THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 541 =
tKrce under the fame meridian ; let us then confefs, as we muft, that both thefe obfervations are erroneous.
But let us fuppofe that the firft will make the latitude of ' Meroe to be 17° io\ and the fecond 16° 40'; taking then a medium of thefe two bad obfervations, as is the prac^lice in all fucli cafes, we fhall find the latitude of Meroe to be 16° 30', only 4' difference from the obfervation of Ptolemy.
Vosius*, among a multitude of errors he has commit- ted relating to the Nile, denies that there are any iflands in that river. The reader will be long ago fatisfied from our hillory, that this is without foundation, feeing that from the ifland of Rhoda, where flands the Mikeas, to the ifland of Curgos, which we have jufi now mentioned, we have defcribed feveral. . He would indeed infmuate, that Meroe, or Atbara, is not an ifland, but a pehinfula, though it is well known in hiftory thefe words are conflantly ufed as fynonimous ; but were it not fo, Meroe fcarcely flands in need of this excufe. If the reader will cafl his eye upon the map, he will fee two rivers, the Rahad and Tocoor, that almofc meet in lat. 12" 40' north. Acrofs the peninfula left by thefe rivers, is a fmall ftripe called Falaty, running in a contrary diredion from the general courfe of rivers in this country, that is from eaft to weft, though part of it in dry weather is hid in the fand, and this river makes Atba- ra a complete ifland in time of rain. .
SiMONIDES
De. oiig. flura. cap, xvi. p. 57.
