26 THE NILE, Boox II. take the boundary-line commonly received by the Greeks,10 we must regard Egypt as divided, along its whole length from Elephantiné and the Cataracts to Cercasôrus, into two parts, each belonging to a different portion of the world, one to Asia, the other to Libya; since the Nile divides Egypt in two from the Cataracts to the sea, running as far as the city of Cercasôrus1 in a single stream, but at that point separating into three branches, whereof the one which bends eastward is 10 That is, the course of the Nile; which is made the boundary by Strabo (ii. p. 170), Mela (i. 1, 2, and 4), Dionysius Periegetes (1. 230), and, in one place, by Agathemer (i. 1). Scylax (Peripl. p. 105) and Pliny (H. N. v. 9) agree with Herodotus in assigning the whole of Egypt to Asia. Ptolemy (Geog. i. 1) is the first extant geographer who formally assigns the Red Sea and the Isthmus of Suez as the true boundary. In this he is followed by the Armenian Geography (§ 16), and, in his description of the three continents, by Agathemer (ii. 6, 7). 1 Strabo calls it Cercesura, others Cercasorum. It is noticed again in chs. 15 and 97. Strabo shows it to have been in the same parallel as Heliopolis; and Herodotus considers the Delta to end at Heliopolis (ii. 7), which brings the point of the Delta nearly opposite the present Shoobra. Here the river separated into three branches, the Pelusiac or Bubastite to the E., the Canopic or Heracleotic to the W., and the Sebennytic, which ran between them, continuing in the same general line of direction northward which the Nile had up to this point, and piercing the Delta through its centre. The Tanitic, which ran out of the Sebennytic, was at first the same as the Busiritic, but afterwards received the name of Tanitic, from the city of Tanis (now San), which stood on its eastern bank; and between the Tanitic and Pelusiac branches was the isle of Myecphoris, which Herodotus says was opposite Bubastis (ii. 166). The Mendesian, which also ran eastward from the Sebennytic, passed by the modern town of Mansoorah, and thence runing by Mendes (from which it was called) entered the sea to the W. of the Tanitic. The Bolbitine mouth was that of the modern Rosetta branch, as the Bucolic or Phatmetic was that of Damietta, and the lower parts of both these branches were artificial, or made by the hand of man; on which account, though Herodotus mentions seven, he confines the number of the mouths of the Nile to five. These two artificial outlets of the Nile are the only ones now remaining, the others having either disappeared, or being dry in most places during the summer; and this fact seems to confirm an otherwise inexplicable prophecy of Isaiah (xi. 15), thought by some to apply to the Euphrates (He) "shall smite it in its seven streams, and make men go over dry-shod." Most ancient writers agree in reckoning seven mouths, the order of which, beginning from the E., was-1. the Pelusiac or Bubastite; 2. the Saïtic or Tanitic; 3. the Mendesian; 4. the Bucolic or Phatmetic (now of Damietta); 5. the Sebennytic; 6. the Bolbitine (now of Rosetta); 7. the Canopic or Heracleotic; but eleven are mentioned by Pliny, to which he adds four others called "false mouths." Most of these false mouths are described by Strabo as very shallow, being probably dry in summer; and there is reason to believe that the three great mouths were the Pelusiac, the Sebennytic, and the Canopic, which last was originally the only one (Herod. ii. 179) which 2 27 called the Pelusiac mouth, and that which slants to the west, the Canobic. Meanwhile the straight course of the stream, which comes down from the upper country and meets the apex of the Delta, continues on, dividing the Delta down the middle, and empties itself into the sea by a mouth, which is as celebrated, and carries as large a body of water, as most of the others, the mouth called the Sebennytic. Besides these there are two other mouths which run out of the Sebennytic called respectively the Saïtic and the Mendesian. The Bolbitine mouth, and the Bucolic, are not natural branches, but channels made by excavation. 18. My judgment as to the extent of Egypt is confirmed by an oracle delivered at the shrine of Ammon, of which I had no knowledge at all until after I had formed my opinion. It happened that the people of the cities Marea and Apis, who live in the part of Egypt that borders on Libya, took a dislike to the religious usages of the country concerning sacrificial animals, and wished no longer to be restricted from eating the flesh of cows. So, as they believed themselves to be Libyans and not Egyptians, they sent to the shrine to say that, having strangers were allowed to enter. See note 8 on ch. 178.-[G. W.] * From the Greek word for "mouth," σTóμa, or from the Latin ostium, the Arabs have given the name ostoóm or oshtoóm to each of the mouths of the Nile, with its regular plural ashateém. The o is prefixed from the repugnance of Arabic to words beginning with s followed by another consonant. Thus too the French has étable, école, état, the Spanish ispejo, and even the Italian places lo instead of il before specchio.-[G. W.] 3 The town of Marea stood near the lake, to which it gave the name Mareotis (see note 6 ch. 6). It was cele. brated for the wine produced in its vicinity, which appears to be included in the "wine of the Northern country," so often mentioned in the lists of offerings in the Egyptian tombs. Strabo says, "in this district is the greatest abundance of wine," which is confirmed by Athenaeus, πολλὴ δὲ ἡ περὶ τὴν γὴν ταύτην ἄμπελος. Virgil (Georg. ii. 91) says, "Sunt Thasia vites, sunt et Mareotides albæ;" and the expression of Horace, "lymphatam Mareotico," meaning " Egyptian wine," points it out as the most noted of that country. Athenæus says, "its colour is white, its quality excellent, and it is sweet and light, with a fragrant bouquet, by no means astringent, nor affecting the head;" and Strabo gives it the additional merit of keeping to a great age. Athenæus, however, considers it inferior to the Teniotic; and that of Anthylla appears to have been preferred to it and to all others. See below n.5 on ch. 37, n.5 on ch. 60, and n.1 on ch. 77.-[G. W.] 4 Though oxen were lawful food to the Egyptians, cows and heifers were forbidden to be killed, either for the 28 WIDTH OF THE INUNDATION. Book II. nothing in common with the Egyptians, neither inhabiting the Delta nor using the Egyptian tongue, they claimed to be allowed to eat whatever they pleased. Their request, however, was refused by the god, who declared in reply that Egypt was the entire tract of country which the Nile overspreads and irrigates, and the Egyptians were the people who lived below Elephantiné, and drank the waters of that river. 19. So said the oracle. Now the Nile, when it overflows, floods not only the Delta, but also the tracts of country on both sides of the stream, which are thought to belong to Libya and Arabia, in some places reaching to the extent of two days' journey from its banks, in some even exceeding that distance, but in others falling short of it. Concerning the nature of the river, I was not able to gain any information either from the priests or from others. I was particularly anxious to learn from them why the Nile, at the commencement of the summer solstice, begins to rise, and altar or the table, being consecrated 5 Syene and Elephantiné were the real frontier of Egypt on the S.; Egypt extending "from the tower (Migdol) of Syene" to the sea (Ezek. xxix. 10). When the frontier was extended southward by the conquests of the Pharaohs, lower Ethiopia to the second cataract (the modern Nubia) was still considered out of Egypt, though part of its dominions; and the places there are often designated as "foreign."-[G. W.] By the "tracts thought to belong to Libya and Arabia," Herodotus means the lands about the lake Mareotis, and those on the canal which communicated with the Red Sea, as well as on the E. bank of the Pelusiac branch.-[G. W.] 7 Herodotus was surprised that the Nile should rise in the summer solstice and become low in winter.. In the latitude of Memphis it begins to rise at the end of June; about the 10th of August it attains to the height requisite for cutting the canals and admitting it into the interior of the plain; and it is generally at its highest about the end of September. This makes from 92 to 100 days, as Herodotus states. At the Cataracts the first rise is perceived some time sooner, about the end of May or the beginning of June, which led Seneca to say that "the first increase of the Nile was observable about the islands of Philæ." But in proportion as you go higher into Ethiopia, the inundation is earlier, and at Khartoom it begins about the 2nd of May, or, CHAP. 18, 19. CAUSE OF THE INUNDATION. 29 continues to increase for a hundred days-and why, as soon as that number is past, it forthwith retires and contracts its stream, continuing low during the whole of the winter until the summer solstice comes round again. On none of these points could I obtain any explanation from the inhabitants, 8 though I made every inquiry, wishing to know what was commonly reported-they could neither tell me what special virtue the Nile has which makes it so opposite in its nature to according to some, "early in April." But it sometimes happens that it rises a little and then falls again before the regular inundation sets in, which is owing to partial rains in the upper part of its course. In Egypt the first change from the previous clearness of the stream in May is observed in its red and turbid colour, and it soon afterwards assumes a green appearance, when the water is no longer considered wholesome. For this reason a supply previously laid up in jars was then used by the ancient Egyptians until it reassumed a turbid but wholesome red colour; which explains an exaggerated remark of Aristides (Orat. Egypt. vol. ii.) that the Egyptians are the only people who preserve water in jars, and calculate its age as others do that of wine. It was not long before the water of the river became wholesome again, and the latter part of his assertion, respecting its improvement by age when preserved in jars, is only one of those antitheses in which the Greeks delighted. In large reservoirs it may be kept two or three years, as in some houses of Cairo, but not improved like wine. Though very wholesome, the water of the Nile sometimes disagrees for a few days with strangers, or with persons who have sojourned for a few months in the desert; which accounts for the Persians having brought water into Egypt from Asia, and agrees with the remark of Athenæus (Deipn. ii. p. 41), who attributes it to the nitre it contains. On the supposed causes of inundation, see Eur. Hel. i. 3; Athen. ii. p. 278 seq. ed. Bip.; and Palmerius n. in Oudendorp's Lucan, b. x. 215 seq.-[G. W.] 8 The cause of the inundation is the water that falls during the rainy sea. son in Abyssinia; and the range of the tropical rains extends even as far N. as latitude 17° 43'. Homer was therefore right in giving to the Nile the epithet of διϊπετέος ποταμοίο, and the passages quoted from the Koran relating to "the water sent by God from Heaven," inscribed on the Nilometer of the isle of Roda, show that the Arabs were at a very early time correctly informed respecting the cause of the inundation. In the highlands of Abyssinia the rains continue from the middle of June to the middle of September, but at the sources of the White river the rains seem to set in about the middle of March, and also to last three months. The Bahr el-Azrek, together with the more northerly Atbara, and their tributary streams, continue their supply of water from Abyssinia until the end of the inundation. The two main branches of the Southern Nile are the Bahr-elA'biad and the Bahr-el-Azrek, which unite at the modern Khartoóm, a new town on the point of land, about 160 miles to the N. of Sennár; but though the latter is the smaller of the two, it is the one which possesses the real characteristics of the Nile, having the same black alluvial deposit, and the same beneficent properties when it inundates the land. The White river, on the contrary, has a totally different character, and its waters possess none of those fertilizing quali ties for which the Nile is celebrated; 30 THEORIES OF THE GREEKS. BOOK II. all other streams, nor why, unlike every other river, it gives forth no breezes 9 from its surface. 20. Some of the Greeks, however, wishing to get a reputation for cleverness, have offered explanations of the phenomena and this is probably the reason why the source of the Abyssinian branch has been so often looked upon as the real "fountain of the Nile." The names (Bahr el) Abiad and Azrek appear to signify the "white" and "black" rather than the "white" and "blue" (river). For though Aswed is commonly put in opposition to Abiad (as "black" and "white"), Azrek, which is properly "blue," is also used for what we call "jet black;" and Hossán Azrek is a "dark black," not a "blue horse." It is true that "blue" is applied to rivers, as Nil ab, "blue water" (or "river ") to the Indus, and the Sutlej is still the "blue river;" but the name Azrek seems to be given to the Abyssinian branch to distinguish it from the Western or White Nile. Neel, or Nil, itself signifies "blue," and indigo is therefore "Neeleh; "but the word is Indian, not Arabic, Nila in Sanscrit being "blue." Though the Greeks called the river "Nile," as the Arabs do, that name is not found in the hieroglyphics, where the God Nilus and the river are both called " Hapi." That god, however, is coloured blue. The Hindoo Puranas also call the Nile "Nila;" but it was not an old Egyptian name, and those writings are of late date. It is called in Coptic iaro, "river," or iom, "sea" (cp. 'Keavós), analogous to the modern Arabic name bahr, "river," properly sea (see note 1 on ch. 111). Nahum (iii. 3) speaks of "populous No (Thebes) whose rampart was the sea." The resemblance of the name Hapi, "Nilus," and the bull-god Hapi or Apis (see ch. 28, B. iii.) recalls the Greek representation of a river under the form of a bull, like the Acheloüs and others (see Elian, Var. Hist. ii, 33). Nilus is not taken from Nahr or Nahl, "river;" but Nahr, "river," is applied to the Euphrates, and Nahl to a ravine or torrent-bed, as (in 2 Kings xxiv. 7) to the "torrens Egypti." Nahl is not a "river," but, like Nullah, a "ravine," in India. Cp. Nahr, Nar, Naro, and other names of rivers, the Nereïds, &c. 2 (See n. on ch. 50.) For black applied to water, cp. μέλαν ὕδωρ οι Homer. The Nile was said to have received its name from King Nilus; but this is doubtless a fable; and Homer calls it Ægyptus. The sources of the White Nile are still (1862) unknown; and recent discoveries seem to assign a different position from that conjectured by the explorers sent by Mohammed Ali, who brought it from the eastward, at the back or S. of the Galla mountains; as did a very intelligent native of the Jimma country I met at Cairo, who affirmed that he had crossed the White river in going from his native land to Adderay or Hurrur and the Somáuli district, on his way to the port of Berbera. Seneca's description of the Upper Nile, “magnas solitudines pervagatus, et in paludes diffusus, gentibus sparsus" might suit the character of the White Nile, though he is wrong in supposing it only assumed a new one by forming a single stream "about Philæ." See Nat. Quæst. b. iv. s. 2; cp. Plin. vi. 30.-[G. W.] 9 If this signifies that breezes are not generated by, and do not rise from, the Nile, it is true; but not if it means that a current of air does not blow up the valley. Diodorus (i. 38) is wrong in stating that "the Nile has no clouds about it, does not engender cold winds, and has no fogs." The fogs are often very thick, though they disappear before mid. day.-[G. W.] |