66 
ME.  HOENEE  ON  THE  ALLUVIAL  LAND  OE  EGYPT. 
Review  of  the  chief  facts  made  known  ly  the  Excavations,  Shafts  and  Borings. 
On  examining  the  results  of  the  ninety-five  probings  of  the  alluvial  land  which  I 
have  described  in  this  second  part  of  my  memoir,  we  find, — 
1st.  That  the  alluvium  is  of  two  principal  kinds ; first,  and  chiefly,  an  argillaceous 
earth  or  loam,  more  or  less  mixed  with  fine  sand,  of  various  shades  of  colour,  being  the 
true  Nile  mud  or  sediment;  and  secondly,  pure  quartzose  sand,  derived  in  a great 
measure  from  the  desert,  being  swept  by  violent  winds  through  the  gullies  in  the  hills  on 
either  side,  but  chiefly  from  the  Libyan  range. 
2ndly.  That  the  Nile  sediment  found  at  the  lowest  depth  reached  is  very  similar  in 
composition  to  that  deposited  by  the  inundation  water  of  the  present  day. 
Srdly.  That  in  no  instance  did  the  boring  instrument  strike  upon  the  sohd  rock,  that 
which  may  be  presumed  to  form  the  basin  between  the  Libyan  and  Ai-abian  Hills  that 
contains  the  alluvium  accumulated  through  unknown  ages,  from  the  time  when  this 
depression  in  the  earth’s  surface  was  formed,  and  the  waters  of  the  Nile  first  flowed 
through  it. 
4thly.  That,  except  minute  organisms  discoverable  only  by  a powerful  microscope,  few 
organic  remains  were  met  with,  and  that  those  found  were  recent  land  and  river  shells, 
and  bones  of  domestic  animals. 
5thly.  That  there  has  not  been  found  a trace  of  an  extinct  organic  body. 
6thly.  That  at  the  same  levels  great  varieties  in  the  alluHum  have  been  found  in 
adjoining  pits,  even  when  the  distances  between  them  are  very  moderate.  This  will  be 
at  once  seen  by  referring  to  the  Sections. 
Tthly.  That  there  is  an  absence  of  all  lamination  in  the  sediment.  ^\Tien  I first 
undertook  these  researches,  I expected  that  sediment,  slowly  deposited  on  the  land  from 
nearly  tranquil  water,  would  present,  in  sections,  a laminated  structure ; more  especially 
as  an  able  observer,  the  late  Captain  Newbold,  has  told  us  that  he  had  met  with  such 
an  arrangement  of  the  alluvial  soil*.  It  was  therefore  with  no  small  surprise  that  I 
learned,  when  I received  the  account  of  the  excavations  at  Hehopolis,  that  no  such 
laminse  had  been  found ; and  in  none  of  the  excavations  or  borings  since  made  has  such 
a structure  been  met  with  in  a single  instance.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  a layer  of 
sediment  must  be  deposited  upon  the  land,  but  so  soon  as  the  waters  have  subsided,  the 
sun,  the  wind,  and  cultivation  combine  to  break  it  up.  From  the  earliest  times  when 
the  Nile  valley  was  inhabited  by  man,  the  alluvial  land,  fertilized  by  the  sediment  from 
the  annual  inundation,  must  have  been  cultivated  in  the  returning  seasons.  The  next 
following  flood  softens  the  hardened  mud  of  the  preceding  year,  and  it  is  considered 
that  this  softening  of  the  soil  is  one  of  the  most  fertihzing  efiects  of  the  inundation. 
The  very  primitive  and  simple  system  of  cultivation  of  the  present  day  is  most  probably 
the  same  which  had  been  followed  for  unknown  ages,  for  it  is  said  that  in  Eg5q)t 
nothing  changes.  As  the  subsiding  inundation  level  continues  to  expose  to  air  and  hght 
* Quarterly  Journal  of  the  Geological  Society,  vol.  iv.  1848,  pp.  343  and  344. 
