TRIPOLY TO BENGAZI. 
271 
shores. Herodotus, although he has minutely described the people 
who inhabited the coasts of the Syrtes, has left no account of the 
Gulfs ; but w e learn from Strabo, that the dangers which pre- 
sented themselves to navigators, in the Gulfs both of the Greater 
and Lesser Syrtis, were occasioned by the frequent occurrence of banks 
and shallows, formed by the flux and reflux of the sea, on which vessels 
were continually striking, and it rarely happened that any of them 
were got off*. “ For this reason,” he adds, “ it was usual to keep 
away from the coast, in order to avoid being embayed 
What we must here understand by the flux and reflux of the sea, 
is not (we should imagine) the usual action of the tides, which is 
very trifling in the Mediterranean, compared with that which is 
observable in other seas ; but the inset occasioned by violent winds 
blowing for any long continuance on shore, and the subsequent reac- 
tion of the sea in regaining its original level. 
As northerly winds are very prevalent, and very strong on this 
coast, which fronts the widest part of the Mediterranean, they 
might no doubt occasion the accumulation of soil alluded to in this 
passage of Strabo ; and we certainly find that a great part of the 
coast is so exceedingly shallow as to make the landing very hazard- 
ous and difficult. It is probable, also, that this accumulation of 
* 'H Ss xai rctvrris rns Jtai rris on 'TtoWctKov T£va7wS»iy es^'v 
T )tstra tas ai/.’jturns xau ra,s TrXn/A/xygiJas'j avu^Qouvsi Tistv e^wj'S'teiv Eiy xai 
xocSt^siv' cTTaviov S'eivou to su^o^evqv axa(pof, Aiotte^ 7ro^§a)dsv tov Traga'zrXoyv Ttoiovvrca, (pv'ka.r- 
ToptEVOi f/.'n efjo’KsmiEv sir rovs xoXttovs vii aveijouv a(pv'kaxrot XriipdEvres. (Lib. 17. § 20.) 
The word axtz(pos here used, though it means literally boat, appeal’s to be applied in 
this passage to vessels in general. 
