It Is Not Long Since Several Of The Islands Of
Banda In The East Were Drowned By The Sea Overflowing Them; And In China,
About 180 Miles Of Firm Land Are Said To Have Become A Lake.
All these
things are to be considered as coming within the limits of probability,
especially when we take into account what has been related of similar
events by Ptolemy and others, but which I here omit to return to my
subject.
About 800 years after the deluge, the city of Troy was built by the
Dardanians; and even before that time, spices, drugs, and many other
kinds of merchandize, which were then more abundant than now, were
brought from India to Europe, by the Red Sea. Hence, if credit can be
given to these accounts, we may conclude, that the sea of old was much
frequented, those of the east bringing their commodities to the haven of
Arsinoe in the Arabian Gulf, now called Suez[14], in lat. 30 deg. N. and at
the northern extremity of the Arabian Gulf; from whence the goods were
carried by caravans, upon camels, asses, and mules, to Cassou, a city on
the coast of the Levant sea, in lat. 32 deg. N. Allowing seventeen leagues
and a half to every degree of latitude, these two cities are said to have
been 35 leagues, or 105[15] miles distant from each other. On account of
the heat, these caravans, or great companies of carriers, travelled only
in the night, directing themselves by the stars, and by land-marks fixed
in the ground for that purpose.
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