"of a large gulf, is the city Bizerta; pleasantly "situated upon a canal, betwixt an extensive lake "and the sea." Again; "the gulf of Bizerta, "the Sinus Hipponensis of the antients, is a beau"tiful sandy inlet:" and the city stands at the mouth of it. The Boujah, the antient Salda, mentioned by the same author, is Beoujah, the city situated upon the river or mouth of "Oujah: and Boushatter, where Utica was formerly built, seems to be Bo-sujar; which Sujar is the antient river, though the name be almost lost. From hence we may in some degree form a judgment of the analogy that subsisted among some of the primitive languages; and of the true etymology of those places, that I have been speaking of in Egypt. Cellarius thinks that the canals took their naines from the cities that were built upon their banks and it possibly may have been in some instances true. But, I believe, in general it was otherwise; and I think it may be proved from the natural history of the country. Under Menes the whole plain of lower Egypt was a morass-38 τέτε, πλην τε Θηβαϊκε νομε, πασαν Αιγυπτον είναι ἕλος: and it is still liable to be annually overflowed. To make it habitable, sluices were opened; and canals formed, that the passages of the Nile might be 37 Shaw's Travels. pag. 89. επι 4 cleared; which canals were denominated from some deity or hero, such as Ammon, Osiris, Canouf; who were supposed to have conducted the affair. Great part of the Egyptian mythology is founded upon these operations. When these works were completed, and the land became by degrees fit to receive inhabitants; cities were built upon those canals and rivers, and received their names from them. Thus Bisehor, the Bisehoris or Busiris of the Greeks, was the city at the mouth of the Sehor or Siris: Bibeshet, the city at the canal of 39 Beshet differing little from Mardike, Wansdike, and the towns of Sluis in Holland: but still nearer in analogy to Exmouth, Weymouth, Yarmouth, and towns of the like composition in Britain. Some of the openings and branches of the Nile were formed by the violence of the inundations: but there were others, that seem to have been the work of art; and were called by the Egyptians D, Phacat, and by the Greeks dwguyss: the meaning of which is obvious. The Phacnammonis is nothing else but the Phacat No Ammon, the dike of No Ammon: Phaccusa, though said to be the ca 39 Beshah was a goddess worshipped originally in upper Egypt; where there was a city of the same name, called afterwards from Antinous, Antinoopolis: and by Helladius the two names are joined in one, and the city called Besha-Antinous. See Photius, pital of a province as well as a 40 village, is originally the dike or canal of Cusa. From whence it is plain, that these places were posterior in time to the streams they stood on; and received their names from them. This canal of Phaccusa commenced at a village of the same name, which was situated towards the foot of the Arabian mountain; at the part called the hill of the quarries. Here it began; and, after taking a great circumference, it turned towards the east and south-east, and entered the Red Sea near Heroopolis. It was an amazing work, reaching above an hundred miles; and carried on with immense labour and expense: and is said to have cost the lives of an hundred and twenty thousand persons. The completion of it is attributed to Sesostris, Nechus, and others: but to whom it may most justly be ascribed, it is not easy to determine. The account given of it by Herodotus is very precise and intelligible; he gives the credit of it to Nechus. "This prince was the son of Psammitichus, and king of Egypt; who first formed a canal of "communication between the Nile and Red Sea : "which Darius the Persian in aftertimes opened again. The length of it was four days naviga 66 4o If Ptolemy's account be quite true, there were two places of the same name opposite to each other. "tion; and it was of width sufficient for two “ triremes to pass and turn, without inconvenience. "It was supplied with water from the Nile: which water was carried on in a direction a little above "the city Bubastus; running close by Patumus a “ city in Arabia, and from thence extending to the «Red Sea. The first opening of the canal is at « the great level or plain of Egypt, where it is contiguous to Arabia: above which plain, that is to the south of it, is the hill of the quarries, "which extends upwards towards Memphis. At "the very foot of this mountain is the canal first “ dug, and passes from west to east in a long course, " and afterwards turns to those hollows and openings in the mountain, which afford a passage "southward, where it enters the Arabian gulf." 41 Ψαμμιτίχε δε Νεχως παις εγενετο, και εβασίλευσε Αιγυπτ τε, ός τη διωρύχι επεχείρησε πρώτος, τη ες την Ερυθρήν θα λασσαν φέρεση, την Δαρείος ὁ Περσης δεύτερα διώρυξε της μηκος επί πλους ήμεραι τεσσαρες" ευρος δε ωρύχθη, ώσε τριπ ρεας δυο πλεειν ὁμε ελατρεομένας. Ηκται δε απο το Νειλε το ύδωρ ες αυτήν. Ηκται δε κατύπερθε ολιγον Βεβαςιος που λιος παρα Πατεμον την Αραβίην πολιν εσέχει δε ες την Ερυ θρην θάλασσαν. Ωρυκται δε πρωτον μεν τα πεδία τε Αιγυπ τις, τα προς Αραβίην ἔχοντα εχεται δε κατύπερθε τα πεδία το κατα Μεμφιν τείνον ορος, εν τῳ αι λιθοτομιαι ενεισι. Τε ων δη ἔρεις τετε παρα την ύπωρεην ηκται ή διώρυξ απ' 4 Lib. 2. cap. 158. εσπέρης μακρη προς την πω, και επειτα τείνει ες διασφάγας φέρεσας απο τε αρέος προς μεσαμβρίην τε και νότον άνεμον, ες τον κολπον τον Αράβιον την επι Νεχω βασιληος ορυσσοντες Αιγυπτίων απωλοντο δυώδεκα μυριάδες. 42 έχει της The whole description is particularly clear and exact, as one would expect from Herodotus. Strabo is not quite so precise and, as Egypt abounded with works of this kind, he has confused and blended different accounts together. As he is in one part sufficiently explicit, so as not to be misapprehended, I shall make use of it to illustrate farther what Herodotus has before described. * Η δε αρχή της διωρυ γος της εκδίδεσης εις την Ερυθραν, απο κωμης αρχεται Φακκεσης, η συνεχης εσι και ἡ Φίλωνος κωμης πλατος δ ̓ χων έκατον ἡ διώρυξ, βαθος δ' όσον αρκει μυριοφόρῳ νηι. For Φίλωνος κώμη we should certainly read 43 Φιθωνος κώμη, and the purport of it will be this : “ The canal that "reaches from the Nile to the Red Sea commences at the village of Phaccusa, which has a communi“cation with Phithon. It is an hundred cubits wide, and of a depth sufficient for a first rate ship." From these accounts the situation of several places may be tolerably defined. It is pretty certain that the Patumus of Herodotus is the Philon, or rather 66 42 Vol. 2. pag. 1158. 43 The situation warrants the alteration; which is confirmed by the evidence of Herodotus: besides, such a town as Philon was never heard of. |