80 NATURAL HISTOKY OF 



the efflux of the river, it threw, similarly, as in the 

 Syrtes, all deposits back upon the coast, and filled the 

 channel of communication from the Red Sea, whose 

 level, somewhat higher, was kept in check by the pre- 

 vailing northerly winds, until a bank was formed, and 

 marshes created, which the same northerly winds, acting 

 upon the sea shore, would supply with dust, and all 

 other currents of air aided to fill up, until the isthmus 

 was formed, and the delta had advanced to the edge of 

 deep water, when first it came within the force of the 

 real sea current. Thus, a space of 72 miles, from Suez 

 to El-Arish, and nearly 180 along the sea-coast from 

 west to east, became a fertile land, where inundation 

 extended ; pasturage, where it is accessible only in part ; 

 and desert or marsh in all the rest. * 



On the Syrian coast, the Mediterranean current is 

 first repelled by the rocky soil of Palestine, and turned 



* " It is inferred from geological data, that the Red Sea, 

 in former times, penetrated to the basin of the bitter lake, 

 and there left high water marks, distinguishable at the pre- 

 sent day ; flowing from thence to Lake Mensaleh, thus en- 

 tirely separating the land of Africa from that of Asia :" 

 But Captain Veitch adduces strong reasons against trusting 

 to the operations of nature to excavate for herself a channel 

 again in that way, and shows also, why it would not be 

 expedient to form a navigable channel of still water, with 

 locks between the two seas, or dependent on the Nile. This 

 statement, drawn from actual survey, leaves no doubt of 

 the primaeval separation of the two continents, viewed geo- 

 logically ; and the expected condition of dead water, instead 

 of a current in the channel, should a communication be 

 reopened, is supported by the fact, that a simple process of 

 nature was sufficient to close it. 



