|
No other information on this head could I obtain from any quarter.
All that I succeeded in learning further of the more distant portions
of the Nile, by ascending myself as high as Elephantine and making
inquiries concerning the parts beyond, was the following: As one
advances beyond Elephantine, the land rises. Hence it is necessary
in this part of the river to attach a rope to the boat on each side, as
men harness an ox, and so proceed on the journey. If the rope snaps,
the vessel is borne away down stream by the force of the current. The
navigation continues the same for four days, the river winding
greatly, like the Maeander, and the distance traversed amounting to
twelve schoenes. Here you come upon a smooth and level plain, where
the Nile flows in two branches, round an island called Tachompso.
The country above Elephantine is inhabited by the Ethiopians, who
possess one-half of this island, the Egyptians occupying the other.
Above the island there is a great lake, the shores of which are
inhabited by Ethiopian nomads; after passing it, you come again to
the stream of the Nile, which runs into the lake. Here you land,
and travel for forty days along the banks of the river, since it is
impossible to proceed further in a boat on account of the sharp peaks
which jut out from the water, and the sunken rocks which abound in that
part of the stream. When you have passed this portion of the river in
the space of forty days, you go on board another boat and proceed by
water for twelve days more, at the end of which time you reach a great
city called Meroe, which is said to be the capital of the other
Ethiopians. The only gods worshipped by the inhabitants are Jupiter
and Bacchus, to whom great honours are paid. There is an oracle of
Jupiter in the city, which directs the warlike expeditions of the
Ethiopians; when it commands they go to war, and in whatever
direction it bids them march, thither straightway they carry their arms.
|
|