84 
ME.  HOENEE  ON  THE  ALLUVIAL  LAND  OE  EGYPT. 
“ In  1852,  the  Sheikh  of  the  Nilometer  attending  on  me  by  order  of  the  late  Viceroy, 
informed  me  that  the  Mastaba  was  the  9 th  cubit,  that  he  measured  from  it  7 cubits  to 
obtain  the  16th  and  three  more  to  get  at  the  22nd,  and  two  more  to  reach  the  24th. 
Accordingly  from  the  9th  to  the  24th  we  have  12  cubits,  and  nine  more  below  the  Mastaba. 
I wished  the  Sheikh  to  afford  me  further  information,  which  he  declined,  afihrming  that 
he  was  engaged  by  a sacred  promise,  like  all  his  predecessors  and  ancestors, — the  office 
is  hereditary — to  reveal  the  secrets  of  the  Nilometer  to  no  ear  but  that  of  the  reigning 
Caliph  of  the  Faithful.  On  my  requesting,  however,  that  he  would  show  me  how  he 
measured  up  to  the  24th  cubit,  he  indicated  a point  on  the  parapet,  which  I measured, 
and  found  to  be  264‘209  inches  above  the  Mastaba,  which  at  20-625  inches  to  the  cubit, 
instead  of  15  cubits,  is  only  12-325. 
The  cubit  divisions  on  the  column  do  not  at  all  correspond  with  the  standard  of 
20-625,  for  on  measuring  the  seven  cubits  between  the  9th  and  16th,  I found  it  to  be 
155-20  inches,  which  gives  22-17  inches  to  the  cubit.  From  the  Mastaba  to  the  upper 
surface  of  the  sandstone  disk  on  which  the  column  rests,  that  is,  the  nine  cubits,  the 
distance  was  found  to  be  148-67  inches,  which  gives  only  16-52  inches  to  each  cubit. 
From  the  base  of  the  column  to  the  16th  cubit  mark  we  have  thus  303-87  inches,  which 
gives  an  average  of  18-99  to  each  cubit. 
“ The  conflicting  statements  made  by  the  Sheikhs  of  the  Nilometer  induced  the  French 
savans  to  give  up  the  question  of  the  scale  used  by  the  Ulema,  and  to  adopt  a new 
system  of  their  own  invention  for  future  annual  observations  and  records.  The  extra- 
ordinary high  Nile  of  the  4th  of  October  1804  was  quoted  by  the  Ulema  at  14  cubits 
and  17  digits;  but  the  same  water-level  by  the  French  measurement  amounted  to 
18  cubits  and  3 digits.  On  the  23rd  of  September  1799  the  water-level  was  recorded 
by  the  Ulema  at  12  cubits  and  16  digits,  and  by  the  French  at  16  cubits  and  2 digits, 
and  on  the  8th  of  October  1798  the  Ulema  quoted  14  cubits,  and  the  French  17  cubits 
and  10  digits.” 
Note  D,  page  75. 
The  researches  undertaken  by  the  French  engineers,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining 
the  nature  and  depth  of  the  alluvial  soil  in  the  Nile  valley  in  Upper  Egypt,  are  described 
by  M.  Girakd,  under  whose  special  direction  they  appear  to  have  been  conducted  *. 
The  first  excavations  were  made  in  the  early  part  of  April  1799,  in  the  nearly  level 
plain  in  which  Siout  is  situated,  about  240  miles  above  Cairo.  The  valley  here  is  rather 
more  than  six  miles  in  width,  the  Nile  flowing  nearly  two  miles  from  the  western  or 
Libyan  range  of  hills.  Eleven  pits  were  sunk  in  a continuous  line  from  the  Libyan 
Hills  to  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  and  two,  XII.  and  XIII.,  on  the  right  bank,  in  a 
prolongation  of  the  same  line. 
* Sur  la  Vallee  d’Egypte,  &c.,  Mdraoires  de  ITnstitut,  1817. 
