(or Khkhan) could have found its way through these impediments
*. ,
In the chart of Cellarius, as Dr. Della Celia has truly observed, we
find the Cinyphus placed to the eastward of the Cephalas Promon-
torium, in opposition to the testimonies of Strabo and Ptolemy, and
of most other writers of respectability. But it is merely with a
view to reconcile contending authorities that this position has been
assigned to the river ; for it will be evident, by a reference to the
text of Cellarius, that it is not the one adopted by himse f.
may be possible, also, (in addition to the authorities of thedtmerary
and the Augustan table which he mentions) that CellanusLas been
induced to place his Cinyphus thus far to the eastward, ^ consequence
of a passage in Pliny, and of a remark which he has also
quoted from Ptolemy. Pliny fixes the country of the Lotophagi
in the most southern recess of the Greater Syrtis, and Ptolemy
observes of these people, that they inhabited the neighbourhood of
the Cinyphus i. I t becomes necessary, therefore, in order to reconcile
these statements, either to place the Cinyphus nearer to the
centre of the Gulf, or to move the Lotophagi nearer to the Cinyphus.
« I t will be seen from the account of ^
“ m » t S S S f f j S from the coast; so that the dis-
tance of Herodotus is much too great.
■f See l ib . 4. Cap. 3. ., Ai i.r008 direre, ad Phihenorum
I In intimo sinu fuit ora Lotophagdn, quos qmdam Alachrooe ant
aras.—(Hist. Nat. Lib. v. c. 4.) (Kivopov) Aoroip®yo>.
■ The words of Ptolemy are—rfr§i mtov to» mra^ov ( a V»)
TRIPOLY TO BENGAZI. 67
Mela placés the Lotophagi still further to the eastward than Pliny,
for he tells us that they are said to inhabit the country between the
Promontories of Borion and Phycus, which are both of them in the
Cyrenaica * ; and this statement may be considered as an additional
reason for moving the Cinyphus to the eastward of its actual position,
if the observation of Ptolemy in question be attended to. I t is certain,
however, that the position of the Cinyphus, on the authorities
of Strabo, Ptolemy, and Scylax, is to the westward of the Cephalas
Promontorium ; Pliny places it in the country between the two
Sÿrtes, and Mela to the westward of Leptis Magna f : there is
therefore no sufficient authority for moving the river to the eastward
of the Cephalas ; although it must be confessed that the position of
the Lotophagi, in the neighbourhood of the river Cinyphus, is certainly
very clear and decided.
We may observe, with regard to these eaters of the lotus, that
they have been so very differently placed by different authorities,
that it is scarcely possible to say in what part of the map they may,
or may not, be laid down ; and this circumstance will serve to prove
how widely the lotus-tree must have been spread, at various times,
over the coast and country of Northern Africa.
* Ejus promontorium est Borion, ab eoque incipiens ora quam Lotophagi tenuisse di-
cuntur, usque ad Phycunta.—(Lib. i. c. 7.)
t Sed litore inter duas Syrtis ccl. M. P. Ibi civitas Oeensis, Cynips fluvius ac regio
. . . . (Hist. if at. Lib. v. c,5.)
After mentioning the Lesser Syrtis, Mela observes—Ultra est Oea oppidum, et Cinyps
fluyius per uberrima arvadecidens: turn Leptis altera, et Syrtis nomine atque ingenio
par priori. . . . —(De Situ Orbis, Lib. 1. c. 7.)
K S