ON THE CLIMATE OF EGYPT IN ANCIENT TIMES. 103 



found among the primitive dark-skinned colonies, who, besides the Sun, 

 that all revered, had each a distinctive totem of their own. At a later 

 period in man's history another race followed in the footsteps of Mena — 

 passed through Arabia and crossed the Eed Sea, and after lingering in 

 Egypt for some time ultimately concentrated their government on the 

 northern coast of Syria, and at Carthage. They were called Pouiiians — 

 Phounians — or as we have it now, Phoenicians. 



* Within my own memory there was a rendezvous of crocodiles at 

 Gebel-Abu-Fayda, about 200 miles to the south of Cairo. I saw a whole 

 family of them in 1867. They have since then been exterminated by 

 travellers. As crocodiles and hip]jopotami live in the same climate tne 

 disappearance of these animals from Low^er Egypt has not occurred fi'om 

 any change of climate, but from the presence of hostile man. The same 

 may be said wdth regard to the lion which used to be hunted by the 

 Pharaohs in the vicinity of the pyramids of Gizeh, ami by the Emperor 

 Hadrian near Alexandria. This animal has now retired to the Soudan and 

 equatorial regions (J.A.S.G.). 



^ The Greeks, who never acquired any intelligent knowledge of the 

 ancient Egyptian language, would often hear the natives call this lake 

 "meri,'' which simply means "the lake," and they evidently concluded 

 that it was the name of the Pharaoh who had created it, hence the 

 erroneous appellation — Lake Moeris — has been handed down through 

 Greek historians. 



" The ancient Egyptians were much more fond of arborumlture than 

 the modern Egyptians, The sculptures tell us that Eameses III (XXth 

 Dynasty, 1200 B.C.) "planted over the whole land of Egypt, trees and 

 shrubs, to give the inhabitants rest under their cool shade." 



' Lake Qorun is now about 35 miles long and 7 miles broad, and is on an 

 average 28 feet deep. It rises and falls with the Nile, although it is 

 always many feet below the Mediterranean. 



« A very interesting hieroglyphic inscription, discovered by Mr. Wilbour 

 on one of the rocks near Assouan, records a famine of seven years under 

 an early Pharaoh. Another seven years famine id recorded as having 

 commenced 1064 a.d. 



" M. de Lessejjs projected a scheme for letting the Mediterranean into 

 the Sahara dej^ression, by cutting a wide canal to the south of Tunis, com- 

 mencing in the Gulf of Gabes. 



'" Mr. Cope Whitehouse, an American engineer, has for years been very 

 enthusiastic over a new Moeris "nest" or depression (Wady Raian), 

 he thinks he has discovered in the Faioum district, which would act 

 admirably as a reservoir for the surplus water at high Nile, and be a 

 source of water supply at low Nile. 



1' M. de la Motte, a French physician, has been for years advocating 

 the restoration of the Silsilis cataract. 



1- The English engineers of the Egyptian Government have proposed to 

 construct a dam at tlje first cataract, but, let us hope to the south of the 

 Island of Philae, so as to save that island and other monuments of 

 antiquity from submergence. Should their plan be adopted, may 

 Providence preserve us from a second Noachian flood, in case the 

 ^'Daraweesh" get possession of the Assouan and Silsilis reservoirs even 

 for a few hours. In Ancient Babylonia the water of the Euphrates was 

 economised by means of a series of " barrages " that were almost harmless 

 even though they should fall into the hands of an enemy. 



Since the above was written, a commission of engineers composed of 



