36 



THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI. 



every precaution was taken to keep the field from 

 being inundated; and "as the water rose gradually, 

 they were enabled," says Diodorus*, " to keep it 

 out by means of small dams, which could be opened 

 if required, and closed again without much trouble.'* 

 In the sculptures of the tombs are sometimes 

 represented canals conveying the water of the in- 

 undation into the fields ; and the proprietor of the 

 estate is seen, as described by Virgil t, plying in a 

 light painted skiff or papyrus punt, and superin- 

 tending the maintenance of the dykes, or other 

 important matters connected with the land. Boats 

 carry the grain to the granary, or remove the flocks 

 from the lov»^lands ; and as the water subsides, the 

 husbandman ploughs the soft earth with a pair of 

 oxen, and tiie same subjects introduce the offering 

 of firstfruits to the Gods, in acknowledgment of 

 the benefits conferred by ** a favourable Nile." t 

 These subjects, however, give little insight into 

 the actual mode of laying out the canals, being 

 rarely more than conventional pictures ; though we 

 may infer from their general character, that the 

 main canal was usually carried to the upper or 

 southern side of the land, and that small branches 

 leading from it at intervals traversed the fields in 

 straight or curving lines, according to the nature 

 or elevation of the soil. 



* Diodor. i. 3G. 



f Virg. Georg. iv. 289. 



" Adcolit effuso stagnantem flumine Niliim, 

 Et circuin pictis vehitur sua rura phaselis." 

 :{: This is a translation of the expression used in Egypt for a favour- 

 ahle inundation : where they always speak of " the time of the Ni/e," 

 or "a good Nile" — meaning the inundation. 



