The geography and geology of south-eastern EgyptBall, John
Science
The geography and geology of south-eastern Egypt
Ball, John
Geology -- Egypt; Physical geography -- Egypt
Linant thus performed for the south portion of the district a similar
service to that which his compatriot Cailliaud had already done for
the north portion. His remarks on the people of the country, their
manners and customs, are no less interesting than his descriptions of
the ruins and mines which he discovered. The notes on certain points,
such as the manner of trapping the wild ass which then roamed these
deserts, are specially interesting as illustrating past usages. Linant
also compiled a small Bisharin-French vocabulary as an appendix to
his work. The large map accompanying his book, though it is well
engraved and depicts well the general mountainous character of the
country, is unfortunately full of large errors; Gebel Is (_Jt_), for
example, is placed more than sixty kilometres too far south; while
many of the place-names are either wholly incorrect or so loosely
transliterated as to be almost unrecognisable. But with all its
defects, Linant’s map remained the only source for cartographers
for a large portion of the Eastern Desert down to the time of the
commencement of the present survey; the map of Egypt published in
1905 by the Topographical Section of the British General Staff, for
instance, contains much of Linant’s material, though a comparison
of that map with the one joined to this report will show how great
were the errors in the matter thus incorporated.
WILKINSON[7] gives very brief notes on Berenice and the ancient roads
leading to it, as well as on the emerald mines of Zabara and the
ruins of the Sikait district. Wilkinson believed he had identified
all the ancient stations on the Koptos-Berenice road, besides another
smaller one not mentioned in classical itineraries. In the temple
of Berenice he found a small fountain, which is now in the British
Museum. But his work added little to what had already been learned
by Cailliaud and Belzoni regarding this part of Egypt.
In 1836, WELLSTED,[8] a lieutenant in the Indian Navy, who had been
employed in surveying the Red Sea coast, described the topography
of Berenice, and assigned to the place its true latitude of 23°
55′. He gives a plan and view of the temple, which he partially
cleared, and in which he found fragments of Greek tablets and of
a statue.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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