THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
about the rate at which the Nile deposits are 
being piled upon it, seems certain. At Naukratis, 
on the west side of the Delta, the rise of land by- 
deposits has been 4h inches per century; and at 
Tanis on the east side, and nearer to the coast, 
the water level as shown by a well there has risen 
4j inches per century, though the councry is now 
barely above the sea. At Ismaliyeh in the middle 
of the Isthmus of Suez, the land has, on the con- 
trary, risen. The present lake there is necessarily 
on the sea-level, as the canal opens into it; and 10 
or 15 feet above the water may be seen a line of 
thin fragile shells which seem probably to have 
been formed near the water surface, and which 
cannot have been exposed for long ages, to 
judge by their condition. The same late date 
of this elevation is also shown by the pottery 
of a Roman village stopping short at the 
level of the shells, and not extending down to 
the present water. The position of this site is 
W. N. W. of Tusun, at the spot marked Ru. in the 
War Office map. The elevation of this region 
accords with the historical evidence of the head of 
the Red Sea having extended up to Ismalieh; as, 
when it was 15 feet lower, the submerged region 
would have been much larger than at present. 
These changes of level are, however but a part 
of the modifiying forces. The wind-action, which 
is so strikingly seen in this region, is probably 
quite as powerful a cause of changes as the eleva- 
tion of the land. The most visible signs of such a 
force are seen on the western side of Lake Xsmai- 
liyeh. Here a high sand-dune forms the limit of 
the lake, sloping down into it at the angle of rest, 
and often obliging the traveller to walk in order 
to pass the foot of the slope. At such points as 
this it is evident that the lake must be rapidly 
filled up and modified. But the historical evi- 
dence shows that the whole hills have been swept 
away from the surrounding country in the last two 
thousand years. The Greek camp of Daphnse, 
about 12 miles from Kantara on the Suez Canal, 
and bordering on the marshes of Lake Menzaleh 
of the Mediterranean coast, was surrounded by a 
wall of crude brick about 40 feet thick, and over a 
mile in circuit. In proportion to the thickness, j 
and to other such Egyptian town-walls, the height | 
was certainly 30 feet, and probably more. Yet 
the whole of this mass of hard mud brick has i 
179 
been so utterly swept away by the wind that only 
the buried foundation remains. Rain has had no 
share in the actual removal of the clay, as there is 
no wash from the wall upon the ground on either 
side. The whole mass, at least 40 feet by 30 in 
section, has been carried away and deposited eise- 
wdiere by the wind alone. 
The above is not an isolated case. Some 15 
miles to the west is the ancient cemetery of Tell 
Nebesheh. The tombs have been buit of mud 
brick in a large rise of sandy ground, such as is 
often seen in the mud flats of the Delta. These 
tombs were subterranean chambers about six feet 
high, with well-shafts leading to them. But only 
two or three now exist entire, sufficient to explain 
the remains of the others. In most cases the 
chamber has been nearly removed by the wind- 
denudation of the whole hill. This shows that 
about eight feet, or more, of soil has been carried 
away in 2600 years, or nearly four inches per cen- 
tury. The wall of crude brick around the temple 
at Tell Nebesheh, though 30 to 40 feet thick, has 
oeen swept away by the wind like the wall of 
Daphnre, down to the ground-level. 
The question naturally arises, where has all the 
material thus removed, been deposited? In a con- 
tinuous desert the sand-dunes may march on slow- 
ly for years, and the furious sand-storms drop 
their burdens only to be picked up again in the 
next gale. But in a district intersected by mar- 
shes and lakes there is a perpetual trap for all 
loose material, and whatever touches the w*et 
surface never rises again. Hence all the water 
will be continually rendered shallower by constant 
filling up in high winds, and great extents of 
sandy marsh and very shallow lakes will be formed. 
This is precisely what we find the most promi- 
nent feature of ail this region. 
Subtracting then the effects of the causes which 
we have seen to be at work, the deposit of the 
Nile, the changes of level of land, and the denuda- 
tion by the wind, we may form some idea of what 
the appearance of the district must have been 
some few thousand years ago, when the earliest 
monuments of human occupation were erected. 
At that time the eastern side of the Delta must 
have been more like a part of the neighbouring 
desert, with hills about 30 or 40 feet high; the Nile- 
flowing down between them, and spreading ou^ 
