THE LOWER NILE. 



59 



may not have flowed through this breach towards the Red Sea. Beaches of rolled 

 pebbles, which could onl}' have been deposited by running waters, are found in this 

 gorge both on the slope of the Nile and on that of the sea. It is probably these 

 traces of a former channel that have suggested to the vivid imagination of the 



Fig. 19. — Head of the Ibrahimieh Canal. 

 Scale 1 : 425,000. 



30° 50 



L , of breenwtcK 



5I°I0' 



6 Miles. 



Arabs the idea that it would be easy to divert the Nile into its former bed, always 

 supposing that this ravine did once receive the waters of the river. But if the 

 course of the Nile cannot be deflected into this lateral gully, it would at least be 

 easy to construct a railway through it, which would make the port of Kosei'r the 



