gods would fall down headlong, and men would perish"; his majesty was considered to be so great that it is said of him, "he cannot be sculptured in stone; he is not to be seen in the statues on which are set the crowns of the South and of the North; neither service nor oblations can be offered unto him in person; and he cannot be brought forth from his secret habitations; the place where he dwelleth is unknown; he is not to be found in the shrines whereon are inscriptions; no habitation is large enough to hold him; and he cannot be imagined by thee in thy heart." This extract is sufficient to show that the Egyptians ascribed to the god of the Nile many of the attributes of God.

Among the festivals of the ancient Egyptians that which was celebrated in honour of the Nile was of prime importance. It was believed that unless the prescribed ceremonies were performed at the right season, in the proper manner, by a duly qualified person or persons, the Nile would refuse to rise and water their lands. The festival was celebrated by all classes with the greatest honour and magnificence when the river began to rise at the summer solstice, and the rejoicings were proportionate to the height of the rise. Statues of the Nile-god were carried about through the towns and villages, so that all men might honour him and pray to him. The ancient Egyptian festival finds its equivalent among the Muḥammadans in that which is celebrated by them on the 11th day of the Coptic month Paoni, i.e., June 17, and is called Lêtet al-Nukta, or the "Night of the Drop," because it is believed that a miraculous drop then falls into the Nile and causes its rise. The astrologers and scothsayers pretend to be able to state the exact moment when the drop is to fall. Many of the Egyptians spend this night in the open air, usually on the banks of the Nile, and Mr. Lane says (Modern Egyptians, vol. II., p. 224) that the women observe a curious custom. After sunset

they place as many lumps of dough on the terrace as there are persons in the house, and each person puts his or her mark upon one of them; on the following morning each looks at the lump of dough upon which he set his mark the evening before, and if any lump be found to be cracked, it is held to be a sign that the life of the person whom it represents will soon come to an end. About a fortnight later, criers begin to go about in the streets and proclaim the height of the daily rise of the river, each being usually accompanied by a boy; they are listened to with respect, but no one believes the statements they make about the height of the rise. The criers converse with the boys that are with them, and invoke blessings upon the houses of the people before which they stand, the object being, of course, that alms may be given to them. A little before the middle of August, the criers, accompanied by little boys carrying coloured flags, announce the "Completion of the Nile," i.e., that the water reaches to the mark of the 16th cubit on the Nilometer. According to an old law the land tax cannot be exacted until the Nile rises to this height, and it is said that in old days the Government officials used to deceive the people regularly as to the height of the Nile, and demanded the tax when it was not due. The day after this announcement is made, the Cutting of the Dam at Fum al-Khalig, in Cairo, takes place. This dam is made yearly near the mouth of the Khalig Canal, and the top of it rises to the height of about 22 or 23 feet above the level of the Nile at its lowest; a short distance in front of the dam is heaped up a conical mound of earth called the arûsa or "bride," in allusion to the young virgin who, in ancient days, was cast into the river as a sacrifice, in order to obtain a plentiful inundation. This mound is always

washed away before the dam is cut. At sunrise, on the day following the "completion" of the Nile, the thickness of the dam is thinned by workmen, and at length a boat is rowed

against it, and breaking the dam passes through with the The ceremony attracts large crowds, and is usually

accompanied by singing, dancing and fireworks.

Between Wâdi Halfa and Cairo there are, on the right bank of the Nile, 312 towns and villages, and the cultivated land amounts to 381,000 feddâns*; between the same limits, on the left bank, are 1,058 towns and villages with 1,638,000 feddâns of cultivated land. The province of the Fayyûm contains 85 towns and villages, with 328,000 feddâns of cultivated land; the whole Delta contains 847 towns and villages, with 1,430,000 feddâns; east of the Delta are 1,017 towns and villages, with 1,271,000 feddâns; west of the Delta are 367 towns and villages, with 601,000 feddâns; the Isthmus of Suez contains 6 towns and villages, with 1,000 feddâns. Egypt contains an amount of land suitable for cultivation which is equal to about 8,000,000 feddâns, or 33,607 square kilomètres, or 12,976 square miles. The cultivated area of Egypt is about 5,650,000 feddâns, or 23,735 square kilomètres, the proportion for Lower and Upper Egypt being 3,303,000 feddâns, with a population of 5,675,109 inhabitants, and 2,347,000 feddâns, with a population of 4,058,296 inhabitants. That is to say, for every 127 inhabitants there are 100 feddâns of cultivated land. According to Mr. Willcocks (Egyptian Irrigation, p. 17) the summer crops for the whole of Egypt cover 2,046,500 acres, and yield £15,177,500; the flood crops cover 1,510,000 acres, and yield £6,870,000; and the winter crops cover 4,260,000 acres, and yield £17,013,000; the whole area of 5,750,000 acres has a gross yield of £39,060,500, or £7 per acre.

* The faddân or feddân, Arab.

a pair of oxen can plough in a day.

is the amount of land which

The feddân contains 4,200

square metres, or about 5,082 square yards, and fortieth part of an acre.

rather less than one

In connection with the Nile may be fittingly mentioned the Oases, for it is probable that, in addition to the springs which are found in these natural depressions in the desert, a quantity of water finds its way to them by underground channels from the Nile. The Egyptian for an oasis was

ut, or perhaps uḥet; from this was derived the

Coptic or¿¿€, and the Arabic

(plur.). In

Ptolemaïc times seven oases were enumerated,* and their hieroglyphic names are as follows:

:

1. The Oasis of Kenemet is called to-day AlKhârgeh, and lies almost due west of the town of Esneh, at a distance of about four days' journey; it is best known by the name of the "Great Oasis." Population in 1897, 7,200. The name "Oasis of the South" was given to it to distinguish it from the "Oasis of

the North." The ancient name of the chief town was Hebt, and the principal object of interest in the

* The texts are given by Dümichen in Die Oasen der Libyschen Wüste; Strassburg, 1877.

Oasis is the ruined ancient Egyptian temple, wherein the god Amen-Ra was worshipped. The temple was founded by Darius I. Hystaspes (B.C. 521-486), and finished by Darius II. Nothus (B.C. 425-405), and restored by Nectanebus I. (B.C. 378-360), the first king of the XXXth dynasty. The scenes on the walls represent these kings making offerings and adoring a number of the great gods and goddesses of Egypt, e.g., Ånen-Rā, Mut, Temu, Uatchit, Menthu, RāHarmachis, Khensu, Khnemu, Isis, Osiris, Anhur-Shu, Nephthys, etc. Among the inscriptions worthy of special interest are the famous Hymn to the Sun-god which was inscribed on the walls of a small chamber in the temple, and a text written in the so-called enigmatical writing. It

is interesting to note too the rare prenomen (02)

Settu-Rā, which is here applied to one of the Darius kings (Brugsch, Reise, pl. VIII.). In other parts of the Oasis are a number of ruins of Roman and Christian buildings, and, as political offenders were banished there by the various rulers of Egypt, and Christians fled there for refuge, this is not to be wondered at; the ruins of a Roman fort suggest that the Oasis was used for garrison purposes at one period.

2. The Oasis of Tchestcheset is called to-day Dâkhel, and lies to the west of Al-Khârgeh, at a distance of about four days' journey; it is best known by the name of Oasis Minor. Population in 1897, 17,090. The chief town of this Oasis was called Auset Åāḥet, "the seat of the Moongod," and the principal object of worship was the god ÅmenRā, "Åmen-Ra, lord of the

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country of the Moon." The ruins prove that the temple was founded and restored by Titus and other Roman Emperors.

3. The Oasis of Farâfra lies to the north-west of the Great Oasis, and there seems to be little doubt that it