"The earliest date preserved is that of the sixth year of the king's reign, and he reigned 42 years and some months. The next following dates are, the years 9, 14, 15, 20, 22, 23, 24, 30, 32, 37, 40, 41, and 43; and include, therefore, under this king, a period of 37 years. Of the remaining dates, that only of the 4th year of his two successors is available; all the others, which are on the west or left bank of the river, have been moved from their original place by the rapid floods which have overthrown and carried forward vast masses of rock. One single mark only, that of the 9th year of Amenemha, has been preserved in its original place on one of the building stones, but somewhat below the principal rapid.[53] Footnote 53: See Plate I. "We have now to consider the relation which these--the most ancient of all existing marks of the risings of the Nile--bear to the levels of the river in our own time. We have here presented to us the remarkable facts, that the highest of the records now legible; viz., that of the 30th year of the reign of Amenemha, according to exact measurements which I made, is 8·17 metres (26 feet 8 inches) higher than the highest level to which the Nile rises in years of the greatest floods; and further, that the lowest mark, which is on the east bank, and indicated the 15th year of the same king, is still 4·14 metres (13 feet 6½ inches); and the single mark on the west bank, indicating the 9th year, is 2·77 metres (9 feet) above the same highest level. "The mean rise of the river, recorded by the marks on the east bank, during the reign of Moeris, is 19·14 metres (62 feet 6 inches) above the lowest level of the water in the present day, which, according to the statements of the most experienced boatmen, does not change from year to year, and therefore represents the actual level of the Nile, independently of its increase by the falls of rain, in the mountains in which its sources are situated. The mean rise above the lowest level, at the present time, is 11·84 metres (38 feet 8 inches); and, therefore, in the time of Moeris, or about 2200 years before Christ, the mean height of the river, at the cataract or rapid of Semne, during the inundation, was 7·30 metres (23 feet 10 inches) above the mean level in the present day." Such are the facts recorded by Dr Lepsius; and then follow, in the same letter, his views as to the cause of the remarkable lowering of the level of the river.