4^8 Phyfical and Mifcellaneous 



the Sea, the Upper is to be confidered as a deep Valley ^ 



bounded on each Side with Mountains. 

 The Method Let the annexed Figure be a Section of this Valley^ with a 

 "la^tdofE- \ 1 ^ iVi/^/co^e'placedJnthatPart of it, where 



fSof"7 to \ \ I A the Nile afterwards directed it's Stream. 



have beefi 



For about the Space therefore of one or 

 two Centuries after the Deluge, or 'till fuch Time as the Mud, 

 brought down by the Inundation, was fufficiently fixed and 

 accumulated to confine the River, we may imagine the Bot- 

 tom of this Valley A, B, (i. e. the whole Land of Egypt,) to 

 have been entirely overflowed ; or elfe, being in the Nature 

 of a Morafs, was not fit to be either cultivated, or inhabited. 

 Egypt therefore at this Time, was in a proper Condition to 

 receive the AlTiftance of Ofiris ', who by railing Mounds, and 

 colle6ling the Water into a proper Channel, kept the River 

 from ftagnating, and thereby prepared the Land for that Cul- 

 ture and Tillage, which he is fuppofed to have invented. But, 

 in Procefs of Time, the annual Strata would raife the Country as 

 high as C. D. whereby the Nile would not only be fufficiently 

 confined within it's own Banks ; but the fuperfluous Moifture 

 alfo, that was left by the Inundation, would be eafily drained 

 off. Agriculture therefore and Husbandry, would have now 

 their proper Encouragements : And in this Condition we may 

 conceive the Country to have been, at the building oiThehes * ; 

 the Parts, where Memphis and Zoan were afterwards founded, 

 having not yet obtained a fufficient Depth of Soil to bring down 

 a Colony to till it. Some Centuries after, when Memphis 

 and other Cities of the Lower Egyp were built, the Banks, to- 

 gether with the Land on each Side of them, may be fuppofed 

 to be raifed as high as E, F, whereby a ftill greater Height of 

 Water would be required to refrelh them ; which, in the Time 

 of Herodotus, was fixteen Cubits. In this Manner therefore 

 it may be prefumed, that the Foundation of the Land of 

 Egypt was firft laid and afterwards augmented ; the Inunda- 

 tion bringing along with it , every Year , an Addition of 



I Tol' d wji Offieiv 7nt^}ivl)iuvoy ^ rif "ilt eu^iomo^ opitf. riv "jni-mfMV In afxipoji^av lav f/fpS/ yjSfjjtaiv 

 At/aMbeiVt as? Kctitt liuu -^Ktifajlv axni 7«k J^apai" fjuX fiijxyiii^eiv 9^ to ffi/f^ffgyi/, i,>}^ a|« may KaTlfKci/aajniyar 

 ^fov neaifii^ax ti 'ecZf^a, cifstaf na^oa-oY ay » J(p«'<*. Diod. J. I. p. 12. 2 H fnyjTrlQi- in ^"^fTifQ)- o 

 TIT©' (peumai Jfkofwi'®', ;t) 5W8-« M J(<i>{« n -Ttoiayii la^q^jn W7H. n Nfi'^K. a|ot j^ -n ^g.-m lu^^y ^«^euvo(Myar 

 twv e^&)I', Tii nfknmy hVo/xJ^sSJj to <n p^gfVu ^m.Qf i^tiftiroi tw ifX'"- *«"''''■"" <^ ""f "9 "W sbu<zt» myTa 

 rrKliv ivos n KxtvaCiKv, p^e(g?7ro(«7K, ;^ 5w tS ttotb/xk wtk. 19 tb Afj^aliyv m Aiyv^ij®', Qyiitu ;et^oJ.a^va/• J)t\ot 

 J^ >&l Of/.HJ®'} oc/TB (sstSa^ioaQf ay, as H-jity, ta^i tou Ts/auraf ^JAiaCoKa.!' fy.civx yi n Tvyny '^oittTTU y.vti&v-, 

 at ivym Mi(J.pS'& mtik, n 'ihttf ji iv viKnuutvis. /irifi. Meteor. 1. i. cap. 14. 



Soil, 



