The progress of the moving sands of Lybia, eastward, into thè
Bahr-bela-ma, &c. is treated of by General Andreossy, Mem. page
247, and is also well worthy of attention. This movement appears
to take place, very generally ; and Mr. Horneman remarks, that in
their line of course, every obstruction gives rise to a sand hill ; but
he more particularly remarks a smaller kind o f sand hill, formed by
the obstruction of the trunks of palm trees ; and so high as to leave
to the view, nothing more than the topmost branches.
II. Siwah. ,
The geographical position of this remarkable place, considered
generally, cannot now be questioned ; since we possess, in addition
to the information communicated by Mr. Browne, that of Mr.
Horneman ; both in respect of the time employed on his way
thither, and of the reports of the natives, concerning its relative
position to Cairo, the Oases, Faiume, and Derna: and when it is
considered that these new authorities differ from the former ones,
by a few minutes of longitude only.
The report of Mr. Horneman is no less favourable to the former
idea, of its being the O asis of A m m on ; and the remains of the
Egyptian structure within it, those of the famed Temple of Jupiter
Ammon : the honour of which original discovery is due to Mr.
Browne. For, in addition to what may be deemed the inner temple,
Mr. Horneman has viewed the foundations indicated by Mr. Browne,
in circumference some hundred paces ; and even some remains of
the walls themselves, of what may be supposed to have been the
including temple ; the materials of which are probably existing in
the construction of the stone houses of a town, estimated to contain
a population of six to seven thousand* persons. We need no longer
to entertain a doubt, founded on the disappearance of the materials
of the temple and palace described by the ancients. Besides, on a
review of the subject, so many particulars accord with the ancient
descriptions ; such as the dimensions, and accordance of geographical
situation ; the fruits, the copious fountains, fertility of soil; and
finally, although a negative proof, perhaps one of the strongest circumstances
of all, the declaration of the inhabitants, that “ no other
fertile spot exists in the vicinity; or nearer than the Lesser Oasis.”
A proof of the populousness and affluence of the ancient state of
Ammon, exists in the numerous catacombs pointed out to, or visited
by, Browne and Horneman: and by the probability that the rocky
hill on which the modern town stands, is also full of catacombs.
Such are indeed known to exist within the habitations of the people
of the neighbouring village of Ummesogeir; which may thence be
supposed, notwithstanding its present miserable state, to have been
a flourishing appendage to ancient Ammon: and might probably
have been the Siropum of Ptolemy.
One particular requires discussion. Mr. Horneman differs very
widely from Mr. Browne, in his estimation of the extent of the territory
of Siwah. Mr. Browne reckon? it six pailes by four: but
Mr. Horneman a circumference of 50 miles. His words are, “ a
well-watered valley of 50 miles in circuit, surrounded by naked
steep rocks.” (Abulfeda also says, that the territory is environed
* My friend, Mr. Morton Pitt, M. P. has proved, by the enumeration of the inhabitants
of a country parish in Dorsetshire, that the men of an age capable of bearing
arms are one-fourtb of the whole community. Mr. Horneman, if I understand him
rightly, states the number of actual warriors to be 1500 ; so that we ought, perhaps,
to multiply that number by 5, to get nearer to the total amount of the population.