ke of such vast
extent was the work of man's hands, in one prince's reign. This is what
several historians have related concerning the lake Moeris, on the
testimony of the inhabitants of the country. And M. Bossuet, the bishop of
Meaux, in his discourse on universal history, relates the whole as fact.
For my part, I will confess that I do not see the least probability in it.
Is it possible to conceive, that a lake of a hundred and eighty leagues in
circumference, could have been dug in the reign of one prince? In what
manner, and where, could the earth taken from it be conveyed? What should
prompt the Egyptians to lose the surface of so much land? By what arts
could they fill this vast tract with the superfluous waters of the Nile?
Many other objections might be made. In my opinion, therefore, we ought to
follow Pomponius Mela, an ancient geographer; especially as his account is
confirmed by several modern travellers. According to that author, this
lake is but twenty thousand paces; that is, seven or eight French leagues
in circumference. _Moeris, aliquando campus, nunc lacus, viginti millia
passuum in circuitu patens._(282)

This lake had a communication with the Nile, by a great canal, more than
four leagues long,(283) and fifty feet broad. Great sluices either opened
or shut the canal and lake, as there was occasion.

The charge of opening or shutting them amounted to fifty talents, that is,
fifty thousand French crowns.(284) The fishing of this lake brought the
monarch immense sums; but its chief utility related to the overflowing of
the Nile. When it rose too high, and was like to be attended with fatal
consequences, the sluices were opened; and the waters, having a free
passage into the lake, covered the lands no longer than was necessary to
enrich them. On the contrary, when the inundation was too low, and
threatened a famine, a sufficient quantity of water, by the help of
drains, was let out of the lake, to water the lands. In this manner the
irregularities of the Nile were corrected; and Strabo remarks, that, in
his time, under Petronius, a governor of Egypt, when the inundation of the
Nile was twelve cubits, a very great plenty ensued; and even when it rose
but to eight cubits, the dearth was scarce felt in the country; doubtless
because the waters of the lake made up for those of the inundation, by the
help of canals and drains.

SECT. V. THE INUNDATIONS OF THE NILE.--The Nile is the greatest wonder of
Egyp