regations in
Egypt[185]; he appoints Rabbis and officials, and is attached to the
court of the great King, who lives in his palace of Zoan el-Medina,
which is the royal city for the Arabs.

[p.99]

Here resides the Emir al Muminin, a descendant of Abu Talib. All his
subjects are called "Alawiyyim[186]," because they rose up against the
Emir al Muminin al Abbasi (the Abbaside Caliph) who resides at Bagdad.
And between the two parties there is a lasting feud, for the former
have set up a rival throne in Zoan (Egypt).

Twice in the year the Egyptian monarch goes forth, once on the
occasion of the great festival, and again when the river Nile rises.
Zoan is surrounded by a wall, but Mizraim has no wall, for the river
encompasses it on one side. It is a great city, and it has
market-places as well as inns in great number. The Jews that dwell
there are very rich. No rain falls, neither is ice or snow ever seen.
The climate is very hot.

The river Nile rises once a year in the month of Elul; it covers all
the land, and irrigates it to a distance of fifteen days' journey. The
waters remain upon the surface of the land during the months of Elul
and Tishri, and irrigate and fertilize it.

The inhabitants have a pillar of marble, erected with much skill, in
order to ascertain the extent of the rise of the Nile. It stands in
the front of an island in the midst of the water, and is twelve cubits
high[187].

[p.100]

When the Nile rises and covers the column, they know that the river
has risen and has covered the land for a distance of fifteen days'
journey to its full extent. If only half the column is covered, the
water only covers half the extent of the land. And day by day an
officer takes a measurement on the column and makes proclamation
thereof in Zoan and in the city of Mizraim, proclaiming: "Give praise
unto the Creator, for the river this day has risen to such and such a
height"; each day he takes the measurement and makes his proclamation.
If the water covers the entire column, there will be abundance
throughout Egypt. The river continues to rise gradually till it covers
the land to the extent of fifteen days' journey. He who owns a field
hires workmen, who dig deep trenches in his field, and fish come with
the rise of the water and enter the trenches. Then, when the waters
have receded, the fish remain behind in the trenches, and the owners
of the fields take them and either eat them or sell them to the
fishmon