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.