trees.

of the line, and connected with each other by dense groves of dateOf these, Nazlet is the most picturesquely situated on the Bahr Nazlet, which in former times was one of the outlets of the Lake Maris, and is now a ravine 250 yards broad from bank to bank, and 100 feet deep, which forms quite a romantic and imposing feature in the landscape. Near Bisheh the line crosses the extensive mounds of an ancient town, covered, like those at Arsinoë, with fragments of pottery, glass, bones, brickbats, &c.; but, unfortunately, there was no sugar-cane at the spot, so the train did not stop to enable me to get out and examine it. Indeed we had picked up all the loaded trucks by this time, and were rumbling along at the rate of about ten miles an hour, followed by a racing, scrambling crowd of boys and girls, who rush out of the adjoining villages when the train passes, to pick up the scatterings of sugarcane which fall from the trucks. For at least a couple of miles we were thus pursued, old men and women occasionally joining in the race, and in their eagerness to clutch the cane, rolling over each other on the track. By this time we have reached our lowest level: to the left, about five miles distant, beyond a flat, and in places marshy, tract, the blue waters of the lake glisten in the afternoon sun, and rising abruptly from their western margin are the Libyan hills, beyond which stretches an unexplored and desolate tract of the Sahara. In strong contrast with the wildness and beauty of the scene, a row of tall iron funnels or chimneys right in front of us indicate our destination, and we pull up between more piles of sugar-cane, in an atmosphere strongly flavoured with the allpervading odour of molasses. On a bluff about a mile to the right is the village of Aboukser, while the

flat tract which intervenes between us and the lake is an expanse of cane-fields, through which radiate branches of the agricultural railway in all directions.

ex

I

Unfortunately I was not well enough to encounter the fatigue of a ride to the lake and back, and the boating and fishing expedition on its waters which had been the main object of my trip. Indeed I had hoped to be able to visit the ruins of Kasr Karoon, which are situated at its south-western tremity, as well as those of Kasr Nimroud just opposite, on the summit of the desert cliff, and the ruined walls of which could be distinguished from Aboukser with a spyglass. There are no villages worthy the name on the margin of the lake. The fishing population are mostly Bedouin Arabs, who live in tents or hovels, and whose open undecked boats are of a primitive unwieldy description, without masts or sails, redolent of decayed fish, and affording, as I was informed, a maximum of discomfort in every way. afterwards met an old resident in Egypt, and a distinguished Egyptologist, who had camped for eight days at the ruins of Kasr Nimroud, and who described them as consisting of gigantic mud-brick walls, evidently those of an ancient fortress, situated on a high plateau of natural rock, an hour distant from the margin of the lake, the road leading to which was paved with immense flags of stones on which were visible ruts as of chariotwheels. But, curiously enough, neither he nor any person at Aboukser of whom I made inquiry, had ever heard of Dimeh, with its street 400 yards long embellished with lions, and its ruined temple. Lepsius says it was marked on his map as Medinet Nimroud, but he could only hear of it by the name of Dimeh, an experience which illustrates how easy it is for travellers

in these parts to be misled in regard to nomenclature: it is supposed to be the site of the ancient Bacchis.

The ruins of Kasr Karoon are much better known than those of Dimeh or Kasr Nimroud; but even they would certainly repay further investigation. Five miles beyond Aboukser, on the same side of the lake, is the village of Senhur, which is situated on mounds indicating the site of an ancient city of some extent. Indeed there is every reason to suppose that in former times the edge of this plateau overlooking the lake was crowned with a series of towns inhabited by a large population. In point of position and surroundings, all the modern villages have a sort of family resemblance, and of these Aboukser may be taken as a type. At the base of the bluff was an extensive grove of fine palm-trees, beneath which sugar-cane had been planted; and as I passed through it, the whole population were out cutting it. Men, women, children, camels, and buffaloes were picturesquely grouped under the shade of the tall feather ing trees in the cane-field, all noisily at work; while through it curved a canal abundantly supplied with water that found its way to the lower level by an artificial cascade about forty feet high, which foamed over a high dike that in former times retained its waters in a lake. After sketching so unusual an object in Egypt as a waterfall, I made my way to the top of it with the view of examining the ancient structure. The lake was now dry, and its bottom served as the vegetable garden for the village; but there was no question as to the extreme antiquity of the solid masonry, which might easily be repaired if it was considered worth while to reconstruct the reservoir. Above it to the right rose the high mound upon which the modern

village, looking almost like a fortress, is built; in rear of it are cactus-gardens, and the usual waste of brickbats and pottery, while here and there the mud-brick walls of an old house crop out, among which I found a few fragments of blue and green glaze, interesting enough to carry away. From the highest mound of débris a magnificent view is obtained over the lake, with a rocky island in the middle, and the plain stretching away north-east and south-west far as the eye can reach. The Birket el Kurûn is steadily stealing away the good land from the country, either submerging it altogether, or impregnating it so abundantly with salt as to destroy its value for all purposes of cultivation. This arises from the fact that owing to an absence of a proper surveillance of irrigation in the Fayoum, about three times more water is allowed to run into the lake than the evaporation can carry off, as, owing to its depression below the level of the sea, it has no outlet. This water might be advantageously employed in irrigating land now unproductive for the lack of it. Instead of its superabundance being thus utilised, it is allowed to submerge land which would otherwise be available for cultivation; and thus, so far from being a benefit to the country, it becomes an injury to it,

besides which, whenever water is allowed to stagnate in Egypt, it infiltrates for some distance beyond its margin, and the effect is to cause the saline qualities in the soil to rise to the surface. Owing to this double process of submergence and infiltration, it is calculated that about 10,000 acres which would otherwise have been available for sugar, belonging to the Daira Sanieh alone, are practically lost. There can be no doubt that an immense tract of land could be reclaimed from the lake without

very much difficulty, which would in the first instance be available for rice, and by degrees become fit for cane.

More cane-land is much wanted; for as it is, the sugarfactory can scarcely be made to pay its expenses, owing to the want of a sufficient quantity of cane, and in some years it works at a loss. At Masserah Edouddah, about three hours from Aboukser, there is a large sugar-factory which is permanently closed owing to this cause. Altogether, there are 76,000 acres of land in the Fayoum belonging to the Daira Sanieh, which might be largely improved by a more careful rotation of crops, and increased by reclaiming land from the lake, and which no doubt is capable of being made a magnificent and profitable property. BeBesides the sugar-mill already alluded to at Masserah, there is a fine cottonoil mill and gin at Edsa, not far from Medinet el Fayoum, which has not worked for two years; and also one at Tamyeh, on the north-eastern margin of the province, which is also standing idle. No doubt, under the improved system which is being introduced by the Commission that now administers the Daira Sanieh, the productive capacity of the property in the Fayoum will be largely increased. There are also 46,000 acres belonging to the department of the Domaines; so that altogether there are 122,000 acres of Government land in this province alone, the revenues of which are hypothecated to foreign creditors.

About half a mile from the factory, towards the lake, is a grove of date-trees overshadowing a house of unusual pretensions for this part of the country. I was introduced to the proprietor of it, and found to my surprise that he was the head sheikh of all the Bedouin Arabs on both sides of the lake. The

VOL. CXXX.-NO. DCCLXXXIX.

idea of a Bedouin sheikh living like a civilised being in a large whitewashed two-storeyed house was entirely new to me. He had fortunately not yet adopted a white waistcoat and lavender - coloured

gloves, but retained his native garb in all its picturesqueness, which, however, was composed of the most costly material. His handsome Arab horse was gorgeously caparisoned, the bridle mounted with solid silver; and his groom carried an old-fashioned rifle richly inlaid. Though a man evidently mindful of the effect of external show, and somewhat of a "buck" in his personal attire, he retained under all circumstances an attitude of the most calm and dignified politeness; and it was impossible to judge from the imperturbable repose of his handsome features what was passing in his mind. He was a man about fifty years old, exercised a controlling influence over the Arab tribes for many miles round, and was possessed of great wealth, not merely in flocks and herds, but in land. The object of his visit to the factory on the occasion when I saw him was to be present at a dispute between some Arabs and some fellahin, the nature of which also helps to illustrate how rapidly the introduction of the appliances of civilisation tends to change the habits of the wild sons of the desert. The whole party came up and argued their case in the presence of the Moufettish, whose guest I had become, for the Governor had returned to Medinet. On the one side were a group of fellahin, the bloody shirt of one suggesting that he had got the worst of a recent scuffle; on the other, in marked contrast to these, with their haughty and defiant demeanour, stood four minor Arab sheikhs, all strikingly handsome men, with flowing abeih and creamy-white herams.

D

Between these angry disputants was seated the Moufettish, and at his side the chief sheikh, whose rich apparel and impassive demeanour I have already described. The villagers, it appeared, had contracted with the Moufettish to cut a certain amount of sugar-cane in a given time, and had engaged a number of Bedouins to supply camels, and otherwise assist in carrying out the operation,-making, in fact, a subcontract with them, to which it was complained that they had not adhered, and had even beaten those who ventured to expostulate. The quarrel turned upon the amount and nature of the work which practically had been divided between them, and I failed to follow its intricacies sufficiently to know who were in the right probably the fellahin, but certainly, when Bedouin Arabs enter into contracts for harvesting cane for a steam sugarfactory, a change is coming over the spirit of their dream. To watch the eager and almost ferocious expression of their countenances as they argued their case with "beastly bellowings," and wild gesticulations, it was evident that it would take a long course of peaceful avocations before the change went beyond the spirit of the dream to the spirit of the man.

I afterwards visited one of their encampments, where the usual tents were supplemented with huts and enclosures made of straw and cane-leaves; but they retained, nevertheless, their general gipsy and nomadic aspect.

On my return journey to Medinet the following day, I had the divaned waggon all to myself, and we reversed the operation of our former experience. Starting with a long train of empty cane-trucks, we stopped at intervals and dropped them by twos and threes wherever the cane had been piled, to be picked up when the train went back the next day.

On

We tried, one afternoon, an experimental ride on camels, with a view of testing the merits of some saddles from the Soudan, which, we were assured, were especially comfortable. The object of our trip was to examine a prostrate obelisk, distant about three miles. The weather so far had been delightful, the thermometer seldom falling below 65°; and the gardens beneath our windows were redolent with the perfume of roses-for which the Fayoum was formerly so celebrated-in full bloom. this afternoon, however, we had scarcely started when the weather changed, and, before we reached our destination, a cold wind set in, accompanied by smart showers of rain, which made the poor camels shiver and tremble with anxiety as they staggered slowly over the smooth slippery mud. The experience was by no means agreeable to the riders, as the prospect. of coming down headlong, camel and all, is quite a different sensation from that which one feels under like conditions on horseback. It seems scarcely possible to fall from such a height without the certainty of breaking one's bones. When at last we reached the village of Biggig, we found our camel-men did not know the way, and we had to ask for a guide-a request which resulted in the greater proportion of the male population volunteering their services and accompanying us. We had quite a difficult ride across fields where there were no paths, and numerous ditches had to be crossed, before we found, half embedded in mud and water, the two huge fragments of this great monolith, one of which measures 26 feet, and the other 16 feet 3 inches long. The face of the lower half, which is covered with hieroglyphics, measures 6 feet 9 inches at its lower end, and the sides are about 4 feet in width. At the upper part of