stream, swelling with the snows of the Abyssinian Mountains. 4 The rise would begin in Egypt late in June, increase thruout July, and begin to subside in October, leaving a layer of Nile mud, of which there has now accumulated a deposit of from thirty to forty feet.

The inundation is due to the rainfall in the Lake Nyanza and Abyssinian countries. Thus, September to November would mark flood tide when Sobat, Blue Nile and Atbara, the Abyssinian Mountain streams, are at their highest. White Nile from Lake Victoria is the standby for the rest of the year. 21 feet maximum means famine; 25 feet, inadequate; 26 to 28, adequate; above 28 feet, disaster. After all deposits in course, all shrinkage due to evaporation and other sources, 65,000,000,000 cubic metres of water, it is estimated, and 36,600,000 tons of earth enter the Mediterranean each year. The seven outlets of the Delta have become reduced to two and a network of marshes and petty streams.

Under the hand of the modern engineer this historic stream now assumes a new and increased importance in the making of Egypt. The problem is to conserve this prodigal waste for use during the dry season of the year. So far back as the XII. dynasty it entered the mind of man to "bridle the Nile" and to regulate its outflow to meet the needs of Egypt's long dry summer. Some sixty-five miles south of the point of the Delta a break in the highlands west of the river brings one to a great depression in the desert, known as the Fayum. Here once were famous cities. The present lake, Birket el-Kurun, once at high Nile filled the entire basin. Retention walls and irrigation canals controlled the inflow and outflow and stored the pent-up water where it would best serve the needs of agriculture. Under Amenemhet III. this wall, some twenty-seven miles in length, formed the ancient lake Moeris, and water sufficient, it is estimated, was thus accumulated to double the stream below the Fayum during the hundred days of low Nile from April first to next flood time. At the second cataract this same Pharaoh maintained a Nilometer, whose sculptured records show a high-water line twenty-five to thirty feet above the present high-water level.

4. The Blue Nile and Atbara bringing volcanic soil from Abyssinia are really the makers of Egypt. The western branch is broader and deeper and carries down more water. Its whitish color is due to the white clay brought from the great central plains of the continent.

5. Fayum Towns and Their Papyri: Egypt Exploration Fund, GraecoRoman Branch, 1900.