15%. 
DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 
Pococke, who describes a great causeway of ope 
thousand yards in length, and twenty feet wide, 
formed of hewn stone, which extended across a 
hollow part of the country, and terminated about 
a mile to the N. Jl. of the pyramids.* 
The Nile being excluded ft^om one of its chan- 
nels, did not long contain it^ waters within the 
other, but following its ancient tendency towards 
the ^Yest, which it de^'ived from the inclination of 
the soil, again separated in the vicinity of Helio- 
polis, where it formed a new Delta, stretching 
farther to the east, but on the western side infe- 
rior in extent to the ancient Delta. This varia- 
tion of the apex of the Delta, from Memphis to 
Heliogolis, introduced such a degree of confusion 
into the relations of historians, as has rendered 
it difficult to ascertain the position of Memphis, 
though that city flourished to a late period. Frpm 
its central situation, it was equally adapted for 
becoming the capital of a powerful kingdom, and 
the emporium of an extensive commerce. The 
ancient monarchs of Egypt deserted Thebes, and 
her hundred gates, to reside in this new capital, 
around which soon arose the pyramids, the proud- 
est monuments of antiquity. Memphis flourish- 
ed for many ages, and even survived the ravages 
of the Persian Cambyses. The founding of Alex- 
* Pococke's Tr^velg, Vol. I. p. 42. 
