DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6359#0156
140 EGYPT AND ITS MONUMENTS.
rise has been in about the same proportion. There are isolated
spots where, from local causes, the rise of the soil may be
more or less than this, but these are occasional irregularities, not
affecting the general result. Of course, as in all long rivers
that form Deltas, the strata of deposit will diminish in thick-
ness as the river approaches the sea; thus, Sir Gardner Wil-
kinson tells us, that " at Elephantine, the land has been raised
about nine feet in seventeen hundred years, at Thebes, about
seven, and so on gradually diminishing to the mouth." He
also indicates the ratio of gradual diminution by the state-
ments, that around the base of the obelisk of Osirtasen, at
Heliopolis, the alluvial soil has accumulated to the height
of five feet ten inches; and that around a monument—had
one been erected at Elephantine, when the obelisk was
reared—there would now have been an accumulation of about
nineteen feet.
The swell of the river varies in different parts of its chan-
nel. In Upper Egypt it is from thirty to thirty-five feet; at
Cairo, it is about twenty-three feet; in the northern, or most
seaward part of the Delta, it is not more than four feet.
This arises, first, from the breadth of the inundation, (the
waters spreading over a large extent of level formation,) and
secondly, from the fact that its volume in the river is dimin-
ished by the numerous artificial channels, all over the country,
into which it is conducted for purposes of irrigation ; and in
which channels it is retained after the river has subsided. The
inhabitants of Egypt have, with great labor, cut a vast num-
ber of canals and trenches through the whole extent of the
land, and the object of these is to convey the waters to spots
where the inundation does not directly extend.
But there is additional evidence, adduced by Osborn, in
rise has been in about the same proportion. There are isolated
spots where, from local causes, the rise of the soil may be
more or less than this, but these are occasional irregularities, not
affecting the general result. Of course, as in all long rivers
that form Deltas, the strata of deposit will diminish in thick-
ness as the river approaches the sea; thus, Sir Gardner Wil-
kinson tells us, that " at Elephantine, the land has been raised
about nine feet in seventeen hundred years, at Thebes, about
seven, and so on gradually diminishing to the mouth." He
also indicates the ratio of gradual diminution by the state-
ments, that around the base of the obelisk of Osirtasen, at
Heliopolis, the alluvial soil has accumulated to the height
of five feet ten inches; and that around a monument—had
one been erected at Elephantine, when the obelisk was
reared—there would now have been an accumulation of about
nineteen feet.
The swell of the river varies in different parts of its chan-
nel. In Upper Egypt it is from thirty to thirty-five feet; at
Cairo, it is about twenty-three feet; in the northern, or most
seaward part of the Delta, it is not more than four feet.
This arises, first, from the breadth of the inundation, (the
waters spreading over a large extent of level formation,) and
secondly, from the fact that its volume in the river is dimin-
ished by the numerous artificial channels, all over the country,
into which it is conducted for purposes of irrigation ; and in
which channels it is retained after the river has subsided. The
inhabitants of Egypt have, with great labor, cut a vast num-
ber of canals and trenches through the whole extent of the
land, and the object of these is to convey the waters to spots
where the inundation does not directly extend.
But there is additional evidence, adduced by Osborn, in