Page 370 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

XVI.] COAST OF NUBIA. 343

Robertson for Ptolemy Philadelphia having
fixed upon this spot in preference to others
nearer the Nile, it is natural to suppose that
the monarch, desirous of gaining the object of
shortening the passage in its fullest effect,
would have selected a port as far to the
southward as possible, (in order to avoid the
■
strong northerly winds which prevail nine
months in the year,) but which should yet be
within the limits of his dominions.
To these advantages which Berenice en­

joys may also be added a capacious and well-
sheltered harbour, which no other locality on
this coast, from latitude 23° to 24°, possesses.
The circumstance of our finding the Greek
tablet must also be admitted as a strong proof
(if more is required to establish the identity
of these ruins with the ancient Berenice),
since we are not informed that the Greeks
had other towns on the coast near this spot.
From Berenice the shore continues low,
rocky, and intersected with several lagoons,
having their entrances blocked up with sand.
About seven miles from the beach there is a

narrow range of mountains, the elevation of
which we ascertained to be four thousand two
hundred feet. A plain of drift sand extends