Chap. 47.] CULTIYATION BY VAEIOUS NATIONS. 61 



first place, to make mention of the peculiar facilities enjoyed 

 by Egypt in this respect. In that country, performing the 

 duties of the husbandman, the Nile begins to overflow, as 

 already stated,'*'' immediately after the summer solstice or the 

 new moon, gradually at first, but afterwards with increased 

 impetuosity, as long as the sun remains in the sign of Leo, 

 When the sun has passed into Virgo, the impetuosity of the 

 overflow begins to slacken, and when he has entered Libra the 

 river subsides. Should it not have exceeded twelve cubits in 

 its overflow, famine is the sure result ; and this is equally the 

 case if it should chance to exceed sixteen ; for the higher it 

 has risen, the more slowly it subsides, and, of course, the seed- 

 time is impeded in proportion. It was formerly a very general 

 belief that immediately upon the subsiding of the waters the 

 Eg5'ptians were in the habit of driving herds of swine over 

 the ground, for the purpose of treading the seed into the moist 

 soil — and it is my own impression that this was done in ancient 

 times. At the present day even, the operation is not attended 

 with much greater labour. It is well known, however, that 

 ■the seed is first laid upon the slime that has been left by the 

 river on its subsidence, and then ploughed in ; this being done 

 at the beginning of November. After this is done, a few per- 

 sons are employed in stubbing, an operation known there as 

 *' botanismos." The rest of the labourers, however, have no 

 occasion to visit the land again till a little before the calends 

 of April,*^ and then it is with the reaping-hook. The harvest 

 is completed in the month of May. The stem is never so 

 much as a cubit in length, as there is a stratum of sand be- 

 neath the slime, from which last alone the grain receives its 

 support. The best wheat of all is that of the region of 

 Thebais, Egypt^^ being of a marshy character. 



The method adopted at Seleucia in Babylonia is very similar 

 to this, but the fertility there is stiU greater, owing to the 

 overflow of the Euphrates and Tigris,^*^ the degree of irriga- 

 tion being artificially modified in those parts. In Syria, too, 

 the furrows are made extremely light, while in many parts of 



4" In B. V. c. 10. 48 First of April. 



*^ I. e. Egypt Proper, the Delta, or Lower Egypt, Thebais being in 

 Upper Egypt. 



^^ The overfloTv of these rivers is by no means to be compared with 

 that of the Nile. 



