It will be seen that the principal danger of the Syrtes, according to the passage above quoted from Strabo, consisted in the difficulty of what is termed by seamen working off a lee-shore, for which the vessels of the ancients were very ill adapted; and we can readily believe, from what we have seen of the coast, that (under the influence of the heavy surf which rolls over the shallows when the wind blows strongly on shore) few vessels which chanced to strike could escape. The inset into the gulf, at the same time, being great, (when the north and east winds blow strongly against the coast,) it must have been extremely difficult for vessels of this description to avoid being drawn into its vortex; and indeed we may observe that few ships will, at the present day, sail from Bengazi, westward, when the wind is blowing strongly into the gulf, on account of this consequent indraught[24]. “The improved state of navigation” (Major Rennell very justly observes) “has, however, stripped the Syrtes of the greatest part of their terrors;” and it is probable that the report of them which we shall have from Captain Smyth will in consequence prove to be much less formidable than the accounts which have descended to us from the ancients. It appears, from Mela, that the Syrtes were not only considered to be dangerous on account of the frequent occurrence of shoals, but more so in consequence of the flux and reflux of the sea which we have already mentioned above[25]. This rise and fall (as we have stated) can scarcely have been the customary motion of the tides; but it may reasonably be supposed that the reaction of such a body of water as must (under the influence of violent and continued winds) have been driven over the low lands of the Greater Syrtis, was occasionally very considerable. This may have been the reflux (we imagine) alluded to; while the inset into the Gulf, caused by strong winds blowing into it, may have been the rise which is mentioned as the flux. Of the indraught in question there can be no doubt; indeed, we may remark that a rise of this nature is more or less observable in gulfs in general; and when we consider that an unbroken sweep of level ground, very slightly raised above the surface of the sea, will be found extending itself on the western coast of the Greater Syrtis for the space of a hundred miles in length, and occasionally as much as fifteen in breadth, we may easily allow that the reflux of the water, driven over a tract of such dimensions, may well be considered as formidable. It appears to be from the effect of the flux and reflux alluded to, that the names by which the Gulfs of Syrtis are distinguished have been derived; that is, if we may suppose them to be of Greek origin, as Sallust and others have asserted[26].