THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 685 



in the land of Zdan*\ and his observations mould have reach- 

 ed no farther, becauie they are not facl, but fanciful imagi- 

 nations of his own ; not from any bad intention, but becaufe 

 he never was in the way of being better informed, but de- 

 termined not to abandon afyftem he had once formed. 



HERODOTUsf mentions, that in the time of Maoris, whea 

 the minimum came to be 8 Samian cubits, all Egypt below 

 Memphis was overflowed, but that in his days it took 16 

 cubits, or at lead 15, to put the fame land in like condition 

 for cultivation; or, in other words, the minimum, when they 

 paid their meery, was 16, or at leafl 15 cubits in his time ; 

 and the uncertainty of thefe two terms mews, that there 

 were unaccountable inequalities, even in his days, as we 

 fliall find there have been ever fince. But I mull here beg 

 leave to afk, why we mould believe Herodotus knew the 

 management of the Nilometer more than travellers have 

 done fince, as he tells us conftantly throughout this part of 

 his hiflory, that when he inquired of thepriefls concerning 

 the Nile, they would tell him nothing about it + ? 



In Moeris's time there were great lakes dug, as- Herodc-^ 

 tus fays |, to carry off the fupcrfluous water, to what place 

 is not faid, but furely into the defert for the ufe of the Arabs. 

 Now, unlefs we knew what time thefe lakes were opened, 

 to receive the ftream, we do not know whether it was the 

 evacuation by the lake, or fcarcky of the water that impe- 

 ded the rife of the Nile upon the Nilometer. We have no 



account 



* Pfalm l.txviii, ver. 12. f Herod, eut. feft. 13. J Herod, lib. ii. kQ., 19. 

 |( Herod, lib. ii. fetf. 4. 101. and 149.. 



