338 



directly upon it. M. Volney observes, that " during 

 the inundation, the Nile occasions a current along the 

 whole coast of Syria, which extends from Gaza to Cy- 

 prus : ?? * but he does not pretend, or hint, that it acts 

 on the coast of Syria, or that it deposites a particle of 

 alluvion on its shores. 



The probability is that the current of the Daraietta 

 river, was but very little affected by that of the Medi- 

 terranean, and that by reason of Cape Berelos stretch- 

 ing out into the sea, throws the current of the latter off 

 more to the north east, and would therefore leave the 

 current of the Damiettato flow in the direction of Tyre, 

 where, if it had retained any alluvion, (which for rea- 

 sons that I have advanced is highly improbable,) it 

 might have deposited some. But if it had struck the 

 coast of Phoenicia in this direction, it must, from thence, 

 have flowed parallel with the coast to the northward. 

 How then shall we account for the situation of ancient 

 Sidon, Tripoli, and Laodicea, the latter of which is 

 one hundred miles north of Tyre, being all, nearly 

 alike, buried with sand? Not, certainly, by the de- 

 po^ition of alluvion of the Nile, since there are other 

 sources but too well known, which have been, for more 

 than forty centuries, almost constantly yielding their 

 materials to bury those cities, through the medium of 

 the winds sweeping over the deserts. 



The same change is constantly progressing upon the 

 gulf of Suez,f where no river was ever known to flow. 



* Volney ' Travels, page 212. 



t See Pococke, page 132, ami ilennell's Herodotus, page 



454. 



