CALCAREOUS MANURES-APPENDIX 283 



must be largely composed of carbonate of lime. But that is not all, 

 Malte-Brun says— "The analysis of the mud of the Nile gives nearly one 

 half of argillaceous earth, nhnut one fourth of carbonate of lime, the remain- 

 der consisting of water, oxide of iron, and carbonate of magnesia." (Univer- 

 sal Geography, book I. v.) This is the deposite of the overflowings of the boun- 

 teous Nile, and which annually manures and preserves in the highest state 

 of fertility, all the sands to which it is conveyed by the inundations. The 

 same high authority furnishes some additional te'stimony, confirmatory of 

 Denon's, as to the calcareous composition of soils of or near the deserts, 

 or of rocks which by their disintegration must help to form the neighboring 

 soil. « The mountains on the west side of the Nile seem to consist of lime- 

 stone containinsr many shells. In those on the east side, serpentine and 

 granite seem toVorm the highest ridges." "The valley leading to Cosseir 

 [on the Red Sea] is covered with a sand partly calcareous, partly quartz- 

 ose. The mountains are of limestone and sandstone." Un. Geog. book Ix. 

 " At the distance of eight miles from Cosseir the mountains suddenly change 

 their character; a great part of them are limestone, or alabaster in strata. 

 Here are found the^debris of the ostrea diluviana:''— ''Towards the valley 

 of Suez, the mountains are calcareous, and in several places composed of 

 concreted shells." (76. book Lv.) 



The same author speaks thus of the country and desert of Barca, which 

 is south of a part of Barbary, and north of the Zahara or great African 

 desert. " Some call Barca a dese7-t, and the interior certainly merits that 

 name." — « The coast of Barca, once famed for its three-fold crops [as stated 

 by Herodotus and Strabo] is now very ill cultivated ; the wandering tribes 

 of the desert allow no rest to the inhabitants, or security to their labors."— 

 "^ sandy plain at the bottom of the mountains [a part of the desert from 

 Siwah to Andelah] presents on its surface an immense calcareous bank, 

 which contains no traces of petrifaction, while the adjacent mountains are 

 full of the remains of marine animals and shells. These are also met with 

 here in large isolated heaps." (76. book Ixv.) 



Fezzan is surrounded by the desert, and seems to partake of the character 

 of the desert in all respects, except in the close neighborhood of abundant 

 water under-ground, and of its consequence, the exuberant fertility for 

 which this country is celebrated. Malte-Brun says of Fezzan, "In the 

 whole country there is no river or stream worthy of notice. The soil is a 

 deep sand covering rocks, and sometimes a calcareous or argillaceous earth. 

 There are numerous springs, which supply water for the purposes of agri- 

 culture. The whole of Fezzan, indeed, abounds in water at a moderate 

 depth underground, derived, no doubt, from the" rains which fall on hills 

 more or less distant, perhaps on the confines of the desert, and though ab- 

 sorbed by the sand, find their level among the loose strata, across a broad 

 extent of desert, till they becomiC accessible in Fezzan, and impart to the 

 country its characteristic fertility." {lb. book Ixv.) Though the author (or 

 his translator) has used the word " springs," it is evident from the context 

 that the sources of water are not what we here understand by springs, but 

 are wells, requiring to be dug to reach the water to be thence drawn, 

 and not furnishing flowing streams. 



But even if there were no direct or positive evidence of these sands be- 

 ing calcareous, enough of indirect evidence would be presented in the well 

 known fact that exuberant productiveness is induced wherever watering 

 is applied. And wherever such results are stated by travellers to be pro- 

 duced on barren sands and in deserts, in any part of the world, it may be 

 safely assumed that calcareous earth must form a sufficient, if not a 

 superabundant portion of the soil. Unfortunately, no travellers through 



