away the earth, and depositing it on the adjacent 

 grounds ; thus threatening with defeat, the very object 

 which Menes had in view, viz. the preservation of 

 Memphis. Hence it is, that they were annually under 

 the necessity of fortifying these mounds by filling up 

 the breaches, and keeping them in repair. Herodotus 

 says, " Even at this present period, under the do- 

 minion of the Persians, this artificial channel is annu- 

 ally repaired, and regularly preserved. If the river 

 were here once to break, its banks, the whole town of 

 Memphis would be greatly endangered.''* 



.Not only was this the practice long before, and in 

 the time of Herodotus, but it has been regularly and 

 necessarily pursued, from his time, to the dovvniall of 

 Egypt, and even to the present time; and that too, 

 perhaps, upon every inch of ground, from Memphis 

 to the mouth of the Canopic branch. 



This attention was annually and necessarily in- 

 creased : for as the prolongation of the embankments 

 Was extended from the mouth of the river, into the 

 gulf or arm of the sea, the descent of the river was les- 

 sened, its current checked, and its bed gradually ele- 

 vated by the deposition of alluvion, as at the Po, the 

 Indus, &c. Consequently, in proportion as the bed of 

 the river was elevated, so must have been the banks; 

 for as nearly the same quantity of water flows annu- 

 ally, it follows that the banks, unless raised in pro- 

 portion, must be overflowed, and torn away. 



* Herodotus Euterpe, chap. 99. 



