Length
of course.		Fall.Fall in
inches
per mile.
Miles. F.Feet. in.
From Wallingford to Reading Bridge,18·024·115·72
From Reading to Henley Bridge,9·019·325·68
From Henley to Marlow Bridge,9·012·216·20
From Marlow to Maidenhead Bridge,8·015·122·32
From Maidenhead to Windsor Bridge,7·013·623·16
From Windsor to Staines Bridge,8·015·823·52
From Staines to Chertsey Bridge,4·66·617·28
From Chertsey to Teddington Lock,13·619·817·40
77·4125·11

“In general, the velocity may be estimated at from half-a-mile to two miles and three-quarters per hour; but the mean velocity may be reckoned at two miles per hour. In the year 1794, the late Mr Rennie found the velocity of the Thames at Windsor two miles and a half per hour.”[69]

It will thus be seen that the velocity of the Nile is probably greatly inferior to that of the Thames; for it appears that, except during the inundation, for more than half the year the depth is inconsiderable. The average fall when greatest, that is, including the province of Batn-el-Hadjar, where the rapids chiefly occur, is considerably less than that of any part of the above course of the Thames; so that there must be long intervals between the rapids where the fall must be far less than 13 inches in a mile. The breadth of the Nile is vastly greater; but supposing the depth of the water to be the same as that of the Thames, on account of the friction of the bed, the greater breadth would add very little to the velocity. If we assume the average depth of the Thames in the above distance to be 5 feet, and that it flows with an average velocity of 2 miles in an hour, and if we assume the average depth of the Nile in that part of its course where the fall is 13·12 inches to be 10 feet, when not swollen by the rise, the velocity would be 2⅘ miles nearly in an hour,[70] if the fall were equal to that of the Thames. We shall probably come near the truth, by assuming the velocity of the Nile on this part at 2 miles in an hour. That it must be considerably less in the other divisions of the course I have named, and especially in that part immediately below the second cataract, where the average fall is only 5·30 inches for a distance of 96 miles, is quite evident.

The power of a river to abrade the soil over which it flows, so far as water is by itself capable of doing so, must depend upon its volume and velocity, and the degree of hardness of the material acted upon. The power is increased when the water has force enough to transport hard substances. But even transported gravel has little action on the rocks with which it comes in contact, when it is free to move in running water, unless the fall be considerable, and, consequently, the velocity and force of the stream great. When stones are firmly set in moving ice, they then acquire a great erosive power, cutting and wearing down the rocks they are forcibly rubbed against; but this condition never obtains in Lower Nubia, as ice is unknown there.

[61] Description de l'Égypte.—Separate Memoir entitled, “Description de Syène et des Cataractes.”

[62] Russegger, Bd. ii., 3 Thl. 85.

[63] Russegger, Bd. ii., 3 Thl. 76.

[64] Travels, p. 257.

[65] Wanderungen durch das Nilthal, von G. Parthey, Berlin 1840. 378.

[66] Travels, pp. 9 and 11.