CHAP. XI. ENCROACHMENT OF INUNDATION. Ill 



of statues, — a circumstance particularly fortunate 

 for my purpose, as they were found to be standing 

 in their original position. Their total height was 

 8 ft, 1 in. from the base of the pedestal to the top 

 of the shoulder, the part above that being broken 

 off; they projected 2 ft. 10 in. above the level of 

 the alluvial deposit, so that it had accumulated in 

 this part only 5 ft. 3 in. This satisfactorily settled 

 the question I had in view, and gave, in a distance 

 of 300ft., a difference of 1 ft. 7 in. to 1 ft. 9 in., being 

 an average of 20 in. in 300 ft., or a decreasing ratio 

 of 1 in. in 15 ft. for the talus of the sloping desert 

 plain, on which they were placed. 



According to this ratio, the basement of the 

 temple itself should stand very little below the 

 level of the alluvial deposit, which, indeed, agrees 

 with fact ; though, as may be supposed, the slope 

 of the desert is not quite so uniform as to accord 

 with the mathematical calculation of an uninter- 

 rupted hne. It suffices for our purpose to have 

 ascertained that this gradual slope does exist, and 

 that the colossi and the temple standing upon it 

 are buried in alluvial deposit in an inverse ratio as 

 they approach the edge of the desert ; and the only 

 inference necessarily is, that the alluvial soil now 

 reaches farther inland towards the desert than it 

 did when those monuments were erected. We do 

 not know how far the outermost colossi were, at 

 that time, beyond the line of the alluvial deposit ; 

 all we can conclude is, that they were above its 

 level, and that the dromos, or paved street, was also 

 above the highest water mark : but if it is out of our 



