THE SOURCE OF THE NILE 69 
Tr is fcarcely neceflary to obferve, that, in every ftate or 
fociety, the product or revenue fhould be known, as wellas 
what will be wanted for the fupply of the necefflities of the 
people. Now, it was only the ground overflowed by the 
Nile that could produce grain for the fubfiftence of the in- 
habitants and revenue of.the ftate.. 
Tue firft confideration, then, was, to know how much of 
the land of kgypt was overflowed in a given term of years, 
and how much grain was produced upon that average. 
This could only be afcertained by meafuring, and they, 
therefore, fettled with precifion the land that was overflow- 
ed from the earlieft times, and do fo to this day. Thefe 
actual meafurements gave them a maximum and a mini~ 
- mum, which furnifhed them with a mean, and thus they 
were in poffeffion of all the principles neceflary for making 
a Nilometer, by dividing a pillar into correfponding cubits, 
and divifions of cubits called digits, placing it alfo firm and 
perpendicular, fo as to be liable to no alteration or injury, 
though in the middle of the fream.. 
- Tue firft flated meafure was certainly that mentioned: 
in f{cripture, the cubit, /ecundum cubitum virilis. manus, rmaeatur- 
ing from the center of the round bone in the elbow to the 
point of the middle finger *. This is {till the meafure of all 
unpolifhed nations, but no medium or term, expreffive of. 
its exact contents, having been applied, writers have dif- 
fered as to the length of this cubit, and no ftandard exifting: 
to which it might be referred, a great deal of confu- 
fion 
* Deut. chap. iii, ver. IZ. 
