4^^ Thjfical and MifceUaneoUs 



main Channel, but we could pafs over, by thrufting our Boat 

 The dayiy in- forward with a Pole of eight Cubits in Length. Each Days In- 

 ^7rli« //^v! creafe afterwards, 'till the Middle of July, was two, three 

 teeri Cubits. ^^ £^^^. j^jgits, and thcn it would be fometimes ten, Ibmetinies 

 twenty or thirty, 'till it rofe {^ug, 15-. 1711. ) to fixteen Cubits ; 

 which (with the artful Introduftion, no Doubt, at fome proper 

 Jun6lure, of a larger Meafure of the fame Denomination " ) 

 feems to have been received as the Standard, that portended 

 Plenty, and the Condition whereupon the Egyptians were to 

 pay their Tribute, for many Generations. 

 ihe amhig of For no Addition appears to have been made, during the 

 },xtee}i'cli>!t!.S^2iCQ of five huudted Years, to the Number of Cubits, that 

 are taken Notice of by HerodotJ^s. This, we learn, not only 

 from the fixteen Children that attend the Statue of the Nile^ 

 above-mentioned; but from a Medal alfo of Trajan, where, 

 we fee the Figure of the Nile, with a Boy ftanding upon it, 

 who points to the Number 1? (16.). This Account we have 

 likewife confirmed by Tlinj/ ' ; though, in the fourth Century, 

 fifteen Cubits only are recorded by the Emperor Julian\ as 

 the Height of the Kile?> Inundation. About three hundred 

 Years afterwards, when Egyp was fubdued by the Saracens, 

 ftill the Amount ' was no more than fixteen or feventeen : and, 

 at prefent, notwithftanding the great Accumulation of Soil, 

 that hath been made, fince thofe Times, yet, when the River 

 rifeth to fixteen Cubits, (though nineteen or twenty are re- 

 quired to prepare the whole Land for Cultivation , ) the 



I Something of this Kind is probably Implied in the following Remark of Kalkafendas. 

 Obfcrva quod twflro tempore faH a eft corruptio fluviorum & immmitio flatus rerum ; ctijus Argumcn- 

 tum eft, quod N'llomctra antiqua regionis Al Said a prima ad tdtimum conftanter habuerunt v'tginti 

 quatuor digitos pro tinoquoqiie cubito fine uUa additione ad hiinc nnmerum. The lame Author 

 mentions the changing and pulling down fevcral oi xheie Nilo}iietra,(i'oT the more eafy Intro- 

 duftion perhaps of another Meafure;) the Particulars whereof are inferted after the 

 Excerpta. 2 Vid. Not. y. p. 435. Nunquam hie major repertus eft, quam in Templo 

 Pacis ab Impcratore Vefpafiano Augufto dicatus : Argumento Nil't xvi libcris circa ludentibus, 

 per quos totidem cubita lummi incrementi augcntis fe amnis intelliguntur. Plin. de bafalte. 

 I. 3<S. cap. 7- 3 Incipit crcfcere (Nilus) Luna nova, qusecunque polt (blfticium eft, fenfim 

 modiceque, Cancrum fole tranfeunte, abundantiffime autemLeonem. Et refidit lu Virgine, 

 ijfdem, quibus accrevit, modls. In totum autem revocatur intra ripas in Libra, ut tradit 

 Herodotus, centefirao die. Cum crefcit, reges aut prasfcdos navigaie eo, ncfas judicatum 

 eft. Audtus ejus per puteos menfurae notis deprehenduntur. Juftum incrementum eft cu- 

 bitorum xvl. Minores aquse non omnia rigent : ampliorcs detinent, tardius recedendo. 

 ** In duodecim cubitis famem fentit, in tredecim etiamnum efurit : quatuordecim cubita 

 hilaritatem afferunt: quindeclm fecuritatem : fexdecim delicias. Maximum incrementum 

 ad hoc 3Evi fuit cubitorum decern & odo ; Claudio Principe ; minimumque {quinque MS. 

 V. Ch. ) Pharfalic. bello, veluti necem Magtii prodigio quodam flumine avertente. PUn. 

 Nat. Hift. I. J- cap. 9. 4 rio^yf ^ixTiy, NffA®* a^^eif jtMTtap®' Toif m^i^iv, I'^h'tifain mviw ih 

 tityvT^ar. E< JV t^ Tof iet^(My aKoZmi -m^M, tif -rh Hyj,jk. n ci^ty£eiis leif TiivTi, Julian. Epift. L. 

 Ecdicio Praefedo /Egjpti. y Vid. Kalkafetiias as above. 



Egyptians 



