The Fayûm and Lake MœrisBrown, R. H. (Robert Hanbury)
History
The Fayûm and Lake Mœris
Brown, R. H. (Robert Hanbury)
Fayyum (Egypt) -- Description and travel; Moeris, Lake (Egypt)
Mr. Whitehouse, at the same time as he lent me his papers of 1882,
also lent me a copy of Dr. G. Schweinfurth’s letter to Paul
Ascherson on a journey undertaken in the depression of the Fayûm
in January 1886, in which letter I find I am anticipated again in
a footnote on this theory, which gives an argument not given by
Mr. Cope Whitehouse, and runs as follows:—
“Here it must be mentioned that one of the most important points
on which Linant grounds his Mœris theory is the Dams[4] which has
proved quite fallacious. The dam at Adwa (Edwah) geology shows to
be layers of gravel; the stone dam at Minia is, on the other hand,
a weir for the Bahr-el-Wady, and is evidently throughout its whole
length of later date. Besides, it fills up only the deep curves of
the ground, and has no continuation on the rising grounds.”
Dr. Schweinfurth, as well as Mr. Whitehouse, had thus pointed out
the weakness of the Linant theory, but still we find it living and
_taught_ as a true theory so late as 1890; and this is my excuse for
repeating the arguments which have not yet succeeded in overwhelming
it, notwithstanding its feebleness, so much support does it derive
from its parent being a reputed authority.
But we have public acceptance of the Linant theory so late as 1892,
and by so eminent an Egyptologist as Brugsch Pasha, who communicated
his views to the Société Khédiviale de Géographie in a paper
read in Cairo, on the 8th April, 1892, the title of the paper being
“Le Lac Mœris d’après les monuments.” A quotation from this
will show that he accepts the Linant theory.
“De nos jours, les traces visibles de cet immense bassin d’eau
(le lac Mœris) ont disparu et les savants les plus distingués se
sont en vain efforcés pendant longtemps de retrouver ses anciennes
limites sur le sol moderne de la province du Fayoum.
“L’opinion la plus généralement acceptée au sujet de sa position a
Linant pacha pour auteur. C’est lui qui, le premier, a rejeté l’idée de
reconnaître le bassin du lac Mœris dans le Birket-el-Kouroun de nos
jours, c’est-à-dire ‘le lac des Cornes,’ situé comme on sait, à l’ouest
du Fayoum. Suivant les recherches très minutieuses de l’illustre savant,
il faudrait, au contraire, se diriger vers le côté oriental de la
province susnommée, et, notamment, vers les plateaux bien connus de
Hawara et de El Lahoun, où deux pyramides construites à l’époque de
la XIIme dynastie (vers 2500 a. J.C.) excitent encore la curiosité
des voyageurs.
“H. Lepsius, mon savant compatriote qui, il y a presque cinquante
ans, a eu l’occasion d’examiner sur les lieux les résultats
obtenus par Linant pacha, n’a pas hésité à déclarer dans un
Mémoire spécial que le savant français avait fait la découverte la
plus brillante et la plus indubitable quant à la véritable position
topographique du fameux lac Mœris. Les doutes qu’il exprima à
la même occasion ne s’appliquaient qu’à l’extension du lac
vers le nord.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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