Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/382

 366 ]rOERIS LACUS. king of the same name. This supposition is in- credible, and runs counter both to local tradition and actual observation. " Nothing," sa_vs a modern traveller (Browne, Travels in Egypt, p. 169), "can present an appearance so unlike the works of men. On the NE. and S. is a rocky ridge, in every ap- pearance primeval;" and Strabo (svii. p. 112) ob- serves upon the marine conformation of its shores and the billowy colour and motion of its waters. So far as it has been hitherto surveyed, indeed, JJoeris is known to have been inclosed by ele- vated lands ; and, in early times, the bed of the Nile was too low to admit of its waters flowing into the basin of the lake, even if there had been a natural communication between the river and Moeris. Strabo believed it to be altogether a natural reservoir, and that the canal which con- nected it with the Nile was alone the work of human art. His opinion is doubtless the correct one, but admits perhaps of some modification. The whole of the Ai-sinoite nome was indebted to human enter- pnse for much of its extent and fertility. Geologi- cally speaking, it was, in remote periods, a vast limestone valley, the reservoir of waters descending from the encompassing hills, and probably, if con- nected with the Nile at all, the communication was subterraneous. As the accumulated waters gradually subsided, the summits and sides of the higher ground were cultivated. The richness of the soil — a deposit of clay and muriate of lime, like that of the Oases — would induce its occupiers in eveiy age to rescue the land from the lake, and to run dams and embankments into the water. In the dry season, therefore, Moeris would exhibit the spectacle of a body of water intersected by peninsulas, and broken by islands, while, at the period of inundation, it would wear the aspect of a vast basin. Ac- cordingly, the accounts of eye-witnesses, such as were Strabo and Herodotus, would vary according to the season of the year in which they ijispected it. iMoreover, there are grounds for supposing that ancient travellers did not always distinguish between the connecting canal, the Bahr-JmiiJ] and Moeris itself. The canal was unquestionably constructed by man's labour, nor would it present any insupe- rable difficulties to a people so laborious as the Aegyptians. There was also a further motive for redeeming the Moeriote district generally, for the lands opposite to it, on the eastern bank of the Nile, ■were generally barren, being either a sandy level or stone quarries, while the soil of the Arsinoite Home was singularly fertile, and suited to various crops, corn, vegetables, and fruit. If then we dis- tinguish, as Strabo did, the canal (SicJpul) from the lake {Xi/xpri), the ancient narratives may be easily reconciled with one another and with modern surveys. Even the words of Herodotus (oti Se xf'P"0'')os ecTTt Koi opuKjij) may apply to the canal, which ■was of considerable extent, beginning at Hermopolis (^Ashmuneen), and running 4 leagues W., and then turning from N. to S. for 3 leagues more, until it reaches the lake. Modern writers frequently reproach the ancients with assigning an incredible extent to the lake; and some of them surmise that Herodotus and Strabo do not speak of the same waters. But the moderns have mostly restricted themselves to the canal, and have either not explored Moeris itself, the NW shores of which are scarcely known, or have not made allowance for its dimi- mition by the encroaching sands and the detritus of fallen embankments. JIOERIS LACUS. We infer, therefore, that the lake Jloeris is a natural lake, about the size of that of Geneva, and was originally a depression of the limestone plateau, which intersects in this latitude the valley of the Nile. Even in its diminished extent it is still at least 30 miles long, and 7 broad. Its direction is from SW. to NE., with a considerable curve or elbow to the E. The present level of its surface is nearly the same with that of the Mediterranean, with which indeed, according to a tradition mentioned by Herodotus, it was connected by a subterranean outlet into the Syrtes. If the lake, indeed, ever discharged any portion of its waters into the sea, it must have been in pre-historic times. The waters of Moeris are impregnated with the alkaline salts of the neighbouring desert, and with the depositions — muriate of lime — of the sur- rounding hills. But, although brackish, they are not so saline as to be noxious to fish or to the crocodile, which in ancient times were kept in preserves, and tamed by the priests of the Arsinoite nome. (Strab. xvii. p. 11-2; Aelian, Hist. A. s. 24.) The fish- eries of the lake, especially at the point where the sluices regulated the influx of the Bahr-Jusnf, were very productive. The revenue derived from them ■was, in the Pharaonic era, applied to the purchase of the queen's wardrobe and perfumes. Under the Persian kings they yielded, during the season of inundation, when the canal fed the lake, a talent of silver daily to the royal treasury (150?.). During the rest of the year, ■n-hen the waters ebbed towards the Nile, the rent was 30 minae, or 60Z., daily. In modem times the right of fishing in the Birket-el- Kerim has been farmed for 13 purses, or about 84?., yearly. (Laborde, Btvue Franqaise, 1829, p. 67.) It is probable, indeed, that a copious infusion of Nile water is required to render that of Moeris pdatable to man, or salutary for fish. To Thoutraosis III. the Aegyptians •were pro- bably indebted for the canal which connected the lake of Moeris with the Nile. It may have been, in part, a natural channel, but its dykes and em- bankments were constructed and kept in repair by man. There is, indeed, some difficulty respecting the influx and reflux of the water, since the level of the Bahr-Jusiif is much higher than that of the Arsinoite nome and the lake ; and Herodotus seems to say (ii. 149) that the waters returned by the same channel by which they entered Moeris. As mention is made, however, of sluices at their point of junction, it is possible that a series of floodgates retained or impelled the water. The main dyke ran between the Memphite and Arsinoite nomes. Belzoni found remains of ancient cities on tlie western side of Moeris, and is disposed to place the Great Labyrinth in that quarter. But if we may trust the accounts of the best ancient writers, it certainly was not on that side of the lake. Its shores and islands were, however, covered with buildings. Of the ruins of Arsinoe mention has been made already. But Herodotus tells an extra- ordinary story of pyramids seated in the lake itself (I. c.) : — " About the middle of it are two pyramids, each rising 300 feet above the water; the part that is under the water is just the same height. On the top of each is a colossus of stone seated in a chair." This account is singular, as implying that pyramidal buildings were sometimes eniployed as the bases of statues. But it is impossible to re- concile this statement with the ascertained depth tf the Birket-el-Kei un, which on an average does