ntinued by Darius, the first of that name;
but he also desisted from it, upon his being told, that as the Red-Sea lay
higher than Egypt, it would drown the whole country. But it was at last
finished under the Ptolemies, who, by the help of sluices, opened or shut
the canal as there was occasion. It began not far from the Delta, near the
town of Bubastus. It was a hundred cubits, that is, twenty-five fathoms
broad, so that two vessels might pass with ease; it had depth enough to
carry the largest ships; and was about a thousand stadia, that is, above
fifty leagues long. This canal was of great service to the trade of Egypt.
But it is now almost filled up, and there are scarce any remains of it to
be seen.

Chapter III. Lower Egypt.

I am now to speak of Lower Egypt. Its shape, which resembles a triangle,
or Delta, {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER DELTA~}, gave occasion to its bearing the latter name, which is that
of one of the Greek letters. Lower Egypt forms a kind of island; it begins
at a place where the Nile is divided into two large canals, through which
it empties itself into the Mediterranean: the mouth on the right hand is
called the Pelusian, and the other the Canopic, from two cities in their
neighbourhood, Pelusium and Canopus, now called Damietta and Rosetta.
Between these two large branches, there are five others of less note. This
island is the best cultivated, the most fruitful, and the richest part of
Egypt. Its chief cities (very anciently) were Heliopolis, Heracleopolis,
Naucratis, Sais, Tanis, Canopus, Pelusium; and, in latter times,
Alexandria, Nicopolis, &c. It was in the country of Tanis that the
Israelites dwelt.

There was at Sais,(302) a temple dedicated to Minerva, who is supposed to
be the same as Isis, with the following inscription: "I am whatever hath
been, and is, and shall be; and no mortal hath yet pierced through the
veil that shrouds me."

Heliopolis, that is, the city of the sun, was so called from a magnificent
temple there dedicated to that planet.(303) Herodotus, and other authors
after him, relate some particulars concerning the Phoenix and this temple,
which, if true, would indeed be very wonderful. Of this kind of birds, if
we may believe the ancients, there is never but one at a time in the
world. He is brought forth in Arabia, lives five or six hundred years, and
is of the size of an eagle. His head is adorned with a shining and most
beautiful crest; the feathers of his neck ar