belóngrto the central ridge-/ T o the S. h e in fe rts the names of riume-
rousi petty tribes, probably difperied in t^Scential^nfeiintains- for fnr.li
little dlvifions are common in th e mountains, o f Bafbar?yj'has ;oepe|tfs
fram'Shaw|=and other travellers.. T o the S. o fth e fe is the wide.region
of Agifyrriba, with th e mountains" o f Xiphé and Barditas,. and .thai‘i$ f
Mefchi giving Jouree to a river which runs S. out o f the houndstrb'f
Ptolemy’s gebgfaphy, but probably One'_-of thofe that fl’ow; fro,eh th e
mountains: o f KoagTnto the ^gulf1 ot -Guinea. '*»
- It has already been obferVed th a t this' geographer has • omitt&Uthe_
Zaara or Great 'Defert, and that the interior part of His map is laid;down
from land routes, while the weftern cóaflt is from maritime expeditions.
On the S. his latitudes are equally erroneous, as he places the fourees‘;
efrthe Nile, and the mountains o f the moon, in S. lkt. 13°, indead of
N. Iat, 6°, or 7 0 ; an error-o f about twenty degrees or' 1209 'g.- miles!
It feems evident that eVèh his mod fouthern mountain's belong to fbef
. central ridge dF’’KtfriM^>-buf‘1fteit he had ’ heard tîf Agifyrnba, which,
according to D ’Anville, in the Abyffinian ■ language only ‘ fignifiès
SouthernHSouhtry : while, from the natives on the S. o f theWi^ir^the
Romaris may nave learned that fome' rivers fâ’n from th e 'iriô0g&tn^?<&£
Kong towards a foutbern fea. -
'H av in g th u sf briefly examined th’e leading points of Ptolemy’s Africain
-geography, that o f the Arabs will riot be found deferving o f equal a tte i-
tion. The mod celebrated is Edrifi, who wróte m'Sicily itf the -twelfth
century, but from his minute attention to eaftern Africa, lie was formerly
ftyled the Nubian geographer. By'foriieftrange inadvertence' the
töwns mentioned by this author, who wrote fix centuries and a half
ago, have been inferted in modern maps' while perhaps there is not one
o f them in exiftence. Setting this afide it will appear, from an accurate
examination of Edrifi, that while his Nile of the Negroes, w hich He fays
runs to-.the W-„, has been miftaken for the Nigir, he really .knew nothing
o f that river ; and his Nile qf the Negroes is the G ir o f Ptolemy, ter-
-minating in an inland lake, m which was the ifland o f Ulil, one day’s
fail from the mouth of the river ; and in which ' ifland- another"Arabian
geographer, places the capital city, o f all Soudan. Beyond this lake and
1 . ‘ ifland
iflapdtEdrifl appeiifs to havpjh^no' knowl^^ofefcenfrfli* Africa ; all
W regjqp&fcqdriwp^be mep^fas^geto^p bels®g to .the Gir,hie -Nile,
woufd
W M I l i H B tbaGiri l m > however tq^feopgd
rii-at p K p i M K Mjw%ri^uppftreaintk^Sonie have
.Wived; tt^ ,r ip r k of K uM M ^ rjip ro ^ e ^ ^ ey rim e #0 *he N,
W, flows,S.-Wi.a^oihs the ;fe.a#t'.Ctl;jbar
M r‘ Br°Y:n?_ r©,peatery expreffed h i s i ^ ^ l t i b . a l u ^ l i r ^ t b a t this r i^ K
M i l « l ^ r ^ i ^ a # , thlt k '
fitpul^pafs.the^ai^ m,quntat^strid j^ in k^eenbKe and’higkeftpart,.
^ % , ^ tgr'ea.t,a ftream, wh&h. gr^nd.inlfpd.
&^H!dyba,ve efeaped t r a , y e l ^ tin, Bqnin ^ f^Q a la ^ a r ij^ n c ^ l&L
Cgi*4ibg&to't.% bgffc maps* is there»any e JW y 'ip, tbef^cquafries .tla t^ ri*
at# l ^ r f p ^ d , t o ;f¥^ a jir iy e r ^ s; T h e .m®ft and .itopomnt, dif-
CQsenes; wfjicfr, remain*, are- grobablyn the;, riyer.,
. matf-,flies,t or- deferts^which,receive, that river and<the Jatjterb
r i n g s o ^ 'e ^ q f i great- fingularityi .e q ^ lly l u n k n o w n ^ - th e ' time off.'
Rtplemy, a n d atj the prefenkday. ^ P e rh a p s ' i a a ^ e l ^ p l ^ n }th ,en la rg e ,,
p v e rs fend - off .v a rio u ^ b ^ n ch g s ^ gradually., lok.rin, th d lia p d s 5, b ut
Etdemy-.and.the^Arabs--iHdicate a great central, Iake,,wh$hjc6uld fcarce-
^ T9 b| ^5%S ' f c fm o r e . prepife n q tic e ^ j^ cep tjw e conceive tHat
M n>or^ ern Part is furxGunded with deferfcs, ^nd th ^ g p |b er nt;mtfrlofty
and inaccefEhle mountains, covered with Tareks’ arid f d l 'o f Tendon's'
animals^ fo that the traders .'only paffing. il? ? o f '
IJU1, are. complete ftrangers, tqfcits ^ ow h e rn extremity.', .But whether»,
f e f e . ^ e a u r e s IhaH he c f a j f ^ w i t k the^a.ye!s-,Qj.4Gaudentio di
Iriiqca,*.or.be found confiderably. ta approach tshe.trpth,“. ^ be left t<*.
future difeovery. .
As. in Afxa, the chief obftacles to-difcovery Eaye not beep, tlxej fandy- _
^ferts of Gobi.or,SharxiQ^but the»k$cceflible.mountains of.^ibet. /o in..
Africa it would'appear that the impediments» muft arife’from^hlgk'
fountains,, and not from fandy deferts, fuch as are fa'miliariypaifed b,y,
* This Angular work was publiflied by Bilhop Berkley, and pretends to'dlfelofc. an interlbr '
country m Africa. The BiflVop and his friends feemed to regard it afgeniafte-, bat the
hasucver concurred in that opinion, ■
The A r ab s.
caravane