140 Observations on Sculptured Marks on 



have power to tear up its bed for some distance above Semne and 

 below it, as far as the rapid of Wadi-Halfa, it is evident that the 

 materials brought down would be deposited, except the finest particles, 

 in that tranquil run of 96 miles, which may be almost compared 

 to a canal. The drains in Lincolnshire are inclined 5 inches to a 

 mile.* When the annual inundations commence, the water of the 

 Nile comes down the rapid at Assuan of a reddish colour, loaded 

 with sand and mud only ; whatever detrital matter of a larger and 

 heavier kind the Nile may have brought with it, is deposited before 

 it reaches that point. 



From all these considerations, therefore, I come to the conclusion, 

 that the bed of the Nile cannot have been excavated, as Professor 

 Lepsius supposes, since the date of the sculptured marks on the rock 

 at Semne. He says, " Es lasst sich kaum eine andere Ursache fiir 

 das bedentende Fallen des Nils denken, als ein Answaschen und 

 Aush(5len der Katahomhen.'''' By the word Katakomben he can only 

 mean natural caverns in the rock ; but such caverns are rarely, if 

 ever, met with in sandstones, and only occasionally in limestones. If 

 the course of the Nile were over limestone instead of sandstone, 

 we could not for a moment entertain the idea of a succession of 

 caverns for 200 miles beneath its bed, sometimes two miles in width, 

 the roofs of which were to fall in ; and where the igneous rocks pre- 

 vail, this explanation is wholly inapplicable. 



But besides the objections arising from the nature of the Vocks, 

 and the inconsiderable fall of the river, there is still another difficulty 

 to overcome. It is to be borne in mind, that this lowering of the 

 bed of the Nile, from Semne to Assuan, is supposed to have taken 

 place within the last 4000 years. Between the first cataract at 

 Assuan and the second at Wadi-Halfa, there are numerous remains 

 of temples on both banks of the Nile, some of very great antiquity. 

 *' From Wadi-Halfa to Philse," says Parthey, " there is a vast num- 

 ber of Egyptian monuments, almost all on the left bank of the river, 

 and so near the water that most of them are in immediate contact 

 with it."f We may rest assured that the builders of these would 

 place them out of the reach of the highest inundations then known. 

 Although we have many accurate descriptions of these monuments, 

 the heights of their foundations above the surface of the river 

 are not often given ; they are, however, mentioned in some in- 

 stances. I shall describe the situations of some of these buildings 

 relatively to the present state of the river's levels, and shall begin 

 with those on the island of Philse. 



This island, according to the measurements of General von Pro- 

 kesh, is 1200 Paris feet (1278 English) in length, and 420 (447) 

 in breadth, and is composed of granite. Lancrot informs us, that, 

 ** ^ Pepoque des hautes eaux, Pile de Philse est peu eleve audessus 



* Rennie, Report cited above, p. 422. t Parthey, 318. 



