The first rise of the Nile is observed near the island Philae which I 7 have just mentioned. A short distance from it the river is divided by a rock in the centre, which the Greeks call the Inaccessible (Ἄβατος). No foot approaches it save that of the priestly ministers. Those cliffs first feel the increase of the river. Then along distance below that two crags project, called by the natives the veins of the Nile. A great quantity of water is shed out by them, but yet insufficient to flood the land of Egypt. When the date of the sacred festival comes round, the priests throw into these fountains a public offering, while the magistrates offer gifts of gold. From this point the Nile, 8 obviously displaying the fresh energy it has gained, flows onward in a channel of profound depth, but is restrained by mountain barriers from spreading widely beyond its banks. Only when it reaches Memphis is it released; and separating into numerous channels, it roams over the champaign. In order to regulate the supply, canals are constructed by hand, and thus the water is distributed over all Egypt. At first near its bank the stream is simply divided; by and by the waters extend till they assume the aspect of a wide, swollen sea at rest. The extent of the country flooded, which embraces the whole land of Egypt to right and left, deprives the current of all its force. The height of the Nile’s 9 rise determines the expectation of growth for the year. The farmer is never out in his reckoning; the fertility of the land answers unfailingly to the measure of the river’s increase. It spreads a coating of soil as well as water over the thirsty, sandy ground. As it comes down swollen, it deposits all its sediment in the dry, gaping cracks, and spreads over the parched soil all the rich mud it has brought down. It thus renders a double service to the land--first, by overflowing it, and then by coating it with slime. And so any portion that it does not reach lies waste and unsightly. If the inundation 10 is unduly high, it does damage.