owing to the friable nature of the sandstone used by their architects. The sculptures and ornaments which can still be traced bear marks of very different periods of art; some being extremely rude and others nearly as perfect as any in the palaces of Egypt. The examination of these monuments, whether temples or pyramids, has led to an ingenious hypothesis relative to the site of the ancient Meroë, which is maintained with a considerable show of argument and learning in a popular journal. It is well known, that all the ancient authorities describe the geographical position of the Ethiopian capital as an island formed by the junction of the Nile with the Astapus or river of Abyssinia, and with the Astaboras, which is undoubtedly the modern Tacazzé, still called Atbara. The city of Meroë, then, if it stood in the country bounded by the two latter rivers, must necessarily have been above the point at which they unite; a conclusion fully confirmed by the direct statement of Eratosthenes. Near Shendy accordingly, forty miles above that junction, there has been discovered a range of buildings and pyramids of very considerable extent and magnificence. Bruce in his journey observed some of them, and threw out a conjecture that they marked the site of Meroë, and thereby led to the natural inference, that the kingdom recorded in history under the same name must have had its territory between the Tacazze and the Blue river. The judgment of the Greek geographer and of the Scottish traveller have hitherto provailed against every other supposition. It is insinuated, indeed, that M. Cailliaud and Mr. Waddington were not perfectly satisfied with the arguments of their predecessors; but further consideration, or an unwillingness to oppose an impression almost universal, has induced them to acquiesce in the more common conclusion. But, says the author to whom we have alluded, "notwithstanding so great a concurrence of authorities, we cannot but think it pretty clear that the city of Meroë was not at Shendy but at Merawe, and that the kingdoms of the same name coincide; though Meroë in its glory probably extended to Dongola on the one side and Shendy on the other."* The first coincidence, it is remarked, is that of name, * Edinburgh Review, vol. xli. p. 190. which is complete; for both Burckhardt and Waddington observe, that the modern term, though written Merawe, has the precise sound of Meroë. Resemblance of name, it is admitted, is often accidental, though strict identity is very seldom so; and amid the general change, it is still common, especially in those unfrequented tracts of Africa, that great capitals, as Axum, Augila, and Es Souan, for example, should continue to enjoy their old appellations. At all events, the author concludes, resemblance, and, still more, sameness, becomes almost decisive when there is a coincidence also of circumstance and situation. Now here we have, bearing the name of Meroë, a capital presenting in its vicinity monuments that correspond exactly in character, magnitude, and antiquity to those which ought to mark the site of that celebrated metropolis of Ethiopia. There are no other ruins in that country which can be compared to these ; for, according to the measurements of Cailliaud, those of Shendy are decidedly inferior. The length of the greatest temple there is not quite 280 feet; of that at Merawe it is 450. The elevation of the highest pyramid at the former place is 81 feet; of that at the latter it is 103. Now all the ancient accounts unite in representing Meroë as without a rival among the cities of Ethiopia; but if Shendy be Meroë, says the reviewer, there must have been a much more splendid capital nearer to Egypt, and yet unknown in Egypt. We have then, he concludes, a combination of circumstances in favour of the position of Merawe, which only the most decided proof would be sufficient to negative. Such proof, it is conceded, is with some apparent reason supposed to exist in those ancient writings which appear absolutely to require that Meroë must be above the junction of the Nile and the Tacazze. But it is imagined that a closer examination will probably alter our views as to the decisive nature of these statements. It has never been observed, says the reviewer, that by far the highest ancient authority is in direct contradiction to them. To this preeminence Ptolemy seems fully entitled, from the advanced era at which he lived, the great extension of communication in his time, and, in fact, the more accurate and detailed manner in which he lays down his positions. His residence, too, at Alexandria, then the centre of the commerce carried on between Africa and the East, gives peculiar weight to his opinions respecting Egypt and the surrounding countries. His observations respecting Meroë are as follows: "Meroë is rendered an island by the river Nile coming from the west, and by the river Astapus flowing from the east. It contains these towns: Meroë Eser... Village of the Dari... Long. Lat. 61.30* 16.26 61.40 15.15 ..... 61.40 13.30 12 .... 62 12.30 Then the junction of the Nile and the Astapus....... 61 Then the junction of the Astaboras and Astapus..... 62.30 11.30' In this table it is clear that Ptolemy places Meroë far below the junction of the Nile with the Astapus, the Astaboras, or any great stream whatsoever. He makes the difference of latitude indeed much too great; but into this error he appears to have been betrayed by extending his itineraries nearly in a direct line up the river, without allowing for the circuitous course which it pursues above Dongola. Beyond Meroë the knowledge of Ptolemy, it is granted, becomes obscure; though from Egypt to that point he gives a continued chain of geographical positions, at a time when there is every reason to believe that the intercourse between the two countries was frequent. It seems then scarcely possible that he should have made a mistake as to this particular; or that so grand a feature should have escaped his notice, as that the Nile, which for more than three hundred leagues had not been augmented even by a rivulet, receives below Meroë so mighty a tributary as the Tacazze. The author of the hypothesis whose arguments we are endeavouring to abridge maintains also that the narrative of Herodotus, though less detailed than the other, appears to point to the same spot. According to that ancient writer, travellers ascending the Nile above Elephantiné journeyed first forty days to avoid the cataracts, then embarked, and were conveyed in twelve days to Meroë. The place where they took shipping was, he thinks, probably on the borders of Dongola, where the long line of rapids is found to ter Longitude from Ferro island, where the first meridian used to be placed. minate. From thence to Merawe twelve days would corres pond with the same rate of advancing; whereas, to Shendy, the supposed site of the proper Meroë, that space of time would be much too small. Again, Meroë is stated by this historian to be midway between Egypt and the Land of the Exiles, described by other writers as an island formed by the Nile, and which the reviewer thinks can be no other than Sennaar, where the Blue and White rivers give to the intervening country something of an insular aspect. Now, Merawe, he remarks, is exactly at an equal distance between Egypt and the kingdom just named, whereas Shendy would violate altogether the relation of equality between the two divisions. Further, Strabo, following the authority of Eratosthenes, supplies a statement which seems to have a reference to Shendy, and is, says the reviewer, the only one that can cause a doubt. But elsewhere he describes Meroë as "bounded upwards on the south by the junction of the rivers Astapus, Astaboras, and Astasobus." This, he adds, agrees very closely with our idea on the subject, and is quite contrary to that which would represent the Astaboras as the northern limit of Meroë. His statement, also, that this is the last kingdom of the Ethiopians, after which the Nouba commence and occupy the Nile downwards to Egypt, is still true only in regard to Merawe. But, returning to the main objection, the author is aware, it will be asked, How was the idea so prevalent among ancient geographers, that Meroë was formed by the junction of the great rivers, and why does Ptolemy himself, in the title of his chapter, admit the same notion, though his statement is rather in contradiction to it? The following remarks, he thinks, will afford a sufficient explanation of the manner in which the mistake originated. All who are conversant with the early history of geography must be aware of the many errors with which it abounds. Among these none are more frequent than such as respect the continuous course of great rivers, and the distinction between islands and large peninsulas. The latter terms, indeed, are often used as synonymous, though perhaps only through the influence of this original blunder. Now, the reader need only look at the map of the country here considered as Meroë, under its modern name of Merawe, inter sected by what might almost be called three parallel branches of the Nile, in order to perceive how probable it is that the first imperfect account should represent it as an island enclosed by three separate rivers. The original opinion, indeed, which is still to be found in Mela and Pliny, was, that the Astapus and Astaboras were branches of the Nile itself, first separating and forming Meroë into a species of delta, and then reuniting; an idea which seems to have a peculiar reference to the parallel streams of the modern Merawe. Then, after it was found that the Nile in this neighbourhood received some large tributaries, it was very natural to consider them as the river-branches employed in the formation of Meroë. The original idea of it, as of an island enclosed by these streams, appears to have become rooted in the minds of geographers, even after they had obtained a knowledge of the facts by which their opinion was directly confuted.* "Such are the considerations," say the reviewers, "which, in our apprehension, establish the identity of the ancient with the modern Meroë. If the discussion has been tedious, it should be remembered that it involves not merely a curious problem in geography, but the site of monuments calculated to throw light on the arts and history of one of the most celebrated nations of antiquity."+ In describing the local peculiarities of Nubia, we could not omit all notice of so able an attempt to oppose the settled opinions on this interesting point, although we do not concur in the conclusions to which the author has permitted himself to be carried. We can hardly imagine it possible that any geographer who had examined the country could be so far deceived by the winding course of the Nile as to regard the several sections of the stream which run northby-west, south-west, and north, as three separate and distinct rivers bearing different names. Besides, the ancient writers uniformly mention a junction of the currents; for even Pliny and Pomponius Mela, to whose statement some importance is attached by the reviewer, while they countenance the supposition that the Astapus and Astaboras might be branches of the Nile, relate most unambiguously, that they reunited with their parent waters,— -a view of the * Pom. Mela. lib. ix. c. 10; Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. ix. |