ON THE CLIMATE OF EGYPT IN ANCIENT TIMES, 97 



No doubt the good example set by King Mena was fol- 

 lowed by his successors, so that the river was guided in its 

 course, and land was reclaimed whenever possible. By the 

 time of the Ilnd dynasty (4634 B.C.) Bubastis. near Zagazig, 

 was founded and inhabited. The vast proportion of the 

 present Delta, however, was still a gulf of the sea, with the 

 muddy Nile running into it, and gradually forming the Delta. 

 By the Vltli dynasty (3500 B.C.) some of the sand islands, in 

 the gulf had become inhabitable through the pioneers 

 reclaiming the morass around them. On one of these islands 

 Tanis or Zoan was founded, a city which played an impor- 

 tant part in the history of Egypt in later dynasties. When 

 we reach the Xllth dynasty, the sixth king of that dynasty 

 (Amenemhat III) took great interest in reclaiming the swamps 

 mid in the proper watering of the land already reclaimed. 

 He is celebrated for having conferred great benefits on his 

 country by the construction of dykes and reservoirs for control- 

 ling the water supply. He caused a Nilometer to be chiselled 

 on the rocks at Semneh, a few miles south of Wady Haifa, 

 and in connection with it a series of hieroglyphic inscriptions, 

 recording the rise of the Nile during his reign; from which 

 we learn that the waters of the inundation rose on one 

 occasion 27 feet, and at other times on an average 11-^ feet 

 above the greatest rise of the Nile at the present day. At 

 that time, therefore, the cataract at Semneh had not yet 

 broken down, and Ethiopia must, therefore, have been a well- 

 Avatered country. The rock inscriptions also show that the 

 Nile below Semneh rose some 10 feet above the highest Nile 

 of our day, proving that the cataract at Assouan was only 

 being slowly rubbed down ; the island of Philae being of 

 course then under water. 



It was in connection with the Xllth dynasty (2500 B.C.) 

 that Dr. Flinders Petrie found in Upper Egypt traces of an 

 Ionian colony of workmen that had been employed by one 

 of the Usertesens. This economical measure would seem 

 perfectly excusable, even for such an exclusive people as the 

 Pharaohs, for at this early epoch in Egypt's history the native 

 population must have been sparse. But by the middle of the 

 second century of the Christian era, when Ptolemy the 

 Astronomer lived, the population of Egypt had so increased 

 that it exceeded the population of our day by two millions. 

 This points not only to an admirable climate but also to an 

 intelligent population for those ancient times. 



Were it not that the present inhabitants are so deeply sunk 



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