ph Sambari's Chronicle in Dr.
Neubauer's _Anecdota Oxoniensia_, p. 118. Sambari must have
had Benjamin's _Itinerary_ before him, as has been pointed
out by Mr. I. Abrahams, _J. Q.R._, II, 107.]

[Footnote 185: Zunz was the first to put forward the
supposition that R. Nethanel is identical with Hibet Allah
ibn al Jami, who later on became Saladin's physician (Asher,
vol. II, p. 253). Graetz, vol. VI, p. 307, inclines to the
same view. Dr. Steinschneider, _Die arabische Literatur der
Juden_, 1902, p. 178, confirms this opinion, and gives a
detailed account of Hibet Allah's medical and philosophical
works. Dr. Neubauer, in an article, _J.Q.R._, VIII, 541,
draws attention to a Geniza fragment which contains a
marriage contract dated 1160, wherein R. Nethanel is called
a Levite. Benjamin does not style him so here. The same
article contains the so-called Suttah Megillah, on which
Professor Kaufmann comments, _J.Q.R._, X, p. 171. It would
appear that R. Nethanel never attained the dignity of Nagid.
During Benjamin's visit to Egypt Sutta, in his capacity of
Chief Collector of Taxes, filled nominally that office.
Later on, after Sutta's fall, the dignity of Nagid was
offered to Moses Maimonides, but was not accepted by him.]

[Footnote 186: This term (which is not given in the printed
editions) means that the people were followers of Ali, the
son-in-law of Mohammed, founder of the Shiite sect.]

[Footnote 187: This same Nilometer is readily shown to the
visitor at the south end of the Island of Roda, which is
accessible by means of a ferry-boat from the Kasr-esh Shama,
not far from the Kenisat Eliyahu, where the Geniza
manuscripts were found. See E.N. Adler's _Jews in Many
Lands_, p. 28, also _J.Q.R._, IX, 669. The Nilometer is in a
square well 16 feet in diameter, having in the centre a
graduated octagonal column with Cufic inscriptions, and is
17 cubits in height, the cubit being 21-1/3 inches. The
water of the Nile, when at its lowest, covers 7 cubits of
the Nilometer, and when it reaches a height of 15-2/3 cubits
the Sheikh of the Nile proclaims the Wefa, i.e., that the
height of the water necessary for irrigating every part of
the Nile valley has been attained. The signal is then given
for the cutting of the embankment. We kno