(he present anil former Levels of E^ypt. 215 



ter annually brought down by the river has always, and ever 

 will be, the same ; the only difference being, that it now over- 

 flows a greater extent of land, east and west, than in former 

 times, and that the superficies of cultivable land in the broad 

 plains of Central Egypt and the Thebaid continues to in- 

 crease. 



In that part of Egypt lying to the south of the Delta, the 

 banks of the Nile are much more elevated than the land of the 

 interior at a distance from the rivei*, and they are seldom quite 

 covered with water even during the highest inundations. Lit- 

 tle, howevei', projects above the level of the stream, and, in 

 some places, the peasant is obliged to keep out the water by 

 temporary embankments. This may be accounted for partly 

 by the continued cultivation of the banks, which, being more 

 conveniently situated for artificial irrigation, have a constant 

 succession of crops ; for it is known that tillage has the effect 

 of raising land, from the accumulation of decayed vegetable 

 substances, the addition of dressing, and other causes ; and 

 the greater depression of the plain in the interior is probably, 

 in some degree, owing to the numerous channels in that direc- 

 tion, and to the effect of the currents which pass over it as the 

 water covers the land. It must, however, be confessed, that 

 these causes are not sufficient to account for the great differ- 

 ence existing between the height of the bank and the land near 

 the edge of the desert, which often varies as much as twelve 

 and fifteen feet, as may be seen from the respective heights of 

 the dykes at those two points. These elevated roads, the sole 

 mode of communication by land from one village to another 

 during the inundation, commence on a level with the bank of 

 the river, and, as they extend to the interior, rise to so great 

 a height above the fields, as to leave room for the construction 

 of arches for the passage of the water, though, generally 

 speaking, bridges are only built in those parts where ancient or 

 modern canals have lowered the levels sufiiciently to admit of 

 them. 



The general appearance of the dykes may be ilhistrated by 

 No. 1. of Plate II., in which A is the snrface of the Nile dur- 

 ing the inundation ; B the level of the low Nile ; V. the bank ; 

 DD the raised dyke ; E the beds of canals, over which bridges 



