The Nile

their base is a gneiss, overlaid by mica, talc, and chlorite schists, and above these is a thick volcanic series, into which intrudes a gray hornblendic granite, and also a later red granite. The best known of these is the red hornblendic granite of Aswân, which was largely used by the Egyptians for temples, statues, etc., and also the fine porphyry, much used by the Roman emperors. The tops of such rocks rise to the surface of the ground at Aswân, Kalâbsheh, and Wâdî Ḥalfa. In Nubia nearly the whole of the eroded surface of the crystalline rocks has been overlaid by a yellowish sandstone, which at its base usually becomes a quartz conglomerate. Above these lies a large series of green and gray clays with thick band of soft white limestone. Next comes an immense thickness of soft white limestone, which forms the cliffs of the Nile Valley from Luxor to Cairo, and furnishes almost the whole of the building stone in Egypt. These strata have been greatly affected by the great earth movements of the Miocene period, which resulted in the formation of the Red Sea, Gulf of Suez, Gulf of Aqaba, the Jordan Valley, and the Nile Valley, and the salts of the Wâdî Națrûn are due to the shore lagunes when they existed there. As a result of this, thick deposits of sand and gravel were laid down, which to-day underlie the later Nile mud deposits and which furnish a good water supply. After this, climatic conditions analogous to those of to-day seem to have soon set in, and river deposits of dark sandy mud were laid down, which were at levels considerably above the deposits of to-day. Nile mud with shells similar to those now existing occurs in Nubia at 30 metres, and in Egypt at lesser heights, above the present Nile flood level. To-day the Nile is depositing in its bed at the rate of about o'12 metre per century. At Benha, Maḥallat Rûḥ (in the Tanța district), and Kalyûb (all in the Delta), the thickness of the layer of Nile mud is 17, 18, and 125 metres respectively; while at Zakâzik, Beni Suwêf,

and Suhag (all in the Nile Valley), it is 33'11 and 17 metres respectively. Between the First and Second Cataracts the proportion of sandstone to granite is about 9 to I, and good granite is only met with at Kalâbsheh, where the pass is about 168 yards wide, and the depth of water at low Nile about 111 feet. No fossils whatever are found in the Nubian sandstone. From Abû Simbel northwards the valley is bounded on the left by the high limestone plateau called by the Arabs Sinn al-Kiddâb, which, at this point, is more than 50 miles distant from the river, and it gradually approaches the stream until at Aswân it is only 25 miles distant, and at Gebelên it marches with the river. There is a similar plateau between Gebelên and Esneh. At the First Cataract there is an extensive outcrop of granite and quartz diorite. Between Aswân and a little south of Esneh the river flows between sandstone hills, except at the plains of Kom Ombos and Edfu; these plains were originally ancient deltas of rivers coming down from the high ranges which skirt the Red Sea. In the Kom Ombos plain the Nile deposit is about 80 feet above the maximum flood level of to-day. At Ra'âmah, about 38 miles north of Aswân, limestone is met with, and immediately north of it is the sandstone of Silsileb. The channel at Silsileh does not represent the original bed of the Nile, for it is only a branch of it; the true channel, which was nearly a mile wide and 50 feet deep, lies on the right of the hill in which the quarries are, and is now buried under mud and silt. There was never a cataract at Silsileh. At Luxor the Nile again enters low denuded plains, and a part of the plateau of the Sinn al-Kiddâb lies on its left; the plateau again appears at Keneh, and from this place to Cairo the river flows between limestone hills. At Keneh the lower Londinian formation dips below the level of the Nile deposit, and the upper Londinian formation monopolises the whole section of the limestone as far as a point midway

between Asyût and Minyeh; here the lower Parisian strata appear on the tops of the plateaux, and the upper Londinian strata finally disappear a little to the north of Minyeh. The lower Parisian formation is now generally met with as far as Cairo.

The Ancient Egyptians called Egypt Baq or

Jó R& Baget; good? Elle Ta-mera; and

Qemt. Baq seems to refer to Egypt as the olive-producing country, and Ta-merȧ as the land of the inundation; the name by which it is most commonly called in the inscriptions is Qem, i.e., "Black," from the darkness of its soil. It was also called the "land of the sycamore,” and the "land of the eye of Horus" (i.e., the Sun). It was divided by the Egyptians into two parts: I. Upper Egypt

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Ta-res or Ta-qemā, “the southern land”; and II. Lower Egypt, Ta-meḥ, "the northern land.” The kings of Egypt styled themselves suten net (or båt), "king of the North and South," and neb taui, "lord of two earths." ." The country was divided into nomes, the number of which is variously given; the list given by some of the classical authorities contains thirty-six, but judging by the monuments the number was nearer forty. The nome (ḥesp) was divided into four parts; 1, the capital town (nut); 2, the cultivated land; 3, the marshes, which could only at times be used for purposes of cultivation; and 4, the canals, which had to be kept clear and provided with sluices, etc., for irrigation purposes. During the rule of the Greeks Egypt was divided into three parts: Upper, Central, and

क्ष,

As ruler of the two countries, each king wore the crown which was made up of, the teser, or red crown, representing the northern part of Egypt, and, the het', or white crown, representing the southern part of Egypt.

Lower Egypt; Central Egypt consisted of seven nomes, and was called Heptanomis.

LIST OF NOMES OF EGYPT-UPPER EGYPT.

Nome.

I. Ta-Kens.

2. Tes-Heru.

3. Ten.