Naqada and Ballas; 1895

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1896 edition. Excerpt: ...Any soldier employed by Egyptians must have had some contact with them, have used some Egyptian objects or weapons, and probably have been recompensed by some Egyptian products. Yet not any Egyptian things, of any kind whatever, were found among these people, nor even the simplest Egyptian arts, such as the potter's wheel; they had no intercourse with the former inhabitants, but were entirely independent. CHAPTER IX. DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. By Messrs. Petrie and Quibell. 56. Pl. I. Ballas to Naqada.--This map will shew the general relation of the places. The belt of cultivation varies from miles wide at Ballas to 3 miles opposite Nubt; while the desert plain back to the cliffs averages about 3 miles in width. This desert rises in a low terrace to a plateau about 30 feet above the Nile plain, and then gradually slopes upward until it is broken into a maze of foot hills at about 2 miles back. High above these rise the cliffs to 1400 feet, in many parts quite inaccessible, with ranges of precipices some hundreds of feet high. These cliff's form the river front to the great Libyan plateau, which is intersected with stream-courses and valleys. The valleys run down westward in the plateau, and open out in the Nile valley far to the north, while the valley-heads reach up to the cliffface, and often break the outline of that with dips and slopes. The plain below the cliffs is intersected with drainage lines or gullies, running down to the edge of the cultivated land, and thus cutting sections through the bed of old high-Nile gravels, marlsi and mud, which form the edge of the desert. I A. Positions of cemeteries, etc.--The dyke at the extreme north of the map is a modern dyke which leads down to the river and divides the plain into separate areas for...