[21]They have some few wells, but generally send for water from the river.
[22]Agatharchides of Gnidos (Diod. lib. i.), and others in the time of the Ptolemies, seem to have divined the cause; and Homer (vide Odyssey, book iv. ver. 581.), when he describes the Nile as descending from heaven, apparently alludes to the rain in Ethiopia; but at the time of Herodotus it is certain that the Egyptians were not acquainted with the true cause; and Moses, in describing the promised land (Deut. ch. xi. ver. 10.), “not as the land of Egypt, but as a land of hills and valleys, which drinketh water of the rain of heaven,” that is, owed its fertility to the rain that fell from the clouds, would not have used those expressions, had he been exhorting a people aware that the rain in Ethiopia was the cause of the rising of the Nile; the source of the productiveness of the two countries being the same, although in the one more immediate, and therefore more apparent.
[23]As a boat would sail, following all the windings of the river and the islands, the distance from Shendy to Rosetta can scarcely be less than 1800 miles.
[24]In crossing this desert, to save anxiety, I gave each person his own provision of water to take care of, warning him, if that fell short, it was his own fault. This plan succeeded, each individual taking such care of his skins that none of them ran out.
[25]In calling it not very ancient, I, of course, mean, in comparison to some of the edifices in Ethiopia and Egypt. Tirhaka began to reign in the latter country about 700 years A.C.
[26]See Plates [LIII.] and [LIV.]
[27]The generality of the pyramids face a little to the south of south-east. I regret to state, that, from an error of the engraver’s, which I did not discover until all the copies were printed off, their direction is not correctly marked in the [General Plan;] but, as their position is accurately shown in the above [vignette,] I have considered it unnecessary to incur the expense of having the plate reprinted.
[28]I have not considered it necessary to publish a separate drawing which I made of this group.
[29]The Ethiopians are represented by Herodotus (vii. 69.) as carrying bows not less than four cubits in length.
[30]The arch at North Der is formed by approaching stones.