Most Of The Ancient Places Having Been Destroyed; The Ancient Names Of Others Long Since Out Of Use And Forgotten; And That Very Little Is Known Of These Coasts By Europeans, Even At This Day.

For these reasons, as the conjectures of the author are often erroneous respecting the ancient geography, and as at best they are very uncertain, we shall for the most part insert them by way of notes, with our own remarks respecting them[256].

Whether the altitudes have been taken by Don Juan with that precision which geography requires, may also be in some measure questioned; since we find there was a crack in the instrument employed, the size of which is not mentioned; neither were all the observations repeated. Even if they had been, it is well known that the observations of those times were by no means so accurate as those made of late years. After all, however, the observations in this journal appear to have been made with a good deal of care, and they cannot fail to be of great service to geography.

[Footnote 256: In this edition, which has been taken from that by Purchas, these conjectures of Don Juan de Castro are restored to the text: but the remarks by the Editor of Astleys Collection are all retained in notes. - E.]

It is alone by the observations contained in this journal that geographers are able to determine the extent of the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea from north to south[257], as well as the situation of its principal ports on the west side.

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