58 CELESTIAL, ATMOSPHERIC, AND 



long subterranean passage.* The &quot; deeps &quot; referred to by 

 Aristotle are in a deep part of the Black Sea, but the deepest 

 part of this sea is said to be near its centre. It may be 

 mentioned that Herodotus clearly states that the Caspian is 

 a sea by itself, having no communication with any other, t 



The above information given by Aristotle about the 

 mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas of his ancient World is 

 from his Meteorol. i. c. 13. In his History of Animals he 

 gives some interesting information about the reported land 

 of the Pigmies. He says that such a race, dwelling in caves, 

 actually existed in the upper regions of the Nile, and that 

 cranes migrated from Scythia to the marshy parts of those 

 regions. I 



Many ancient writers refer to the Pigmies of inner Africa, 

 and Herodotus says that the Nasamonian explorers were 

 captured by them and carried across extensive marshes to a 

 city near a river running east and west, and containing many 

 crocodiles. It was in the region of the Ituri River, which 

 exactly answers to this description, that Stanley found a 

 race of Pigmies. 



A great deal of interesting information is given by 

 Aristotle about changes produced on the Earth s surface by 

 various natural agents. These changes include those caused 

 by the deposition of mud from rivers, the drying up or the 

 formation of swamps, and the destructive effects of volcanic 

 eruptions and earthquakes. 



His description of the silting up of the Sea of Azov has 

 been discussed in another part of this chapter. Referring 

 to the Nile delta, he says that all the arms, except the 

 Canobic, were made artificially. Egypt itself he considers 

 was made habitable by the drying up of the swampy parts 

 formed by the deposition of mud in a sea continuous with 

 the Red Sea, and he believed that the whole country of 

 the Egyptians was the work of the Nile. He states in 

 correctly that the Red Sea was higher than the land about 

 the Nile, and says that Sesostris and also Darius, who 

 tried to connect the Nile with the Red Sea by excavating 

 a channel, found this out and, in consequence, stopped the 

 work of excavation.|| 



He says that some places have acquired a more favour 

 able climate through the drying up of swampy parts, while 



* Nouvelle Geograpliie Universelle, vol. 6, 1881, pp. 422-24. f i. 203. 

 | H. A. viii. c. 14, s. 2. ii. c. 32. 



|| Meteorol i. c. 14, ss. 10-12 and 26-28. 



