Page:The Religion of Ancient Egypt.djvu/66

 human race in Egypt, as demonstrated by the operations suggested by Mr. Leonard Homer to the Royal Society, and carried out at first at its expense, and finally at the cost of Abbas Pacha, between the years 1851 and 1854. Ninety-five pits were sunk at different spots into the alluvial soil of the Nile valley. "Although," Professor Ansted tells us, "it cannot be regarded as a matter about which there is no dispute, all the evidence that exists seems to point to five inches per century as fully representing the average amount of elevation given by the Nile mud to the bed of the Nile and the surrounding country covered by the annual inundation." "The average can hardly under any calculations have exceeded five inches per century during the last several centuries, whilst from the mere effects of long-continued pressure the beds must become compact at some depth below than they are near the surface, and the rate of thickness ought to become gradually less the deeper we penetrate." In the course of the operations, remains showing the handiwork of man were brought up from considerable depths: sculptured granite, architecturally carved limestone, human and animal figures, coloured mosaic, vases, jars, a copper knife, and at very great depths—fifty, sixty, or even seventy-two feet—bricks and fragments of pottery. At thirty-three feet and a half, a tablet with