Page:Philosophical Transactions - Volume 145.djvu/149

MR. HORNER ON THE ALLUVIAL LAND OF EGYPT. 133 surface of the ground to the level of the filtration water, was 12 feet 3 inches, and a vertical section exhibits the following varieties:- Speci- Feet. Inches. men. 1. 6 7 The surface layer of Nile mud. A blackish brown, fine-grained, indurated earth, not distinguishable from the sample No. I ., and the analysed standard specimen F; neither is it distinguishable from layer 1. in Excavation A. 2. 1 10 A grey, sandy, pumiceous-looking earth, effervescing briskly with acid, and when moistened, kneading into a plastic clay. Except in being darker in colour, it closely resembles sample No. XVII. in all its characters. 3. 3 10 A (lark brownish black sandy earth, closely resembling the an'alysedstandard speci- men B, which is a superficial Nile mud. Both effervesce with acid. 12 3 Level of the filtration water. 4. ... ... This specimen was obtained from under the surface of the filtration water, at a depth of about a foot. It is identical with the layer above, No. 3 . Here we have 13 feet 3 inches of Nile mud. EXCAVATION C.-6 84 yards distant from B, and 784 yards due west of the obelisk. In this locality ten men were set to work, while others were employed at the exca- vations A, B and D. A trench was cut from. north to south, across the line of the supposed avenue of Sphinxes, and in the progress of the excavation they came upon numerous blocks of stone, the remains of a pavement,and even fragments of a colossal Sphinx, which interruptedthe regularvertical sinking. The excavations were carried round these obstructions, on the north of the trench to the depth of 12 feet 9 inches, on the south to the depth of 13 feet 10 inches from the surface to the level of the filtration water. Vertical sections of the soils sunk through exhibit the following varieties :