the king’s house.
[338] Then Prime Minister, concerning whom much is to be said hereafter.
[339] Vid. Origen contra Celsum, lib. 5. Tertull. de Idolol. c. 4. Drus in suo Enoch. Bangius in Cœlo Orientis Exercit. 1. quæst. 5. and 6.
[340] Gassend in vita Pierisc, lib. 5.
[341] The length of these princes reigns are so great as to become incredible; but, as we have nothing further of their history but their names, we have no data upon which to reform them.
[342] Caleb el Atsbeha, which has been made Elesbaas throwing away the t.
[343] Surius Tom. 5. d. 24. Oct. Card. Baronius. Tom. 7. Annal. A. C. 522. N. 23.
[344] Ludolf, vol. 2 lib. iii. cap. 2.
[345] Vid. Baron, tom. 4. p. 331. et alibi passim.
[346] El Hameesy’s Siege of Mecca.
[347] Fetaat el Yemen.
[348] El Hameesy.
[349] She is also called by Victor, Tredda Gahez.
[350] See Alvarez, his relation of this Embassy.