On the Arabian Frontier of Egypt. 215 



of Suez. And as all arguments drawn from the passage of 

 Strabo here alluded to, are based on this common misappre- 

 hension, it will be necessai'y, before we are able to conclude 

 anything from it, to shew, firstly, that, at the very time 

 Strabo wrote, and even fifty years after, the body of water 

 formerly occupying the site of those marshes was considered 

 a part of the Arabian Gulf; Secondly, and independently 

 of this, there will be no difficulty in demonstrating that to 

 assume the site of the marshes to have been that of Strabo's 

 lakes, would involve the admission of several physical impos- 

 sibilities. 



The first of these propositions will be made evident by a 

 critical examination of Pliny's account* of the works and 

 dimensions of the sea-canal in his time, — more than 300 years 

 after the operation of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and fifty years 

 later than Strabo. After describing the Elanitic arm of the 

 Red Sea, he proceeds thus : — 



" There is another gulf, called by the Arabians ^ant, on 

 which is the city of Heroum, * * * * and the Port Daneon, 

 from whence there is a navigable canal that leads to the 

 Nile, traversing from this port to the Delta a space of 62 

 M.P., which is the distance between the Nile and the Red 

 Sea." 



These 62 M.P. will be found to correspond exactly with 

 the interval between the Serapeum and the Pelusiac branch, 

 if we ascend the line of navigation along the canal of Necho 

 and Darius, to Thoum; and leaving it there, follow in a S.W. 

 direction, another canal, which formerly joined this to the 

 Nile a little to the north of Scense, and of which the re- 

 mains, choked up with sand, still exist. (This is a canal 

 opened by Ptolemy Philadelphus higher up the river than 

 Necho's, for a purpose which will appear in the sequel). 

 20 M.P. along this canal to Thoum, + 24 from thence 

 to Hero + 18 to the Serapeum = 62 M.P. Near the 

 Serapeum are the vestiges of a small town, which I identify 



* Pliny, Geog. I. vi., c. xxix. 



t Vide Plate VI., a ground plan of this canal in its several stages, the dis- 

 tances being graduated according to the scale. 



