30 



THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 



CHAP. XI. 



In the cubits of M. Jomard the divisions, or digits, 

 commence on the left, with 1, 2, 3, and 4 digits or 

 1 pahn ; the latter indicated by a hand (sometimes 

 with, sometimes without, a thumb) : next to this is 

 the whole hand, or 5 digits (with the thumb) ; then 

 the fist, or, as the Arabs call it, the kuhdeh (the hand 

 closed, with the thumb erect), making 6 digits ; after 

 which may perhaps be traced the dichas, or 2 palms, 

 of 8 digits ; the^^?', or span with the forefinger and 

 thumb ; and the sliihr, or spithame, the entire span; 

 the former of 11, the latter of 13 digits. But there 

 is no indication of a foot, and the 15 last digits are 

 solely occupied with fractional parts, beginning 

 with a l6th and ending in | a digit : from which 

 we may conclude that the smallest measurement 

 in the Egyptian scale of length was the l6th of a 

 digit, or the 46th of an inch. 



From this may be constructed the following scale 

 and division of the Egyptian cubit : — 



In the foregoing table I have compared the cubit 

 of the Nilometer, according to my measurements, 



