CHAPTER II. 



THE GEOLOGY OF EGYPT. 



I FEEL that some apology is due to the reader for the 

 followmg chapter, in which I shall digress from the general 

 pm-pose of this work to give a sketch of the geology of the 

 country ; for after having spent several months upon the 

 great mudbank of Egypt, the Delta of the Nile, one may 

 feel curious as to its formation and the aspect the country 

 would have presented had the Nile been a clear and sparkling 

 stream without an annual overflow. In that case how dif- 

 ferent would have been the scene ! Egypt is a creation of 

 the Nile; and not only does its trade depend in a great 

 measure upon the river, but every cultivated spot owes its 

 existence to the alluvium brought down by those fertilizing 

 waters. Without this sediment in the Nile there would be 

 an uninhabitable sandy desert where a fruitful country, teem- 

 ing with trade and civilization, has now existed for thousands 

 of years ; for Egypt, as we see it, is nothing but a thin sheet 

 of alluvium, spread by the Nile over an arid tract in the 

 course of countless ages. This alluvial soil varies greatly in 

 thickness in different parts of the valley ; but its general ap- 

 pearance and chemical properties are much the same every- 

 where. The larger portion of this soil is derived from the 

 great Nile-tributaries, more especially from Abyssinia, which 

 is drained by the Atbara and Blue Nile, which join the main 



