196 PROr. E. HULL^ LL.D., F.R.S.^ ON THE PROPOSED SCHEME 



the various proposed sites, whicli are fully detailed in tlie 

 reports issued by the Egyptian Government ; but it should 

 be mentioned that before the site at Philee. was finally adopted 

 it was considered desirable to refer the subject to a commis- 

 sion of engineers of acknowledged eminence in matters of 

 this kind. Accordingly Sir Benjamin Baker, M. Auguste 

 Boule, and Sig. Giacomo ']''orricelli, representing three coun- 

 tries which have strong interests in Egypt, were, on the 

 recommendation of Sir Colin Scott-Moncrieff, appointed to 

 visit and report on the various sites recommended from time 

 to time. The Commissioners carried out their examination 

 during the winter of 1894, and on returning to Cairo drew 

 up their reports.* Unhappily the Commissioners were not 

 unanimous in their conclusions ; for while Sir B. Baker and 

 Sig. Torricelli concuiTed in recommending the site at Philee, 

 M. Boule was unable to take a similar view, and has drawn 

 up a separate statement containing his objections as regards 

 several particulars connected with thePhilse site. Great weight 

 is justly due to M.Boule's objections; but regarded from a prac- 

 tical standpoint, they seem capable of being fairly met ; and it 

 will be seen in the sequel that one of M.Boule's chief objections, 

 namely, the threatened submersion of the Temple of Philse 

 and other monuments, has been removed by the modified 

 project which now holds the field. 



The proposed site of the embankment at the First 

 Cataract is one which commends itself for several reasons. 

 Here the newer Tertiary and Cretaceous formations which 

 follow the course of the Nile up as far as Assouan give place 

 to granitic rocks of extreme geological antiquity, from which 

 the huge monoliths that adorn the cities of Ancient Egypt, 

 and now, to some extent, those of modern Europe, have been 

 hewn. At the Isle of Philte, the Nile enters this granitic 

 region, which extends down the stream to Assouan, a distance 

 of seven miles, and pursues its course along a channel 

 interrupted by numerous rocky islands. Here, indeed, seem 

 to be all the essentials for the construction of an embank- 

 ment of the largest dimensions ; namely, a granite found- 

 ation,! abundance of building stone capable of yielding 

 blocks of any required size, and a channel not very deep and 



* Reports of the Technical Commission on Reservoirs, with note by W. E. 

 Garstin (1894). 



t Very difterent from that of the barrage of Lower Egypt, which is 

 built on "fine river sand and alluvial miid." Sir C. Scott-MoncriefF, 

 Lecture II. 



