ough the courts, which
were admirably adorned, afforded endless matter for marvel, as we went
through from a court to the chambers beyond it, and from the chambers
to colonnades, and from the colonnades to other rooms, and then from the
chambers again to other courts. Over the whole of these is a roof made
of stone like the walls; and the walls are covered with figures carved
upon them, each court being surrounded with pillars of white stone
fitted together most perfectly; and at the end of the labyrinth, by
the corner of it, there is a pyramid of forty fathoms, upon which large
figures are carved, and to this there is a way made under ground.

149. Such is this labyrinth; but a cause for marvel even greater than
this is afforded by the lake, which is called the lake of Moiris, along
the side of which this labyrinth is built. The measure of its circuit is
three thousand six hundred furlongs 131 (being sixty schoines), and this
is the same number of furlongs as the extent of Egypt itself along the
sea. The lake lies extended lengthwise from North to South, and in depth
where it is deepest it is fifty fathoms. That this lake is artificial
and formed by digging is self-evident, for about in the middle of the
lake stand two pyramids, each rising above the water to a height of
fifty fathoms, the part which is built below the water being of just the
same height; and upon each is placed a colossal statue of stone sitting
upon a chair. Thus the pyramids are a hundred fathoms high; and these
hundred fathoms are equal to a furlong of six hundred feet, the fathom
being measured as six feet or four cubits, the feet being four palms
each, and the cubits six. The water in the lake does not come from the
place where it is, for the country there is very deficient in water, but
it has been brought thither from the Nile by a canal: and for six months
the water flows into the lake, and for six months out into the Nile
again; and whenever it flows out, then for the six months it brings
into the royal treasury a talent of silver a day from the fish which are
caught, and twenty pounds 132 when the water comes in.

150. The natives of the place moreover said that this lake had an
outlet under ground to the Syrtis which is in Libya, turning towards the
interior of the continent upon the Western side and running along by
the mountain which is above Memphis. Now since I did not see anywhere
existing the earth dug out of this excavation (for that