the city of Syene, which is in
the district of Thebes, and Elephantine, and the names of the mountains
were, of the one Crophi and of the other Mophi. From the middle between
these mountains flowed (he said) the sources of the Nile, which were
fathomless in depth, and half of the water flowed to Egypt and towards
the North Wind, the other half to Ethiopia and the South Wind. As for
the fathomless depth of the source, he said that Psammetichos king of
Egypt came to a trial of this matter; for he had a rope twisted of many
thousand fathoms and let it down in this place, and it found no bottom.
By this the scribe (if this which he told was really as he said) gave me
to understand that there were certain strong eddies there and a backward
flow, and that since the water dashed against the mountains, therefore
the sounding-line could not come to any bottom when it was let down.
From no other person was I able to learn anything about this matter;
but for the rest I learnt so much as here follows by the most diligent
inquiry; for I went myself as an eye-witness as far as the city of
Elephantine and from that point onwards I gathered knowledge by report.
From the city of Elephantine as one goes up the river there is country
which slopes steeply; so that here one must attach ropes to the vessel
on both sides, as one fastens an ox, and so make one's way onward;
and if the rope break, the vessel is gone at once, carried away by the
violence of the stream. Through this country it is a voyage of about
four days in length, and in this part the Nile is winding like the river
Maiander, and the distance amounts to twelve _schoines_, which one must
traverse in this manner. Then you will come to a level plain, in which
the Nile flows round an island named Tachompso. (Now in the regions
above the Elephantine there dwell Ethiopians at once succeeding, who
also occupy half of the island, and Egyptians the other half.) Adjoining
this island there is a great lake, round which dwell Ethiopian nomad
tribes; and when you have sailed through this you will come to the
stream of the Nile again, which flows into this lake. After this you
will disembark and make a journey by land of forty days; for in the Nile
sharp rocks stand forth out of the water, and there are many reefs, by
which it is not possible for a vessel to pass. Then after having passed
through this country in the forty days which I have said, you will
embark again in another vessel and sa