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The natives told me that there was a subterranean passage from this
lake to the Libyan Syrtis, running westward into the interior by the
hills above Memphis. As I could not anywhere see the earth which had
been taken out when the excavation was made, and I was curious to know
what had become of it, I asked the Egyptians who live closest to the
lake where the earth had been put. The answer that they gave me I
readily accepted as true, since I had heard of the same thing being
done at Nineveh of the Assyrians. There, once upon a time, certain
thieves, having formed a plan to get into their possession the vast
treasures of Sardanapalus, the Ninevite king, which were laid up in
subterranean treasuries, proceeded to tunnel a passage from the house
where they lived into the royal palace, calculating the distance and
the direction. At nightfall they took the earth from the excavation
and carried it to the river Tigris, which ran by Nineveh, continuing
to get rid of it in this manner until they had accomplished their
purpose. It was exactly in the same way that the Egyptians disposed
of the mould from their excavation, except that they did it by day and
not by night; for as fast as the earth was dug, they carried it to the
Nile, which they knew would disperse it far and wide. Such was the
account which I received of the formation of this lake.
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