On the Arabian Frontier of Egypt. 39 



We may be sure that where those dykes begin, there the 

 danger to the valley would begin, if the dykes did not exist. 

 Since the great dyke of Tel el Jehud is the first artificial im- 

 pediment to the free course of the Nile, there the valley of 

 the Etham branch must be too low for a free passage of the 

 waters to be safe ; — which is as much as to say, there the 

 Etham branch parted from the Pelusiae. 



The Pelusiae channel, now represented by the canal of 

 Abou-Menedgy, flowed somewhat to the west of the Onion 

 mound, and then ran off northwards to Bubastis ; while the 

 Etiiaji branch bent off to the north-east, skirting the base of 

 the " Arabian Mountain." Here, then, Necho, in order to 

 drain the valley eff'ectually, must have cut off its course 

 through the valley of Belbeis, and confined the course of the 

 Nile exclusively to the Pelusiae arm. 



Theoi'y and fact agree to mark this point as the junction 

 of the Pelusiae and Etham branches. For it was a little to 

 the south of the great dyke of Tel el Jehud, and between it 

 and Abou-Zabel, that the water first broke through in 1800, 

 upon the astonished inhabitants of the valley. In some in- 

 teresting particulars of this irruption, that occur in Mr Devil- 

 liers' "Mem. sur les antiquites de Vlsthme^'' * we find : — " L'eau, 

 s'echappant est d' Abou-Zabel, s'est enfoncee fort avant dans 

 le desert, et est arrivee, — suivant une direction qii'on ne se 

 rappelait pas lid avoir vu prendre, aupres de El-Menayr. Le 

 village de Zaoumel a ete entierement tourne par les eaux du 

 canal Abou-Menedgy.'' (These two places indicated in the 

 section are near the mound " Scenae.") And in another part, 

 the same observer remarks, that the inhabitants of a village 

 near Abbasieh saw, equally to their consternation and sur- 

 prise, the water flowing in upon them both ways — from Bubas- 

 tis and from the south. 



Thus, the course of the southern half of the Etiiam branch 

 is as clearly manifested by the phenomena attendant on this 

 accidental irruption, as if it still flowed along its forsaken, 

 obliterated, and forgotten channel. 



* Descr. dc I'Kg. Ant. vol. v. 



