Note 18 — 4. The Artesian Water Supplies.

Lucas (‘Natural Soda Deposits in Egypt’ (Cairo, 1912), p. 15) regarded the water of the Wadi Natrun as being due to infiltration from the Nile, mainly on the ground that he supposed the water visibly entering the wadi (as small streams and trickles) to do so on the north-eastern side. But this, I think, is a mistake, as it neglects consideration of the large springs of warm fresh water which bubble up in and near the salt-lakes themselves, and also the large wells of the monasteries which lie south-west of the lakes.