41-2 ALEXANDRIA TO COS. 
criAP. Straho\ at the Zephyrium Promontory, where 
Thonis formerly stood. But, if this be true, 
where are the vestiges of the channel in which 
the annual devotees performed their voyage 
from Alexandi'ia to Canopus-P It is evident this 
could not have been the Alexandrian Canal, if 
Aboukir stood on the site of Canopiis ; for this 
Canal has no connection with Aboukir. Was it 
then a Canal which, traversing the bed of the 
jie?u Lake, now called that of Aboukir, commu- 
nicated with the Alexandrian P All this is very 
uncertain. Neither the observations madeduring 
the time that our troops remained in Egypt, 
nor by the French who preceded them, have in 
any degree elucidated this very difficult part of 
the antient geography of Egypt. The country 
itself seems to have been subjected to the most 
mighty revolutions, from the convulsions of 
Nature. The present state of Nelsons Island, 
and of the antiquities found upon it, prove that 
a very considerable part of it has been swal- 
lowed by the waves. The Lake o£ Aboukir, now 
a very considerable inlet of the sea, is the 
result of an inundation which happened w^ithin 
the last thirty years. How is it possible, there- 
(l) See St7-abo, ubi supra. 
(ji) Sirabon. Geog. lib. xvii. p. 113G. 0,f(7«. 1 807. 
