With regard to the water afforded by the Syrtis, we find the Psylli inhabiting a tract of country inland of that possessed by the Nasamones, who occupied the south-eastern coast of the Gulf[17]; these people must therefore have been provided with water, though they were nearer to the sandy desert than the Nasamones; and if we are told that, in consequence of their supplies being dried up, they were compelled to emigrate, and perished in their journey to the southward, we must at the same time conclude that, previous to this accident, they had water enough to support them at home, though it might not have been very plentiful. On the whole, we may observe, without entering further into this subject, that the district of Barca, including all the country between Mesurata and Alexandria, neither is, nor ever was, so destitute and barren as it has been represented; that the part of it which constitutes the Cyrenaica is capable of the highest degree of cultivation, and that many parts of the Syrtis afford excellent pasturage, while some of it is not only adapted to cultivation, but does actually produce good crops of barley and dhurra. We may remark, at the same time, that the proportion of sand which is actually to be found in the Syrtis will by no means authorize us to call it a sandy region, and that the proportion of water which it actually possesses will not justify us in asserting that it is unprovided with that necessary. We may observe, too, that the number of serpents and venomous reptiles, so freely bestowed upon the Syrtis by Roman writers, and by others who flourished after the occupation of Northern Africa by Roman colonies, appears to be greatly exaggerated: that it possesses, in fact, no terrors peculiar to itself, at least, not that we are acquainted with; and no difficulties which may not be readily surmounted by those who are acquainted with the nature of the country, and will adopt the precautions which are necessary[18].
From the regions of the Greater Syrtis let us pass to the Gulf itself; and of this we may remark, that the accounts which have come down to us of its peculiarities do certainly appear to be much better founded than those which we possess of the country along its shores. Herodotus, although he has minutely described the people who inhabited the coasts of the Syrtes, has left no account of the Gulfs; but we learn from Strabo, that the dangers which presented 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[19].”
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 reaction 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 hazardous and difficult. It is probable, also, that this accumulation of soil has raised the level of the low lands in the Greater and Lesser Syrtes much above what it formerly was, and that both these regions were once covered with water to a greater depth than at present.
We have already observed that the sea appears to have made great advances on the whole line of coast of Northern Africa; and this fact seems to be proved from the circumstance of our finding the remains of ancient towns, along its shores, at present under water to a considerable extent. We may now pass in boats over the ruins of the northern part of Alexandria, (as many travellers of our time can testify); and remains of the city of Carthage, “for the space of three furlongs in length, and half a furlong, or more, in breadth,” are well known (on the authority of Shaw[20]) to be at the present day “entirely under water.” In the intermediate space, we may instance the maritime towns of the Cyrenaica, where the sea has made considerable advances; those parts of the Greater Syrtis which are not exposed to the accumulation of sand, and the town of modern Tripoly, the northern part of which (as we have already stated in the words of Leo Africanus) appears to have been in his time under water.
This rise in the level of the Mediterranean could scarcely fail to have occasioned an overflow in the low grounds of the Syrtie, to a much greater extent than formerly, if it had not been accompanied by, at least, a proportionate accumulation of soil: but it will rather appear that in these regions the land may be said to have advanced upon the sea; since we find their ancient ports now filled up with sand, their lakes to have taken the character of marshes, and their quicksands (if ever they had any) to have become solid and firm[21].
To these remarks we may add the observations of Major Rennell, on the actual and former state of the Lake Tritonis and the Lesser Syrtis, which we will give in the author’s own words.
“From the authorities which we shall presently adduce, we can suppose no other than that this Syrtis” (the Gulf of the Lesser Syrtis) “did once enter much deeper into the land; and that it even formed a junction with the Lake Lowdeah within it—the Tritonis Palus of the ancients. Otherwise we must not only reject the reports of Herodotus and Ptolemy, but that of Scylax also, the writer of a periplus, and who ought to have known the truth.” Again, after a learned and ingenious discussion—“In effect the ancients, as Dr. Shaw justly observes (p. 213), seem to have described this quarter from report, or uncertain information only[22]; and therefore we can hardly expect consistent, much more critical, descriptions. They appear, however, to have furnished us with very good grounds for believing that the Syrtis and Lake Tritonis communicated in former times; and that the communication continued even to the time of Ptolemy. We think it equally probable that the river Triton flowed into the lake, and that the island called by some Triton, by Herodotus, Phla, together with the temple of Minerva, (in which the Triton is said to have deposited Jason’s tripod) was situated near the mouth of it: moreover, that the island in question is now a part of the sandy plain in which the rivulet of Hammah, the supposed river of Triton, loses itself. For it appears to us that the difference between the present state of things, at this place, and the ancient description of the lake and Syrtis, may be reconciled, by merely adverting to the changes that have taken place on other sandy shores; and more particularly at the head of a gulf where the tide exerts its greatest power of casting up the sand to a higher point. That which has happened at the head of the Red Sea may be adduced in point; and, as the shore of the Syrtis is much flatter than the other, the operation has probably gone on with greater rapidity.”
Lucan (as Major Rennell has justly observed) “appears to believe that the bottom of the Syrtis” (that is, the Greater Syrtis) “was growing firmer, and the water shallower; and surmises that it may hereafter become dry and solid.” “What changes” (he continues), “in point of form and extent, they may have undergone, or if any, we know not: but it is certain they have hitherto preserved their original properties.”
We insert below the lines of Lucan alluded to, from Rowe’s translation[23].