194 Mr. Carter on the Delta of the Persian Gulf 



the palaces thereof*." No one can doubt that this refers to 

 the celebrated Babylon. We are here, then, close upon Peleg, 

 with a settlement and colony at the end of a delta, intruding 

 135 miles on a site which the supposed gulf of his day co- 

 vered. 



I must now return to the country of Susiana, further to 

 show by its ancient limits, and the navigation of Alexander 

 the Great and his officers, how little ground there is for the 

 addition to the delta of the 245 (451 —206) miles, — too little, as 

 it is, for the theory, — said to have been made since that period. 



The remarkable river Arosis, or Oroatis, now called the 

 Endian, and in the country, Tabf, or c the river', by way of 

 preeminence, following on from the coast of the delta, formed 

 with the gulf, and identifies, its south or south-eastern boundary. 

 Thus Ptolemy:}: makes that boundary, the gulf from this river 

 to the Tigris. Nearchus, we shall find, says the same. Strabo^ 

 mentions the Oroatis as the Persian boundary, and adds that 

 all the rivers which flow through Susiana fall into the chan- 

 nel of the Tigris and the intermediate canals of the Euphrates. 

 Here we have, too, as in Pliny, distinctly the junction of the 

 rivers, a considerable space between it and the sea, and the 

 united stream, called by Strabo the Euphrates, thus corre- 

 sponding to the state of the country at this day. 



Now, let us take the navigation of Nearchus and his fleet 

 from the mouths of this river Arosis (325 B.C.). In going 

 thence along the coast of Susiana, he tells us || " that the 

 place was very marshy, and that the shoal extended far into 

 the sea. ...They came to anchor at Kataderbis.... Thence sailing 

 away, the ships were led one by one through narrow channels; 

 stakes fixed on both sides pointed them out." Thus they 

 proceeded, and the next day from Kataderbis came to Diri- 

 dotis, on the south-west point of the delta; so that instead of 

 having a voyage of ten or eleven days, which the present 

 theory would give them, they arrived from the boundary 

 stream of Susiana on the opposite side, by a very difficult and 

 dangerous course, on the third day from starting. On this 

 topic the reply is silent, and it is the more remarkable be- 

 cause Mr. Beke says, " in reply to Mr. Carter, I ought, per- 

 haps, to confine myself to the consideration of Nearchus's 

 statement alone." 



* Is.,ch. xxiii. v. 13. 



t Vincent's Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients, vol. i. p. 418. 



X Ptolemy, 149. $ Strabo, 1. xv. 728. 



II Tyju xjuonv Tt TtvctycSbitt, rt uvut ryju -ttoT^^ wr/ kxi pwriaiv i%i piyct e( rov 

 KOUTM.... O^ut^ourxi vxi Kxruh^ig....Evhvh he Ctto tyiv ka iK%'KaoctvTi<; 

 KctTot fiQetfrtx iKOfn^fji/To 17t/ vtag. Tlocoou'hoiai hs fvdtv Kcct ivQtv wtrriyoaiu 

 uxihrihovro res ftoctyju. — Arriarts Ncari-hus, 40 and 41. 



