78 AN HISTORICAL DISQUISITION

SECT and thirty minutes, which co - incides precisely11. with the observation os an .Eastern geographerquoted by Al. D’Anvilie The latitude ofJVlaracanda , or Samarcand , as fixed by him - , isthirty-nine degrees fifteen mi votes. According tothe Astronomical Tables of Ulug Beg, the grand-son of Timur. whose royal residence was in thatcity, it is tbirty-nine degrees thirty-seven minu-tes* 5 . r l he latitude of Sera Metropolis, in Ptolemy,is thirty-eight degrees fifteen minutes; that ofKant cheou , as determined by the Jesuit Mission-aries , is thirty nine degrees. I have enumeratedthese striking examples of the co incidence of hiscalculations with those established by modernobservations , for two reasons: One, becausethey clearly prove that these remote parts of1 Asia had been examined with some considerabledegree of attention ; the other , because I feelgreat satisfaction, after having been obliged tomention several errors and defects in Ptolemy’sgeography, in rendering justice to a philosopher,who has contributed so much towards the improve-ment of that science. The facts which I haveproduced afford the strongest evidence of the ex-tent of his information, as well as the justnessof his conclusions concerning countries with whichfrom their remote situation , we might have sup-posed him to be least acquainted.

44 Eclairciffemens , &c. English Translation, p. io.

45 Tab. Geogr. ap. Hudson. Geogr. Mjnores, iii.

I 4S*