Bocks in the Nile Valley, in Nubia. 127 



sius is one peculiarly deserving the attention of the geologist ; for he 

 does not merely record the facts of the markings of the former high 

 level of the river, but ho infers from these marks, that since the 

 reign of Mocris, about 2200 years before our era, the entire bed 

 of the Nile, in Lower Nubia, must have been excavated to a depth 

 of about 27 feet ; and he further speculates as to the process by 

 which he believes the excavation to have been effected. 



It will be convenient, before entering upon the observations I have 

 to offer upon the cause assigned by Professor Lepsius for the former 

 higher levels of the Nile indicated by these marks, that I should 

 give the description of the discovery itself, by translating Dr Lep- 

 sius's own account of it, in letters which he addressed to his friends, 

 Professors Ehrenberg and Bbckh of Berlin, from the island of Philae, 

 in September 1844.* 



** You may probably remember, when travelling to Dongola on the 

 Lybian side of the Nile, and in passing through the district of Batn el 

 hag^r, that one of the most considerable of the cataracts of the country 

 occurs near Semne, a very old fortress, with a handsome temple, built of 

 sandstone, in a good state of preservation ; the track of the caravan 

 passing close to it, partly over the 4000-year-old artificial road. The 

 track on the eastern bank of the river is higher up, being carried through 

 the hills ; and you must turn off from it at this point in order to see the 

 cataract. This Nile-pass, the narrowest with which I am acquainted, 

 according to the measurement of Hr. Erbkam, is 380 metres (1247 En- 

 glish feet) broad ;•]• and both in itself, and on account of the monuments 

 existing there, is one of the most interesting localities in the country, and 

 we passed twelve days in its examination. 



*' The river is here confined between steep rocky cliffs on both sides, 

 whose summits are occupied by two fortresses of the most ancient and 

 most massive construction, distinguishable at once from the numerous 

 other forts, which, in the time of the Nubian power in this land of cliffs, 

 were erected on most of the larger islands, and on the hills commanding 

 the river. The cataract (or rapid) derives its name of Semne from that 

 of the higher of the two fortresses on the western bank ; that on the 

 opposite bank, as well as a poor village lying somewhat south of it, is 

 called Kumme. In both fortresses the highest and best position is occu- 

 pied by a temple, built of huge blocks of sandstone, of two kinds, which 

 must have been brought from a great distance through the rapids ; for 

 southward, no sandstone is found nearer than Gebel Abir, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Amara and the island of Sai (between 80 and 90 English 

 miles), and northward, there is none nearer than the great division of 

 the district at Wadi Haifa (30 miles distant.) 



" Both temples were built in the time of Tutmosis III., a king of the 



* Bericht iiber die zur Bekantmachung geeigoeten Verhandlungen der 

 Eonigl. Preuss. Akademie der WissenBhaften zu Berlin. Aus dem Jahre 

 1844. 



t The breadth of the river itself. See Letter to Hr. Bockh, p. 27. 



