4. The Time and Continuance of the Inundations.—Herodotus, and after him Diodorus Siculus, and several other authors, declare, that the Nile begins to swell in Egypt at the summer solstice, that is, about the end of June, and continues to rise till the end of September; and then decreases gradually during the months of October and November; after which it returns to its channel, and resumes its wonted course.[289] This account agrees very nearly with the relations of all the moderns, and is founded in reality on the natural cause of the inundation, viz. the rains which fall in Ethiopia. Now, according to the constant testimony of those who have been on the spot, these rains begin to fall in the month of April, and continue, during five months, till the end of August and beginning of September. The Nile's increase in Egypt must, consequently, begin three weeks or a month after the rains have begun to fall in Abyssinia; and accordingly travellers observe, that the Nile begins to rise in the month of May, but so slowly at the first, that it probably does not yet overflow its banks. The inundation happens not till about the end of June, and lasts the three following months, according to Herodotus.
I must point out to such as consult the originals, a contradiction in this place between Herodotus and Diodorus on one side; and between Strabo, Pliny, and Solinus, on the other. These last shorten very much the continuance of the inundation; and suppose the Nile to draw off from the lands in three months or a hundred days. And what adds to the difficulty, is, that Pliny seems to ground his opinion on the testimony of Herodotus: In totum autem revocatur Nilus intra ripas in Librá, ut tradit Herodotus, centesimo die. I leave to the learned the reconciling of this contradiction.
5. The Height of the Inundations.—The just height of the inundation, according to Pliny, is sixteen cubits.[290] When it rises but to twelve or thirteen, a famine is threatened; and when it exceeds sixteen, there is danger. It must be remembered, that a cubit is a foot and a half. The emperor Julian takes notice, in a letter to Ecdicius, prefect of Egypt,[291] that the height of the Nile's overflowing was fifteen cubits, the 20th of September, in 362. The ancients do not agree entirely with one another, nor with the moderns, with regard to the height of the inundation; but the difference is not very considerable, and may proceed, 1. from the disparity between the ancient and modern measures, which it is hard to estimate on a fixed and certain foot; 2. from the carelessness of the observers and historians; 3. from the real difference of the Nile's increase, which was not so great the nearer it approached the sea.
As the riches of Egypt depended on the inundation of the Nile, all the circumstances and different degrees of its increase had 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.[292] The kings had 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 fear [pg 015] or promise themselves from the harvest. Strabo speaks of a well on the banks of the Nile near the town of Syene, made for that purpose.[293]
The same custom is observed to this day 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 common criers every day proclaim, in all parts of the city, how high it is risen. The tribute paid to the Grand Signior for the lands, is regulated by the inundation. The day on which it rises to a certain height, is kept as a grand festival, and solemnized with fire-works, feastings, and all the demonstrations of public rejoicing; and in the remotest ages, the overflowing of the Nile was always attended with an universal joy throughout all Egypt, that being the fountain of its happiness.
The heathens ascribed the inundation of the Nile to their god Serapis; and the pillar on which was marked the increase, was preserved religiously in the temple of that idol.[294] The emperor Constantine having ordered it to be removed into the church of Alexandria, the Egyptians spread a report, that the Nile would rise no more by reason of the wrath of Serapis; but the river overflowed and increased as usual the following years. Julian the apostate, a zealous protector of idolatry, caused this pillar to be replaced in the same temple, out of which it was again removed by the command of Theodosius.
6. The Canals of the Nile and Spiral Pumps.—Divine Providence, in giving so beneficent a river to Egypt, did not thereby intend that the inhabitants of it should be idle, and enjoy so great a blessing without taking any pains. One may naturally suppose, that as the Nile could not of itself cover the whole country, great labour was to be used to facilitate the overflowing of the lands; and numberless canals cut, in order to convey the waters to all parts. The villages, which stand very thick on the banks of the Nile on eminences, have each their canals, which are opened at proper times, to let the water into the country. The more distant villages have theirs also, even to the extremities of the kingdom. Thus the waters are successively conveyed to the most remote places. Persons are not permitted to cut the trenches to receive the waters, till the [pg 016] river is at a certain height; nor to open them all at once; because otherwise some lands would be too much overflowed, and others not covered enough. They begin with opening them in Upper, and afterwards in Lower Egypt, according to the rules prescribed in a roll or book, in which all the measures are exactly set down. By this means the water is husbanded with such care, that it spreads itself over all the lands. The countries overflowed by the Nile are so extensive, and lie so low, and the number of canals so great, that of all the waters which flow into Egypt during the months of June, July, and August, it is believed that not a tenth part of them reaches the sea.
But as, notwithstanding all these canals, there are still abundance of high lands which cannot receive the benefit of the Nile's overflowing; this want is supplied by spiral pumps, which are turned by oxen, in order to bring the water into pipes, which convey it to these lands. Diodorus speaks of a similar engine invented by Archimedes in his travels into Egypt, which is called Cochlea Ægyptia.[295]
7. The Fertility caused by the Nile.—There is no country in the world where the soil is more fruitful than in Egypt; which is owing entirely to the Nile. For whereas other rivers, when they overflow lands, wash away and exhaust their vivific moisture; the Nile, on the contrary, by the excellent slime it brings along with it, fattens and enriches them in such a manner, as sufficiently compensates for what the foregoing harvest had impaired.[296] The husbandman, in this country, never tires himself with holding the plough, or breaking the clods of earth. As soon as the Nile retires, he has nothing to do but to turn up the earth, and temper it with a little sand, in order to lessen its rankness; after which he sows it with great ease, and with little or no expense. Two months after, it is covered with all sorts of corn and pulse. The Egyptians generally sow in October and November, according as the waters draw off; and their harvest is in March and April.
The same land bears, in one year, three or four different [pg 017] kinds of crops. Lettuces and cucumbers are sown first; then corn; and, after harvest, several sorts of pulse which are peculiar to Egypt. As the sun is extremely hot in this country, and rains fall very seldom in it, it is natural to suppose that the earth would soon be parched, and the corn and pulse burnt up by so scorching a heat, were it not for the canals and reservoirs with which Egypt abounds; and which, by the drains from thence, amply supply wherewith to water and refresh the fields and gardens.