Brugsch points out that the two dates are separated by 65 days; that this is the exact interval between the Coptic festivals of the commencement of the flow and the marriage of the Nile--the time of highest water; and that, therefore, in all probability these are the two natural phenomena to commemorate which the offerings on the dates in question were made. But Brugsch does not give the whole of the inscription. A part of it, translated by De Rougé,[75] runs thus:-- "I (the king) know what is said in the depôt of the writings which are in the House of the Books. The Nile emerges from its fountains to give the fulness of life-necessaries to the gods," etc. De Rougé justly remarks: "Le langage singulier que tient le Pharaon dédicateur pourrait même faire soupçonner _qu'il ne s'agit pas de la venue effective de l'eau sainte du Nil à l'une des deux dates précitées_." Krall (_loc. cit._, p. 51) adds the following interesting remarks:-- "Consider, now, what these 'Scriptures of the House of Life' were like. In a catalogue of books from the temple of Edfû we find, besides a series of purely religious writings, 'The knowledge of the periodical recurrence of the double stars (sun and moon),' and the 'Law of the periodical recurrence of the stars.' " ... The knowledge embodied in these writings dated from the oldest times of the Egyptian empire, in which the priests placed, rightly or wrongly, the origin of all their sacred rolls" (_cf._ Manetho's "History," p.130). Now, to investigate this question we have to approach some considerations which at first sight may seem to be foreign to our subject. I shall be able to show, however, that this is not so. _Imprimis_ we must remember that it is a question of Silsilis, where we know, both from tradition and geological evidence, in ancient times the first cataract was encountered. The phrase "the Nile emerges from its fountains" would be much more applicable to Silsilis, the seat of a cataract, than as it is at present. We do not know when the river made its way through this impediment, but we do know that after it took place and the Nile stream was cleared as far as the cataract that still remains at Elephantine, a nilometer was erected there, and that during the whole of later Egyptian history, at all events, the time of the rise of the river has been carefully recorded both there and at Rôda. From this it is fair to infer that in those more ancient times the same thing took place at Silsilis; if this were so, the reason of the record of the coming of the inundation at Silsilis is not far to seek, and hence the suggestion lies on the surface that the records in question may state the date of the arrival _in relation to Memphis time_.