Hereof uncontroulably and under general consent many opinions are passant, which notwithstanding upon due examination, do admit of doubt or restriction. It is generally esteemed, and by most unto our days received, that the River of _Nilus_ hath seven ostiaries; that is, by seven Channels disburdeneth it self into the Sea. Wherein notwithstanding, beside that we find no concurrent determination of ages past, and a positive and undeniable refute of these present, the affirmative is mutable, and must not be received without all limitation. For some, from whom we receive the greatest illustrations of Antiquity, have made no mention hereof: So _Homer_ hath given no number of its Channels, nor so much as the name thereof in use with all Historians. _Eratosthenes_ in his description of _Egypt_ hath likewise passed them over. [SN: How Egypt first became firm land.] _Aristotle_ is so indistinct in their names and numbers, that in the first _of Meteors_ he plainly affirmeth the Region of _Egypt_ (which we esteem the ancientest Nation in the world) was a meer gained ground, and that by the setling of mud and limous matter brought down by the River _Nilus_, that which was at first a continued Sea, was raised at last into a firm and habitable Country. The like opinion he held of _Mæotis Palus_, that by the floods of _Tanais_ and earth brought down thereby, it grew observably shallower in his days, and would in process of time become a firm land. And though his conjecture be not as yet fulfilled, yet is the like observable in the River _Gihon_, a branch of _Euphrates_ and River of Paradise; which having in former Ages discharged it self into the _Persian_ Sea, doth at present fall short; being lost in the lakes of _Chaldea_, and hath left between the Sea, a large and considerable part of dry land.