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tween the other islands, may occasion the division into greater and lesser Oasis; each consisting of a number of islands. separated by narrow deserts. According to Mr. Browne, the greatest interval between the islands of the Greater Oasis is about 28 G. miles. No idea is given any where of the breadth of the islands: but it is probably small.

West from the most northerly of the abovementioned islands, and at the distance of 125 miles from the sea coast, lies a small Oasis, about 6 miles long and 5 wide, containing the town of Sieva, in lat. 29° 12′, and long. 26° 21′ 30′′. It appears to have been named Santariah by the Arabian geographers. The description afforded by Mr. Browne renders it extremely probable that, in this sequestered site, he has discovered the station of the temple of Jupiter Ammon. The geographical positions concur as nearly as they could be expected to agree; the similarity of productions, of form, and of dimensions, leads to the same conclusion; and the fountain still noted for varying in its temperature seems, in a great measure, to exclude all doubt of the fact. Mr. Rennell adduces an additional proof in the similarity of the architecture, which may yet be traced in the ruins of a temple at Sieva, to the Egyptian style of building and ornamenting edifices consecrated to religion.

As Mr. Horneman (who is employed by the African Association) was to proceed from Egypt to Fezzan, with the caravan, his route would naturally lie through Sieva. Probably some new lights may be afforded by him.' A letter from that gentleman, dated 19th August 1799, observes that "Sievah is without doubt the country of the antient Ammonians. I found some ruins, and a great number of catacombs there. Of ⚫ one part of the ruins there are only the foundation walls to be seen. Another part consists of the foundation walls of a large building, within which, and near the middle of it, are seen the ruins of a remarkable edifice. It stands on an eminence composed of limestone. I should take these ruins for those of the temple of Jupiter Ammon, if the description of it in Herodotus was not so unlike what I saw." We cannot recollect any description of the temple in question by Herodotus; who merely says that it had, as at Thebes, a statue of Jupiter. with a ram's head.

(Sect. XXII.) From the Lesser Catabathmon to the frontiers of Carthage, the shores of the Mediterranean were inhabited by a variety of pastoral tribes; excepting where the Grecian colonists of Cyrene occupied an elevated promontory, nearly opposite to their first habitations in Laconia. The Adyrmachida bordered on Egypt, and imitated its customs; the Gilligamma

Gilligammæ extended to Cyrenaica, which then contained only 120 miles of sea coast, at the entrance of the Greater Syrtis. The garden of Hesperides was situated at Berenice, (now Bernice), and a wood still marks its position, in a country destitute of trees*. South and east of the Syrtis, extended the sandy plains inhabited by the Nasamones; they included. Augila, which has retained its name from the time of Herodotus, and supplied its pastoral inhabitants with abundance of dates. South of the Nasamones dwelled the Garamantes; whom the present author, with great probability, recognizes in the people of Fezzan. Their geographical position, the antient capital of Germa, and the mention by Pliny of a country of Phazania in this vicinity, render the conjecture plausible; though the timid and unsocial Garamantes have become, in modern times, the most enterprising merchants of Africa. This part constitutes an Oasis, midway between Tunis and Egypt, and affords the shortest communication between the Mediterranean and the centre of Africa; between Western Africa, Egypt, and Arabia. To return to the sea-coast: The Mace extended beyond the Cynips, formerly bordered with woods, to the site of modern Tripoli; various tribes of Lotophagi reached to the Jesser Syrtis and the lake Tritonis (now Lowdeah). The Rhamnus Lotus, which is now agreed to be the fruit on which these people subsisted, is said still to abound in the environs of the lesser Syrtis. The Ausenses were the last Nomadic tribe, and bordered on the Zygantes, who cultivated the southern frontiers of the Carthaginian territory. Beds and mountains of fossil salt occasionally mark the edges of the desert; which shuts up, on the south, the whole of the countries just described.

We discover some perplexity respecting the Philenian altars. Our author places them south of the Greater Syrtis; he remarks that the Carthaginian boundary probably did not extend so far east in the age of Herodotus, and then adds that in the age of Scylax their territory extended from the Greater Syrtis to the columns of Hercules: but Scylax lived before Herodotus.-Had Sallust been more particular, his authority would have been decisive of their position, because he had resided in that country, of which he was prætor. In his description of the coast of Africa, he says, "Igitur ad Catabathmon, qui locus Egyptum ab Africa dividit, secundo mari, prima Cyrene est, colonia Thereon, ac deinceps duæ Syrtes, interque eas Leptis: dein Philenon aræ, quem, Egyptum versus, finem imperii habuere Carthaginienses:post aliæ Punicæ urbes." Hence we should have looked for the altars to the west of Leptis. In speaking of the Cyrenaic deputies, he merely says that they were somewhat later faliquanto posteriores) than those of Carthage.

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The irregular tides and shifting sands of the Greater and Less Syrtis were the terror of the antient mariners; most of the dangers must probably have risen from the difficulty of working off a lee shore; for which purpose the antient ships The lake Lowdeah, to which were very ill calculated.' Dr. Shaw allows an extent of 20 leagues, and 6 in breadth, must be considered as the Tritonis of Herodotus: it is singular that Pliny and Lucan should have placed it inland from the Greater, instead of the Less Syrtis. Speaking of the temple of Minerva, (situated on this lake,) in which the vest of the image was made of skin, and the fringe hanging from the ægis not composed of serpents but of leather, the author takes occasion to remark the antiquity of the art of dressing skins in Africa. The covering of the tabernacle in the wilderness, he observes, was of rams' skins dyed red; and he deems it a curious fact that the shrine of Minerva, at the lake Tritonis, should have been decorated not only with the same kind of manufacture, but that it was also of the same colour.

The circumnavigation of Africa by vessels conducted 'by Phenicians in the reign of Necho, King of Egypt, is considered in the 24th and 25th sections. The reality of this voyage has been much questioned; partly from the difficulties - attending it previously to the use of the mariner's compass; and partly from the circumstance being unknown or disbelieved by Polybius, (himself a discoverer,) and by Ptolemy, whose situation was favourable for obtaining all the knowlege possessed by the Egyptians respecting the immediate subject of his researches. On the other hand, the circumstance disbelieved by Herodotus, that of the Phenicians having the sun on their right hand, which must have happened after having passed the line, is strongly corroborative of the authenticity of the relation. In a coasting voyage, however long, the compass is not indispensible; a regular trade was carried on from the Red Sea to the coasts of India, and the whole voyage was performed at a distance from land. With the exception of Ptolemy, the antient writers seem pretty generally to have regarded Africa as a peninsula; which belief must have originated in some knowlege of the fact procured from a complete circumnavigation, or so complete as to warrant the inference of a peninsular form. The date of this first circumnavigation of Africa may be supposed to be about 600 years before our æra; 175 before Herodotus wrote; and perhaps about 400 after the voyages made by the fleets of Solomon and Hiram.'

Our account of this volume has already extended to a length scarcely compatible with the limits of our work; and we regret the necessity of omitting the curious and entertainREV. DEC. 1800.

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ing particulars afforded by the author, respecting the various currents experienced in the Atlantic.

The voyage of Hanno is elucidated by Major Rennell in his last section. The streams of fire which seemed to run down the hills, and the savage women found on the coast, have been satisfactorily explained by modern travellers, whose remarks have contributed to establish the veracity of the Carthaginian navigator. In ascertaining his positions, the existence of a strong southerly current must not be forgotten, as it materially affected his calculations of distance. In the island of Cerne, may be recognized the modern Arguin. In the prosecution of the voyage to the Southern Horn, (which the author places at Sherbro' Sound, or Bay,) he passed a mountain, which, from its height, and the fires which ascended its side, was named the Chariot of the Gods; this Major Rennell refers to Mount Sagres; though its height appears somewhat exaggerated. Sherbro' Bay, or Sierra Leona, is considered as the extreme limits of the Carthaginian discoveries.

The work to which we have so long drawn the attention of our readers is entirely worthy of its author's justly extensive reputation for geographical knowlege. It will be found to elucidate the positions of many important places, the names of which occur in antient writers; and to exhibit, in their utmost latitude, the boundaries of the universe, as they appeared to the father of Grecian history: together with their divisions and subdivisions. The necessity, however, of collating all that has been said on certain subjects, by different authors, is occasionally productive of some tedium; and Major Rennell has still to learn the useful art of contracting the exuberance of a style naturally diffuse. "Quam paucissumis absolvi" was the boast of the writers of antiquity; modern authors too frequently aim at the reverse.

ART. II. The Costume of China, illustrated by Sixty Engravings, with Explanations in French and English. By George Henry Mason, Esq. Major of his Majesty's (late) 1ozd Regiment. Royal Quarto. 6 Guineas, Boards. Miller. 1800.

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Or the immense empire of China, containing (as it is said)

a population of upwards of three hundred millions, comparatively little is known. Among the virtues of this people, hospitality to strangers is not to be enumerated; and they are so very suspicious of the eye of intrusion, that the knowlege which Europeans have of their customs and manners has been snatched" rather than "taken." The author of the present

splendid

splendid and expensive publication informs us of the hazards which he incurred, and of the insults which he encountered, in attempting, with a party of English, on the 24th of December 1789, to take a view of the city of Canton.

They agreed (he tells us) with an old-Chinese soldier for a view of the city of Canton ;-to afford which, he pretended he would conduct them to the top of a considerable eminence that is near the walls of the city, and commands it. Having suffered the customary verbal abuse from boys and from the common rabble, in their way through the suburb streets, and being attended by a vast multitude, on their arrival at the foot of the hill they were disappointed by their guide refusing to proceed. This produced some strong remonstrances, during which one of the gentlemen slipped through the surrounding crowd, and began to ascend the hill; he was arrested near the summit by two stout natives; two of the party attempting to follow him were intercepted immediately, and a detachment of Tartar soldiers, rushing from a sally-port, carried the first 'offender within the walls of the 'city. The remaining gentle. men then used all their rhetoric of signs (for the language of either side was perfectly unintelligible to the other,) to obtain a release of the prisoner, or even to be permitted to accompany him, but without effect: a rescue was equally impracticable, and they were com. pelled into a precipitate retreat amidst the shouts and scurrilities of thousands. It was several hours before the gentleman was released, and then at the intercession of the Hong merchants* with the executive power. His treatment had been better than he expected, since, with the exception of their repeatedly attempting to snatch his watch, and regarding him with ignorant curiosity, he got home to the factory without further molestation.'

Major Mason appears to have been in China only a few months; during which, as the anecdote above transcribed will indicate, he had no singular opportunity of exploring this wonderful people; and the work here offered to the public, as it chiefly respects their exterior, might have been furnished by a very superficial acquaintance with them. We find, however, that he partook of several entertainments given by the Hong merchants at their own houses; from which advantages, with the aid of some donations, unwearied diligence, and frequent exertions of patience, he obtained no inconsiderable knowlege of the Chinese customs.'-He describes the Chinese collectively as ingenious in their peaceful arts, polished and courteous in their manners, moral and sagacious in their civil institutes, just and politic in their penal laws, and in want of nothing but the blessing of revealed religion to render them the happiest people in the universe.

* A company of Chinese merchants, by whom all the immense commerce of Canton is regulated. A a 2

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