Poole, Reginald S.: The cities of Egypt (London, 1882)

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CITIES OF EGYPT.

of lakes. The outline of the Delta has remained the
same. The Nile, aided by the action of the sea, at first
filled up the great gulf which the Delta occupies, and
pushed a blunt wedge of land into the ocean northwards.
Probably currents sweeping along the coast, and the
want of good holding-ground for deposit, arrested the
farther conquest of the domain of the sea. But this does
not explain the loss of ground by the land in the lakes.
We should rather have expected that they would have
been filled up by the deposit of the Nile, especially since
the channels have been reduced from seven to two. For
instead of seven branches pouring the alluvial deposit
into the sea, only two do so, and most of the rest empty
themselves in the lakes. Of course something is due to
neglect of the dykes, and to war. Thus the westernmost
of the "lakes, Mareotis, had dried up when the British
army cut a dam and filled it once more, for military pur-
poses, at the siege of Alexandria in the beginning of this
century; since when the great port has been unhealthy.
We cannot explain the general process, which is most
remarkably seen in Lake Menzeleh, unless we suppose
a gradual fall of the land, at least in the north of the
Isthmus of Suez, and a corresponding rise in the south.