DELTA OF THE RHONE. 



161 



Dauphiny, and the primary and volcanic mountains 

 of Central France. 



Some of the proofs of the rapid advance of the 

 land at the mouth of this river are the following : 

 Strabo's description of the delta is so inapplicable 

 to its present configuration as to attest a complete 

 alteration in the physical features of the country 

 since the Augustan age. 



A portion of land, called Mese, and described by 

 Pomponius Mela as being nearly an island, is now- 

 far inland. Notre Dame des Ports was a harbour 

 in 898, but is now a league from the shore. Psal- 

 modi was an island in 815, but is now a league from 

 the sea. Several old lines of towers and seamarks 

 occur at different distances from the present coast, 

 all indicating the successive retreat of the sea, for 

 each line has in its turn become useless to mari- 

 ners ; and so rapid is this retreat in some places, 

 that the tower of Tignaux, erected on the shore as 

 late as the year 1737, is now a French mile remote 

 from it. The sea opposite the mouth of the Rhone 

 deepens gradually from four to forty fathoms with- 

 in a distance of six or seven miles, over which the 

 discoloured water extends.* 



It has been satisfactorily ascertained, that a great 

 proportion, at least, of the earthy deposite at the 

 mouth of the Rhone becomes changed into solid 

 rock. 



In the museum of Montpellier is a cannon taken 

 up from the sea near the mouth of the river, imbed- 

 ded in a crystalline calcareous rock. Large mass- 

 es, also, are continually taken up of an arenaceous 

 rock, cemented by calcareous matter, including 

 multitudes of broken shells of recent species. Mr. 

 Lyeli states, " That the observations lately made 

 on this subject corroborate the former statement of 

 Marsilli, that the earthy deposites of the coast of 

 Languedoc form a stony substance, for which rea* 

 * Lyell, from Bouche, Chorographie, &c. 



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