62 CHRONOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENT 



Th6t's invention may have been at first communicated to but few individuals, serving as a means 

 of gaining a living, — like the profession of a writer in Eastern countries to the present day. 



381 1 B. C. (= 3649 -\- " 162 years " of Gen. v. 18, Sept. vers., Jos., Theoph., and Afr.), Jared. 



The writings called the " Books of Th5t " were composed before the reign of Menes (Diodor., 

 and Clem. Alex.). The inventor of writing may not have been himself an author, but the work named 

 after him probably included somt prehistoric literature: — for various nations unacquainted with the 

 art of writing are found to possess annals, legends, and poetry, orally transmitted ; in some instances 

 by regularly appointed guardians. 



Fifteenth generation. Jan. 1st, 3800, among living men : 



The same year (== 3802 in calendar years = 3055 -\- " 198 -\- 297 -f- 252 " in the Euseb.-Maneth. 

 table), a date possibly marking some event. 



In Upper Egypt, the city of This already in existence, for Menes was born there. — Abydos, by 

 some writers regarded identical, is mentioned as a distinct city on a coin of Hadrian, and by Stepha- 

 nus Byzantinus ; situated however in the same neighbourhood. 



Potamot>eton crispus of the Temperate portions of the Eastern continent. Called in Italy " pota- 

 mogeto " (Targ., and Lenz), in which we recognize the " potamogeton " used in Egypt for protection 

 in hunting crocodiles (Plin. xxvi. 33 and xxxii. 19) as early perhaps as this date : — P. crispus was 

 observed by Delile in Lower Egypt, from Cairo to Rosetta. Farther North, was observed by Sib- 

 thorp, and Fraas, from Thessaly to Constantinople ; is known to grow also along the Taurian moun- 

 tains and as far in Siberia as the Angara (Bieb., and Gmel.). Westward, is termed " p. foliis crispis 

 sive lactuca ranarum " by Tournefort inst. 233 ; is known to grow in Italy and throughout middle and 

 Northern Europe as far as Sweden and Iceland (fl. Dan. pi. 927, Curt. Lond. v. pi. 15, and Hook.). 

 Is known to grow also in the Southern Hemisphere, in Australia (Wats., and A. Dec). 



Potamo^eton nutans of Temperate climates. Called in Britain with other species water-spike 

 (Prior), in Italy " verniera " (Lenz), in Greece " nerophulli " (Fraas) ; and possibly the " potamo- 

 geton " in question and Egyptian "ethegis" — of Syn. Diosc. . P. natans has not been found in 

 Egypt, but was received by Fresenius from Abyssinia, was observed by Forskal in watery places 

 among the mountiins of Yemen, and is known to grow in Hindustan (A. Dec). Farther North, the 

 " potamogeiton " growing according to Dioscorides in pools and watery places, the leaf beet-like and 

 incumbent or slightly eminent upon the water, is referred here by writers : P. natans is known to 

 grow in Siberia (Wats.), and was observed by Sibthorp, Chaubard, and Fraas, in the rivers of Crete 

 and the Peloponnesus. Westward, the "potamogeltSn " or " stahuiten " is identified in Syn. Diosc. 

 with the "phontilis" or " phlouminalis '' of the Romans, and Pliny's description of the "potamoge- 

 ton " seems chiefly taken from Dioscorides : P. natans is described by Fuchsius p. 651 ; is termed 

 " p. rotundifolium " by Tournefort inst. 233 ; is known to grow in Italy, Barbary, Madeira, the Azores, 

 and throughout Europe as far as Lapland and Iceland (fl. Dan. pj. 1025, Hook., Desf., Lemann, and 

 Wats.). Farther West, is known to grow from the Atlantic coast of North America to Arkansas (A. 

 Grav, and Nutt), and to Norfolk Sound on the Pacific (Mert.). And in the Southern Hemisphere, 

 in Chili, New Zealand, Tasmania, Australia, and Austral Africa (Gay, and A. Dec). 



Salix subserrata of the Upper Nile. A willow called in Egypt " safsaf baelledi " (Forsk.), in 

 Egyptian " th6r " or " th6ri " (transl. Sept., and Kirch. ) and its timber " v6 thSri " or " v6 ntorg " — 

 (ms. Borg ) clustering young shoots to all appearance indigenous were observed by myself on the 

 river-brink near Shekh Said, in about Lat. 26 20', and the species was recognized by my attendant 

 as frequent in Dongola, his native country. Was observed by Forskal to be sensitive to cold "impa- 

 tiens frigoris " no farther North than the gardens of Lower Egypt ; where also it was seen by Delile. 



III. THE KINGS OF THE EARTH, OR EARLY KINGS OF EGYPT. 



3769 B. C. (= 3770 in calendar years = 2953 -)- 30 -|- " 66 -|- 63 -j- 29 -)- 214 -)- 302 -|- 26 

 — ]— 1 S —J— 26 -|- 20 -j- 23 " years in the Afr.-Mancth. table = 2498 -)- " 203 -)- 44S -\- 19S -)- 297 

 -j- 252 — 60 — 27 — 39 " years in the Euseb.-Maneth. table), the date assigned to the fourth 

 king of Egypt, but probably marking the accession of the first king Menes. — ''Sixty-two" 

 years are assigned to his reign in the Afr.-Maneth. table, and by Eratosthenes; "sixty" in 

 the Euseb.-Maneth. table ; and he is mentioned by Herodotus, Josephus, and other Greek writers. 

 No contemporaneous monuments are known: but his name occurs in genealogical tablets of later 

 times, at Sakkarah, Thebes, and in the Turin papyrus ; also on amulets. 



The canal Bahr Yusuf (according to Wilkinson Theb. and Eg. p. 341) is also called " El Menhi " 

 or " Menhee," apparently from Menes : an instance of permanence in a proper name altogether unex- 

 ampled. (Compare Herodot. ii. 99). 



Menes led an army beyond the frontier of Egypt, and "acquired renown:" — confirmation is 



