316 PEOF. E. HULL OUT THE GEOLOGY OF THE NILE VALLEY. [May 1 896,. 



am unable to state, but we are happily in possession of exact in- 

 formation regarding two of them : one at Kom Ombo, about 26 

 miles below Assuan, and one at this latter place itself. Of these I 

 now proceed to give some detail. 



(1) Kom Ombo (or Kom Ombos). — The remarkable ruins of two- 

 temples perched on a cliff overhanging the river, which is con- 

 stantly being undermined, and is threatened with eventual de- 

 struction, derive much interest from the fact that they are built 

 on the alluvia of the old Nile, and formed part of its ancient bed 

 before the waters had fallen away to their present level. The 

 surface of the highest Nile-floods does not reach to within more 

 than 12 metres (39*38 feet) of this old terrace, as stated by Mr. W. 

 Willcocks, of the Egyptian Public Works Department, 1 and both he 

 and Leith Adams discovered shells of the genera Cyrena (Corbicula), 

 Unio, and Paludina in the alluvial beds at a level of 11 metres 

 (36-08 feet) above present highest floods. In order to compare the 

 relative levels of the floods of the present day with those of the 

 ancient river at this place, we ought to add about 30 feet to that 

 of the floor, which will show a difference of about 70 feet for the 

 respective surfaces. 



(2) Assuan, which is built on the cultivated terrace at the 

 northern or lower end of the First Cataract, is connected with 

 Shellal at the southern or upper end, not only by the river, but by 

 two valleys, one or both of which were probably river-channels 

 when the river flowed at a higher level. They lie parallel to each, 

 other and to the Nile itself on its eastern side. 2 Of one of these 

 only can I speak with certainty, time not having allowed me to 

 make a proper examination of the other. Along this, the more 

 easterly of the two valleys, the railway connecting Assuan and 

 Shellal is carried for a distance of about 7 miles. It is about 

 half-a-mile wide, running between rugged slopes of granite capped 

 by horizontal courses of Nubian Sandstone. The floor of the valley 

 is even, affording camping-ground for a tribe of Bedawin Arabs, 

 and is composed of sand, gravel, and mud rudely stratified. 3 The 

 surface rises to a low saddle about 2 miles south of Shellal, the 

 height of which has been kindly determined for me by Capt. Lyons 

 by levelling to be 83*41 feet (28*48 metres) above highest floods 

 at Shellal and the island of Philse, which is opposite this village ; and 

 here, again, if we wish to compare the original height of the water- 

 surface with that of the present day, we may add, as a safe estimate,. 

 25 or 30 feet — making 108*41 feet as the amount of difference of 

 surface during high floods. This level exceeds that at Kom Ombo, 

 but may be accounted for by the difference in the physical con- 

 ditions of each place ; the Nile being here narrowed and encumbered 



1 Report to the Government of Egypt on ' Perennial Irrigation, etc.,' 1894, 

 Appendix vii. p. 13. Willcocks has also noticed JEtheria nilotioa in the old 

 Nile deposits both above and below Gebel Silsileh, ibid. p. 14. 



2 Baedeker's 'Guide to Upper Egypt' contains an excellent little map of 

 the environs of Assuan (eel. 1892, p. 274). 



3 My first visit to this valley was in company with Capt. Lyons, who indi- 

 cated its origin as an old Nile valley, a view which a subsequent visit fully 

 confirmed. 



