lOI- THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI. 



gave way, and the fallen walls, saturated with water, 

 were once more mixed with the mud from which 

 they had been extracted. On these occasions, the 

 blessings of the Nile entailed heavy losses on the 

 inhabitants; and as Pliny observes*, "if the rise 

 of the water exceeded 16 cubits, a famine was 

 the result, as when it only reached the height of 

 12." In another placet, he says, "a proper inun- 

 dation is of lO cubits in 12 cubits, the 



country suffers from famine, and feels a deficiency 

 even in 13 ; 14 cause joy, 15 security, 16 delight; 

 the greatest rise of the river to this period being 

 of 18 cubits, in the reign of Claudius ; the least, 

 during the Pharsalic war." 



From all that can be learnt respecting the rise 

 of the Nile, it is evident that the actual height of 

 the inundation is the same now as in former times, 

 and maintains the same proportion with the land 

 it irrigates ; and that, in order to arrive at great 

 accuracy in its measurement, the scales of the Nilo- 

 meters ought, after certain periods, to be raised in 

 an equal ratio, as may be seen by any one who visits 

 those of Cairo and Elephantine : for the bed of the 

 river gradually rises from time to time ; and the 

 level of the land, which always keeps pace with that 

 of the river, increases in a ratio of 6 inches in 100 

 years in some places (as about Elephantine), and 

 in others less — varying according to the distance 

 down the stream. The consequence, and indeed 

 the proof, of which is, that the highest scale in 

 the Nilometer at the island of Elephantine, which 



♦ Plin.xviii. 18. f Plin. v. 9. 



