w that the column
of the Nilometer has been frequently repaired, which fact
explains the apparent discrepancy between the height of the
gauge as given in Benjamin's narrative and the figures just
mentioned.]

[Footnote 188: It has only been established quite recently
that the periodical inundations of the Nile are not caused
by the increased outflow from the lakes in Central Africa,
inasmuch as this outflow is quite lost in the marshy land
south of Fashoda. Moreover, the river is absolutely blocked
by the accumulation of the Papyrus weed, known as Sudd, the
[Hebrew: eis] of Scripture, Exod. ii. 3-5. The inundations
are brought about purely by the excessive rains in the
highlands of Abyssinia, which cause the flooding of the Blue
Nile and the Atbara in June and July and of the lower Nile
in August and September.]

[Footnote 189: In a Geniza fragment C quoted by Dr. Neubauer
in _J.Q.R._, IX, p. 36, this city is called [Hebrew:].
Probably the first two letters denote that it is an island.
Compare the passage in Schechter's _Saadyana_, pp. 90, 91,
[Hebrew:].]

[Footnote 190: Ashmun is described by Abulfeda as a large
city. We read in a Geniza fragment that David ben Daniel, a
descendant of the Exilarch, passed through this place on the
way to Fostat, _J.Q.R._, XV, 87. The fourth channel is the
Tanitic branch. See p. 78, n. 2.]

[Footnote 191: See Koran xii. 55. Sambari, who being a
native of Egypt knew Cairo well, explains very fully, p.
119, that Masr-el-Atika is not here referred to, but ancient
Memphis, the seat of royalty in Joseph's time. He explains
that it was situated on the left side of the Nile, two
parasangs distant from Cairo. See Reinaud's _Abulfeda_, vol.
II, p. 140.]

[Footnote 192: See _Makrizi_, vol. II, 464, and _J.Q.R._,
XV, p. 75; also XIX, 502.]

[Footnote 193: E. Naville in his _Essay on the Land of
Goshen_, being the fifth Memoir of the Egypt Exploration
Fund, 1887, comes to the conclusion that the land of Goshen
comprised the triangle formed by Bilbais, Zakazig, and
Tel-el-Kebir. He is of opinion that the land of Ramses
included the land of Goshen, and is that part of the Delta
which lies to the eastward of the Tanitic branch of the
Nile. The capital of the province--the Egyptian nom