828 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the present day. The proposed reopening of Lake Mceris in the 

 Fayoum district, for irrigating the Delta, has been fully explained 

 to the Academy by one of our members, Mr. F. Cope Whitehouse, 

 its enthusiastic advocate. 



The conditions of occurrence of water in the desert are per- 

 haps less familiar. Not only is water scarce, but when obtained 

 a large proportion of it is practically unpotable, being saturated 

 with saline matter to such an extent that the soil in the vicinity 

 is white with efflorescent salts of soda, magnesia, and lime. The 

 " bitter waters " of Marah are not exceptional. The longest jour- 

 ney that I made without meeting good drinking-water was on the 

 return from Tor to Suez, a distance of about one hundred and 

 fifty miles, occupying six and a half days. On this route we 

 passed a well in Wadi Gharundel where camels and Bedouins 

 slaked their thirst, and our water-barrel was replenished with 

 water for washing; but had we not been supplied with sweet 

 water from the Nile, brought down to Tor on a boat from Suez, 

 we should have fared badly in this respect. At the time of my 

 visit all wells were admittedly very low, and in some places en- 

 tirely dried up ; so I saw the region in its most arid aspect. 



Good water, flowing from springs and running short distances 

 say a quarter of a mile before sinking into the thirsty soil is 

 found in Wadi Feiran and in Wadi Tarfa. In the former place, 

 many date-palms and even barley-fields make a charming oasis ; 

 at the latter, palms, canes, and tamarisks line the babbling brook, 

 as it may truly be named, but the oasis is not extensive. North 

 of Tor, on the gulf, are flowing springs of warm and saline water, 

 not very palatable, but admirably adapted to the culture of date- 

 palms, of which there are many thousands. The best drinking- 

 water in the region that I have visited is on the flanks of Sinai. 

 There are four wells within the monastery walls, one without, and 

 others in the Leja Valley and vicinity. 



In Wadi Es-Sleh, the romantic gorge southwest from Sinai, I 

 discovered a cold and sweet sulphur spring, agreeable to the 

 palate. It issues in the center of the wadi, at a point two hours' 

 journey east of its mouth, and flows a short distance, depositing 

 characteristic bluish sulphur on its borders. It was this latter 

 that first attracted my attention. This spring is not mentioned in 

 Baedeker's guide-book, generally so accurate. 



The total absence of ponds and lakes is a marked feature in the 

 physical geography of the peninsula of Sinai. Rain does at times 

 fall in abundance, but it rushes precipitately down the wadis into 

 the seas which bound it on two sides. Yet there is evidence of 

 the existence of lakes at some earlier period. In Wadi Feiran, 

 banks of earth sixty to one hundred feet high rest on the mount- 

 ain-sides, especially in the angles of the valley, showing clearly 



