Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/446

 412 pliny's natueal histoet. meaning of " side^" It does not obtain the name of " Mle'* until its waters have again met and are united in a single stream ; and even then, for some miles both above and below the point of confluence, it has the name of Siris. Homer has given to the whole of this river the name of JEgyptus, while other writers again have called it Triton^. Every now and then its course is interrupted by islands which intervene, and which only serve as so many incentives to add to the impetuosity of its torrent ; and though at last it is hemmed in by mountains on either side, in no part is the tide more rapid and precipitate. Its waters then hasten- ing onwards, it is borne along to the spot in the country of the ^Ethiopians which is known by the name of "Catadupi^ ;" where, at the last Cataract*, the complaint is, not that it flows, but that it rushes, with an immense noise between the rocks that lie in its way : after which it becomes more smooth, the violence of its waters is broken and subdued, and, wearied out as it were by the length of the distance it has travelled, it discharges itself, though by many mouths^, into the Eg}^tian sea. During certain days of the year, how- ever, the volume of its waters is greatly increased, and as it traverses the whole of Egypt, it inundates the earth, and, by so doing, greatly promotes its fertility. There have been various reasons suggested for this increase of the river. Of these, however, the most probable are, hitherto satisfactorily ascertained. The Astapus is supposed to have been really the name of the Bahr-el-Azrek, or Blue River, the third branch of the Nile, the sources of which are in the liiglilands of Abys- sinia, in about 11° 40' north lat, and 39° 40' east long. ^ Or " side of the water that issues from the shades." As Hardouin says, this does not appear to be a very satisfactory explanation. 2 Said by Tzetzes to have been derived from the Greek rptVos, '* the third," because it had three times changed its name : having been called, first, the Ocean ; secondly, Aetus, or the Eagle ; and thhdly, ^gyptus. 3 Or the " Cataracts," for which it is the G-reek name. The most northerly of these cataracts, called the First Cataract, is, and always has been, the southern boundary of Egypt. According to the most recent accomits, these Cataracts are devoid of any stupendous features, sucli as characterize the Falls of Niagara. ^ The one now called the First Cataract. ^ Seven mouths in ancient times, which have now dwindled down to two of any importance, the Damietta mouth on the east, and the Rosetta on the west.