34 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



to a greater height. At Thebes it reaches 36 feet, and at Syene 40 

 feet. In the Delta, near the sea, the average rise of the water is 

 only about 4 feet. The night of the 17th of June is called "the 

 night of the drop," as according to an old Egyptian myth, a tear of 

 Isis falls into the Nile on that night and causes the river to rise. 

 Astrologers profess to calculate with precision the hour of the fall of 

 the sacred tear. At Cairo, on that night, a multitude throng the 

 bank of the Nile, and numerous old and curious practices are 

 indulged in. From inscriptions found on ancient Nile columns, 

 similar festivals, it appears, were celebrated as early as the 14th 

 century before Christ. 



Besides the fertile lands along the river there are five Oases in 

 the desert beyond the Nile Valley that are fruitful. Brugsch says 

 these spots derive their nam^e from the old Egyptian word Wah, " an 

 inhabited station." Some of these are small, and most of them are 

 thought to owe their fertility to subterranean communication with 

 the Nile. The Fayum is the largest Oasis. It, however, has sur- 

 face connection with the Nile. It is an oval district comprising 840 

 square miles, is very fertile, and was the seat of the great temple 

 called the Labyrinth, which Strabo describes, and which Herodotus 

 calls one of the wonders of the world. 



The ancient people of this wonderful valley of the Delta, and 

 of the Oases, are said to have numbered eight millions ; a greater 

 population than they boast to-day, if the large foreign element in 

 Egypt be included. Modern historians, anthropologists and philolo- 

 gers have worked hard to trace back the history of man beyond the 

 old landmarks, and in some directions their efforts have been crowned 

 with success. Latin authors tell us something concerning the early 

 condition of Britain, France and Germany ; and the literature shew- 

 ing what contributed to the making of these countries daily increases. 

 Schrader, and a score of others, following with untiring patience the 

 clew of language, have plodded their way back to the prehistoric 

 past, and give an interesting picture of early Aryan civilization. We 

 know but little of the aboriginal tribes of this Western world ; but 

 Champlain, Charlevoix and the English Voyagers, will set at rest the 

 future enquirer who attempts to follow the wave of civilization, 

 which, in the last two centuries, has resistlessly overspread this con- 

 tinent. But hitherto, attempts to discover the origin and descent of 

 the ancient Egyptians have been futile. The sphinx still refuses to 



