There is a town in the river
wherefrom the Nile maketh his appearance. 'Abu' was its name in the
beginning: it is the City of the Beginning, it is the Name of the City
of the Beginning. It reacheth to Uauatet, which is the first land [on
the south]. There is a long flight of steps there (a nilometer?), on
which Ra resteth when he determineth to prolong life to mankind. It is
called 'Netchemtchem ankh.' Here are the 'Two Qerti,'[1] which are the
two breasts wherefrom every good thing cometh. Here is the bed of the
Nile, here the Nile-god reneweth his youth, and here he sendeth out the
flood on the land. Here his waters rise to a height of twenty-eight
cubits; at Hermopolis (in the Delta) their height is seven cubits. Here
the Nile-god smiteth the ground with his sandals, and here he draweth
the bolts and throweth open the two doors through which the water
poureth forth. In this town the Nile-god dwelleth in the form of Shu,
and he keepeth the account of the products of all Egypt, in order to
give to each his due. Here are kept the cord for measuring land and the
register of the estates. Here the god liveth in a wooden house with a
door made of reeds, and branches of trees form the roof; its entrance is
to the south-east. Round about it are mountains of stone to which
quarrymen come with their tools when they want stone to build temples to
the gods, shrines for sacred animals, and pyramids for kings, or to make
statues. Here they offer sacrifices of all kinds in the sanctuary, and
here their sweet-smelling gifts are presented before the face of the god
Khnemu. In the quarries on the river bank is granite, which is called
the 'stone of Abu.' The names of its gods are: Sept (Sothis, the
dog-star), Anqet, Hep (the Nile-god), Shu, Keb, Nut, Osiris, Horus,
Isis, and Nephthys. Here are found precious stones (a list is given),
gold, silver, copper, iron, lapis-lazuli, emerald, crystal, ruby, &c.,
alabaster, mother-of-emerald, and seeds of plants that are used in
making incense. These were the things which I learned from Meter [the
Viceroy]."

[Footnote 1: The two caverns which contained the springs of the Nile.]

Having informed the king concerning the rise of the Nile and the other
matters mentioned in his despatch, Meter made arrangements for the king
to visit the temple of Khnemu in person. This he did, and the Legend
gives us the king's own description of his visit. He says: I entered the
temple, and the keepers of the rol