the present and former Levels of Egypt. ^8 



The hills A A, on No. 13 of Plate, are a continuation of the 

 range B, as may be seen in a map of this district, from which it 

 will also appear, that on leaving the Fayyum in a southerly di- 

 rection, or in going from the Nile westward, you gradually 

 ascend, till you arrive at the summit of an elevated plain, which 

 continues on a level, or with slight undulations, for a consider- 

 able distance, and forms the extensive table-land of this part of 

 Afripa. The Oasis and other valleys, are depressions in this lofty 

 plain ; and, when you descend to them, you find the level space 

 or plain of the Oasis similar to a portion of the Valley of Egypt, 

 surrounded by steep cliffs of limestone at some distance from 

 the cultivated land, which vary in height in the different Oa- 

 ses. Those of the southern Oases ai'e much higher, and con- 

 sequently their level is much lower than of the Oasis Parva, 

 as may be seen from the section No. 13. of Plate, taken nearly 

 north and south. 



From this it appears, that the water of the Oasis Parva d>'es 

 not come du"ectly from the Nile, and that we must look for 

 the origin of its springs from a more southerly point. The 

 mountains of the high plain are limestone, the low plain of the 

 Oases is sandstone on clay, and from this last the water rises, 

 and by this it is retained. The limestone mountains of the 

 Thebaul rest, in like manner, on clay ; and thus we may rea- 

 dily imagine, that the water is conveyed from some point to 

 the south, of greater elevation than the Oases, that its escape 

 to the surface takes place wherever the limestone superstratum 

 is removed, and that a continuation of the same bed of clay 

 conducts it northward to the Oasis Parva, occasional oppor- 

 tunities being affoi'ded it for rising, as at Farafireh and other 

 places on the way. 



Though I have represented the mountains as if the table- 

 land of their summit were perfectly level, in order to shew 

 the comparative depressions of the Oases, it is not to be 

 supposed that they are horizontal ; if it were so, those of 

 Jjower Egvpt would be more elevated than in the Thebaid, 

 which is far from being the case ; the mountains of Thebes 

 being 1200 feet above the Nile, which is a much greater ele- 

 vation than any in the latitude of Cairo or the Pyi'amids. '^^'''^ 



From what has now been said, it will be evident, that IBe 



