Sahara, and sometimes lies within the Tell, to be the Astrixis of Orosius, the same with Mount Atlas, so noted in history. Yet, it may be observed, that this mountain is not always of that extraordinary height or bigness which has been attributed to it by the ancients, being rarely or ever equal, as far as I have seen, to some of the greater mountains of our own island; and perhaps can no where stand in competition either with the Alps, or the Appennines. If we conceive, in an easy ascent, a number of hills, usually of the (perpendicular) height of four, five, or six hundred yards, with a succession of several groves and ranges of fruit and forest-trees growing, one behind another, upon them; and if, to this prospect, we sometimes add a rocky precipice of superior eminence and more difficult access, and place upon the side or summit of it, a mud-walled Dashkrah of the Kabyles, we shall then have a just and lively picture of mount Atlas, without giving the least credit to the nocturnal flames, to the melodious sounds, or lascivious revels of such imaginary beings, as Pliny *, Solinus, and others, have, in a peculiar manner, attributed to it. It has been remarked by some of the old geographers, that these mountains were called Dyris and Adiris, or Dyrim and Adderim† by the In *Herod. p. 280. ed. Lugd. Bat. Plin. l. v. c. 1. Polyhist. c. 24. Mart. Capell. de Afric. digenæ Solin. + Strab. 1. xvii. p. 1185. Plin. 1. v. c. 1. Solin. Polyhist. . xxiv. Mart. Capell. de Afr. digenæ or first inhabitants; but have not attempted to give us the signification or import of those words. Bochart* observes, that Atlas was called Dyris by the Phoenicians; perhaps from [7] Addir, which signifies great or mighty. Upon the sea coast of Tingitania, we find Russadirum, Purradigov, a word of near affinity with it, mentioned by Mela, Pliny, Ptolemy, and the Itinerary. The same name likewise, or Rasaddar, is given at present by the Moors to Cape Bon, the Promontorium Mercurii; thereby denoting a large conspicuous cape, promontory, or foreland. Or rather, as Mount Atlas runs for the most part east and west, and consequently bounds the prospect as well as the agriculture of the Mauritanians and Numidians to the south; we may deduce the names above-mentioned from the aspect and situation of the mountains themselves, to whom they are attributed. For, among the Moors and Arabs, Dohor still denotes the place or aspect of the sun at noon-day, as Deremt does the like in the Hebrew. If then we choose to call it, not simply Dyrim with Strabo and Pliny, but Adderim with Solinus and Martianus; Adderim or Hadderim, by the addition of Had, which denotes a mountain, will signify either the great, or else the southern eminence, limit or * Phil. 1. ii. c. 13. #077 Auster, Meridies quasi 17 Habitatio alta incedat. Schind in voce Targ. Jonath. Josh. x. 40. † Vid. Schindler. Lex. in voce. Plaga meridionalis, sic dicta quod Sol in ista plaga altius boundary, such as Mount Atlas generally is with respect to the Tell, or cultivated parts of this country. Gætulia, a part of Ptolemy's Inner Libya, is laid down in very indefinite terms by the ancients; though by comparing their several accounts and descriptions together, we shall find the northern limits thereof to be contiguous to, and frequently to coincide with, the southern limits of the Mauritania and of Numidia. The villages therefore of Zaab, the ancient Zebe, with others situated near the parallel of the river Adjedee, will belong to Gætulia properly so called; as the Figigians had Beni-Mezzab, and the inhabitants of Wadreag and Wurglah, with their respective Bedoween Arabs, (all of them situated still further to the southward, and of a swarthier race and complexion), may be the successors of the ancient Melanogætuli, and of other Libyans, if there were any, who lay nearer the river Niger and the Ethiopians. So much in general concerning the compara tive geography of this kingdom; and, if we come to particular places, Cellarius has already obser *Libyes propius mare Africum agitabant: Gætuli sub Sole magis, haud procul ab adoribus, hique mature oppida habuere. Sall. Bell. Jug. § 21. p. 286. Super Numidiam Gætulos accepimus, partim in tuguriis, alios incultius vagos agitare: post eos Æthiopas esse. I. § 22. p. 291. Υποκειται δε ταις μεν Μαυριτα νιαις ἡ Γαιτελια. Ptolem. 1. iv. c. 6. Strab. 1. xvii. p. 1182. 1185. 1192. -Tergo Gætulia glebam Ruf. Fest. 1. 321. ved, that the order and situation of them is variously set down by the ancients; and, we may likewise add, by the moderns. The reader will soon be enough acquainted with this country, to embrace the same opinion. And, if the situation of several of the ancient rivers, ports or cities, may be fixed and settled by some few names, ruins, or traditions of them that are continued down to our times, he will likewise have further occasion to complain of the want of accuracy and correctness both in the old and the later geography. No apology, we presume, need be made for the little amusement and entertainment, which some readers may receive from these or other of our geographical inquiries. Strabo, Ptolemy, and Pliny, those celebrated masters in this branch of literature, have given us the pattern, which we have all along endeavoured to follow and imitate: with what success, must be left to the judgment and decision of those alone who are acquainted with, and take delight in these studies. CHAP * Multa in Mauritania turbata et confusa videntur, quod ad loca singula demonstrabimus. Cellar. Geograph. Antiq. 1. iv. cap. 5. p. 126. . 40 CHAPTER II. Of that Part of the Mauritania Cæsariensis, which belongs to the Tingitanians or Western Moors. As the Mauritania* Cæsariensis extended itself as far as the river Malva, I shall begin the account I am to give of it from that river. The Malva then, Malua, Maλ, or Mul-looiah, (according to the pronunciation of the Moors) is a large and deep river, which empties itself into the Mediterranean Sea, over-against the bay of Almeria in Spain. It lies, as was before observed, about XL M. to the westward of Twunt, and CCXL M. from the Atlantic Ocean. Small cruising vessels are still admitted within its channel, which, by proper care and contrivance, might be made sufficiently commodious, as it seems to have been formerly, for vessels of greater burden. The sources of it, according to Abulfeda, are a great way within the Sahara, at the distance of Dece M. and the whole course of it, contrary to most of the other rivers, lies nearly in the same meridian. The Mullooiah therefore, as it appears to be the most considerable river in Barbary, so it is by far the fittest for such a boundary, as the ancient geographers and historians have made it, betwixt Mauritania and Numidia; or betwixt *Vid. Not. || p. 35. the |