Of course Major Brown could not write of the Fayûm without introducing the mystic Lake Mœris. Herodotus does not lie when he tells of the things he has actually seen, and he says he saw Lake Mœris. So it must have existed. But where was it? That is the question that has been asked from one generation to another. In the following pages Major Brown, in simple, straightforward language, gives his opinion, and the reader may be sure that he does not talk of what he does not know. Whether his conclusions are correct or not, this account of the Fayûm is an important addition to our knowledge of the subject. COLIN SCOTT-MONCRIEFF, _Late Under-Secretary of State, Public Works Ministry, Cairo._ LONDON, _September 1st_, 1892. CONTENTS. * * * * * INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER I. THE FAYÛM OF TO-DAY 5 CHAPTER II. ANCIENT TESTIMONY ABOUT LAKE MŒRIS 19 CHAPTER III. THEORIES AS TO WHERE AND WHAT LAKE MŒRIS WAS 25 GENERAL REMARKS, 25 — LINANT THEORY, 28 — COPE WHITEHOUSE THEORY, 40 — LINANT’S OBJECTIONS TO THEORY FAVOURED, 48 — W. M. F. PETRIE’S VIEWS, 56 CHAPTER IV. HISTORY OF THE FAYÛM PROVINCE 61 THE FAYÛM BEFORE LAKE MŒRIS, 61 — THE FAYÛM AS LAKE MŒRIS, 69 — TRANSFORMATION OF LAKE MŒRIS TO THE FAYÛM OF TO-DAY, 94 CHAPTER V. THE FAYÛM IN THE FUTURE, AND POSSIBLE UTILISATION OF THE WADI RAIÂN 105 LIST OF PLATES. * * * * * PLATE PAGE Old Lahûn Regulator. _From a Photograph taken by the Author._ _Frontispiece_ I. The Bahr Yûsuf skirting the Libyan Desert. _From a Photograph taken by the Author_ _To face_ 9 II. Bazar Street Bridge, Medinet-el-Fayûm. _From a Photograph taken by the Author_ _To face_ 11 III. Tunnel on Bahr Yûsuf. _From a Photograph taken by the Author._ _To face_ 13 IV. Water-wheels on Canal Tamîyah. _From a Photograph taken by the Author_ _To face_ 15 V. Diagrams of two kinds of Water-wheels 15 VI. Nasbah Mitertaris. _From a Photograph taken by the Author_ _To face_ 17 VII. Map showing the “Linant” Lake Mœris 29