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The greater portion of the country above described seemed to me to be,
as the priests declared, a tract gained by the inhabitants. For the
whole region above Memphis, lying between the two ranges of hills that
have been spoken of, appeared evidently to have formed at one time a
gulf of the sea. It resembles (to compare small things with great)
the parts about Ilium and Teuthrania, Ephesus, and the plain of the
Maeander. In all these regions the land has been formed by rivers,
whereof the greatest is not to compare for size with any one of the five
mouths of the Nile. I could mention other rivers also, far inferior
to the Nile in magnitude, that have effected very great changes.
Among these not the least is the Achelous, which, after passing
through Acarnania, empties itself into the sea opposite the islands
called Echinades, and has already joined one-half of them to the continent.
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