Revieivs — Transactions of the Cumberland Association. 179 



much mightier stream than at present, and it is not improbable that 

 it may then have emptied itself into the Eed Sea. 



Among the Quaternary deposits may be mentioned beds of Cal- 

 careous Tuff in the oasis of Chargeh containing reeds and leaves of 

 Quercus ilex, a tree which now grows in Southern France and Corsica. 

 The position of the tuff beds and their contents clearly show that the 

 outline of the country was the same at the period of their formation 

 as at present, and that strong springs then sprang from what is now 

 a sterile limestone plateau. 



Not the least wonderful of the phenomena of the Libyan desert 

 are the springs and artesian wells of thermal water, which has 

 a temperature between 24° and 38° C. This water is probably 

 derived from the I'ainy zones of Central Africa, from whence it has 

 filtered through the gently inclined beds of Nubian sandstone, the 

 intervening clayey strata preventing its descent to lower levels. 



This chapter concludes with a reference to the flint implements 

 which are found in many places in the valley of the Nile : near 

 Thebes ; more particularly at Helouan, near Cairo, and also in 

 localities in the Sahara no longer habitable, thus showing the 

 presence of man in the country when a more favourable climate 

 prevailed than that now existing. Mu.h stress has often been laid, 

 by those who are so anxious to restrict human existence to the tra- 

 ditional 6000 years, on the untrustworthy character of the evidence 

 afforded by these flint implements, and the probability that many 

 of them result from natural influences ; and it is therefore worth 

 while to quote Prof. Zittel's own experience in this matter. He 

 says, "During our journey I had noticed with special astonishment 

 the form of the numberless fragments of brown and black flints 

 which for miles covered the surface of the limestone plateau. Every 

 possible form appeared present in these naturally splintered frag- 

 ments, but never those elongated small and thin lamina which are 

 so well known to the Archaeologist as palaeolithic knives and scrapers. 

 Only once did I find near Regenfeld, thus in the barrenest and most 

 inaccessible part of the Libyan desert, in a small depression sur- 

 rounded by steep escarpments, a number of such knives, whose 

 manufacture by human hands could not be doubted." 



The foregoing notes and extracts will serve to show the complete 

 and exhaustive description which Prof. Zittel has given in this work 

 of the geology of North Africa. However barren the desert may be 

 in most respects, Pi'of Zittel has shown that it is certainly a fruit- 

 ful region for geological observation, and that he has reaped a rich 

 harvest therein. G. J. H. 



IIL — Teansactions of the Cumberland Association fok the 

 Advancement of Literature and Science. No. VIIL 1882-83. 



THE work before us comprises the Proceedings of the Association 

 at the annual meeting held at Ambleside, the Papers communi- 

 cated to affiliated societies during the session, and a number of local 

 notes and memoranda. The plan of the Association, which is carried 



