Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/451

 NILUS. from the mouth of the river upon the plain of the Delta. (Diodor. i. 38 — 40.) This, however, though partially true, will not account for the inun- dation of Upper Aesypt, or for the periodical rising of the rivers N. of Aethiopia. It vras attributed to the connection of the Nile with the great South- em Ocean, whose waters, from long exposure to the sun, were deprived, it was thought, of their saline ingredients in their course through the Nile-valley. (Diodor. i. 40.) By p:phorus (ed. llarx, p. 23) it was derived from exudation through the sands; while Herodotus suggested that the vertical position of the sun in winter reduced the waters of Southern Libya to the lowest ebb. But this hypothesis kept out of sight their overflow in summer. Agatharchides of Cnidus, who wrote in the second century b. c, was the first to divine the true cause of the inundation. The rains which fall in May upon Aethiopia occasion the rise of the rivers that flow northward from it. As the sun in his progress from the equator to the tropic of Cancer becomes successively vertical over points N. of the equator, the air is heated and rarified, and the cold currents set in from the Mediterranean to restore the equihbrium. They pass over the heated plains of Aegypt ; but as soon as they reach the lofty mountains ot Abyssinia, they descend in torrents of rain. Sheets of water fall impetuously from their Jiorthern slope upon the grand tableau, from the grand tableau upon the plains which contain the sources of the White and Blue Rivers, and through their channels and confluents pass into the Nile. In the last days of June, or at the beginning of July, the rise is visible in Aegypt: about the middle of August the dykes are cut, and the flood drawn off' E. and VV. by innumerable canals ; and between the 20th and 30th of September the maximum height is attained. For a fortnight the flood re- mains stationary: about the 10th of November, it has perceptibly diminished, and continues to decrease slowly until it attains its minimum; at this time its depth at Cairo is not more than 6 feet, and in the Delta its waters are nearly st.tgnant. In the time of Herodotus (ii. 13) the height of a good Nile Tvas 15 or 16 cubits; and around the statue of the Kile, which Vespasian brought from Aegypt and set up in the Temple of Peace, were grouped sixteen diminutive figures emblematic of these measures. (Plin. xxxvi. 9. s. 14.) The rise of the Nile was carefully noted on the Nilometers at Primis (Jbrini), Elephantine, and Memphis; and the progress or de- cline of the inundation was reported by letters to diffe- rent parts of Aegypt, in order that the formers might calculate on the time when sowing might commence. A flood of the height of 30 feet is ruinous, — under- mining houses, sweeping away cattle, and destroying the produce of the fields. The land, also, is rendered too spongy for the ensuing seed-time; the labours of tillage are delayed ; and epidemic diseases arise from the lingering and stagnant waters. On the other hand, if the waters do not rise 24 feet, the harvest is scanty; and if they are below 18, terrible famines are the consequence, such as that of which Diodorus speaks (i. 84), and which are not unknown in more recent times (Volney, Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte, vol. i. ch. 11; Abdallatiph's Eist. of Egypt, p. 197, White's edit.), during which the starving population have been driven to feed on human flesh. Upper and Middle Egypt during the inundation present the appearance of a vast inland lake, bounded by mountains. But the usual means of intercourse are not interrupted, since the immediate banks of the NILUS. 43^ river are seldom under water, which is discharged through the frequent apertures of the dykes, at first upon the verge of the desert, and afterwards upon the land nearer the flood. The Delta, however, beino- devoid of hills, is, during an extraordinaryri.se, laid en- tirely under water, and the only means of communi- cation between the towns and villages are boats and rafts Herodotus (ii. 97) compares the appearance of Lower Aegypt at this season to the Aegean sea, studded by the Sporades and Cyclades. As the direct highway between the Mediterra- nean and Meroe, the Nile, in all periods, at least during the prosperous ages of Aegypt, presented a busy and animated spectacle. The Aegyptians, who shunned the sea as the element of the destroy- ing Typhon, regarded their river with affection and reverence, as the gift and emblem of the creating and preserving Osiris. Its broad and capacious bosom was in all seasons of the year studded with river-craft, from the raft of reeds to the stately Baris or Nile barges. Up the Nile to the markets of Diospolis passed the grain and fruits of the Delta; and down the stream came the quarried limestone of the Thebaid to the quays of Sais and Canopu.s. No bridge spanned the river during its course of 1500 miles; and the fen-ying over from bank to bank was an incessant cause of life and movement. The fishers and fowlers of the Nile diversified the scene. Ees})ecting the qualities of the fish there is con- siderable discrepancy among ancient writers — some describing it as coarse or insipid, others as highly nutritive and delicate in its flavour. (Athen. vii. p. 312.) Fifty-two species of fish are said to be found in the Nile. (Russegger, Jieisen, vol. i. p. 300.) Of these the genus Siimiis was the most abundant. Fish diet is well suited to the languid appetites of a hot climate; and the Israelites, when wandering in the desert, regretted the fish as weil as the vegetables of Aegypt. (Numbers, xi. 5.) They were caught in greatest abundance in the pools and lakes during the season of inundation. In the marshy districts of the Delta, where grain, owing to the spongy and bibulous character of the soil, could not be raised, the inhabitants lived prin- cipally upon fish dried in tlie sun ; and, in later times at least, they were salted, and exported in great quantities to the markets of Greece and Syria. The modes of catching them are represented in the paintings, and were the line, the net, and the prong. (See Abdallatiph, ap. Rosellini, M. C. vol. i. p. 230.) The great extent of marsh land in Aegypt, and the long continuance of the inundation, caused it beyond all other countries to abound in water- fowl. The fowlers are represented in the paintings as spreading nets, or as rowing in their boats among the aquatic plants, in which the birds nestled, and knocking them down with sticks. The use of decoy -birds was not unknown; and smoked or salted wild-fowl were an article of export. The edible water-fowl are mostly of the goose and duck (ana^) tribe; the quail also is mentioned by Herodotus (ii. 77) as among the species that were dried in the sun and slightly salted for home consumption and export. The Fauna of the Nile were the hippopotamus and the crocodile, with many lesser species of the saurian genus. In the more remote ages both were found through the whole course of the river (Diodor. i. 35), although at present the hippopo- tamus rarely descends below the second Cataract, or the crocodile below 27° N. lat. The chase of the FF 2