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THE HISTORY

OF

THE EGYPTIANS.

CHAPTER I.

THE PHYSICAL HISTORY OF EGYPT.

EGYPT is generally reckoned within the limits of Africa, though several geographers have considered it as more naturally belonging to Asia. It is situated between latitude 24° 3′ and 31° 37′. It is bounded on the north by the Mediterranean; on the east by the little river El Arish, (supposed to be the scriptural "River of Egypt," Numb. xxxiv. 5,) on the borders of Palestine, and the Syrian or Arabian desert, which extends from the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Suez, and from thence, southwards, by the west coast of the Red Sea; and on the west by the Libyan desert. From the earliest ages, its boundary to the south has been fixed at the rapids or cataracts of Assouan, the ancient Syene, which are formed by a number of granite rocks that stretch across the bed of the Nile, over which this great river rolls its foaming stream.

The length of Egypt is very disproportionate to its breadth: its extent from the mouth of the Nile to Syene, the border of Nubia under the tropic of Cancer, is about 500 miles, but it is little wider than the valley through which the Nile flows in Upper Egypt, until it reaches Lower Egypt, at some distance above the head, or vertex of the Delta, (a plain so called by the Greeks from its resemblance to the letter A,) where the valley expands itself. The average breadth of the valley, from one mountain range to the other, between Cairo in Lower, and Edfou in Upper Egypt, is only about seven miles; and that of the land capable of cultivation, the limits of which depend on the inundation, scarcely exceeds five and a half, being in the widest part ten and three quarters, and in the narrowest two miles, including the river.

The extent in square miles of the district between the pyramids and the sea is considerable; that of the Delta alone, which forms a portion of it, is estimated at 1,976 square miles. This portion is very narrow about its apex, at the junction of the modern Rosetta and Damietta branches; but it gradually widens on approaching the coast, where its base is eighty-one miles. The whole northern district, with the intermediate Delta included, contains about 4,500 square miles, or double the whole arable land of Egypt,

which is computed at 2,255 square miles, exclusive of the Fyoom, a small province consisting of about 340 miles.

In Scripture, Upper Egypt, or Thebaid, seems to be called Pathros, as distinguished from the Lower, properly called Caphtor or Egypt. Compare Isa. xi. 11, with Ezek. xxix. 14; and Jer. xliv. 1, with Ezek. xxx. 14-16, Deut. ii. 23, Jer. xlvii. 4. The latter term appears to denote, generally, the whole of Lower Egypt, which is the part of the country best known to the Hebrews, but of which occasionally the Delta separately taken is called Rahab. See Psa. lxxxix. 10, and Isa. li. 9. Bochart thinks the word Rahab or Raab, is the same as Rib or Riph, the Egyptian name of the Delta, which was so called from its resemblance to a pear-" Rib" being the name of that fruit. Hence there was, it is said, in the middle of the Delta, a nome or district called Athribis, "the heart of the pear.'

How

The country of Egypt attained an earlier and a higher degree of civilization and refinement than any other in the world. It was the seat of a royal government in the days of the patriarch Abraham, and it abounded at that time with provisions, while the neighbouring countries, and even the fertile regions of Palestine, were exposed to frequent famines, Gen. xii. 10. far they had advanced in civilization in these remote ages, we may gather from Gen. xxxvii. 25, where we find the Ishmeelites conducting a caravan by the way of Shechem, loaded with the spices of India, the balsam and myrrh of Hadramaut for the Egyptian market. From the sculptures of Beni Hassan, (grottoes on the east bank of the Nile,) we learn also that the Egyptians were well acquainted with the manufacture of linen, glass, cabinet work, and numerous objects indicative of art and refinement, and that various gymnastic exercises were common at a period approaching these ages.

The peculiar fertility of the soil of Egypt arose from the fertilizing influences of the annual inundation of

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land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: but the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: a land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year." The reader will be mindful that there is no intention here to compare the two countries as to fertility, Egypt being, without exception, the most fertile country in the world; but there is an interesting comparison as to the process of irrigation. Of Palestine it is said, that it is watered by the rains of heaven. But this is not the case in Egypt. In that country, rain seldom or scarcely ever falls, especially in the interior;* but its fertility depends upon the annual overflow of the Nile, which is made available for the purposes of irrigation in the fullest extent, only, by means of the numerous canals and trenches, which require every year to be cleaned out, and the dykes carefully repaired. The word rendered "foot," is supposed by some to have been used metaphorically to denote labour; and the force of the comparison would then be, that Egypt was watered by labour, while Canaan did not require such artificial means to make it fruitful. The foot, however, it must be remembered, was literally used to conduct the streams of water which makes it more impressive. Many suppose that the digging and cleaning of canals, for the purposes of irrigation, was among the "hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick," with which the lives of the Israelites were made bitter in Egypt; if so, it must have been a great satisfaction to them to know that no such manual labour was required in. Palestine, and the point of the comparison must have been very emphatic.

But his grand feature in the landscape of Egypt demands particular notice. The various branches of the Nile have their rise in the high lands north of the Equator, and flowing through Abyssinia and other regions westward of it, meet in the country of Senaar. The united stream flows northwards through Nubia and Egypt, and after a course of more than 1,800 miles from the farthest explored point of its principal branch, enters the Mediterranean by several mouths,

*Thunder occurs occasionally in the Delta, in the rainy season, or about the time of the equinoxes, especially the autumnal one. These storms constantly come from the Mediterranean, and they are accompanied with violent showers, and sometimes with hail. In general they happen either in the evening or morning, and rarely in the middle of the day. When, therefore, it is said that no rain falls in Egypt, it must be taken as a general expression, and not without some exceptions, or be understood of Upper Egypt, or the Thebaid. Maillet says that in Lower Egypt it rained five or six times from November to April in 1692, and the two following years; but that frequently three or four years pass in Upper Egypt without rain, and it is such a rarity there as to cause public rejoicings. This is confirmed by Dr. Pococke, who mentions also that the rains are frequent and heavy on the sea coast and in Lower Egypt, particularly from November to March, but that in Cairo they are moderate, and only in the months of December, January, and February; and that in Upper Egypt they had rain but twice, half an hour each time, in the course of eight years. On this subject, however, there is a great variety of statements among travellers, from whence it is probable that Egypt is visited sometimes more and sometimes less with rain from heaven.

which form the Delta of Egypt. In a distance of 1,350 nautical miles from the mouth of the Tacazze to the Delta, the Nile does not receive a single tributary stream, which Humboldt remarks is a solitary instance in the hydrographic history of the globe.

The ancients assigned many reasons for the increase of the Nile; but it is now universally acknowledged, that its inundations are owing to the copious rains which fall in Ethiopia, from whence it flows. These rains swell it to such an extent that Ethiopia first, and then Egypt, are overflowed; and that which at first was but a large river, rises like a sea and spreads its blessings over the face of an extensive country.

Ac

Herodotus says, the Nile begins to increase about the summer solstice, and continues to rise for a hundred days; and then decreases for the same time, and continues low all the winter, until the return of the summer solstice. Diodorus writes to the same effect, stating that the inundation begins at the summer solstice, and increases till the autumnal equinox. This is confirmed by the reports of modern travellers. cording to Pococke, the river began to increase at Cairo, in 1714, June 30; in 1715, July 1; in 1738, June 20. So precisely is the stupendous operation of its inundation calculated, says Bruce, that on the 25th of September, only three days after the autumnal equinox, the Nile is generally found at Cairo to be at its highest, and begins to diminish every day after. It would appear, then, that the river begins to swell in June, but the rise is not rapid or remarkable till early in July; that the greatest rise is attained about the autumnal equinox, and the waters remain upon the same level until the middle of October; and that, after this, the subsidence is very sensible, and the lowest point is reached in April.

The swell of the river varies in different parts of the channel. In Upper Egypt, it is from thirty to thirty-five feet; at Cairo, it is about twenty-three feet; whilst in the northern part of the Delta it does not exceed four feet, which is owing to the artificial channels, and the breadth of the inundation. The four feet of increase is, however, as requisite to the fertility of the Delta, as the twenty-three or thirty feet, and upwards, elsewhere.

As the riches of Egypt depended on the inundation of the Nile, all the circumstances and different degrees of its increase have been carefully considered; and by a long series of regular observations, made during many years, the inundation itself discovered what kind of harvest the ensuing year was likely to produce. The kings caused to be placed at Memphis a measure on which these different increases were marked; and from thence notice was given to all the rest of Egypt; the inhabitants of which knew by that means, beforehand, what they might expect from the ensuing harvest. Strabo speaks of a well on the banks of the Nile, near the town of Syene, made for that purpose.

The same custom is to this day observed at Grand Cairo. In the court of a mosque there stands a pillar, on which are marked the degrees of the Nile's increase; and the public criers proclaim daily in all parts of the city how much the river has risen. The tribute paid to the Grand

Seignor for the lands, used to be regulated by the height of the inundation. Sixteen cubits is the proper height for the opening of the canal, by cutting down the dam, that so the waters of the inundation may enter the canal which runs through the midst of Cairo to the north-east, watering the plain to the extent of twenty leagues, and filling the Lake of the Pilgrims. If the river wants a single inch of this height, no tribute is due, the produce being then scarcely sufficient to pay the cultivator. If it increase to the height of twenty-three or twentyfour cubits, it is judged most favourable. If it rise beyond that, it overthrows houses and destroys cattle; and it also engenders a host of insects, which destroy the fruits of the earth. The day on which it rises to a certain height is kept as a grand festival, and solemnized with fireworks, feastings, and all the demonstrations of public rejoicing; and in the remotest ages, the overflowing of the Nile was always attended with a universal joy throughout all Egypt, that being the fountain of its happiness.

But not only the fertility and riches of Egypt depend on the overflowing of the Nile; its very existence is owing to the same wonderful cause. We say, wonderful, for although the phenomenon is by no means peculiar to the Nile, (for it is more or less common to all rivers whose volume is annually augmented by the periodical rains which fall within the tropics,) there is no river, the annual swelling of which is so replete with important consequences, or so essential to the existence of a nation. The very soil of Egypt was, no doubt, originally formed by the earth brought down by the river from Abyssinia and the interior of Africa, and deposited during the annual inundation. That it has been progressively elevated in the course of ages, from this cause, is demonstrated by a number of distinct facts. Towns and monuments, for instance, which are known from history to have been originally built on mounds, to secure them from the effects of the inundation, now lie so low in the plain as to be inundated every year. Thus, in the plain of Thebes, the alluvial mud has accumulated to the height of nearly seven feet around the statues of Amunoph III., which were erected probably about B. c. 1430. From this, however, it would not appear that the increase of the soil was so great as some authors imagine. Dr. Shaw estimates this increase at rather more than a foot in a century, and he observes that Egypt must have gained forty-one feet eight inches of soil in 4,072 years. From this cause he apprehends that, in process of time, the river will not be able to overflow its banks, and that Egypt, from being the most fertile, will become one of the most barren countries in the universe. But this hypothesis is not well founded. There is, in the wise order of Providence, an equilibrium preserved by a nearly corresponding elevation of the river's bed, so that the point of overflow is maintained nearly in the same ratio with the elevation of the soil. This is demonstrated by the ancient Nilometer near Elephantine, mentioned by Strabo, and which is still existing. The highest measure marked upon it is twenty-four cubits, about thirtysix feet; but the water now rises, when at its greatest elevation, nearly eight feet above this mark; while it appears, from an inscription on

the wall, made A. D. 300, that the water then rose only a foot above that level. This gives an elevation of about five inches in a century; and it has been collected from other data, that the rise in the circumjacent soil is nearly in the same proportion.

To secure the blessings of the waters of the Nile, through the whole breadth of their country, the inhabitants of Egypt have, with great labour, in different ages, cut a vast number of trenches and canals in every part.* These canals are not opened till the river has attained a certain height, nor yet all at the same time; for if they were, the distribution of the water would be unequal. When the water begins to subside, these sluices are closed, and they are gradually opened again in the autumn, allowing the waters to pass on to contribute to the irrigation of the Delta. The distribution of the stream has always been subject to minute and distinct regulations, the necessity for which may be estimated from the common statement, that scarcely a tenth part of the water of the Nile reaches the sea in the first three months of the inundation. During the inundation, the whole country appears like a series of ponds and reservoirs; and it is not merely the saturation of the ground, but the deposit of soil which takes place during the overflow, that is so favourable to the agriculture of Egypt. The alluvial matter annually brought down and deposited by the Nile, is estimated by Dr. Shaw as equal to a one hundred and twentieth part of the volume of water which it pours into the sea. This soil contains principles so friendly to vegetation, that it is used for manure in those places which have not been adequately benefited by the inundation; while, on the other hand, where the deposit has been abundant, the people mingle sand with it to diminish its strength. As soon as the waters have retired, cultivation commences; and where the soil has been sufficiently inundated, very little labour is demanded. The seed is sown in the moistened soil, and vegetation and harvest follow with such rapidity, as to allow a succession of crops wherever water can be commanded.

The influence of the Nile upon the condition and appearance of the country can only be estimated by comparing its aspect in the season which immediately precedes, with that which follows the inundation. Before it occurs, it exhibits a parched desert of sand and dust, but afterwards a level verdant plain.

There cannot be a finer sight in nature than Egypt exhibits at two seasons of the year. In the months of July and August, if a traveller should ascend some mountain or one of the farfamed pyramids, he would behold a vast sea, in the midst of which numerous towns and villages

* At what period the system of irrigating the Delta of Egypt by canals drawn from the Nile and its branches commenced, it is impossible now to determine. The Egyptians ascribe its invention to Osiris and Sesostris. Osiris, say they, enclosed the river on both sides with strong dykes, and erected sluices in proper places for letting out the waters upon the fields as they had need of it. The probability is, that as the demand for agricultural produce would increase with the population, so the idea of increasing the supply to the greatest possible quantity would suggest the propriety of banking the river, and of drawing canals from it throughout the whole breadth of the country. And this would be done, not in the reign of one prince, but in several successive reigns.

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