Mr. Beke on the former Extent of the Persian Gulf. 507 
of my opponent himself, whether I was not fairly authorized 
in the conclusion which I came to with respect to his mean- 
ing: indeed I would ask whether, when in his present reply 
he says, with respect to “the navigation of Alexander and his 
fleet in the delta streams,” that ‘the ancient canal, the entire 
circuit, all the points of the navigation then presented by the 
spot, are still offered for our observation,” it must not be un- 
derstood as his unqualified opinion that “since the time of 
Nearchus the encroachments on the gulf have been very un- 
important.” If I am’so unfortunate as still to misunderstand 
his meaning, I beg to assure him that I do so most uninten- 
tionally. 
As regards the observation that my words ‘convey the idea 
of a mere assertion without proof,” Mr. Carter must allow me 
to say, that a construction appears to be put upon them which 
ought not by any means to be adopted in a discussion like 
the present. Every proposition advanced, or assertion made, 
on either side, must be presumed to be made upon what are 
regarded as ‘‘proofs;” and it is simply from the considered 
insufficiency of those alleged proofs that the correctness of 
any such proposition or assertion is questioned on the other 
side. For my part, I feel that I might have reason to object, 
not merely to some expressions, but also to the tone generally 
in which Mr. Carter’s last reply is written; but I refrain from 
doing so, and I sincerely trust that neither of us will have 
occasion again to refer to any such unpleasant topic. 
In order to prevent any future misconception, it is to be 
understood that the first and principal point in dispute be- 
tween us is, whether a change of such importance has taken 
place as materially to affect the geography of the localities in 
at the N.E. next before coming to the streams of the Delta, in his progress 
to Kataderbis and the island of Margastana, in his passage through the 
channel over the shoals to his arrival at Diridotis (by the Khore Abdallah), 
on the S.W. side of the Delta, and comparing it with the present state of 
the country, we learn with surprise the small degree of change which the 
general characters of the coast have undergone during the lapse of so many 
ages. Dr. Vincent, in his able work on the Commerce and Navigation of 
the Ancients in the Indian Ocean, adverting to this remarkable fact, ob- 
serves, that Capt. Howe’s chart ‘ explains the journal of Nearchus as per- 
fectly as if it had been composed bya person on board of his fleet,’ (vol. i. 
p- 423.) and (p. 466.) ‘the pilot on board Nearchus’s ship steered exactly 
the same course’ (along the coast of the Delta) ‘as MacCluer’s Karack pilot 
2000 years afterwards.’ The junction of the river called by Arrian the 
Eulzus (coming from the N. or N.E.) with the Tigris by the still existing 
ancient Hoffar canal, across which Alexander sent a part of his fleet while 
he sailed down the Eulzus to the mouths of the Tigris, and so round to 
meet it (Arrian, Exp. Alex. vii. 7.) further shows that to the point in 
question any later encroachments on the gulf must be very unimportant.” 
Lond, and Kdinb, Phil. Mag., vol. v. P 247—8, The Italics are Mr. Carter’s. 
S8F2 
