June lo, 1897] 



NATURE 



1^3 



Sontiewhat acrimonious discussion (!f^n it which followed 

 in the papers have been forgotten. Briefly, the Egyptian 

 Government had been informed by its English advisers 

 that a better regulated and larger supply of water was 

 needed for agricultural purposes in that part of the 

 valley of the Nile which lies between Aswan and the 

 Mediterranean Sea, and steps were at once taken to 

 find out how that supply could be secured. Mr. Willcocks 

 was ordered to seek out a site where a huge dam could 

 be built for the purpose of holding back the water behind 

 it ; and after much thought and careful examination of 

 the various possible sites, he decided that the best place 

 was at Aswan, a few miles to the north of the beautiful 

 little island of Philas. The announcement of this de- 

 cision was received with astonishment and outcries, for 

 it needed no expert knowledge to see that the carrying 

 out of the scheme meant, practically, the destruction of 

 the monuments upon the island, and the submerging of 

 both it and the greater part of the buildings upon it for 

 a considerable number of weeks each year. When Mr. 

 Willcocks' scheme was put before the public in its 

 entirety, it was seen that he had indeed contemplated 

 this disastrous result with calmness, and that if his 

 superior officers accepted his report, one of the most 

 picturesque spots in Egypt would be turned into a huge 

 reservoir. Thereupon followed vigorous protests in 

 England and other civilised countries, and at length the 

 characteristic English compromise was proposed. As 

 was to be expected, the usual nonsense was talked and 

 written by the irresponsible person and faddist, and even 

 archieologists signed their names cheerfully at the foot 

 of columns of vehement protests filled with loose state- 

 ments and inaccuracies. There is no blinking the fact 

 that an attempt was being made to destroy a unique and 

 very lovely bit of scenery, but it must at the same time 

 be remembered that the actual needs of an agricultural 

 population of a country have to be considered, even at 

 the expense of the gratification of the aesthetic senti- 

 ments of visitors from other countries. Fortunately, 

 when the dispute was hottest, certain irrigation experts 

 discovered that all practical advantages necessary would 

 be secured to the Egyptian farmer if the height of the 

 water in the proposed reservoir was less than that sug- 

 gested by Mr. Willcocks, and Mr. Garstin was able to 

 modify the scheme in such a way as to reduce it by about 

 twenty-seven feet. So that if the reservoir is ever built, 

 Mr. Garstin promises us that "the greater portion of the 

 ruins on the island will remain permanently above the 

 submerged level." 



Having agreed to adopt a modified scheme for the 

 building of the dam and for the formation of the reser- 

 voir, it next became the duty of the Egyptian Govern- 

 ment to take steps to see that the monuments in situ 

 were not destroyed by the water in which their lower 

 courses must stand, and, as a result, it ordered that the 

 foundations of these structures should be examined and 

 reported upon. To carry out this important work 

 Captain H. G. Lyons was appointed, and the handsome 

 volume before us contains the results of his labours at 

 Philas during the last two or three years. Without going 

 into details, it must suffice here to say that he has carried 

 out his work conscientiously, and that every person who 

 has ever seen Phila; will accord him his heartiest thanks 

 NO. 1 44 I, VOL. 56] 



for the splendid series of photographs and plans of the 

 island which accompany his report. But however in- 

 teresting these may be, they are relatively of small 

 importance beside the facts concerning the foundations 

 of the buildings on the island which he now makes known 

 to the world, and we feel sure that the minds of many 

 will be much relieved thereby. It has long been known 

 that the architects of ancient Egypt gave their finest 

 buildings but shallow foundations; but that this was not 

 universally the case is proved by the Temple of I sis at 

 Philte, in which the foundations of the main buildings 

 descend to the bed rock, and many will be surprised to 

 learn that there is as great a depth of masonry below 

 the ground surface as there is height above it. 



"Even in the case of the great pylon," Mr. Garstin 

 says, " the depth of the foundation is some five metres ; 

 so that the masonry already descends below the level 

 permanently saturated by infiltration, and consequently 

 the conditions of equilibrium of the structure will be un- 

 changed, even should the water-level be very considerably 

 raised." 



Along with the examination of foundations, Captain 

 Lyons has effected a considerable fiumber of important 

 repairs, which have been unostentatiously carried out ; 

 and if the other measures which he recommends be 

 adopted, it seems probable that little or no danger to 

 the temples will exist, even should the water yearly rise 

 and fall around their bases. This is Mr. Garstin's view 

 of the matter, and, after all, he is the responsible person 

 ultimately. Briefly, if the reservoir be made, much of 

 the quay wall will have to be rebuilt, and the under- 

 ground spaces between the cross-walls, which support 

 the pavement of the west colonnade, and the crypts of 

 the great Temple of I sis wHl have to be filled up with 

 rough masonry. The picturesque remains of the Coptic 

 village, at Phila;, must, of course, disappear, because the 

 mud-brick walls will not withstand the action of the 

 water; but archieologists have long ceased to expect to 

 find there any Coptic antiquities of importance, and 

 consequently will not grieve overmuch. Satisfactory as 

 Captain Lyons' report is in all respects, we cannot help 

 feeling that Egyptologists will be disappointed at one 

 result— that is, his failure to find the remains of any 

 building older than the time of Nectanebus, the last 

 native king of Egypt, about B.C. 360. This is, of course, 

 not his fault, but one of the early investigators of 

 Egyptian antiquities, mentioned by Lepsius in his 

 " Letters from Egypt" (London, 1853, p. 525), expressly 

 states that the remains of much earlier buildings were 

 found built into the structures of the Ptolemaic period. 

 That the Egyptians, before the time of Nectanebus, 

 made no use of the island of Philae, it is impossible to 

 believe, especially as they built edifices upon the neigh- 

 bouring island of Biggeh. So far back as li.C. 3500 we 

 know that Egyptian officials passed that way on their 

 road south to bring back pygmies for the royal court 

 at Memphis, and all the gifts and tribute from the south 

 must have been carried into Egypt by that way. In 

 the time of the twelfth dynasty, about B.C. 2500, a body 

 of lightly-armed " runners " was attached to the garrison 

 at Aswan, whose duty it was to guard the cataract, and 

 it is hard to think that Phils did not form a base for 

 operations at this period. About one thousand years 



