“The lake into which the water flows is called Biliha.[26] Part of the Nile flows to the Soudan country, then passes to the east of Kussed, and then flows along one of the mountains of this country and comes out at the equator. Then it passes out from a lake there, and continues going westward to the country of Laknur, and thence northwards until it flows into the great ocean. Then it flows to the country of Abyssinia, and thence to the country of the Soudan, and then to the east of Dongola, until it comes upon the cataracts of Assouan, thence it flows into the Mediterranean. [Illustration: MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON.--MASSOUDI, 11TH CENTURY.] “Makrisi says, ‘There is no difference of opinion. The Nile comes from Mount Gumr.’ Makrisi also says that ‘Merka-Eel, the son of Doobar-Eel, the son of Garabat, the son of Asfusan, the son of Adam, on coming to Egypt with a number of the tribe of Arabat, settled in Egypt and there built the city of Assus and other cities, and they dug the Nile until they led the water down to them, because, before that time, it did not flow regularly, but used to spread out over the land unto the country of King Mekronsé of Nuba. They regulated the course of the Nile and drew from it various streams to their different cities which they had built. They also led one stream to the city of Susan, then after the world came out of the flood, and when time rolled on until the days of Berdashir, the son of Bzar, the son of Ham, the son of Noah, the flow of the Nile was again regulated a second time, after it had been completely ruined by the flood.’ But the historian Ibn Wasifsha says, ‘when Berdashir ruled--and he is the first who became a priest and who practised magic and used to render himself invisible--he sent the Prince Hermes to the great Lake,[27] whence the waters of the Nile flow. It is also said that he regulated the stream, because formerly it used to overflow in some places and not in others.’ “As for the place where are the copper statues, it contains fifty-eight figures, and Hermes collected to these figures the water that flows out of the Nile, conducting the water to them by vaulted conduits and aqueducts, so that the water would flow to the figures and then come out from Mount Gumr, and thence flow from under the wall, and then pass out through the mouths of these figures. He regulated and measured the quantity of water flowing out, so as to allow to flow out that amount which is required for the land of Egypt, viz., that it should rise only to eighteen cubits, each cubit having thirty-two digits. Were it not for this the Nile would swamp all the countries that it passes through.