HERODOTUS AND EGYPTIAN GEOLOGY. 65 



HelwAn Sulphur Springs. 



The sending of the leprous persons to the sulphur sprmgs, 

 east bank of Nile, by Amenophis III, B.C. 1403 (last king- but 

 one of 18th dynasty) is a misrepresentation of some real 

 event, not a mere fable, as proved by recent discovery of the 

 springs at Hehvan. 



There is a small ancient column that is now walled in, and 

 may have dated from the establishment of the baths in the 

 days of old, with palms, tamarisks, and pepper trees growing 

 around. 



A considerable tract of ground here on the edge of the 

 desert is covered with beds of rushes, and its sand is damp 

 and spongy, with here and there a patch of saltpetre. These 

 facts point to the existence of other sulphur springs below 

 the surface, and by the limit of the waters we may form a 

 probable conjecture of their extent. 



Lower Egypt. 

 Helwan, Nine Hundred Miles up the Nile, p. 103. 

 " Here and there a patch of saltpetre." 



Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. 



Here and there strewn about are flints, quartz pebbles, 

 lumps of saltpetre. 



Nine Hundred Miles, p. 139. 

 Upper Egypt. 

 Karnak. The central area of the large c;ourt of the temple is 

 encrusted with a great deal of saltpetre, Avhich 

 crops up through the sand, 



p. 142. 

 Ditto. The holloAvs in the vlcuiity are filled with a thick 

 coating of saltpetre. 



Ditto, p. 143. 



The Sacred Lake may be about 200 yards in 

 extent, and derives its Avater from infiltration of 

 the Nile, strongly impregnated, however, with 

 nitre and saltpetre, owing to the character of 

 the surrounding soil, so that no fishes are found 

 there." 



The Chairman (Sir J. W. Dawson). — We shall be happy to hear 

 remarks, by any present, upon this paper. It raises a great many 

 curious and interesting points in Egyptian geology. 



