Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/378

 EGYPT

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EGYPT

into the FayCun (nome of Arsinoe). One hundred and ten miles above Memphis the Libyan mountains bend to the north-west, and then, facing north-east, they draw nearer again to the Nile, thus surrounding a large extent of territory, which of old was known as Te-She, or Lakeland, from the great inland lake frequently mentioned and described by the Greek travellers and geographers under the name of Lake Mceris. It is still called Faydm, from the Coptic piiom. "the sea". This lake once occupied almost the entire basin of the Fayflm, but within the histori- cal period its circumference does not seem to have exceeded 140 miles. It lay 73 feet above the sea level,

Lake Borolos (Lacus Buto or Paralus) east and Lake Edkil west of the Rosetta mouth (Ostium Bolbitinum), and Lake Mariilt (Mareotis Lacus) south of the nar- row strip of land on which Alexandria stands. Between Lake Menzaleh and the Red .Sea, on a line running first south and then south-south-east, are Lake Balah, Lake Timsah, and the Bitter Lakes (Laois Am.ari), now traversed by the Suez Canal. Wadi Tumilat connects Lake Timsah with the Delta across the Arabian Desert, and forms the natural entrance to Egypt from the Asiatic side. West of the Delta, in a depression of the Libyan Desert, lies the Wadi Natrun (Vallis Nitria), famous in early Christian times, under the

and was very iii'c|i, as ^h.iwn by its la.st vestige, the Birket-el-Karun, which lies 144 feet below the same level (Baedeker, op. cit., p. 1S6 sq.).

A little before reaching Cairo, the Nile flows along the rocky and sandy plateau on which the three best- known pyramids stand. There, too, the two ranges of Arabian and Libyan mountains, which above this point run for many miles close to the river, turn sharply aside in the direction of the north-east and north-west, thus forming a triangle with the Mediter- ranean shore. The immense alluvial plain thus en- compassed was called by the Greeks the Delta, owing to its likeness to the fourth letter of their alphabet(A). As soon as the river enters this plain its waters divide into several streams which separately wind their way to the sea and make it a garden of incredible fertility. In ancient times there were seven of these branches, five natural and two artificial. Only two are now of impor- tance for navigation, the Damietta (Tamiathis) and the Rosetta branches, both named from the towns near which they discharge into the sea. It is to be re- marked that, as a natural result of the incessant strug- gle between sea and land, the outline of the Delta is even now somewhat indefinite, and was probably much more so in the remote past. The shore is always partly covered with lagoons which move from one place to another. The most extensive of the.se are now, from east to west. Lake Menzaleh between the ancient Ostium Phatniticum and Ostium Pelu.siacum,

name of Desert of Scete, for its Coptic monasteries, four of which exist to this day.

Geology. — The low Nubian table-land through which the Nile meanders consists of a red sandstone, belonging to the upper cretaceous formation. It has furnished the Egyptians with an excellent building stone which they have exploited from remote antiquity, especially at Gebel Silsileh (Silsilis), 26 miles south of Edfu, where the sandstone beds, in sharp contrast with their former low level, rise in steep banks over- hanging the river, thus offering unusual facilities for quarrying and transporting the stone. Near Edfu the sandstone is replaced by the nummulitic limestones (Eocene) of the Tertiary period, which form the bulk of the Libyan Desert and of a considerable portion of the Arabian Desert as well. The Libyan Desert is a level, or almost level, table-land, averaging 1000 feet above the sea. On the east it is fringed with craggy clifTs overhanging the valley, while its outward border, running aslant to the north-west, offers here and there deep bays in which lie the oases of Kluirgeh and Dakhleh (Great Oasis), Farafreh (Tringtheos Oasis), and Siweh (Jupiter Amnion). The oasis of Bahriyeh (Small Oasis), north-east of Fanlfreh, lies, on the contrary, in a depression entirely surrounded by the higher plateau. The Fayum, in fact, is nothing hut such an oasis on a larger scale. The plateau itself is waterless and practically without vegetation. Its strata are gently inclined to the