402 Mr. Beke on the Historical Evidence of the Adva?ice of 



The question, then, in reality, is not so much between Mr. 

 Carter and myself individually, as between that gentleman 

 and philologists and biblical critics generally, who (I believe, 

 with the single exception to which 1 have formerly alluded*,) 

 all concur in regarding the meaning of kopher, in the passage 

 in question, to be pitch, whatever differences of opinion may 

 be entertained among them as to the interpretation of the word 

 gopher. It seems useless, therefore, to prolong a discussion 

 which can scarcely be attended with any satisfactory result ; and 

 1 will consequently only repeat my original suggestion — in 

 which, in fact, Mr. Carter himself coincides, — that 'l£)i (^gopher) 

 is identical with 1Q3 (kophe?-), whatever the correct transla- 

 tion and meaning of the latter word may be considered to be. 



I willingly pass from this subject to the consideration of 

 another question, which has incidentally arisen in the course of 

 the discussion, and which, I feel persuaded, will be considered 

 to possess more general interest. It is respecting the advance 

 of the land upon the sea at the head of the Persian Gulf. 



This subject was originally brought forward by me in a pa- 

 per inserted in the Philosophical Magazine for February 1 834f , 

 (being an extract from the first volume of my work " Origines 

 Biblicce, or Researches in Primeval History," recently pub- 

 lished,) in which I expressed the opinion, that the waters of 

 the Persian Gulf formerly extended much further to the north- 

 ward, and that the low lands at the head of that gulf have 

 been gradually formed by the encroachment of the alluvial 

 soil brought down and deposited by the Euphrates and Tigris 

 and the neighbouring rivers. The conclusion thus come to 

 was grounded upon the analogy afforded by the changes which 

 have taken place in all countries through which great rivers 

 take their course, confirmed by the evidence of Nearchus as 

 to the distance, in his time, of Babylon from the sea, which 

 was very much less than in the present day, and also by that 

 of Pliny, who expressly states that the land did actually gain 

 upon the sea in a most remarkable and extraordinary degree. 



Mr. Carter in his last paper has disputed the correctness of 

 my conclusion, and has, in fact, asserted the opinion, that since 

 the time of Nearchus " the general characters of the coast 

 have undergone but a small degree of change," and that " the 

 • encroachments on the gulf must be very unimportant." He 

 has not, however, touched upon the geological portion of the 

 argument in support of my conclusion ; neither has he at- 

 tempted to controvert the passage cited from Pliny : his re- 



♦ Lond. and Edinb. Phil. Mag., vol. iv. p. 281. f Vol. iv. p. 107. 



