Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 8, DIA-England

550 EGYPT.
Egypt, sible that, both in the pyramid of Cheops and in that of
Cephrenes, there may yet be many undiscovered cham¬
bers. The chamber which contains the sarcophagus in
the former is equal to a good-sized drawing-room; but
there might be five thousand such chambers within the
pyramid; and as structures so enormous must have been
reared for some great object, or what was considered as
such, it is probable that much still remains to be disco¬
vered in their interior. It is not impossible that the re¬
cords of the kingdom of the Pharaohs may yet peradven-
ture be found in some crypt “ far ben” in these eternal
register-houses.1
In speaking of the mechanical labours of the ancient
Egyptians, it is impossible to pass unnoticed Lake Mce-
ris, which is described by Herodotus as not less wonder¬
ful than the Labyrinth. Its circumference, he informs
us, measured three thousand six hundred stadia, making
sixty schceni or four hundred and fifty miles; an extent
equal to the sea-coast of Egypt. Its greatest length stretch¬
ed from north to south, and its greatest depth was not
less than fifty orgyias, or thirty-six fathoms. He is of
opinion that it was excavated by the hand of man; and
his reason for this belief is, that about the middle of the
lake there were two pyramids, each fifty orgyias, or two
hundred and twelve feet above, and as much below the
water, whilst on the summit of each there was placed a
colossus of stone, in a sitting posture, or throned. The
waters of this lake, he adds, were entirely derived from
the Nile, and its fisheries paid one talent of silver, or
L.225, to the crown, every day for six months during the
decrease of the waters, and twenty minas, or L.75, for the
remaining six months during their increase ; thus yielding
an annual revenue of L.54,000. Herodotus also states, on
the authority of the inhabitants, that this lake has a sub¬
terraneous channel, or passage, westward into the Libyan
desert, in the line of the mountain which rises above
Memphis; and, from those who dwelt on its shores, he
further learned that the earth dug out of the excavation
which formed the lake was thrown into the river, and
washed down by the current into the sea ; an explanation
with which he appears to have been perfectly satisfied.
This account, exhibiting the characteristics of simplicity
and truth, is substantially confirmed by the statements of
Diodorus Siculus and Pomponius Mela, except that the
latter makes the circumference five hundred miles instead
of four hundred and fifty ; and all coincide in the opinion
that its object must have been to save the country from
the effects of an excessive inundation, by affording a re¬
ceptacle for the surplus flood, and at the same time to
keep in reserve a supply of water for the parched lands
in the vicinity, or to meet the wants of a dry season in
the Delta. But, as the water of this lake has a disagree¬
able taste, and besides is almost as salt as the sea, con¬
tracting its saline property from the nitre with which the
surrounding land is everywhere impregnated, it is proba¬
ble enough that it was originally constructed rather to
prevent an evil than to secure a benefit, to counteract an
excessive rather than to eke out a deficient inundation.
The dimensions of this lake in modern times do not in
any degree correspond with the statements which have
been recorded by the ancients. According to Pococke,
at the time when he visited Egypt it was only about fifty
miles in length and ten in breadth ; and Mr Browne, who
travelled at a still later period, estimated the length at
between thirty and forty miles, and the breadth at not
more than six miles. It appears, therefore, that the
limits of this inland sea have been much contracted;
and further, that the process of diminution is going on Egyr
at a rate distinctly perceptible. Anciently the waters \-
of Lake Mceris covered a large portion of the valley of
Fayoum, and, when the inundation exceeded a certain
height, probably found an outlet from the north-eastern
extremity, along the course of the Bahr-bilama or Wa¬
terless River, thus reaching the sea to the westward of
Lake Mareotis and Alexandria. That the Nile origi¬
nally flowed through the valley of the Natron Lakes, is
now generally admitted ; and the opinion is strength¬
ened by the conformation of the adjoining country, the
existence of the bed or channel of a river, extending to
the sea, but now dry, and more especially by the escarp¬
ment of the chain of mountains, shutting the entrance of
the valley north of the Pyramids, which appears to have
been caused at some period by the action of the running
water, as may indeed be observed in all the mountains at
the base of which the Nile flows at the present day. In
its present contracted dimensions, Lake Moeris is called
by the Arabs Birket-el-Keroun, the Horn or Bow Lake,
being so named either from its figure, or from the cele¬
brated ruin near to its south-western extremity, denomi¬
nated Kasr Keroun by the Arabs, and till lately sup¬
posed to form part of the Labyrinth. The canal called
Bahr Yussuf, or Joseph’s River, is about a hundred and
twenty miles in length, and, on entering the province
of Fayoum, is divided into a number of subordinate
branches, supplied with a variety of locks and dams.
Two other canals also communicated between the lake
and the stream, and, by means of the sluices at their
junction with the river, admitted or excluded the water,
according as the Nile rose above or fell below a certain
limit. These were the principal achievements of Moeris,
whose works are to be sought for not so much in the lake
which bears his name, and seems to be rather a natural
basin skilfully appropriated to a purpose of great public
utility than a work of labour and art, as in the immense
cuts and excavations which connected this lake with the
Nile, and in the mounds, dams, and sluices, which ren¬
dered it available for extensive and systematic irrigation,
the prime cause of fertility in Egypt. We shall not at¬
tempt here to describe the reticulation of canals, and other
works therewith connected, by means of which this bene¬
ficent object was in a great measure insured, and a sort
of equilibrium established in the supply of the fluid so es¬
sential for the purposes of cultivation; but shall merely
content ourselves with observing, that the author of such
works of unquestionable utility is the real benefactor of
his kind, and that the glory which encircles the name of
Mceris-Thouthmosis is a thousand times more enviable,
because more beneficent in its character, than that of the
founder of the Labyrinth, or of the merciless taskmaster
who reared the Great Pyramid.
In this land of wonders there are many other works
and monuments well deserving of being described; but
the limits assigned to the present section having been al¬
ready exceeded, it is necessary to bring it to a close,
without entering into details which would be found to pos¬
sess only a secondary kind of interest. We cannot con¬
clude, however, without expressing our deep regret that,
under the comparatively enlightened government which
has now been established in Egypt, the destruction of an¬
cient monuments should be carried on with a systematic
and calculating perseverance, which, unless checked, must
in a few years annihilate the finest and noblest remains
that have escaped the united ravages of time and barba¬
rism. Let us hope, however, that the viceroy may be m-
1 Head, Eastern and Egyptian Scenery, Ruins, &c. pp. 46, 47. Russell, View of Ancient and Modern Egypt, p. 150, et seqq.