TELL-EL-KEBIE — PITHOM. 



417 



But the great entrepôt for the cotton and the cereals of this region of the delta 

 is the populous city of Zagazig, which occupies a central position at the junction of 

 several lines of railway, over against the western outlet of Wadj^-Tumilat. The 

 population of this place has increased fivefold since the year 1860, thanks chiefly to 

 the development of the cotton plantations. 



South of the Zagazig gardens a number of high mounds, collectively known by 

 the name of Tell -el -Bast ah, still recall the ancient city of Pabast, the Buhastis of the 

 Greeks, which was the capital of Egypt some twenty-seven or twenty-eight cen- 

 turies ago ; that is to saj^, during the twenty- second dynasty, when the frequent 



Fig. 129. — Entrance of the Wady-Tumilat, Tell-el-Kebie,. 

 Scale 1 : 340,000. 



6 Miles. 



wars with Assyria reqidred the centre of gravity of the kingdom to be shifted more 

 towards the east. Broken shafts and sculptured blocks still scattered about attest 

 the former splendour enjoyed by this now mined city. North-east of it, on the 

 very verge of the wilderness and on the last irrigating canals derived from the Nile, 

 lies the village of Karaim, surrounded by palm- groves which have the reputation of 

 jàelding the finest dates in Egypt. 



TeLL-EL-KeBIK PiTHOM. 



The entrance of the "Wady-Tumilat is guarded on the west by the station of 

 Tell-el-Kebir, that is, the " Great Mound," where in the year 1882 the Egyptian 

 forces under Arabi vainly attempted to make a stand against the British expedition 

 advancing from Ismailia, its base on the Suez Canal. The fortifications erected by 



27— AF. 



