504 THE MOUTHS OF THE NILE. 



estimated that a volume of 61,500 cubic feet of water 

 per second is discharged by these channels into the 

 Mediterranean during the low water stage of the Nile. * 

 The Rosetta and Damietta branches separate at a small 

 place called Menasheh, about 12 miles by river from 

 Cairo, where gigantic weirs called the " Barrage " have 

 been constructed for irrigation purposes at an immense 

 cost. This point of separation forms the apex of the 

 delta, and here the river in ancient times used to 

 divide into three branches, but partly by natural changes 

 in the river channels, and partly by artificial engineering 

 works, the third or Sebennytic branch, which flowed 

 between the other two, has now been closed as one 

 of the regular mouths of the Nile. The delta of the 

 Nile, like all alluvial formations, is almost wholly a 

 dead flat country, and contains what is probably some 

 of the richest soil in the world; which is generally 

 almost black in colour. When dry, the earth resem- 

 bles a species of very hard clay, or pottery, and when 

 wet, it is of a soft adhesive nature, not unlike a piece 

 of black cheese. Magnificent crops of cereals, pulses, 

 and other productions, are raised by the Fellahin on 

 these lands, by whom as many as three crops are 

 sometimes raised on the same ground, in the course 

 of a single year, where water for irrigation is con- 

 stantly available. The black nature of the soil caused 

 the land of Egypt to be known among the ancients 

 as "Kamit," or the land of "Kam" the "Ham" of 

 the Bible signifying " The Black Land. " f Among 

 the Arabs the black earth, which extends a long distance 

 up the Nile valley, is spoken of as " El Beled" liter- 



* Encyclop. Brit., gth Edition, Vol. xvii., p. 504 (Art. "The Nile")., 

 f Murray's Handbook for Egypt, 1891, Part i, p. 13. 



