64 



NORTH-EAST AFRICA. 



edge of the plateau, at dawn pink and hazy cones, like flames of fire dimly seen 

 in the brighter sunshine, at sunset gloomy triangular masses standing out against 

 a brazen sky. 



The Nile Delta. 



Below Cairo the two ranges of hills, confining the Nile as in a ditch, gradually 

 retire as they merge in the plains, leaving the river to ramify and flow through 

 divergent branches into the Mediterranean. The triangular disposition of this 

 alluvial plain has caused the term delta* to be applied to the whole region, and by 



Fig. 22. — RosETTA Mouth. 

 Scale 1 : 200.000. 



50'25' 



5Q-55- 



0tol6 



Feet. 



16 to 32 



Feet. 



32 Feet and 

 upwards. 



3 Miles. 



analogy to all districts of similar formation, however irregular their contours. 

 Spite of all the changes that have taken place in the local geography since it 

 was first described by Herodotus two thousand five hundred years ago, the 

 Egyptian delta has remained a model of elegance in the harmony of its divergent 

 branches and the indentations of its contours. 



At the dawn of history the head of the delta lay more to the south, the 

 bifurcation being situated some four miles below the present suburb of Bulak at 

 Cairo. But the intermediate apex being unprotected by a system of embankments. 

 * That is, the name of the triangular Greek letter A =z D. 



