28 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI. 



used in the Nilometer of Elephantine consisted of 

 24 digits, others that it contained 32*; and nume- 

 rous calculations have been deduced from these 

 conflicting opinions, respecting the real length of 

 the cubit. But a few words will suffice to show 

 the manner in which that cubit was divided, the 

 number of its digits, and its exact length in English 

 inches ; and respecting the supposed change in 

 the cubit used in the Xilometers of Egypt, I shall 

 only observe, that people far more prone to inno- 

 vation than the Egyptians would not readily tolerate 

 a similar deviation from long-established custom ; 

 and it is obvious that the greatest confusion would 

 be caused throughout the country, and that agri- 

 culture would suffer incalculable injuries, if the 

 customary announcement of a certain number of 

 cubits for the rise of the Nile were changed, through 

 the introduction of a cubit of a different length. 

 The peasant would no longer understand the quan- 

 tity of water, the proportionate height of the river, 

 or the proper time for admitting it from the canals; 

 in short, all the system of irrigation would be de- 

 ranged, and this without any result, without any 

 advantage to compensate for this arbitrary change 

 in the standard of measurement. Indeed, the very- 

 few alterations made by the Ptolemies, beyond the 

 precincts of Alexandria, in the habits and customs 

 of the Egyptians, are a strong argument against the 

 probability of their interference in a matter of so 

 much importance, and involving so many interests, 

 as the change in the mode of measuring the inun- 



* J'idc Mem. de I'AcacI. vol. vi. p. 105. et seq. 



