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 vortex of the Delta, (a plain so called by the Greeks from its resemblence to the letter 4,) 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, probably 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 name or district called Athribis, "the heart of the pear." The country of Egypt attained an earlier and a higher de gree of civilization and refinement than any other in the world. It was the seat of the royal government in the days of the patriarch Abraham, and it abounded at that time with provi sions, while the neighbouring countries, and even the fertile regions of Palestine, were exposed to frequent famines, Gen. xii. 10. How far they had advanced in civilization in these remote ages, we may gather from Gen. xxxvii. 25, where we find the Ishmaelites conducting a caravan by the way of Shechem, loaded with the spices of India, the balsam and myrrh of Hadramout 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 linens, glass, cabinet work, and numerous objects indicative of art and refinement, and that vari ous 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 THE NILE. The He To this we find a reference, Deut. xi. 10-12. brew lawgiver, speaking to the Hebrews concerning Palestine, says, "For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the 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 purpose 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 * 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. 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 this 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, 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. 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. According 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, |