309 
haps, so as to meet each other, and to overlap to some small 
extent the Arabian Gulf ” ( lb . ii. 1 1) . Now, probably the whole 
extent of country that Herodotus intended to indicate was not 
a hundred miles in length, being merely the Delta and the flat 
region round about Heliopolis and below Memphis ; and even 
if we measure from the position of the artificial Lake Moeris, and 
suppose that the head of the Arabian Gulf did not formerly ex- 
tend north of 30°, still the whole length of the district indicated 
would be considerably under 200 miles. It is almost absurd 
to suppose that Herodotus imagined the mountains between 
Lake Mceris and Memphis, and those on the other side of the 
river were part of this “ bay of the sea;” his whole language 
evidently referring to the Delta and the low alluvial flats 
“ between the mountains.” Thus he says, “for the Delta, as 
the Egyptians themselves acknowledge, and as I think, is 
alluvial , and (if I may so express myself) has lately come to 
light” — meaning, as “ land acquired by the Egyptians, and 
“ a gift from the river” ( lb . ii. 15 and 5). Again, one of 
the reasons he gives for crediting this opinion is, that “ Egypt 
projects beyond the adjoining land” (lb. ii. 12). Now, 
any one may see, by a glance at a map, that the extent to 
which Egypt does so project is not half the length 
of the Delta, or less than 60 miles. What, then, to make 
of Professor Huxley's imaginary long “arm” of “1,200 
miles,” I am at a loss to know. It is just about ten 
times longer than any “ bay ” which Herodotus can have 
conceived ; and fond of high figures as the ancient Egyptians 
were, (like some now among ourselves !) I am very sure that 
the learned Professor did not get any hint of his modern 
measurement of the Egyptian Nile- valley in the pyramid- 
records of those old “ land measurers ” who founded 
Memphis ! 
Then as regards the pyramids themselves, he spoke of them 
as built more than 2,000 years before the Christian epoch, or 
about 300 years before Joseph's time, and 200 before the time 
he himself assigned to Joseph ; whereas the usual chronology 
makes the pyramids 200 years after Joseph's time, or 1,500 
b.c. As I do not know where he gets these unusual dates, 
I shall only further observe, that although the founding of 
Memphis is given by some as in 2,188 b.c., the building of the 
pyramids is generally given as 700 years later, or b.c. 1,492. 
But the principal argument relied on, in this part of Pro- 
fessor Huxley's discourse, was the evidence of great civilization 
in the text he quoted, and the supposed long time required 
for the attainment of this condition, but especially before 
chariots could have been invented by the Egyptians. As, 
