319 



From these I shall select a few, as being not only 

 favourable to my views, but conclusive in themselves, 

 of the truth of my assertions. 



During the reign of Necos,* (the son of Psamme- 

 tichus,) he commenced the cutting of a canal, leading 

 from the Nile to the gulf of Suez ; and in the prosecu- 

 tion of which, under Necos, no less than one hundred 

 thousand Egyptians perished. It was afterwards con- 

 tinued by Darius, king of Persia; and, according to Di- 

 odorus^ finished by Ptolemy, the second of that name. 

 This canal is said, by Pliny,$ to have been one hun- 

 dred feet in breadth, by thirty in depth. Yet, strange 

 as it may appear, few or no traces of it are now to b$ 

 seen, except near the gulf of Suez, where it termina- 

 ted. 



That it has been filled up principally by sand, we 

 may reasonably infer, from the circumstance of the de- 

 sert through which it was cut, being almost entirely a 

 vast plain of moving sand. Pliny says, that unless 

 there are reeds stuck in the ground to point out the 

 course or direction, across the desert, the way could 

 not be found, because the wind blows up the sand, and 

 destroys every trace of footsteps. $ 



This fact is corroborated by the remarks of M. 

 Sonini, on the desert of Lybia. " There no road, 



* Herodotus Euterpe, chap. 158. 



Diodorus, lib. i. chap. 3. 

 f Pliny, lib. vi. chap. 29. 

 $ Pliny, lib. vi. chap. 29. See also Rennell's Herod, p. 453. 



