INTRODUCTION. 



The Fayum *, the lake province of Egypt, is a district occupying a depression in 

 the desert to the west of the Nile Valley opposite Wasta, a small town about 

 fifty-seven miles south of Cairo. This depression, which is roughly circular in 

 outline, is separated from the river-valley by a belt of desert varying in width from 

 about a mile and a half to some six or seven miles, and crossed at one point by a 

 canal, the Bahr-el-Yusef, which runs through a narrow strip of low ground and is 

 practically the only source of water-supply for the whole district. The water thus 

 brought in from the Nile is distributed by irrigation-canals to the cultivated part of 

 the district, and the surplus eventually finds its way through a number of channels, 

 some of which form picturesque gorges, to the lowest part of the depression, 

 occupied by a large expanse of brackish water, the Birket-el-Qurun. This lake is 

 about twenty-five miles long, with a maximum width of only six miles ; it is very 

 shallow, the maximum depth at present being about sixteen or seventeen feet, and its 

 shores in most places are very low and gently sloping. In Pleistocene times the 

 floor of the depression was occupied by a body of water of vastly greater area than 

 the present lake, evidences of its former extent being found in the widely spread 

 lacustrine deposits, chiefly clays, containing, in addition to numerous MoUusca, 

 remains of Elejphas africanus. Hippopotamus, Buhalis, Canis, together with those of 

 Crocodiles, Chelonians, and Fishes (8) f . In one or two places also numerous 



* The following sketch of the Topography and Geology of the Fayum is mainly founded on Mr. H. J. L. 

 Beadnell's detailed report. The Topography and Geology of the Tayum Province of Egypt (Cairo, 1905), 

 which should be consulted for further information. The papers by Blanckenhom, mentioned in the list on 

 p. XXX, are also of great importance. 



t The numbers within brackets refer to the list of publications on p. xiix. 



i 



