Quicksands (Hastings' Dictionary)

The Syrtes, Major and Minor, are situated on the N. coast of Africa, in the wide bay between the headlands of Tunis and Barca. They consist of -sandbanks occupying the shores of the Gulfs of Sidra on tlie coast of Tripoli, and that of Gabes on the coast of Tunis or Carthage. They have been considered a source of danger to mariners from very early times, not only from the shifting of the sands themselves, but owin" to the cross currents of tlie adjoining waters. Thus in the .^neid of Virgil (iv. 40 f.) we find them referred to— • Hinc GwtOlsa urbes, ^enua insuperabile bello : Et Numidtt infnfini ciugunt, et inhospitA SyrtiB.' In the last voyage of St. Paul on his way to Italy the ship in which he and his companions were sailing was at the mercy of the tempest, and was drifting before the N.E. wind EURAQUILO, after leaving the shelter of the island of Cauda. Tliere was every reason, therefore, to fear that they might be driven on the Syrtis, which was situated to the leeward of their course; but owing (it may QUINTUS MEMillUS QUIVER 183 be supposed) to the rotatory movement of the wind they were driven into the sea of Adria (Ac 27").* E. Hull.