[A] See Mem. de l'Acad. Sciences, 1734.

In the third part of a book entitled, "Connoisance de l'Ancien Monde, or the Knowledge of the Old World," printed in 1707, we meet with the like sentiment; and it is there said, from Diodorus Siculus, that it was Neco, King of Egypt, who began this canal, that Darius, King of Persia, continued it, and that it was finished by Ptolemy II. who conducted it as far as the city Arsinoe, and that it could be opened and shut when they found it needful. Without desiring to deny these circumstances, I must own, that to me they appear doubtful. I do not know whether the violence and height of the tide in the Red Sea, would not be necessarily communicated to this canal; it appears to me, at least, that it would have required great precautions to confine the waters, to avoid inundations and to preserve this canal in good repair. Though historians assert that this canal was undertaken and finished, yet they do not tell us the length of its duration; and the remains which are pretended to be even now perceptible, are perhaps all that was ever done of it. The name of the Red Sea has been given to this arm of the ocean, because it has the appearance of that colour in every part where corals, or madrepores, are met with at the bottom. In the Histoire General des Voyages, vol. i. pages 198 and 199, it is said, "Before he quitted the Red Sea, D. Jean examined what might have been the reason why that name was given to it by the ancients, and if, in fact, this sea differed from others in its colour. He knew that Pliny had given several opinions on the origin of this name. Some derived it from a King named Erythros, who reigned in those parts, and which, in the Greek language, signifies red. Others imagined that the reflection of the sun produces a reddish colour on the surface of the water, and others that the water was naturally red. The Portuguese, who had made several voyages to the entrance of the straits, asserted that all the coasts of Arabia were very red, and that the sand and dust which the wind carries into the sea, tinged the water of the same colour.

"D. Jean, who examined the nature of the water, and the qualities of the coasts as far as Suez, asserts, that far from being naturally red, the water is of the same colour as in other seas, and that the sand and the dust having nothing red in themselves could not give this tinge to the water. The earth of both countries, he says, is generally brown; it is even black in some places, and in others white. On the coasts of Suaquem, where the Portuguese had not penetrated, he saw three mountains streaked with red, but they were of a very hard rock, and the neighbouring country was of the common colour.

"The truth is, that this sea is throughout of an uniform colour, which is easy to be demonstrated; but it must also be owned, that in some parts it appears to be red through chance, and in others green and white; the explanation of which phenomena is as follows: From Suaquem to Kossir, that is, for the space of 136 leagues, the sea is filled with shoals and rocks of coral; this name is given to them, by reason that their form and colour render them so extremely like coral, that it requires great circumspection not to be deceived. There are two sorts of them, the one white and the other red; in many parts they are covered with a kind of gum, or glue, of a green, and in others with a deep orange. Now the water of this sea is so transparent that the bottom may be seen at 20 fathoms deep, especially from Suaquem to the extremity of the gulph; it appears, therefore, to take the colour of the matters it covers; as for example, when the rocks are covered with a green gum, the water above appears of a deeper green than the rocks themselves; and when the bottom is only sand, the water appears white: so likewise when the rocks are coral, the water seems to be tinged with red; and as these last coloured rocks are more frequently met with there than any other, D. Jean concludes, that the name of the Red Sea was affixed to the Arabian Gulph in preference to the Green or White. He applauds himself on this discovery, because the method by which he ascertained it left him no room for doubt. He caused a float to be moored against the rocks in the parts which were not deep enough to permit vessels to approach them, and the sailors could often execute his orders with facility, without the sea being higher than the stomach at more than half a league from the rocks. The greatest part of the stones and pebbles they drew up, in those parts where the water appeared red, was also of that colour: in the water which appeared green, the stones were green, and if the water appeared white, the bottom was white sand, without any other mixture."

The direction of the coast of the Red Sea, from Cape Gordafu to the Cape of Good Hope, is pretty equal; in the course of which there are no bays, excepting an arm on the coast of Melinda, that might be supposed as belonging to a large one provided the island of Madagascar joined the continent, which most probably was formerly the case, notwithstanding it is now divided by the straits of Mosambique. The coast bears the same direction from the Cape of Good Hope to Cape Negro on the west side of Africa; it has the appearance of being a chain of high mountains, extends about 500 leagues, but contains scarcely any rivers of importance. Beyond Cape Negro however the land is much lower, and is supplied by several considerable rivers beside the Coanza and the Zaire; and between that and Cape Gonsalvez, which is computed to be about 420 leagues, there are the mouths of no less than twenty-four large rivers; from this last Cape to Cape Trois-pointes it is an open bay, in about the centre of which is a considerable projection called Cape Formosa. On the southern side are the islands Fernanda, St. Thomas, and the Prince's Island, and which there is reason to suspect are part of a chain of mountains from Rio del Rey to the river Jamoer. The water turns somewhat into the land between Cape Trois-pointes to Cape Palmas, from the latter of which it is an open sea to Cape Tangrin; beyond this Cape there is a small bay towards Sierra Leona, and another in which are the islands of Bisagas. We then come to a considerable projection into the ocean called Cape Verd; of which the islands of that name are supposed to be a continuation, although it is more probable they are so of Cape Blanc, which is both higher and extends farther into the sea. From Cape Blanc to Cape Bajador is a mountainous and hard coast to which the Canary Islands seem to belong.

Turning from Africa we find an open bay extending to Portugal, and in about the centre of which are the straits of Gibraltar, through which the water runs with great rapidity into the Mediterranean, which flows almost 900 leagues into the interior part of land, and is the cause of many curious circumstances; 1st, it has no tides, at least that are visible, excepting in the Gulph of Venice and what are almost imperceptible at Marseilles and at Tripoli; 2dly, it surrounds a number of extensive islands, for instance, Sardinia, Sicily, Corsica, Cyprus, Majorca, and Italy, which is the largest known. It has also a fertile Archipelago; indeed it is from the Mediterranean Archipelago, that all collections of islands have been so denominated; this indeed has the appearance of belonging more to the Black Sea than the Mediterranean; nor is it in the least unlikely that Greece was at one time covered with the waters of the Black Sea, which empties itself into the Marmora, and from thence finds its way into the Mediterranean.

Some have asserted there was a double current in the Straits of Gibraltar, the one superior, which carries the water of the ocean into the Mediterranean, and the other inferior, which carries them in the contrary direction; but this opinion is evidently false, and contrary to the laws of hydrostatics: it has likewise been asserted to be the case in many other places, as in the Bosphorus, the strait of Sund, &c. and Marsilli relates even experiments made in the Bosphorus, to prove the truth of these opposite currents; but the experiments must have been badly made, since the matter is totally repugnant to the nature and motions of the waters; besides Greaves in his Pyramidography, page 101 and 102, proves, by able experiments, that there is no such thing as a current in the Bosphorus, whose direction is opposite to the superior: what may have deceived Marsilli and others, is possibly the circumstance, that in the Bosphorus, the Straits of Gibraltar, and in all rivers which flow with rapidity, there is a considerable eddy along the shores, the direction of which is generally contrary to the principal current of the waters.

Let us now shortly trace all the coasts of the new continent. Cape Hold-with-Hope, lying in the 73d degree north latitude, is the most northern land we are acquainted with in New Greenland, and is not above 160 or 180 leagues distant from Cape North in Lapland. From this cape we may follow the coast of Greenland as far as the polar circle, where the ocean forms a broad strait between Iceland and Greenland. It is pretended that this country, adjacent to Iceland, is not the ancient Greenland which the Danes formerly possessed as a province dependant on their kingdom; for in that there were civilized Christians, who had bishops, churches, and several towns wherein they carried on their commerce. The Danes also visited it frequently, and as easily as the Spaniards can go to the Canaries: there still exists, as it is asserted, laws and ordinances for the government of this province, and those not very ancient: nevertheless, without attempting to divine how this country became absolutely lost, it is certain not the least trace of what we have related is to be met with in New Greenland. The people are wild and savage; there is no vestiges of any edifice; nor have they a word in their language which has an affinity with the Danish; in short, there is nothing which might give us room to judge that this is the same country. It is even almost a desert, and surrounded with ice for the greatest part of the year. But as these lands are of a vast extent, and as the coasts have been but little frequented by modern navigators, they may have missed the spot where the descendants of these polished people inhabit; or the ice having become more abundant in this sea, may prevent any approach to the shore near them: nevertheless, if we can rely on maps, this whole country has been coasted, and according to them it forms nearly a peninsula, and at the extremity of which are the two straits of Forbishers and of Friesland, where it is extremely cold, although they are not higher than the Orkneys, that is, at 60 degrees.

Between the west coast of Greenland and that of Labrador, the ocean forms a gulph, and afterwards a large mediterranean, which is the coldest of all seas, and the coasts of which are pot perfectly known. By following this tract due north, we come to Davis's Strait, which leads to the Christian Sea, and is terminated by Baffin's Bay, which has the appearance of forming a kind of road into Hudson's Bay. Cumberland Strait, which as well as Davis's may lead to the Christian Sea, is narrower and more liable to be frozen: that of Hudson, though much more to the south, is also frozen during one part of the year. A very strong motion of the tide has been remarked in these straits, which is quite contrary to what is the case in the inland seas of Europe, as neither the Baltic nor Mediterranean have any; this difference seems to arise from the sea's motion, which always moving from east to west, occasions high, tides in the Straits, whose openings are turned towards the east; whereas in those of Europe, which open to the west, there is no motion; the ocean by its general motion enters into the first, and avoids the last; and this is the reason that there are such violent tides in the seas of China, Corea, and Kamtschatka.

Proceeding from Hudson's Strait towards Labrador, we come to a narrow opening, in which Davis, in 1586, sailed as far up as 30 leagues, and trafficked with the inhabitants, but no one has since attempted a discovery of this arm of the sea, and we are only acquainted with the country of the Esquimaux of all the adjacent land. The fort Pon Chartrin is the only and the most northern habitation of this country, which is separated from the island of Newfoundland by the little strait of Belleisle, which is not much frequented. As the eastern coast of Newfoundland is in the same direction as the coast of Labrador, we must regard the latter as a part of the continent, the same as Isle-royal appears to have been a part of Arcadia. There is no very considerable depth either on the great or other banks, where they fish for the cod; but as they slant for a distance under water, very violent currents are produced. Between Cape Breton and Newfoundland is a very broad Strait, by which we enter a small mediterranean, called the Gulph of St. Lawrence. This sea has an arm which extends far into the country, and seems to be only the mouth of the river St. Lawrence. The motion of the tides is extremely plain in this arm of the sea, and even at Quebec, which projects more into the country, the waters rise several feet. On quitting the Gulph of Canada, and following the coast of Arcadia, we meet with a small gulph called Boston-Bay, which forms a small square inlet into the land. But before we trace this coast farther, it is just to remark, that from Newfoundland to the most projecting Antille island, even to Guiana, the ocean forms a very great bay, which reaches as far as Florida, at least 500 leagues. This bay of the new continent is similar to that of the old, of which we have taken notice, where the ocean, after having made a gulph between Kamtschatka and New Britain, afterwards forms a vast mediterranean, which comprehends the seas of Kamtschatka, Corea, China, &c. so that in the new continent the ocean, after having formed a great gulph between Newfoundland and Guiana, forms a very large mediterranean, extending from the Antilles to Mexico, which confirms our observations on the motion of the sea from east to west, for it appears that the ocean has equally gained on the eastern coasts of America and Asia. These great gulphs in the two continents are under the same degrees of latitude, and nearly of the same extent.