FABULOUS ANIMALS. 
513 
THE SPHINX. 
PROVIDENCE has ordered, that as the plains of Egypt are 
not visited by showers, they should be fertilized by the 
overflowing of the Nile. This noble river overflows its 
banks once a year, a little after the summer solstice. This 
annual phenomenon, bringing unfailing fertility in the 
vales of the Delta up to Memphis, and around the bases 
of the majestic and venerable pyramids, was of the great- 
est importance to the people of Misraim, from the far- 
tamed Pharos to the frontiers of Ethiopia. It was there- 
fore their interest to find out and mark correctly the sea- 
son, the month, and nearly the hour, when the flood should 
begin; chiefly as the sudden invasion by the waters was 
dangerous to the inhabitants of the lower places, the mea- 
dows and the fens, and often destroyed the cottages, drag- 
ged in the flocks, and drowned the improvident villagers. 
The star Sirius was remarked to emerge from the blazing 
neighbourhood of the sun about the time of the rising of 
the Nile ; it was a warning, and it was called accordingly 
the Dog-star, as if barking from the heavens to apprise 
the inhabitants of the valleys of the impending swelling of 
the stream. Another mode was adopted, and they com- 
bined the signs of the zodiac answering to the two months 
during which the overflowing takes place. These signs 
happening to be Leo and Virgo, the natural taste of the 
