35 .-- Plan of fortress of Semneh.] [Illustration: Fig.

36 .-- Section of the platform at A B, of the preceding plan.] The rectangular plan, though excellent in a plain, was not always available in a hilly country.

When the spot to be fortified was situate upon a height, the Egyptian engineers knew perfectly well how to adapt their lines of defence to the nature of the site.

At Kom Ombo (fig.

33) the walls exactly followed the outline of the isolated mound on which the town was perched, and presented towards the east a front bristling with irregular projections, the style of which roughly resembles our modern bastions.