Other
proofs that the land gains there on the sea, are, that the towns of
St. Giles and Notre Dame d'Asposts, formerly seaports, are no far from
the sea, and that Aiguesmortes, where are still to be seen the iron
rings to which vessels were formerly moored, and where St. Louis
embarked for Palestine, has now in its vicinities only ponds, which
cannot be navigated, and communicates with the sea by an inlet, called
_Grau du Roy_, through which only fishing-barks can pass. It is pretty
well established, that all the Delta of Egypt has been formed by
the depositions of the Nile, and the alluvions of the sea, and it is
probable that that operation is still going on. Has this peculiarity
of the Mediterranean any connection with the scantiness of its tides,
which, even at the equinoxes, are of two or three feet only? The
communication from the western end of the canal to the ocean, is by
the river Garonne. This is navigated by flat boats of eight hundred
quintals, when the water is well; but when it is scanty, these boats
carry only two hundred quintals, till they get to the mouth of the Tarn.
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