Bocks in the Nile Valley^ in Nubia. 129 



marlc only, that of the 9th year of Amenemha, has been preserved in its 

 original place on one of the building stones, but somewhat below the 

 principal rapid. ^ 



" We have now to consider the relation which these— the most ancient 

 of all existing marks of the risings of the Nile - bear to the levels of the 

 river in our own time. We have here presented to us the remarkable 

 facts, that the highest of the records now legible ; viz., that of tlie 30th 

 year of the reign of Amenemha, according to exact measurements which 

 I made, is 817 metres (26 feet 8 inches) higher than the highest level 

 to which the Nile rises in years of the greatest floods ; and further, that 

 the lowest mark, which is on the east bank, and indicated the 15th 

 year of the same king, is still 4*14 metres (13 feet 6^ inches) ; and the 

 single mark on the west bank, indicating the 9th year, is 277 metres 

 (9 feet) above the same highest level. 



" The mean rise of the river, recorded by the marks on the east bank, 

 during the reign of Moeris, is 19-14: metres (62 feet 6 inches) above the 

 lowest level of the water in the present day, which, according to the 

 statements of the most experienced boatmen, does not change from year 

 to year, and therefore represents the actual level of the Nile, indepen- 

 dently of its increase by the falls of rain, in the mountains in which its 

 sources are situated. The mean rise above the lowest level, at the pre- 

 sent time, is 11*84 metres (38 feet 8 inches) ; and, therefore, in the time 

 of Moeris, or about 2200 years before Christ, the mean height of the 

 river, at the cataract or rapid of Semne, during the inundation, was 

 7*30 metres (23 feet 10 inches) above the mean level in the present 

 day." 



Such are the facts recorded by Dr Lepsius ; and then follow, in 

 the same letter, his views as to the cause of the remarkable lower- 

 ing of the level of the river. 



" There is certainly no reason for believing," he says, " that there has 

 been any diminution in the general volume of water coming from the 

 south. The great change in the level can, therefore, only be accounted 

 for by some changes in the land, and these must also have altered the 

 whole nature of the Nile Valley. There seems to be but one cause for 

 the very considerable lowering of the Nile ; namely, the washing out and 

 excavations of the catacombs [Answaschen und Ausholen der KataJcom- 

 hen) ; and this is quite possible from the nature of the rocks them- 

 selves, which, it is true, are of a quality that could not well be rent 

 asunder, and carried away by the mere force of the water, but might 

 be acted upon directly by the rising of the water-level, and the con- 

 sequent effects of the sun and air on the places left dry, causing cracks, 

 into which earth and sand would penetrate, which would then give rise 

 to still greater rents, until, at last, the rocks would of themselves fall 



* See Plate I. 

 VOL. XLIX. NO. XCVII. — ^JULY 1850. 



