il8 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI. 



the stream runs at the rate of two or three knots an 

 hour. But I return to the deserts of Egypt. 



In going to the western or Libyan desert, in the 

 direction of the Oasis Parva, one road passes by 

 the Fyoom ; which province is considerably lower 

 than the valley of the Nile, and the Lake Mceris 

 is about 100 or 120 feet below the level of the 

 banks at Benisooef. I have given a section across 

 that part of the country from the Nile to the moun- 

 tain range lying behind the Lake Moeris*; and 

 thence to the Oases : from which it is evident, that 

 on leaving the Fyoom in a southerly direction, 

 or in going from the Nile westward, you gradually 

 ascend till you arrive at the summit of an elevated 

 plain, which continues on a level, or with slight un- 

 dulations, for a considerable distance, and forms 

 the extensive table land of this ])art of Africa. The 

 Oases and other valleys are depressions in this lofty 

 plain ; and, on descending to them, you find the 

 level space or plain of the Oasis itself similar to a 

 portion of the Valley of Egypt, surrounded by steep 

 clifts of limestone, at some distance from the cul- 

 tivated land, which vary in height in the different 

 Oases. Those of the Southern Oases are much 

 higher, and consequently the level of those Oases 

 is much lower than of the Oasis Parva, as may be 

 seen from the last section, taken N. and S. t 



From this it appears that the water of the Oasis 

 Parva does not come directly from the Nile, and that 

 we must look for the origin of its springs at a more 



* Vide Plate 18. No. 12. f Vide No. 13. 



