Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 3.djvu/709

 THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 685

in the land of Zdan*\ and his observations mould have reach- ed no farther, becauie they are not facl, but fanciful imagi- nations of his own ; not from any bad intention, but becaufe he never was in the way of being better informed, but de- termined not to abandon afyftem he had once formed.

HERODOTUsf mentions, that in the time of Maoris, whea the minimum came to be 8 Samian cubits, all Egypt below Memphis was overflowed, but that in his days it took 16 cubits, or at lead 15, to put the fame land in like condition for cultivation; or, in other words, the minimum, when they paid their meery, was 16, or at leafl 15 cubits in his time ; and the uncertainty of thefe two terms mews, that there were unaccountable inequalities, even in his days, as we fliall find there have been ever fince. But I mull here beg leave to afk, why we mould believe Herodotus knew the management of the Nilometer more than travellers have done fince, as he tells us conftantly throughout this part of his hiflory, that when he inquired of thepriefls concerning the Nile, they would tell him nothing about it + ?

In Moeris's time there were great lakes dug, as- Herodc-^ tus fays |, to carry off the fupcrfluous water, to what place is not faid, but furely into the defert for the ufe of the Arabs. Now, unlefs we knew what time thefe lakes were opened, to receive the ftream, we do not know whether it was the evacuation by the lake, or fcarcky of the water that impe- ded the rife of the Nile upon the Nilometer. We have no

account


 * Pfalm l.txviii, ver. 12. f Herod, eut. feft. 13. J Herod, lib. ii. kQ., 19.
 * ( Herod, lib. ii. fetf. 4. 101. and 149..