a clear point, that the Negro chief feen by Ledyard, was of Darfoot, although the flave was, Mr. Browne fays, that Darfoor is not a country of rivers, fo that the White river muft pafs to the fouth of it, of courfe; and may be fuppofed to fpring from the great chain of mounPains; the continuation of thofe, which, according to Mr. Bruce, feparate the heads of the northern and fouthern waters, in the parallel of 8o north, in Aby Jinia; and which extend westward to Manding.

"Combining the dittance reported by M. Maillet, between the castern and weitern branches; that is, 20 journies; with the above reported diftance, of four or five hundred miles from Sennar; the remote fource of the Nile fhould be looked for, very far to the S. W. of the latter place: but it is evident, that nothing critical can be determined in the prefent ftate of our knowledge, fave that the distant fource of this celebrated river is certainly not in Abyffinia, but in fome country to the weftward of it. To us it appears probable that it may be as far to the fouth as the parallel of 6°; which is nearly that affigned it by M. D'Anville; but lefs remote than Herodotus, Ptolemy, or the Arabian geographers, supposed.

"Since then it appears that the Nile is formed of two diftin& branches, or heads, of which, the White river is by far the most remote, as well as the largest ftream; the Abyffinian branch, or Blue river, cannot be the true head of the Nile, according either to reason, or to common acceptation; as by the bead, or fource of a river, nothing elfe can be understood but the moft diftant fpring, where there is a palpable difference in the length of the branches. A river may have many branches, and each of thofe will have its proper head: but the river itself, which is formed of those collective waters, mult neceffarily have for its head, that fpring which is the moft diftant of all. The Kennet and Lea, for inftance, are branches of the Thames; but the heads of those ftreams, near Marlborough and Dunftable, are neither of them the head of the Thames. Where the branches are of nearly equal length, it may bear a difpute which of them forms the proper head of the river; but this appears to be out of all question here; as ProLEMY, EDRISI, and AKULFEDA, will be found to agree with the authorities we have adduced, in the main point of placing the head of the Nile, in a remote parallel, fouthward, and very far to the S. W. of Abyffinia, although the three firft have doubtlefs exaggerated, very greatly, the quantity of the distance." P. 436.

This Section alfo gives the reports of Ptolemy, Edrifi, and Abulfeda, on the fubject, and concludes with defcribing the extent of the African continent to the fouth, according to the ideas of Herodotus, who knew that it was furrounded by the ocean. Mr. Rennel concludes, that the geographical knowledge of Africa poffeffed by Herodotus correfponded very nearly with that of Ptolemy, although they draw different inferences concerning the fouthward termination of the conti

pent.

The Seventeenth Section is occupied with the defcription of the Ifthmus of Suez, and the ancient canals, which united the

Erythræan

Erythræan and Mediterranean Seas. The ancients were mif. taken in their ideas of the breadth of this Ifthmus, and the fource of their error is explained. The relative fitnation of Pelufium, Heroopolis, and the head of the Arabian Gulf, are arranged; fo alfo is Bubaftis. The hiftory of the different canals, according to Herodotus, Strabo, Diodorus, and Pliny, is next given. This is a very curious portion of the Section, and difcovers great penetration and fagacity. Major Rennel is of opinion, that Herodotus is right in his affertion, that Necho began, and Darius completed, the communication between the feas. The firft canal from the Pelufiac branch to the Red Sea, is inveftigated with peculiar diligence; and it is proved, that the canal of Trajan, and of the Caliphs, is merely a branch added to the ancient one. The defcent of the different canals is compared, and it is shown that none of them produced any lafting advantages, and none of them remained open for the period of two centuries; and that of Trajan's was of very fhort duration. This Section concludes with a very handfome compliment to Mr. Bruce's Travels in Africa.

The Eighteenth Section contains general obfervations on the floods and alluvions of rivers, more particularly applied to the Nile and its Delta; the changes which have taken place in the form and dimensions of the Delta are pointed out; and a most curions and learned enquiry concerning the fituation of ancient Memphis occupies a large portion of this chapter.

The Nineteenth Chapter treats of the number, order, and pofitions of the ancient and modern branches of the Nile. There were seven navigable mouths. The Canopic was the most western; and occafion is taken to mention the glorious battle of the Nile, which here took place.

"The CANOPIC branch. This was alfo named Heraclean, from the town of Heracleum, fituated near the entrance: for the city of Canopus lay beyond it to the weft; and in the time of Scylax, the fite of it was a defert and rocky ifland. For he fays (p. 43) that at the Canopic mouth of the Nile, there is a defert ifland, which they name Canopus; and that the fepulchre of the pilot of Menelaus, by name Canopus, who came from Troy, is fhewn there. By this account the city of Canopus was not built till after the time of Scylax, who is fuppofed to have been cotemporary with Darius Hyftafpes, Scylax, who wrote a Periplus for the guidance of navigators, is likely to have been critical in fuch a matter: and therefore, the existence of an island, and that island a defert one, feems to be proved. Since that time, it has been joined to the main by alluvions, which appear to be hardly yet confolidated into firm land. The Ifland of Pharos is also spoken of by Scylax; fince which it has alfo been joined to the main land, by fea alluvions, aided in their operation by a causeway, built by Alexander; and on which alluvions, the modern city of Alexandria stands.

"When

"When Paris was driven by contrary winds, to Egypt, he came to the Canopian mouth of the Nile, and to Tarichea; in that fituation was a temple of Hercules, which remained to the days of Herodotus. This temple, it may be fuppofed, afterwards gave name to the town of Heracleum, mentioned by Strabo; and which might be the fame with the Tarichea of Herodotus, four centuries before. To this temple, the fervants of Paris repaired, and gave the information that led to the feizure of Paris and his effects, and the detaining of Helen, After this, Menelaus himself vifited Egypt, and received back his wife, and his effects from the king.

"Thus the claffic importance of Canopus, is very great, confidered either as a place vifited by the heroes of the Trojan war; as the reputed burial place of the pilot of Menelaus; or in refpect of the rank which it held amongst the cities of Egypt: but as fome ancient places have been fo fortunate as to renew their claffic importance, in modern times, as if to infure the certainty of a longer term of celebrity; fo this place, under the modern name of ABUKEIR, has received a new, and perhaps a more lafting, impreffion, of the ftamp of fate," by its overlooking, like SALAMIS, the fcene of a naval battle, which, like that of Salamis, may lead to a decifion of the fate of Europe. This moft brilliant victory, achieved folely by Britons, Europe felt as her own; and Frenchmen alone, mourned the defeat. To this fpot, the genius of Britain conducted his favourite NELSON, who at one blow deftroyed the fleet of the enemy, and cut off, for ever, the veteran army of France, from her shores.

"But what fecluded fhore of the ocean, has not in its turn, reverberated the BRITISH THUNDER? During the prefent ftruggle what walls have refifted, fave the woODEN WALLS of Britain? Nor shall history, although the delights more to record a brilliant victory, than the councils that produced it, fink to pofterity the name and character of the NAVAL MINISTER, who fo fuccefsfully directed the great engine of British power! Devoted to her fervice, his country fhall claim him for her own, to the latest times; whilft France fhall recognize in the defcendant of Marlborough, the hereditary foe to her fchemes of ambition and aggrandizement." P.523.

The fituation of the ancient cities of Metelis, Naucratis, and Hermopolis, are pointed out. The different mouths, namely, the Bolbetine, Sebennitic, Phatmetic, Mendefian, Tanitic, and lastly, the Pelufiac, are feverally difcuffed. The temple and city of Onias is defcribed; and a curious account is given of the ancient Jewish eftablishment in Egypt.

The two Sections which follow (Twenty and Twenty-one) treat of the Oafes of Egypt and Lybia, and of the Oafes and Temple of Jupiter Ammon.

Mr. Rennel gives it as his decided opinion that Seewa, visited and described by Mr. Browne, to whofe authority he every where pays the greatest deference, was the Oafis of Ammon, and that the remains found there were the fragments of the Temple. He collects the fcattered notices, concerning this Oafis and

Temple,

Temple, which occur in Herodotus and Diodorus, Arrian and Quintus Curtius, and compares them with thofe furnished by Mr. Browne. The general refemblance is certainly very ftriking.

The reader is next entertained with a defcription of the different Temples of Jupiter Ammon, which he thus concludes. "From what has appeared, a doubt can scarcely be entertained that the fabric at Seewa, is of Egyptian origin, and of very high antiquity. Nor can it well be doubted, that it had a relation to the worship of Jupiter Ammon, even by thofe who may doubt its being that famous temple itfelf. If it be objected that more remains ought to be visible, it can only be answered, that Mr. Browne faw, in the foil around it, indications of the existence of former buildings: and that he also faw fome ben ftones that were wrought into the walls of the modern houfes. Moreover, it may well be faid, that the tranfient view alone, that he was allowed to take of the place, generally, will not warrant a decifion of the queftion, whether there be, or be not, in the island, the materials of the edifices defcribed by the ancients.

"There is no reafon to fuppofe that the rest of the temple is buried in the fand, because the defcription of the fite allows no ground of fuppofition that the level has been raifed; the doors appearing to remain of a proper, and of a proportionate height. A mafs of fand fufficient to cover the fallen rains, must have buried a confiderable proportion of the fanctuary; admitting it to have been a conftituent part of a large temple. No fuch ftate of things appears: the room is ftill 18 feet in height, which is about the proportion it ought to bear to the fanctuary at Thebes, but below that of Armant. But could it for a moment be fuppofed, that the ruins of a temple were covered with fand, in the middle of the Oafis, what must have been the state of the Oafis itself? Had it been the nature of the place for the fand to collect, as it has done against the fides of the Pyramids, and about the Sphynx, it is probable that no Oasis would ever have been formed, in that place; becaufe the vegetation must have been constantly choked up, and covered with fand, as often as it appeared.

It is unquestionable that the worship of Jupiter in Ethiopia, had an establishment of facella or chapels attached to the principal temple in Meroe. And was there any circumftance on which to found a belief of the existence of any other Oafis in the quarter of Seewa, it might perhaps be fufpected that the edifice there, was a facellum to the larger temple of Ammon. But we truft that the concurrence of fo many particulars in the ancient defcriptions, with what appears at prefent, at Seewa, will effectually do away any fuch fuppofition. Such is the ftriking agreement of the geographical pofitions; together with the attendant circumftance of there being no other place, that antwers, in any shape, to the defcription. To this may be added, the accordance, in point of form and dimenfions, of the Oafis itfelf: the fimilarity of productions; and to crown all, the fountain which varied in its temperature, at different times.

"The difcovery of the temple itself, and the circumftances belonging to the Oafis, which contain it; together with the operation of fix

ing

Ing its geographical pofition, to a degree of exactnefs fufficiently critical to admit of a comparison with the ancient defcriptions; could not, perhaps, have been accomplished, otherwife than by the zeal, perfeverance, and fkill, of an European. Mr. Browne is therefore entitled to great praife, for his fpirit of enterprize, which bade defiance to the hardships and dangers confequent on an undertaking, fimilar to that which has been fo much celebrated in the hiftory of the Macedonian conqueror: and which was unquestionably performed with much more perfonal risk on the part of our country man, than on that of Alexander.

"It is poffible that the remains fo often alluded to, may appear to ordinary readers, to be much too infignificant to intereft the mind, as a remain of antiquity; and therefore may not anfwer the expectations formed of the magnitude, and grandeur of style, of the temple of Jupiter Ammon. To fuch, it can only be faid, that it bears the itamp of Egyptian origin; and is only pretended, at the utmost, to be a fanctuary of a greater temple, whofe materials may probably be found in the form of ordinary habitations, or otherwife, in the Oafis. The dilapidations may have been going on, for thefe 1800 years paft: the columns may have been converted into millftones, as is the practice in Egypt: or fplit into convenient fizes for walling. The part remain ing, is evidently that, which is the leaft adapted to ordinary occafions; and which could not, at any rate, be removed with fafety; fince the impending blocks of the roof muft deter every one from venturing to difplace the ftones that fupport them.

"But even confidered as a ruin, and independent of its historical importance, the circumftance alone of its having blocks of stone, which approach towards the dimenfions of the uprights of Stonehenge, raifed in the air to form its roof, is fully fufficient to give it an air of importance and fingularity.

"Thefe fentiments are entirely the effect of conviction, on the part of the author, on occafion of the difclofure of Mr. Browne's route to Seewa, in his Travels, juft published. He had previously adopted a contrary opinion; but it arofe from a mifconception of the pofition of Seewa, which was reported to be at a lefs distance inland, by three journies. He always fuppofed Santariah to be the Oasis of Ammon, and as fuch it appears in the Map of North Africa, 1798. It now appears, that Seewa is the fame with Santariah; and, of course, his opinion is not changed in respect of the pofition of Jupiter Ammon.” P. 601.

In the Twenty-fecond Section, we find an account of the tribes which inhabited the coaft and country of Lybia between Egypt and Carthage. These are generally reprefented by Herodotus as NOMADES, and are feverally diftinguished by the names of Adyrmachida, Gilligamme, Nafamones, Garamantes, Gindanes, &c. &c. What is here faid concerning the Lotophagi is too curious to be omitted, at least in part.

"Scylax, as we have feen, extends the name of Lotophagi to the ribes generally, between the two Syrtes, p. 47, 48; leaving to the

Maca