ME.  HOENEE  ON  THE  ALLUVIAL  LAND  OF  EGYPT. 
77 
■vial  land  of  Lo'wer  Egypt,  the  Delta,  was  at  one  time  a bay  in  the  Mediterranean,  which 
in  the  course  of  ages  was  gradually  filled  up  by  deposits  from  the  numerous  branches 
of  the  Nile  not  confined  by  artificial  embankments,  and  aided  by  sand  blown  from  the 
adjacent  high  desert  land  and  that  at  a time  when  the  shore  of  the  bay  had  advanced 
first  to  the  parallel  of  Sigioul  and  Bessousse,  and  afterwards  to  that  of  the  present  apex 
of  the  Delta,  by  means  of  the  accumulations  at  the  embouchure  of  the  Nile,  the  frag- 
ments of  brick  and  pottery  that  had  fallen  into  the  river  above  were  carried  forward  by 
it  into  the  bay.  This  process  appears  to  have  continued  as  the  shores  of  the  bay  gra- 
dually advanced  northward,  even  to  its  present  sea-line ; for  in  borings  made  by  Heke- 
KYAN  Bet  in  1854  at  Sa-il-Hagiar,  a village  about  45  miles  above  Rosetta,  the  supposed 
site  of  the  ancient  city  of  Sais,  and  also  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Rosetta  itself,  similar 
fragments  were  found  at  depths  of  19  and  20  feet.  He  states  that  rubbish  soil  extends 
to  considerable  depths  under  the  foundations  of  stone  buildings  below  the  lowest  level 
of  the  Mediterranean,  and  quite  close  to  the  sea. 
* “ There  must  have  been  a time  when  the  Delta  was  not  only  a marsh,  but  was  even  covered  with  water ; 
and  when  the  sea  must  have  advanced  so  near  to  the  site  of  Memphis,  as  to  allow  the  annual  flood  to  rise  no 
higher  than  8 cubits,  or  12  to  14  feet  at  that  place.  Hebodottjs  afterwards  remarks,  that  it  rose  15  or  16 
cubits  in  his  time,  which  was  the  natural  progress  of  things,  as  the  point  of  contact  of  the  land  waters  with 
those  of  the  sea  was  removed  further  out.” — Eennell’s  ‘ Geography  of  Heeodotus,’  112. 
MDCCCLVIII. 
M 
Appendix, 
