Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 3.djvu/663

 THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 639

fible, both at the zenith and horizon. With a brafs qua- drant of three feet radius, by one meridian altitude of the fun's upper limb, all neceflary aquations and deductions confidered, I determined the latitude of the place of obfer- vation to be 10° 59 1 1" ; and by another obfervation of the fame kind made on the 6th, io° 5 9 »*J afte r which > b 7 a medium of thirty-three obfervations of liars, the largeft and neareft, the firft vertical, I found the latitude to be io 59 ' 10"; a mean of which being io° 59' 9*", fay io° 59 ' -10"; and if we mould befo unneceflarily fcrupulous as to add ij" for the meafured diftance the place of the tent was Couth of the altar, then we mail have io° 5 9 25" in round num: bers, for the exa& latitude of the principal fountain of the Nile,' though the Jefuits have fuppofed it, 1 2° N. by a random guefs ; but this being nearly the latitude of Gondar, the capital from which they fet out, (hews plainly they knew not the precife latitude of either of thefe places.

On the 7th of November I was fortunate enough to be in time for the obfervation t)f an immerfion of the firft fa- tellite of Jupiter, the laft viable here before that- planet's conjunction with the fun. 'My fituation was. very unfa- vourable, my view of the heavens being every way inter- rupted by a thick grove of bamboo canes, with high and fhady trees growing upon the head of the precipice. Jupi- ter was low, and" the prodigious mafs of that beautiful mountain of Geefli, bade fair to hide him before our buCi- neCs was done ; I was therefore obliged to remove my tele- Ccope up to the edge of the cliff, after which; the weather being perfectly favourable, I had as fair and -diftincT: a view of the planet as I could defire, and from that obfervation I did conclude unalterably the longitude of the chief foun- tain