1128 REPORT— 1885. 
A.D. 885 ; died, Cairo, A.D, 956) gives in chapter xxi. one of the yery numerous 
forms of the tales in which the principal engineering works of Middle Egypt are 
assigned to the patriarch Joseph. Joseph also seems to be the Souphis of the 
Greeks. 
It is a question for consideration whether the descriptions of Goshen 
and the region occupied outside of Goshen proper, and known as the land of 
Raamses, apply to this part of Middle Egypt. In a posthumous treatise of great 
critical value, Jablonski of Frankfort (1693-1767) asserted that in Egypt from 
all time men have been of the opinion that the Israelites dwelt in the present pro- 
vinees of Beni-Suef and el-Fayoum. Important finds of papyri, and the publication 
by the Dutch Academy of Sciences of a geographical papyrus of Meoeris (of 
late date, exhibited), its towns and canals, and the Labyrinth, have stimulated the 
imagination of the archeologist and the historian to a high pitch. The representa- 
tion of a stately array of cities with emblazoned arms, of fish, aquatic birds, and 
pasturages for cattle on the western shore, further serves to justify the peculiar 
admiration expressed for this region by Greek and Roman travellers, as well as by 
the Semitic historians. The Ionians, Sicilians, and Romans willingly conceded that 
its public works, in three categories, transcended in splendour and in usefulness the 
most stupendous efforts elsewhere extant. Their origin was virtually unknown. 
They were apparently not Egyptian. The Hyk-Sos or Lords of ta-She seem to have 
been Arabians, who seized upon the strategic advantages of the Fayoum and (in 
the words of the Nubian geographer, applied toa somewhat similar work in Arabia), 
made this reservoir not only for the use of the inhabitants, but to keep the indigenous 
population in greater awe by being masters of the water. Like the Moors in 
Southern Spain, their works gradually deteriorated in alien hands, and are now, 
after 4,000 years, at their lowest point. The work of restoration is comparatively 
easy. The following advantages would result :—First, the lake and morass, now 
increasing, in the Fayoum would be diminished, and a large amount of land 
redeemed ; second, the danger of an excessive rise of the Nile would be averted, 
and the labour of taking precautions against it saved; third, a considerable amount 
of abandoned land, now desert, would be irrigated; fourth, an immense reservoir 
would deliver water at a high level for navigation as well as irrigation, and even 
power; fifth, Lakes Menzaleh, Bourlos, Edkou, and Mareotis could be reclaimed, 
and those parts of the Delta would then again resemble the shores of Holland and 
the mouths of the Rhine. 
2. Report of the Committee for furthering the Scientific Examination of the 
Country in the vicinity of Mount Roraima in Guiana.—See Reports, p. 690. 
3. Mount Roraima. By Everarp m1 Tarn. 
A. Report of the Conimittee appointed for the purpose of promoting the 
Survey of Palestine-—See Reports, p. 691. 
5. The Cadastral Survey of India. By Lieut.-Colonel W. Barron. 
The surveyor in India works under various conditions as regards climate and 
country, and prepares his maps on different scales, to suit the purposes for which 
the survey is intended. 
The Cadastral Survey of India is ordinarily on the scale of 16 inches to a mile, 
though sometimes on a much longer scale; it has been undertaken to enable the 
Government to assess the land revenue, and to define the rights of landlords and 
tenants, About 224 millions of land revenue is collected yearly, and is assessed in 
different ways, under both permanent and temporary settlements. 
Former field maps were either eye-sketches, or were surveyed with varying 
degrees of accuracy by non-professional agency, acting under settlement officers, 
