ble
communication between the Nile and the Red Sea. His description requires
to be cited in his own words, in order to testify the sagacity of his
enquiries and the accuracy of his information. "Psammetichus had a son,
whose name was Nekos. This prince first commenced that canal leading to
the Red Sea, which Darius, king of Persia, afterwards continued. The
length of the canal is equal to a four days' voyage, and it is wide
enough to admit two triremes abreast. The water enters it from the Nile,
a little above the city of Bubastes. It terminated in the Red Sea, not
far from Patumos, an Arabian town. In the prosecution of this work,
under Nekos, no less than 120,000 Egyptians perished. He at length
desisted from his undertaking, being admonished by an oracle, that all
his labour would turn to the advantage of a barbarian." As soon as Nekos
discontinued his labours with respect to the canal, he turned all his
thoughts to military enterprise. He built vessels of war, both on the
Mediterranean and in that part of the Arabian gulf which is near the Red
Sea.[1]

[1] Herod. book ii. Sec. 158. Beloe's Translation, vol. i. p. 411.

This statement of Herodotus is confirmed by Diodorus Siculus, another
Greek historian, who had visited Egypt, and, like Herodotus, paid great
attention to its history and antiquities. The words of Diodorus are--"A
canal has been dug from the Pelusiac branch of the Nile to the gulf of
Arabia and the Red Sea. It was commenced by Nekos, son of Psammetichus,
and afterwards continued by Darius, king of the Persians, who made some
progress with the work, but abandoned it when he learned that, if the
isthmus was dug through, all Egypt would be inundated, as the level of
the Red Sea is higher than that of the soil of Egypt. At last Ptolemy
II. (Philadelphus) completed the undertaking; having adapted an
ingenious contrivance to the ingress of the canal, which was opened when
a vessel was about to enter, and afterwards closed. Experience proved
the utility of this invention. The waters which flow in this canal are
called the river of Ptolemy, the king who executed this great work. The
town of Arsinoee is constructed at its mouth."[1]

[1] Diodorus Siculus, i. 33. Nekos reigned B.C. 616 to 601. See also 2
Kings, chap. xxiii. ver. 29.

It must be recollected that Diodorus wrote about four hundred years
after Herodotus; and his information concerning the earlier events, from
want of precision, appears to be de