sely the rise
of the water. Such a column was called a Nilometer. There was one near
Memphis, which was at the upper point of the Delta, and others further
up the river. Such pillars continue to be used to mark the height of the
inundations to the present day.

The object of thus accurately ascertaining the rise of the water was not
mere curiosity, for there were certain important business operations
which depended upon the results. The fertility and productiveness of
the soil each year were determined almost wholly by the extent of the
inundation; and as the ability of the people to pay tribute depended
upon their crops, the Nilometer furnished the government with a
criterion by which they regulated the annual assessments of the taxes.
There were certain canals, too, made to convey the water to distant
tracts of land, which were opened or kept closed according as the water
rose to a higher or lower point. All these things were regulated by the
indications of the Nilometer.

Egypt was famed in the days of Xerxes for those enormous structures and
ruins of structures whose origin was then, as now, lost in a remote
antiquity. Herodotus found the Pyramids standing in his day, and
presenting the same spectacle of mysterious and solitary grandeur which
they exhibited to Napoleon. He speculated on their origin and their
history, just as the philosophers and travelers of our day do. In fact,
he knew less and could learn less about them than is known now. It helps
to impress our minds with an idea of the extreme antiquity of these and
the other architectural wonders of Egypt, to compare them with things
which are considered old in the Western world. The ancient and
venerable colleges and halls of Oxford and Cambridge are, many of them,
two or three hundred years old. There are remains of the old wall of the
city of London which has been standing seven hundred years. This is
considered a great antiquity. There are, however, Roman ruins in
Britain, and in various parts of Europe, more ancient still. They have
been standing eighteen hundred years! People look upon these with a
species of wonder and awe that they have withstood the destructive
influences of time so long. But as to the Pyramids, if we go back
_twenty-five hundred_ years, we find travelers visiting and describing
them then--monuments as ancient, as venerable, as mysterious and unknown
in their eyes, as they appear now in ours. We judge that a mountain is
very distan