24 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI, 



herbs, as the papyrus, lotus, and others, either raw, 

 toasted, or boiled. At all events, whatever may 

 have been the quality of bread they used, it is certain 

 that the superabundance of grain was very consi- 

 derable, Egypt annually producing three, and even 

 four, crops; and though the government obtained a 

 large profit on the exportation of corn, and the 

 price received from foreign merchants far exceeded 

 that paid to the peasants, still these last derived 

 great benefit from its sale, and tlie money thus cir- 

 culated through the country tended to improve the 

 condition of the agricultural classes. 



EGYPTIAN MEASURES. 



The Egyptian land measure was the aroura, 

 which, according to Herodotus and Horapollo * 

 being a square of 100 cubits, covered an area of 

 lOjOOOcubits, and, like ouracre, was solely employed 

 for measuring land. The other measures of Egypt 

 were the schoene, equivalent t to GO stades in length, 

 which served, like the Greek stade, the Persian 

 parasang, and the more modern mile, for measuring 

 distance, or the extentof a country; and the cubit, 

 which Herodotus considers equal to that of Samosl^; 

 for though the stade is often used by Greek writers 

 in giving the measurements of monuments in Egypt, 

 it was not really an Egyptian measure, as Herodotus 

 plainly shows by ascribing its use to the Greeks, 

 and the schoenus to the Egyptians. § They also 



* Horapollo, Hierog. i. 5. -f- Herodot. ii. G. Vide a]so i?/frn, p. 33, 

 % Herodot. ii. 1G8. ^ Herodot. ii. 6. and 149. Plde infra, p. 32. 



