“Often,” says M. Jomard, “have I remained for whole hours, contemplating the origin and progress of the phenomenon of the formation of sands. I saw the waves break and deposit a small line, scarcely discernible, of very fine sand. Another wave came, burdened like the first, and this new line of sand pushed the first slightly on. This, once beyond the reach of the water, and exposed to the rays of a burning sun, was quickly dried, and became the prey of the wind, which immediately seized and carried it off into the air; the less light particles of gravel did not reach so far, but, subjected to the alternate motion, diminished more and more, and were converted by degrees into sand.” We may also say with Colonel Emy, that “All river bars are deposits, brought or arrested by the ground swell, and without it these deposits would be repelled into the main as far as the rivers extend their course. The Delta of the Nile, those of the Mississippi, of the Ganges, of the Scheld, of the Meuse, of the Rhine, and the Camargue of the Rhone, were originally bars formed by this same ground swell.” The tongues of sand which separate the lake of Thau from the gulf of the Lion, the tongue of earth upon which Alexandria is built, those which separate the lakes Bourlos and Menzaleh from the Mediterranean, are bars of sand formed by the ground swell. The sand bank which separates from the Red Sea the vast basin of the Bitter Lakes, was, without any doubt, a ford elevated by the ground swell, which, in tempestuous weather, ascends this sea with the current of the tides charged with sand. The ford, which answers at the present time at Suez, was certainly formed in this manner by the ground swell. We may say also, that the whole Isthmus of Suez was formed by the maritime deposits of the Mediterranean and of the Red Sea. We believe that, previous to historic times, the two Seas were in communication with each other, that the detritus of the chains of mountains situated to the right and left, carried down by rain, filled up the space which separates them, and that when that space was elevated to such a height that the ground swell could reach it, its action was applied in such a way that by the meeting of the swell of the two Seas, a bank was formed, which is no other than the bar of El Guisr. After the formation of this bank, the combined action of the ground swell, both on one side and the other, and the accretions from the neighbouring mountains continued until the Isthmus was dry. Then the soil thus constituted was covered by the downs, which advanced upon it from the direction of Pelusium, driven by the north winds, and from the direction of Suez, driven by the winds and currents from the south. In this state the Isthmus is at present, and the numerous soundings which we have asked for from His Highness the Viceroy, will prove whether our hypothesis is well founded or not.