_The Fayûm Depression._—The Fayûm Province has the shape of a leaf, (see Plate XIX.) of which the Bahr Yûsuf, from its entrance at Lahûn to its end at Medineh, forms the stalk, and the different canals, branching from Medineh, the veins. The province is generally described as being formed of three plateaux, but this description can only properly be applied to that part of the Fayûm, most rich in Nile deposit, which lies between the main south drain (Wadi Nezlah) and the main north-east drain (the Bahr Bilamâ or Wadi Tamîyah). The lower section given on Plate XI., which is typical of this part of the Fayûm, shows the three plateaux, and gives the different surface inclinations. The contoured diagram, Plate XIX., also shows the conformation of the Fayûm Province. The two strips of land outside the main drainage lines have a different character, and considerably less Nile deposit (see Map). Medineh, the chief town of the Fayûm, from which most of its canals and roads radiate, stands on ground (R.L. 22·50) three to four metres lower than the land of the Nile Valley in the neighbourhood of Lahûn, where the Bahr Yûsuf turns westward to enter the Fayûm. From Medineh for 8 kilometres the country surface slope is 1 in 1400, for the next 4 kilometres 1 in 666, and then 1 in 150, till the Birket-el-Qurûn (Lake of the Horns) is reached. This lake occupies the lowest part of the Fayûm, and at the beginning of 1892 its water surface level was 43·30 metres below mean sea; while the bed of the lake is 5 metres lower at least.[1] The Fayûm and Wadi Raiân together are everywhere encircled by a continuous range of hills, except where the Bahr Yûsuf enters through the gap in the Libyan Hills, and also towards the north of the Fayûm, where the height of the hills becomes less, but where there is probably no gap lower than R.L. 30, though this has not been actually established by levelling. _The Birket-el-Qurûn and Evaporation._—Such being the physical features of the Fayûm, it is evident that there is no outflow for the drainage of the province. All the drainage (except that of the Gharaq Basin) finds its way into the Birket-el-Qurûn and there evaporates. The present surface area of the lake is not accurately known, but being about 40 kilometres long by 5 broad, the area is about 200 square kilometres (78 square miles). Notwithstanding the considerable quantity of water that drains into the lake during the twelve months of the year, its level has fallen steadily of late years. The following table gives the measure of the fall from the first of March of one year to the first of March of the next. LEVEL ON 1ST MARCH. Year. Metres below Sea. Fall. 1885 39·80 1886 40·00 ·20 1887 40·38 ·38 1888 40·73 ·35