The boys' and girls' Herodotus; being parts of the history of Herodotus . cial. The Nile, when full, inun-dates not only Delta, but also part of the country said to bclongtoLibya and Arabia, to the extent of about two days journey oneach side. At the summer solstice it fills and overflows for a hundred days; PHYSICAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 89 then falls short in its stream, and retires; so that it continues lowall the winter, until the return of the summer solstice. In parts ofEthiopia, out of which the Nile flows, the inhabitants become blackfrom the excessive heat; kites and swallows continue the
The boys' and girls' Herodotus; being parts of the history of Herodotus . cial. The Nile, when full, inun-dates not only Delta, but also part of the country said to bclongtoLibya and Arabia, to the extent of about two days journey oneach side. At the summer solstice it fills and overflows for a hundred days; PHYSICAL HISTORY OF EGYPT. 89 then falls short in its stream, and retires; so that it continues lowall the winter, until the return of the summer solstice. In parts ofEthiopia, out of which the Nile flows, the inhabitants become blackfrom the excessive heat; kites and swallows continue there all theyear; and the cranes, to avoid the cold of Scythia, migrate to theseparts as winter-quarters. With respect to the sources of the Nile, no man of all theEgyptians, Libyans, or Greeks with whom I have conversed, everpretended to know any thing ; except the registrar of Minervastreasury at Sais in Egypt. But even he seemed to be trifling withme, when he said he knew perfectly well. His account was : That there are two mountains rising into a sharp peak, situated. NILE BOAT. between the cities of Syene and Elephantine ; the names of thesemountains are Crophi and Mophi. The sources of the Nile, whichare bottomless, flow from between these mountains, and half ofthe water flows north over Egypt, and the other half to the south-ward over Ethiopia. That the fountains of the Nile are bottom-less, he said, Psammitichus, king of Egypt, proved by experiment;for he twisted a line many thousand fathoms in length and let itdown, but could not find a bottom. In my opinion, this simplyproves that there are strong whirlpools and an eddy here ; so thatthe water beating against the rocks, a sounding-line, when letdown, cannot reach the bottom. As you ascend the river abovethe city of Elephantine, the country is so steep that it is necessaryto attach a rope on both sides of a boat as you do with an ox in aplough, and so proceed ; but if the rope should happen to break, 90 HERODOTUS. the bo
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Keywords: ., bookauthorherodotus, bookcentury1800, booksubjecthistoryancient
