116 
DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 
of Thebes and Memphis, engraved on immense 
masses of granite, have defied the ravages of time, 
and the still more destructive hand of man, we can 
only view the characters with regret, and lament 
that a wise and learned nation may perish before 
the monuments of their existence pass away. 
The general configuration of Egypt is that of a 
plain, inclining so gently, that it barely permits the 
waters of the Nile, in traversing it, to obey the laws 
of gravity. In the cultivated districts, the level is 
nearly uniform ; and though the partial elevation 
of particular places exceeds the greatest height of 
the inundation, yet these are seldom beyond the 
reach of artificial irrigation. These slight eleva- 
tions of the soil are generally produced by the ir- 
regularities of that immense stratum of calcareous 
stone which extends from Syene to the Mediter- 
ranean. This species of stone in Lower Egypt 
reaches from Alexandria to the Red Sea, in the 
vicinity of Suez. The mountains on the east of 
Cairo are chiefly composed of horizontal strata of 
freestone, and indurated argillaceous earth, con- 
taining various fossils, as petrified shells, agates, 
and crystallised masses of gypsum and ponderous 
spar. * In the parallel of the Thebaid, the low 
ranges of hills, which run between the Nile and 
the Red Sea, are chiefly composed of marble, por- 
* Magasin. Encyclop, Vol. XXXII. 
