AFRICA. the northern or Mediterranean Sea, to the southern CHAP. III. or Arabian Gulf, would however have been at Mount Casius, where the two seas are only 1000 stadia apart, for the canal is more winding and therefore very much longer. Neco stopped further operations after 120,000 Aegyptians had perished at the work, because an oracle assured him that he was only labouring for the Barbarian.' Survey of the course The precise line of this extraordinary canal was of the canal. ascertained by the French survey, made in 1799, and fully confirms the truth of Herodotus's description. The length of a canal from the Mediterranean to the Arabian Gulf, following the most suitable ground, would be 93 miles; that of the ancient excavation from the Nile to the Arabian Gulf was about 92 miles.' Herodotus says that it required four days for a vessel to pass through it, an estimate which supposes a day's sail to be 23 miles; and as we have already seen that he calculates a day's journey, either on land or in a voyage in a vessel with oars, to be about 20 miles, there is a remarkable coincidence between his estimate and the results of the modern survey. Again, he states that the canal was broad enough to admit two triremes to move abreast, whilst Pliny calculates its width at 100 feet, and Strabo at 100 cubits, or 150 feet; and all three authors may be correct, because the breadth must have varied with the nature of the ground, and, as the vestiges still show, did actually vary from 100 to 200 feet or upwards.3 Division of the route into four sections. We shall now endeavour, by the assistance of the French survey, to point out the exact course taken by the canal. It commenced, as Herodotus states, in the neighbourhood of Bubastis, on the Pelusiac or eastern branch of the Nile, and finally conducted the waters of the river to Arsinoë, at the 1 ii. 158. 2 The direct distance from the northern extremity of the Arabian Gulf to the nearest part of the Mediterranean is about 75 miles, and to the site of the ancient Bubastis, on the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, is about the same. 3 Russell's Egypt. Comp. also Edin. Phil. Journal, No. xxvi. 1. Line from Bitter the Bitter head of the western arm of the Arabian Gulf, now AFRICA. called the Gulf of Suez. It comprehends four dis- CHAP. III. tinct sections. The first section begins about a mile and a half to the north of the town of Suez, and Suez to the extends across the low, sandy isthmus, in a north- Lakes. erly direction, for about thirteen miles and a half to the Bitter Lakes. Throughout nearly the whole of this route, the vestiges of the canal can be distinctly traced. The remains of the banks on either side are from twelve to twenty-four feet in height; and the space between them, or width of the watercourse, is generally about 150 feet. The second 2. Basin of section consists of the basin of the Bitter Lakes, Lakes. twenty-seven miles long, and from five to seven miles broad, running in a north-westerly direction. Here no cutting or embankment would be required, for the bottom of the valley is from twenty-five to sixty feet below the high-water mark at Suez, and about the same distance below the opposite waters of the Mediterranean.' At present however the basin contains no water, excepting some pools in the deepest parts; but its boundary is accurately traced on the declivities by lines of gravel, shells, and marine debris, of the same kind, and precisely at the same level, as those found at high-water mark on the beach of the Gulf of Suez. The third section 3. Elbow elbows round towards the west, through the Wady through the of Tomlat, for a distance of nearly forty miles. This Way of valley is from half a mile to two miles in breadth. Its bottom is about thirty feet lower than the level 1 It was supposed, until very recently, that the waters of the Mediterranean were 30 feet below the level of the Arabian Gulf; but Sir John Stephenson, in surveying the ground for the railroad, discovered that there was scarcely any difference between the level of the two seas, beyond what might be occasioned by the difference in the tides. It is however certain that the Aegyptian engineers supposed the Mediterranean to be lower than the Arabian Gulf. Diodorus (lib. i. c. 3) distinctly informs us that the canal of Neco was left unfinished by Darius, because the latter was told that if he cut through the isthmus all Aegypt would be drowned, for the Arabian Gulf lay higher than Aegypt. Pliny also (lib. xvi. c. 29) tells us that the canal stretched only from the Nile to the Bitter Lakes; as its extension southward would have endangered Aegypt, whose soil was calculated to be three cubits below the level of the Arabian Gulf. round Tomlat. AFRICA. of the surrounding desert, and nearly as much beCHAP. III. low the tide of the Red Sea. The waters of the from the Nile are shut out by transverse dykes. The canal runs along the northern side, where the surface of the ground is some feet higher than the rest of the valley, so that the water collected in it can be conveniently used for irrigation.' The canal in the western half of the valley is very entire, but in the eastern half all traces of the work, excepting at particular spots, have been obliterated by the accumu4. Channel lating drift-sands of the desert. The fourth section extended from the western entrance of the valley to Bubastis on the Nile, a distance of about twelve miles. Here we lose the traces of the channel, as the country is all under cultivation, and regularly covered by the annual inundations of the Nile; but some of the aqueducts which traverse it, and which are now used solely for the purposes of agriculture, are believed to be the remains of the ancient canal. The four sections may be summed up as follows: Wady of Immense number of Besides the canal of Neco, Herodotus mentions canals dug that Aegypt was traversed by a countless number of by Sesostris. small canals. These were dug in ancient times by Sesostris, who employed, for the purpose, the multitude of captives whom he had carried away from the countries he had subdued. Previously Aegypt had been a level plain, and the inhabitants of the inland towns had been obliged to drink a brackish 1 The valley called the Wady of Tomlat, was formerly much broader than it is at present; for the moveable sands of the desert, which on the southern side form hillocks thirty or forty feet high, are swept into it by the wind, and are thus continually encroaching upon the arable surface. There is good reason for believing that it may be identified with the land of Goshen, the original settlement of the Israelites in Aegypt. Some ruins found at Aboukeshed, are supposed to mark the site of Heroopolis, an ancient town of some importance, and usually identified with the Pithom of the Scriptures.-See Russell. water, which they procured from wells, excepting AFrica. at such times as the Nile overflowed its banks. CHAP. III. These canals therefore, which intersected Aegypt in every direction, obviated this evil, but rendered the country impassable for chariots or horses.1 3 Lower Ae The nomes in Lower Aegypt mentioned by He- Nomes of rodotus are as follows: Busirites, Saites, Papremites, gypt. and the island Prosopitis, which was nine schoeni in circumference, and included numerous cities, especially Atarbechis, which contained the temple of Aphrodite, where the bones of all the dead bulls were interred. Also the nomes of Natho, Pharbaethites, Amphthites, Tanites, Mendesius, Sebennytes, Athribites, Thmuites, Onuphites, Anysius, and Mycephorites, which last was situated in an island opposite the city of Bubastis. The nome of Thebes is also mentioned, which was evidently different from the nome of the same name in Upper Aegypt.5 1 ii. 108. CHAPTER IV. AFRICA. CHAP. IV. UPPER AEGYPT. Upper Aegypt of Herodotus included Heptanomis and Thebais.— Memphis. Built by Menes on a site recovered from the Nile.—Explanation of Herodotus's description of the ancient and modern channels of the Nile.-Description of the canal of Joseph.-Site of Memphis identified with that of Mitranieh.-Celebrated temple of Hephaestus, or Pthah, built by Menes.-Northern propylaea built by Moeris.-Six colossal statues erected before it by Sesostris.-Western propylaea, and two statues of Summer and Winter, erected by Rhampsinitus.-Eastern propylaea built by Asychis.-Southern propylaea, and court for Apis, constructed by Psammitichus.-Colossus, 75 feet high, dedicated by Amasis. Stone statue of Sethon, with a mouse.-Temenus of Proteus, including the temple of Aphrodite the stranger.-Phoenician settlement, called the Tyrian Camp.-Temple of Isis.-Walls. Suburb.-White Fortress.-Temple of Demeter.- Pyramids described by Herodotus identified with those of Gizeh.-General description of their site and relative position. Recent explorations of Col. Howard Vyse and Mr. Perring. Herodotus's description of the causeway 3000 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 48 feet high, laid down by Cheops.-Explanation of the description.-Traces of the ancient causeway still existing.-The Three Great Pyramids.-I. THE GREAT PYRAMID OF CHEOPS.-Herodotus's description.-Time and labour employed.-Dimensions.-Mode of construction.-Ascent by steps, or altars.-Machines constructed of short pieces of wood.-Summit first completed.-Burial vault of Cheops surrounded by a channel conducted from the Nile.-Inscription declaring the sums expended upon provisions for the workmen.-Comparison of the account of Herodotus with modern investigations.—Ancient and modern measurements. Three kinds of materials employed. — Ist, Blocks quarried from the Libyan rock used for the internal masses.— 2nd, Compact limestone from the Arabian mountains used for casing stones.-3rd, Red granite from the cataracts at Syene, also used for lining and casing stones.-Character of the mechanical agencies employed. Internal blocks not so large as Herodotus describes.-Holes for the insertion of the machines still visible.-Exterior coating of casing-stones, of limestone, or granite, carefully cemented and beautifully polished.-Mr. Perring's observations on the mode of construction.— Interior of the Great Pyramid.-Sloping passage descending towards the centre.-Passage divides: one continuing the descent till it reaches the Subterranean Chamber; the other ascending, and then again dividing, one branch running horizontally to the Queen's Chamber, and the other inclining upward to the King's Chamber.-Description of the Subterranean Chamber.-Burial vault of Cheops not to be found.-Queen's Chamber.-King's Chamber, containing an empty sarcophagus.-Inscrip - |