According to Pliny (v. 9), Lake Moeris was 250 miles (Mucianus says 450 miles) in circumference, and 50 paces deep; and its functions are thus described by Strabo (xvii. 1. §37): "The Lake Moeris, by its magnitude and depth, is able to sustain the superabundance of water which flows into it at the time of the rise of the river, without overflowing the inhabited and cultivated parts of the country. On the decrease of the water of the river, it distributes the excess by the same canal at each of the mouths; and both the lake and the canal preserve a remainder, which is used for irrigation. These are the natural and independent properties of the lake, but in addition, on both mouths of the canal are placed locks, by which the engineers store up and distribute the water which enters or issues from the canal."

The Bahr-Yûsuf is said by some to have been excavated under the direction of the patriarch Joseph, but there is no satisfactory evidence for this theory; strictly speaking, it is an arm of the Nile, which has always needed cleaning out from time to time, and the Yûsuf, or Joseph, after whom it is named, was probably one of the Muḥammadan rulers of Egypt. Herodotus says* of Lake Moeris, "The water in this lake does not spring from the soil, for these parts are excessively dry, but it is conveyed through a channel from the Nile, and for six months it flows into the lake, and six months out again into the Nile. And during the six months that it flows out it yields a talent of silver (£240) every day to the king's treasury from the fish ; but when the water is flowing into it, twenty minæ (£80).”

That Lake Moeris was artificially constructed is attested by many ancient writers, and Herodotus says, "That it is made and dry, this circumstance proves, for about the middle of the lake stand two pyramids, each rising 50 orgyæ above the surface of the water, and the part built

* Bk. II., 149.

under water extends to an equal depth; on each of these is placed a stone statue, seated on a throne." The pyramids here referred to can be no other than the pedestals of two large sandstone statues of Åmen-em-ḥāt III., which were set up either close by or in Lake Moeris ; remains of these were found by Prof. Petrie when carrying on excavations at Biyahmu and other places in the neighbourhood in the years 1890 and 1891.

The Pyramid of Hawâra was the tomb of Amen-em-ḥāt III.; it is built of sun-dried bricks, and even now is of considerable size. It was entered in 1890 on the south side by Prof. Petrie, who discovered the mummy chamber; the remains of what must have been the funerary temple were also found near the entrance. The Pyramid of El-lâhûn was entered by Mr. W Fraser, who found it to be the tomb of Usertsen II. ; like the Pyramid of Ḥawâra it is built of sun-dried bricks. The Labyrinth stood on the banks of Lake Moeris, and some have identified the ruins of the funerary temple of Amen-em-hat with it. Strabo (xvii. 1. § 37) declared that the tomb of the king who built the Labyrinth was near it, and describes it thus: "After proceeding beyond the first entrance of the canal. about 30 or 40 stadia, there is a table-shaped plain, with a village and a large palace composed of as many palaces as there were formerly nomes. There are an equal number of aulæ, surrounded by pillars, and contiguous to one another, all in one line, and forming one building, like a long wall having the aulæ in front of it. The entrances into the aulæ are opposite to the wall. In front of the entrances there are long and numerous covered ways, with winding passages communicating with each other, so that no stranger could find his way into the aulæ or out of them without a guide. The surprising circumstance is that the roofs of these dwellings consist of a single stone each, and that the covered ways through their whole range were roofed

in the same manner with single slabs of stone of extraordinary size, without the intermixture of timber or of any other material. On ascending the roof--which is not of great height, for it consists only of a single story-there may be seen a stone-field, thus composed of stones. Descending again and looking into the aulæ, these may be seen in a line supported by 27 pillars, each consisting of a single stone. The walls also are constructed of stones not inferior in size to them. At the end of this building, which occupies more than a stadium, is the tomb, which is a quadrangular pyramid, each side of which is about four plethra (i.e., about 404 feet) in length, and of equal height. The name of the person buried there is Imandes [Diodorus gives Mendes or Marrus]. They built, it is said, this number of aulæ, because it was the custom for all the nomes to assemble there according to their rank, with their own priests and priestesses, for the purpose of performing sacrifices and making offerings to the gods, and of administering justice in matters of great importance. Each of the nomes was conducted to the aula appointed for it." The account given by Herodotus (II., 148, Cary's translation) is as follows:

"Yet the labyrinth surpasses even the pyramids. For it has twelve courts enclosed with walls, with doors opposite each other, six facing the north, and six the south, contiguous to one another; and the same exterior wall encloses them. It contains two kinds of rooms, some under ground and some above ground over them, to the number of three thousand, fifteen hundred of each. The rooms above ground I myself went through, and saw, and relate from personal inspection. But the underground rooms I only know from report; for the Egyptians who have charge of the building would on no account show me them, saying, that there were the sepulchres of the kings who originally built this labyrinth, and of the sacred crocodiles. I can therefore only relate what I have learnt by hearsay concerning the lower rooms; but the upper ones, which surpass all human works, I myself saw; for the passage through the corridors, and the windings through the courts, from their great variety, presented a thousand occasions of wonder as

I passed from a court to the rooms, and from the rooms to the hall, and to the other corridors from the halls, and to other courts from the rooms. The roofs of all these are of stone, as also are the walls; but the walls are full of sculptured figures. Each court is surrounded with a colonnade of white stone, closely fitted. And adjoining the extremity of the labyrinth is a pyramid, forty orgyæ (about 240 feet) in height, on which large figures are carved, and a way to it has been made under ground."

A number of its ruined chambers are still visible. During the years 1890, 1891 Mr. Petrie carried out some interesting excavations at Ḥawâra, Biyahmu, El-lâhûn, Mêdûm and other sites in the Fayyûm. The funds for the purpose

were most generously provided by Mr. Jesse Haworth and Mr. Martyn Kennard.

Atfiḥ, 51 miles from Cairo, on the east bank of the Nile, marks the site of the Greek city of Aphroditopolis, the Per-nebt-ṭepu-åḥ of the ancient Egyptians, where the goddess Hathor was worshipped.

Beni Suwêf, 73 miles from Cairo, is the capital of the province bearing the same name, and is governed by a Mudîr. In ancient days it was famous for its textile fabrics, and supplied Aḥmîm and other weaving cities of Upper Egypt with flax. A main road led from this town to the Fayyûm.

About twelve miles to the north of Beni Suwêf the Bahr Yûsuf bends towards the east, and runs by the side of large mounds of ruins of houses, broken pottery, etc.; these mounds cover an area of 360 acres, and are commonly called Umm al-Kûmân, or "Mother of Heaps," though the official name is Henassîyeh al-Medina or Ahnâs. They mark the site of the great city which was called by the Egyptians www Het-Suten-henen,

or

Ḥenen-suten simply, from which the Copts made their name HC; the Greeks made the city the capital of the

nome Heracleopolites, and called it Heracleopolis. No date can be assigned for the founding of the city, but it was certainly a famous place in the early empire, and in mythological texts great importance is ascribed to it. According to Manetho the kings of the IXth and Xth dynasties were Heracleopolitans, but in the excavations which M. Naville carried on at Henassiyeh or Ahnâs he found nothing there older than the XIIth dynasty. It has been maintained that Ahnâs represents the city of Ḥânês mentioned in Isaiah xxx. 4, but the city referred to by the prophet being coupled with Zoan was probably situated in the Delta. The gods worshipped by the Egyptians at Heracleopolis were Ḥeru-shef, or Ḥeru-shefit, who dwelt in the shrine of Ân-ruț-f, Shu, Beb, Osiris, and Sekhet; at this place Osiris was first crowned, and Horus assumed the rank and dignity of his father, and the sky was separated from the earth, and from here Sekhet set out on her journey to destroy mankind because they had rebelled against Rã, the Sungod, who, they declared, had become old and incapable of ruling them rightly. The people of Heracleopolis used to worship the ichneumon, a valuable animal which destroyed the eggs of crocodiles and asps, and even the asps themselves. Strabo declares that the ichneumons used to drop into the jaws of the crocodiles as they lay basking with their mouths open and, having eaten through their intestines, issue out of the dead body.

Maghaghah, 106 miles from Cairo, is now celebrated for its large sugar manufactory, which is lighted by gas, and is well worth a visit; the manufacturing of sugar begins here early in January.

About twenty-four miles farther south, lying inland, on the western side of the Nile, between the river and the Bahr Yûsuf, is the site of the town of Oxyrhynchus, so called by the Greeks on account of the fish which they believed was worshipped there. The Egyptian name of the town