rabian hills, from Gebel Mokattam to Gebel
Geneffeh, were its boundaries on the east, while a sinuous and shallow
channel running between Africa and Asia united the Mediterranean to
the Red Sea. Westward, the littoral followed closely the contour of the
Libyan plateau; but a long limestone spur broke away from it at about
31 deg. N., and terminated in Cape Abukir. The alluvial deposits first
tilled up the depths of the bay, and then, under the influence of the
currents which swept along its eastern coasts, accumulated behind that
rampart of sand-hills whose remains are still to be seen near Benha.
Thus was formed a miniature Delta, whose structure pretty accurately
corresponded with that of the great Delta of to-day. Here the Nile
divided into three divergent streams, roughly coinciding with the
southern courses of the Rosetta and Damietta branches, and with the
modern canal of Abu Meneggeh. The ceaseless accumulation of mud brought
down by the river soon overpassed the first limits, and steadily
encroached upon the sea until it was carried beyond the shelter
furnished by Cape Abukir. Thence it was gathered into the great littoral
current flowing from Africa to Asia, and formed an incurvated coast-line
ending in the headland of Casios, on the Syrian frontier. From that time
Egypt made no further increase towards the north, and her coast remains
practically such as it was thousands of years ago:[*] the interior
alone has suffered change, having been dried up, hardened, and gradually
raised. Its inhabitants thought they could measure the exact length of
time in which this work of creation had been accomplished. According
to the Egyptians, Menes, the first of their mortal kings, had found, so
they said, the valley under water. The sea came in almost as far as the
Fayum, and, excepting the province of Thebes, the whole country was
a pestilential swamp. Hence, the necessary period for the physical
formation of Egypt would cover some centuries after Menes. This is
no longer considered a sufficient length of time, and some modern
geologists declare that the Nile must have worked at the formation of
its own estuary for at least seventy-four thousand years.[**]

* Elie de Beaumont, "The great distinction of the Nile Delta
lies in the almost uniform persistence of its coast-line....
The present sea-coast of Egypt is little altered from that
of three thousand years ago." The latest observations
prove i