Page 338 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

XV.] COAST OF NUBIA. 317

In the foregoing table it will be observed
that the plans I have chosen are taken from
the chart, in succession as they lie along Mr.
Bruce’s track, a preference alone being given
to such as are remarkable either for their
magnitude or importance. Ample testimony
is here borne to Mr. Bruce’s accuracy as an
observer, not only of the latitude (especially
when he could take his observations on land),
but also of longitude; for he has fixed the

latter with so much truth, whenever he had
the opportunity, that it may be questioned if
we shall ever be enabled to attain it at those
places with greater precision. In the table
given by Lord Valentia*, where the results of
Niebuhr’s and Bruce’s observations are com­
pared, we find that of eleven positions which
are contrasted, seven agree within the mile.
The latitude assigned to Ras Mohammed by
Bruce differs in reality, as I have already
observed, nine miles from the position given
to it by Niebuhr ; and as the data from which

the latitudes of Yembo’, Jiddah, and Loheiya
were determined were calculated by the late

* See Travels, vol. iii., p. 281.