On the Arabian Frontier of Egypt. 213 



his plans into successful execution, he must keep up the 

 level of the water in his canal to about the point it had at 

 Bubastis. He must both dam up the water, and stop up the 

 outlet into the low lands. 



The locks and dykes through which vessels had to pass 

 from the canal to the sea, answered the first purpose. For, 

 of course, the canal could not run into the sea, being still a 

 little the lower of the two ; — but its water ran against the 

 locks, as against a wall ; and being thus dammed up, it could 

 rise to the level it had at the canal's point of junction with 

 the Pelusiac arm, " a little above Bubastis, and near Pa- 

 tumos,'' — provided the outlet of the river through the low 

 level of the Crocodile lakes into the still lower marshy re- 

 gion to the north, were previously stopped up. Otherwise, 

 the water in the canal must have taken the slope of the 

 lands ; it could not even have risen to the point it reached 

 at Moukfar in 1800, but would have fallen short of that by 

 about 6 feet, owing to the additional height required by the 

 Nile and the land during a lapse of more than 20 centuries, 

 and also, to that year's inundation being an excessive one. 

 If, then, the highest water-line obtainable during the flood 

 season was still sixteen feet below the level of the sea, what 

 must the lotvest have been \ This must convince us that un- 

 less Dai'ius stopped out the river, the works historically 

 attributed to him by Herodotus will seem impossible. 



But although this is much, it is not all we want to justify 

 a conclusion. We must find historical and physical evi- 

 dence, — 1°, i\v<3ii such a stoppage has been effected; — and, 2°, 

 that this was done at a period referable to the reign of Darius. 



bited by the diagram li, Plate VI., sliewing the end of the Ethani river's 

 course, and the levels of the waters and bed of the river at Bubastis, lowered 

 to the times of Nccho and Ptolemy Philadclphus. It joins Section 2 at the 

 place of the scale. 



It will be seen that the bed of the river is brought down to a point coincid- 

 ing with the general level of the Wady Toomilat, by this calculation, which 

 thus would have led to what it now helps to confirm — the date of the Nile's ex- 

 clusion from that part of the valley, di-duced from indirect historical evidence. 



The lines marked N. in this diagram, shew the utmost heij^ht of tlio Nile at 

 Hubahtix in the time of Noclio and Darius. 



Thofc marked P. P. bliew its rife in the; time of I'tcilciny PliiliuUlpliu... 



