Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge Volume 4 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1835 Excerpt: ...of the wall which was uncovered by digging, was soulptured with well-executed figures in basso-rilievo, in the Egyptian style: hieroglyphics were also found on the wall. The recent survey of the Red Sea, made in the years 1830-1-2-3, by Commander R. Moresby, and Lieutenant T. G. Carless of the East India Company's service, confirms the description of Strabo, and the accuracy of the position assigned by D'Anville as the site of Berenice. According to their chart, Berenice is at the bottom of a bay, the north side of which is formed by the promontory called Ras Benass, which is about 19 miles E. by S. from Berenice. A range of high mountains runs along this part of the coast, leaving near the bay a small narrow strip on which stand the supposed ruins of Berenice. The emerald mountains, which lie near the coast and N.W. of Berenice, are of great height: one of them, called Jebel Wady Lehuma, about 3.4 miles N, W, of Berenice, s marked in the survey as visible at 120 miles distance; but this is probably not quite correct, as it would give the mountain a height, in round numbers, of 9600 feet. Two peaks which lie S. of Berenice and near the coast, are marked respectively 4440 and 4036 feet There is good anchorage inside of Ras Benass, but the bottom is very foul. Off Ras Benass, a few miles nearly due S. is the small island Macour, where the variation is marked 8 4' west. The lat. of Berenice according to the recent survey is about 23 56', very nearly that of Ptolemy; the long, is about 35 34' E. This town of Berenice was built or restored by Ptolemy Philadelphus; and a road was formed from Berenice to Coptos on the Nile (26 N. lat.), by which the merchandise of Arabia, India, and Ethiopia was conveyed on camels to the Nile, and the troublesome navigation to the ..