Histories

Now in Arabian Peninsula [45,25] (region (general)), AsiaArabia, not far from Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt, there is a gulf extending inland from the sea called Red[*](The “sea called Red,” it will be remembered, is the sea south and east of Arabian Peninsula [45,25] (region (general)), AsiaArabia: the gulf entering in from it is our Red Sea. Suppose the Delta to have been once a gulf too, then there would have been two gulfs, both running up into Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt, their heads not far from each other.) , whose length and width are such as I shall show:

in length, from its inner end out to the wide sea, it is a forty days' voyage for a ship rowed by oars; and in breadth, it is half a day's voyage at the widest. Every day the tides ebb and flow in it.

I believe that where Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt is now, there was once another such gulf; this extended from the northern sea towards Aethiopia, and the other, the Arabian gulf of which I shall speak, extended from the south towards Syria [38,35] (nation), AsiaSyria; the ends of these gulfs penetrated into the country near each other, and but a little space of land separated them.

Now, if the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), AfricaNile inclined to direct its current into this Arabian gulf, why should the latter not be silted up by it inside of twenty thousand years? In fact, I expect that it would be silted up inside of ten thousand years. Is it to be doubted, then, that in the ages before my birth a gulf even much greater than this should have been silted up by a river so great and so busy?