152 Memorandum on the Ancient bed of QNo. 158. 



time of Menes (*2320 B. C.) the first king, the whole of Egypt, except 

 the province of Thebes was one extended marsh. No part of all that 

 district which is now situate beyond the lake of Mseris was then to be 

 seen, the distance between which lake and the sea is a journey of 

 seven days." In para. 13 he adds, " In the reign of Mseris as 

 soon as the river rose to eight cubits, all the lands above Memphis 

 were overflowed ; since which a period of about 900 years has elaps- 

 ed : but at present, (about 460 B. C.) unless the river rises to sixteen 

 or at least fifteen cubits, its waters do not reach those lands." During 

 the boring in Fort William with a view of making an Artesian well, a 

 fossil bone was brought up from a depth of 350 feett below Calcutta, 

 which evidently proves that that part of the Delta is (geologically speak- 

 ing) a comparatively modern accumulation of alluvial deposits, and it 

 is not impossible that Calcutta itself may at that period have been not 

 far distant from the mouth, or one of the mouths, of the Ganges. Ac- 

 cording to the Mosaic account, or rather the ecclesiastical interpreta- 

 tion of it, the world is not yet 6000 years old. If therefore it has 

 taken 6000 years to form the Valley and Delta of the Ganges, it may 

 be assumed that it must have taken 2000 years to form a third of 

 that deposit The exact point at which the Ganges flowed into the 

 ocean at the period of creation is a geological nut, which I would de- 

 ferentially submit to be cracked by Dr. Buckland, or Mr. Lyell. 

 Geology, however, has unfortunately proved that the Mosaic chrono- 

 logy refers to the creation of man, and not to that of the globe. The 

 age of the latter seems to correspond more nearly with the endless 

 Yugs of the Vedasand Poorans, than with the more limited traditions 

 of the Pentateuch and Talmud. 



Although Rennell's estimate of the Roman mile is open to the above 

 criticism, we may fall back upon that of D'Anville, a geographer cele- 



* This date is taken from Wilkinson's Egypt. 



t See Vol. vi, page 236, Journal of Asiatic Society ; also vol. n, page 650. 



The rise of the land according to the calculation of Herodotus, would be one foot 

 and four inches, (1 f. 4 i.) in a century. In 1702 A. D. the favorable height of the 

 Nile Avas 23 cubits, (being an increase of 7 cubits, or 101 feet), in about 2 1 62 years, 

 (1702 -f- 460) or 5 inches and 8-10ths in a century. Taking the mean between 

 3 f. 4 i. and 5 inches — viz. 11 inches as the average rate per century, and sup- 

 posing the rise of the Ganges to have been at a similar rate, a period of 38,181 

 years would be required to fill up the 350 feet of sand, and alluvial soil below Cal- 

 cuttta ; but it is probable that the rise was much more rapid prior to the reign of 

 M?eris, i. e. 3062 years ago, (900 -f- 2162J) than subsequent to that date— at even 

 2 feet to the century however, it would require 17,550 years ! 





