feet on which you are mounted even in the place where you now are Immediately the King was obliged to put back his Horse from the place where he was seeing the water springing up under his Feet by the permission of God As soon as he was got to another place behold his Messengers returning to him tell him that the water was very much risen and augmented which forc'd him to a sudden departure to return with all speed to his Castle that he might take his Servants and his Children and dispose them into the Fortresses which he had prepared on the tops of the Mountains and where he had put in provisions as much as he imagin'd would be necessary But presently the Earth began to open and the Feet of the Horses to enter into it so that they could not get them out which obliged them to get off and to leave them there In like manner the doors of Heaven were opened and let fall a great Rain as if water had been poured out of great Earthen Pots so that the waters overtook them ere they could recover the Mountains and hindered their getting up to them They justled and thrust one another and knew not which side to turn by reason of the violence of the Thunder and Lightning and the greatness of the evil which was come upon them The Women carried their Children at their backs then when the water was come up to their mouths they cast them under their feet and endeavoured to save themselves Had God been disposed to have compassion on the Unbelievers he would have been merciful to the Mother and the Child One of Noah's Sons was with the King the Son of Darmasel when he came to fire the Ship His Father cried out to him O my dear Son Embarque thy self with us I will retire said he into a Mountain which shall secure me from the water Noah answered him according to what God had taught him I 〈…〉 onely the mercy of God which c 〈…〉 this day preserve any body from 〈◊〉 chastisements He was destined misery and destruction and he w 〈…〉 one of those who were drowned T 〈…〉 water rose above the Earth 40 C 〈…〉 bits and above the Mountains 〈◊〉 Cubits All that was upon the 〈◊〉 face of the Earth perished the Math 〈…〉 and Signs therefore were defaced 〈◊〉 the permission of God there remain 〈…〉 only the Ark and those within 〈◊〉 Those who adore the Stars affi 〈…〉 nevertheless that there rema 〈…〉 ed some places upon the Ea 〈…〉 which the waters of the Delu 〈…〉 reached not but the Mussulmans de 〈…〉 it The Persians whom God curs 〈…〉 say the History of the Deluge is n 〈…〉 true and make no mention of th 〈…〉 Prophecy of Noah in regard they a 〈…〉 Magi by Religion and adore the Fir 〈…〉 The Indians affirm in like manner that there happened nothing of it i 〈…〉 their Countrey and so also the Inhabitants of the Maritime Countries and of most of the Indian Islands They say the Ark continued on the water six Moneths that it Sail'd by all the Countries of the Earth in the East and in the West and that one week it compass'd about the place of the square Temple They had with them a large Sea-Pearl put on a Thread by means whereof they in the Ship distinguished between Day and Night and the hours of Prayer They had also their Cock which Crew to call up the People to Divine Service It is written in the Law of Moses that God swore by himself that he would not punish any Nation by the Deluge after the Nation of Noah I found says the Author of this Book Murtadi the Son of Gaphiphus on whom God have mercy in a Book the greatest part whereof was torn out the History of Noah with considerable Additions and Augmentations which I will fully set down here to the end this Book may want no advantage which may raise its value with those who shall read it or hear it read with the direction and assistance of God These Augmentations then relate that the Patriarch the Father of Noah Gods peace be with him dreamt that he saw issuing out of his Mouth a fire which burnt the whole Terrestrial World He thereupon awaked much astonished Some days after he dreamt again that he was upon a Tree in the midst of a great Sea without Shores which also astonish'd him very much After that there being born to him a Son the Prophet of God Noah the good tidings of it spread over the whole Earth and the Priest Galoumas related it immediately to Mechavel the Son of Darmasel assuring him further that the Terrestrial world should perish in his time that is in the time of Noah whose life was to be very long The Priests knew also by their Sciences that there would happen a Deluge which should drown the Earth and its Inhabitants but they always hoped to secure themselves from what should happen with King Darmasel The King therefore commanded that there should be strong Castles built on the tops of the Mountains that they might retire thither and be safe as they imagined They built seven Castles of that kind according to the number of their Idols whereof they gave them the names and graved thereon their Sciences After that Noah being grown up God grant him peace and mercy God sent him to them for an Apostle and there happen'd to him what God himself relates in his Book Noah was of delicate complexion his Head was somewhat long his Arms very large as also his Leggs his Thighs very fleshy his Beard long and broad he was large and thick He was the first Prophet that came after Edrisus and he is numbered among the famous Envoys for their constancy and resolution He liv'd 1250 years The Philosophers will not have him live so long as differing among themselves about long lives His law prescribed the profession of the Unity of God and the Sacred Combat against those who opposed the establishment of his Religion commanding the good and forbidding the evil ordered the following of things permitted and the avoiding of things forbidden and the observance of purity and cleanliness Almighty God had commanded him to induce his Nation to the proefession of his Unity to mind them of the good things they had received of him and to raise in them a fear of his indignation The History relates that Noah was born in the Reign of Mechavel the Son of Darmasel and that being two hundred years of age Mechavel died and had for Successor his son Darmasel who was much addicted to the worship of the Idols exalting them as much as lay in his power and commanding the People to serve them well In the mean time Noah began to Preach the Religion of Almighty God going through the Market-places the Assemblies the Temples the Inns and calling the people to God They kept his Preaching secret and discovered nothing of it to King Darmasel till such
him his son Axames and after him his son Lates and after him Tolma the Coptite otherwise called the Valide son of Masgab who was the Pharao of Moses and who governed unjustly and tyrannically attributing to himself what belonged not to him wherefore Moses destroyed him after he had given him the space of 400 years to be converted and drowned him and all his people and all the Egyptians who had followed him in the Red Sea by the virtue of his Rod according to the Decree of the Malediction of God as we shall relate hereafter if God give us leave Some would have the Pharao of Joseph to be the same with that of Moses grounding their conjecture on what Almighty God said of him A Believer of the house of Pharao said thus Joseph is already come to you heretofore and the rest of the verse God knows how it is AN ABRIDGMENT OF The Second Part of the Book OF THE PRODIGIES OF EGYPT THE Reverend Prelate the Doctor Murtadi the Son of Gaphiphus the Son of Chatem the Son of Molsem the Macdesian the Sapheguian Gods mercy upon him saith citing his Author That the Apostle of God Gods peace and mercy be with him said what follows When I was raised to Heaven I saw two Rivers and I asked Gabriel which they were He answered me thus They are the Nile and Euphrates The Son of Guebasus says that the same Apostle of God Gods peace and mercy be with him spoke thus The All-mighty and All-good God hath caused to descend from Paradise upon the earth five Rivers Sichone which is the River of the Indies Gichone which is the River of Balca the Tigris and Euphrates which are the two Rivers of Gueraca and the Nile which is the River of Egypt He made them descend from one of the Springs of Paradise seated at the lowest of its stories upon the wings of Gabriel Gods peace be with him and hath committed them to the custody of the Mountains causing them to flow upon the earth and making them useful for men for divers conveniencies of their Lives And that is it which the Almighty saith And we have made the Waters of Heaven to descend after a certain measure and have appointed them their habitation upon earth and we and the rest of the verse When the time of the going forth of Gog and Magog was come Almighty God sent Gabriel Gods peace be with him who took up by his Order from above the earth the Alcoran and Science and the Black Stone and the Support which is the place of Abraham Gods peace and mercy be with him and the Shrine of Moses Gods peace be with him with what was within it and these five Rivers mentioned before All this was taken up into Heaven And that is it which the Almighty saith And it is in our power to carry it away and when I have taken up these things from the earth the Inhabitants of it were the choice part of Religion and of the World And citing his Authors he speaks thus I have heard Abulamamus the Bahelian and Gabdollus the son of Basar the Mazenian who said The Apostle of God Gods peace and mercy be with him one day called his Companions together and said to them The All-mighty and All-good God shall enable you to conquer Egypt after me Make your advantage of the Fruits it brings forth for he who wants money wants not honesty for that Egypt is the Mother-nurse it supplies wherewithall to live plentifully Other Countries want her but she does not stand in need of any other Countrey He said to them also I have received it from Gabriel that God hath sent four Rivers out of Paradise the first of Wine the second of Milk the third of Water and the fourth of Honey Then the All-mighty and All-good God said I have made my particular standard of the Lord of Rivers which is the Nile in the book of God and it is a River flowing out of Paradise Megavius ask'd Cabay and said to him I ask thee in the Name of the great God giver of all good things Doest thou find in the Book of the All-mighty and All-good God that God declares his Will to this Nile twice a year I do replied he God tells her when he would have her flow and saith to her The All-mighty and All-good God commands thee to flow and she flows as far as God orders her and after that God discovers his Will to her and saith to her O Nile the All-mighty and All-good God commands thee to return to thy former condition and to praise him Jezidus the son of Chebibus speaks thus of it When Moses called upon God against Pharao and his Servants God hindered the Nile to encrease as much as it would have done Then they had recourse to Moses and desired him to pray to God for them which he did hoping they would believe in God This happened during the time they adored the Cross The next morning God had augmented the Nile for them 16 full Cubits Quisus the son of Chagegus affirms that somebody related it to him that Gamrou the son of Gazus after he had conquered Egypt having entered into it in the moneth of Baune which is one of the barbarous moneths the Inhabitants of the Countrey came to him and said Lord Commander our Nile which you here see governs its course according to a Law which it inviolably observes What Law is that says Gamrou When the 12th of this present moneth is come said they we take a young Maid a Virgin from her Father and Mother after we have satisfied them both and made them condescend to what we would do according to the custom we dress and adorn her with Jewels and Sumptuous Clothes then we bring her in the night time and cast her into the Nile and immediately it increases and spreads and raises its course This cannot be continued said Gamrou according to the Mussulman Law for the Mussulman Law destroyes the profane customs that have been in vogue before her So the Moneth Banne and the Moneth Abibe and the Moneth Mesri pass'd away and the Nile encreased not its course neither more nor less so that the Inhabitants of Egypt were upon thoughts of leaving the Countrey Gamrou seeing that writ of it to the Commander of the Faithful Omar Gods peace be with him acquainted him with what the Egyptians had said to him and desired to know his resolution thereupon Omar made him answer in these terms After that O Gamrou you have done what you ought to have done upon that occasion for the Mussulman Law abolishes the evil customs that have preceded it But I have inclosed a Note within the fold of this present Letter when you have read it take that Note and cast it into the Nile and God will do what he shall think fit Gamrou having receiv'd the Letter took the Note out of it on which he found these words written In the Name
Poets as that Narration is which made me reflect at the Translation of it on the midst of the fourth Book of the Odysses and the end of the fourth Book of the Georgicks I have made the Title to my Translation according to the proposal of the Author for it is not in the Arabian Manuscript Nor is the name of the Author in the first Page of it but I meet it in some other places as the Reader may observe The Pyramids several times mentioned in it are expressed in the Arabian Tongue by two Names to wit Birba which I have used in several places and Haram The word Birba and in the plural Barabi is haply a corruption of Pyramis Whether it be so or not our Author calls so either the Pyramids in general or only the least of them exclusively from the greatest to which he particularly gives the other name which is Haram and in the Arabian signifies an Old Structure Monsieur The venot hath given us in the first part of his Collections a most exact Description of those great Pyramids made by an English-man who hath seen them in our time and considered them at leisure according to which those Structures consist of a certain number of square Foundations or Platforms set one upon another all equal in thicknesse but the upper Plat-form perpetually somewhat less in length and breadth then that which is under it and set just up on the midst of it the differences of length and breadth being every where equal between them as also the depth or thicknesse so that the whole Pyramid is only a square blunt point the four sides whereof are Stairs and the upper extremity is the least in length and breadth of all the Platforms whereof it confists Which argues in my judgement that heretofore there were some Colosses or Obelisks placed on them as it were on their Pedestals according to what Herodotus expresly affirms of the two built in the midst of the Lake Moeris The height of every Pyramid is equal to the side of its Basis according to the same Herodotus who assigns that of Cheops eight hundred foot in length as many in breadth and as many in height so that it is as 't were in the form of a Cube and covers with its Basis near seven Acres of ground according to our measure of Normandy that is to say above thirteen furlongs being all built of Free-stone the least piece whereof was thirteen foot As to the City of the Black Eagle whereof our Author promises to speak I know not which it is if it be not that Outiratis in the Description of of which he makes mention of the Figure of a Black Eagle set up on one of its Gates If the name of the City of Gainosamses that is to say the Eye or Fountain of the Sun be not understood of the Fountain of Ammon or of the Lake called the Fountain of the Sun Fons So is it seems to expresse that of Heliopolis whose situation is answerable to that of Masre and not to that of Memphis Masre was also called Fustata in the time of Gamrou the Son of Gasus for the reason given thereof by Macinus in the Year Twenty The Danae seems to be the Labyrinth Alphiom is one of those Islands in the Continent which Strabo calls Anases 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and which are cultivated places but surrounded on all sides by great Deserts There are many of these Anases in Africk and three particularly in Aegypt in one whereof was heretofore the Oracle of Jupiter Ammon THE PRODIGIES OF EGYPT According to the ARABIANS IN the Name of God gracious and merciful I have learn'd a good word says the Author of this Book to whom God be merciful of our Master the Prelate the Guardian Abutachar Achamed the Son of Mahumet the Son of Achamed the Son of Abrahim the Son of Solpha the Solphian the Ispahanian God grant him mercy who affirm'd that he had it from the mouth of the Apostle of God himself whose memory be blessed by Tradition from many great persons whom he named as having received it one from another Every man who hath a design and begins not the prosecution of it with the praise of God is either dumb or incapable of compassing his Enterprize Let us therefore praise the great eternal immortal and most wise God who hath created all things by hill omnipotence to be an experiment and demonstration of his Supreme Authority to express his Unity and conduct them to the knowledge of himself There is not any thing like him he understands all things he sees all things I would acknowledge that there is no other God then that great God alone who has no companion in the same manner as they acknowledge who serve their Lord sincerely not imagining any thing equal to him I shall also acknowledge that Mahumet is Servant and Apostle sent by him at a time when the World wanted some to be sent and such Masters as should teach it the Rules of Religion according to the footsteps of the Apostles to persuade Nations God favour him with his benedictions as also those of his House who are holy and pure and generally all those of his Party As to this Book I have set down in it the Excellencies of the City of Alexandria its Prodigies and Advantages I make mention in it of the City of the Black Eagle the cause of its building and whatever there is miraculoas in it I declare in it the Excellencies of Egypt and her Coptites and her Nile and the Aliments she produces as well by Land as by Sea and of her Fruits and the use made of them in every moneth of the year and of the Extent thereof I pray God that he would graciously enable me to relate what miraculous things her Sages and Kings and her Pharaoh's and her Magicians and her Priests have wrought and what Talismans and what rare and extraordinary things they have set up to treat of their Habitations how they lived in them and of their Wealth how they acquired it and secured it in their Pyramids built over it and how they died and left it behind them To the end that they who are desirous to be instructed by Examples may meet with some in their tracks and that such as teach others may find Advertisements to give them since this is it which is recommended to us by God when he speaks thus in his Book Have they not sojourn'd upon earth and seen the end of those who were before them more powerful then they who tilled the ground and cultivated it more then they and who have seen their Apostles come to them with evident signs and in several other the like passages of the Alcoran It is affirmed that the most learned Priests who excell'd in the noblest knowledge of Divination and were most illuminated in that Art were the Priests and Sages of Egypt The Wise men of Greece are of that opinion and
So speaks of them Armelius Author of the Book of Illustrious Men. Abumasar the Astrologer in his Book of Thousans says that the reason of building the Pyramids was the Dream which Saurid the Son of Sahaloc saw He confirms it in his Book of Miraculous Dreams where he adds that he sent for the Priests and Southsayers of his time and the Astrologers and related to them what he had seen of the descent of the Moon upon Earth in the form of a Woman of the overturning of the Earth with its Inhabitants and of the total Eclipse of the Sun and the dream he had after that and that the Priests declared to him the coming of the Deluge whereof mention is made in the Book of the Annals which the Egyptians attribute to two Brothers Coptites saying that those two Brothers interpreted an ancient Book which had been found in some one of their Sepulchres on the breast of a man They say these two Brothers were the Children of a certain man of the Race of the ancient Egyptians to wit those who escaped the Deluge and were embarqued with the Prophet of God Noah We shall with the help of God say somewhat hereafter of the History of these two Brothers It was found therefore in the Book they Translated that Saurid the Son of Sahaloc King of Egypt after he had seen his dreams and related them to the Priests and that Aclimon had also related his to him commanded the Priests to see what remarkable events the influences of the Stars portended to the World and that the Priests having exactly erected a Celestial Figure for the hour of his question found that it signified a great mischief which was to descend from Heaven and issue out of the Earth which they declared unto him whereupon he caused Pyramids and great Structures to be built to serve for refuges to him and his Domesticks and Sepulchres for the conservation of their Bodies as also that they might engrave and mark on their Roofs their Walls and their Pillars all the obscure and difficult Sciences whereof the Egyptians made profession learning them and treasuring them up as Illustrious Inheritances from those who were grown famous in all Nations and that they should also represent on them the Figures of the Stars in their Signs with their effects and significations and the secrets of Nature and the productions of Arts and the great Laws and the beneficial Drugs and the Talismans and Medicine and Geometry and all the other things that might be advantageous to men as well for the publick as for private persons clearly and intelligibly to those who were acquainted with their Books their Language and their Writings King Saurid knew certainly that the calamity was to be general to all Countries in the World or come very near it Then he said to them When shall this great evil happen wherewith we are threatned Whereto they replyed thus When the heart of the Lion shall come to the first Minute of Cancer's head and the Plantes shall be in their Houses in those places of the Sphere the Sun and Moon in the first minute of Aries Pharouis who is Saturn in the first degree Raouis which is Jupiter in Pisces at 27 degrees 3 minutes Mars in Libra and Venus in Leo at 5 degrees and some minutes Then he said to them See whether after this great evil there will happen any other accident in Egypt They consider'd and saw that the Stars portended another great misfortune which was to descend from Heaven contrary to the former that is a Fire that should consume the Universe Whereupon he said to them When is that to happen They reply'd we have made our Observation and found that it is to happe when the heart of the Lion shall be at the end of the fifteenth degree of Leo and that the Sun shall be with him in one minute joyning that of Saturn Jupiter is direct in the Lion and with him Mars changing the minute and the Moon in Aquarius near the Dragons Tail at twelve parts There will be at that time an Eclipse of the greatest congruence Venus shall be at the greatest distance from the Sun and Mercury the like Then Saurid said unto them Is there yet any other great accident that you can fore-see besides those two remarkable evils They look'd and found that when the heart of the Lion shall have compleated two thirds of his circle there would not remain any Animal moving on the Earth which should not be destroy'd and that when he should compleat his revolution the knots of the Sphere would be dissolved The King was very much astonished at that and commanded the great Pillars to be cut down and that the great Pavement should be melted he caused Tin to be brought out of the Western parts then he made them take black stones which he caused to be laid for the foundations of the Pyramids about Syene They were brought from the Nile upon Engines and they had certain particular impressions and marks and upon them painted Billets which the Sages had set there so that when they had smitten the stone it advanc'd of it self the space of a Flight-shot These stones were set in the foundations of the Pyramids to wit of the first which is the Eastern and of the Western and of the Coloured They put in the midst of every piece an Iron Bar like a Pivot standing up then they set on that another piece after they had made a hole through the middle of it that the Iron Pivot might enter into it and fasten it to that which was under after which they melted Lead and it was poured all about the piece after they had adjusted the Writing which was above He caused Gates to be made under ground at four Cubits depth according to their measure which Gates had Sallies into vaulted Casemates built of stone and fortify'd with much Artifice and whereof the Situation was conceal'd every Vault being fifty Cubits in length The Gate of the Eastern Pyramid was on the South-side a hundred Cubits distant from the midst of the Western wall on the Western side They measur d also from the Western wall that is from the midst of it a hundred Cubits and they digg'd till they got down to the door of the vaulted Casemate through which they entred into it As to the Colour'd Pyramid made of stones of two colours the Gate of it was on the Maritime or North-side and they measur'd also from the midst of the Maritime wall a hundred Cubits which made five hundred according to the Mussulman measure He built it perpendicularly into the ground to the depth of forty Cubits then he raised it as much though what is above ground of the Pyramids do not exceed the third part so that this last is the highest built after the manner of the raised Floors and high Rooms of our present time They built them in the time of their good fortune while all their
of God Gracious and Merciful God bless Mahumet and his Family From Gabdol Omar the son of Chettabus Commander of the Faithful to the Nile of Egypt After that If thou hast flow'd hitherto onely by thy own virtue flow no more but if it hath been the Only and Almighty God that hath caused thee to flow we pray the Only Great and All-mighty God to make thee flow again Gods peace and mercy be with Mahumet the Idiot-Prophet and his Family Gamrou took the Note and came to the Nile one day before they celebrated the Feast of the Cross the Egyptians and others being ready to leave the Countrey for they could not carry on their affairs nor subsist therein but by the annual overflowing of the Nile but the next morning they found that God had caused the Waters to rise sixteen Cubits in one night So God delivered the Mussulmans out of that affliction praise and thanksgiving be to him for it Gabdol the son of Gamrou the son of Gasus Gods peace be with them both speaks thus of the Nile The Nile of Egypt is the Lord of Rivers God obliges all the Rivers from the the East to the West to wait on it at the time of its overflowing he turns them all into its Chanel and increases its course with their waters When God would have the Nile of Egypt to overflow for the convenience of the Inhabitants the other Rivers lend it their waters and God causes new Springs to rise out of the Earth When its course is risen to the height that God would he orders the waters to return to their Sources God All-mighty speaks thus of it And we have made them to issue out of the Gardens and the Fountains and out of the manured lands and out of the precious places The Gardens saith he were the two sides of the Nile from its beginning to its end upon both the Banks between Syene and Rasid Egypt had then sixteen Cubits of water accounting from the lowest part of the flat Countrey They empty'd and filled the Chanels and Rivulets of it every year What was yet more noble were the Places appointed for Orations which were a thousand in number upon which they called upon God for Pharao and they pray'd him to grant him a long life and to make him liberal and of easie access Aburaham the Semaguian in his Comment upon these words of Pharao Is not the Kingdom of Egypt mine and the rest of the Verse peaks thus There was then no greater King upon Earth then the King of Egypt for all the other Kings stood in need of Egypt All the Currents were made with the hands of Men and the Aqueducts and the Fountains and the Bridges all according to Measure and Geometrical proportion They drew them out of the Nile and brought them into all their Houses and into all their Castles and made them flow under the places of their Habitations detaining them when they pleased and dismissing them in like manner Mechacol the Son of Tabicus speaks of it in these terms I have read a hundred Books upon the Law of Moses and have found in one of them that there are seven Climats in the world which pray to God every year weeping and crying and say O Lord send plenty into Egypt and make its Nile flow For when Egypt is water'd we have Meat and Drink enough Withall there is on our surface of Wild Beasts and Reptiles and Tame and Rational Creatures Gabdol the son of Gamrou said By the true God I know not any year wherein the Inhabitants of Egypt went out of their Countrey to seek a subsistence elsewhere We shall never go out of it says one of them if some enemy do not force us thereto Not so reply'd he but your Nile shall be swallowed under ground so that there shall not be a drop of it left It shall be full of Sand-banks and the wild Beasts of the Earth shall devour its Fishes Jezidus the son of Chebibus speaks thus of it The Nile of Egypt in the time of Pharao and the Precedent Kings had People appointed to make its Chanels to repair its Bridges and Banks and to clear its Rivulets and Trenches of Oziers Ordures Paper-plants and what ever might obstruct the course of the Water when there was occasion to the number of six score thousand Work-men always ready to work Winter and Summer receiving their pay Monethly out of the publick Treasury as the Soldiery as well by Sea as Land receiv'd theirs out of the Kings Money The son of Lahigus saith that he heard it of one of Alexandria that the Nile one day discover'd a Rock on which there was somewhat written in the Roman Language which was read and signify'd as followeth I do what is good and he seems to forget it but when I do what is evil he remembers it well He who is such will not be long ere he meet with a long repose An Abbridgement of what is said of Pharao and how God destroy'd him by the Decree of his Divine Will Gali the son of Abutalchus speaks thus of him Pharao King of Egpyt was a Dwarf or little Man but seven spans in height Others say he was three Cubits high and that his Beard was two Cubits long so that when he sate he drew one Cubit of it on the ground before him He twisted up his Mustachoes and put them above his two ears When the water of the Nile was turned into Blood in the time of Moses Pharao drunk the juice of Orange-leaves with fine Sugar put into it Some affirm he was of low Stature mark'd with white spots and that he trod on his Beard it was so long Abubeker the Truth-teller Gods peace be with him said that Pharao had lost all his Teeth Others affirm he was of the Race of the Amalekites Others say he had a large fleshy face Others say they call'd him Abumarus that is Married Others say he was a Weaver of Ciprus an Inhabitant of Ispahan and that Haman was his Associate that both of them became poor and lost all they had so that necessity having forc'd them to quit the Countrey and run away they came together into Egypt and prevail'd so much by their sleights and artifices that they became Masters of it and that there happened to them what God revealed to Mahumet Gods peace and merey be with him as it is related by the son of Gubasus Others say that Pharao was a Coptite of a City named Damra the most Western of any in Egypt and that his name was Dolmes Mahumet the son of Gali the son of Gabdol the Teminian says thus A Barbarian Egyptian of the Inhabitants of Copta skill'd in the History of Egypt and what concerns the nature and properties of the Countrey told me that he found it written in one of their ancient Books that the Nile of Egypt hath its rising out of a Lake in the most remote Countries of the West on both
shall take the Kingdom of Egypt by force There shall be in that Province Mosqueys and Temples wherein they shall make their Prayers the noise whereof shall be heard like the humming of Bees Their Empire shall extend to the Eastern parts of the World and to the Western and even to the end of the World Afterwards the Patrician sent to Omar Gods peace be with him to get his Protection for himself and those of his House and to agree wâ—th him upon such conditions as he should desire and be satisfy'd withall The Solphian God shew him mercy citing for Author the Chasan son of Ismael the Sarrabian in the Bâ—ok of the Histories of Egypt which he hath composed speaks in these terms I have heard that the Land of Alphiom and its appurtenances were heretofore governed by the Prophet of God Joseph Gods peace be with him according to the Revelation which he had had of it and the Command given him by All-mighty God and divided into three hundred and sixty Towns or Villages as many as there are days in the year and that with a design which he brought to effect For when the Nile fail'd any year and that God heard not the Prayers made for the augmentation of its course every one of those Villages supply'd Egypt with a days sustenance There is no Countrey in the World that has been reduced and cultivated by Divine Revelation but this There is not upon Earth a less and yet a more fertile Province nor one that abounds in all sorts of good things or is better furnished with Rivers For if we compare the Rivers of Alphiom with those of Bosra and Damas we shall find the former have the advantage Many persons excellent for their wit and knowledge would have given us the number of its Chanels and its free and common places but they could not number them Others have not medled with the Chanels and have only set down the common places of that Countrey which are not in the possession of any person Mussulman or Alien and whereof the mighty and the weak make equal advantage and they have found about seventy sorts 'T is related of the Man 〈…〉 us God shew him mercy that when he came to Egypt he sent for several of the chiefest Inhabitants of the Countrey and among others two Learned men one surnamed Abulseriphus and the other Saguidus the son of Gaphirus of whom he enquired concerning the advantages of Egypt and what things made it recommendable Suguidus the son of Gaphirus made him a large discourse after which he said to Abulseriphus Do you also tell us what you know of the excellencies of your Countrey Abulseriphus praised God and gave him thanks and prayed for the Prophet Gods peace and mercy be with him after which Lord Commander of the Faithful said he Joseph the teller of Truth Gods peace and mercy be with him after God had put the affairs of this our Province into his hands and given him a Supremacy in it obliged the Inhabitants to serve him in the Western parts in a Land now called Alphiom where he caused three hundred and sixty great Farms to be cultivated as many as there are days in the year so that the Village of each Farm furnished the Inhabitants of Egypt with a days fustenance Joseph did this by Revelation which he had had from his Lord. Had he made as many on the East side we should have had more then we needed all the provisions which might have been brought from the Eastside For we have one day in the West It may be my Lord said the Mamunus the Sun rises in the West Before that said Abulseriphas the Barbarians will come Who told you that said the Mamunus I found it said Abulseriphus in the Book of the Prophet Daniel Gods peace be with him Is it necessary said the Mamumus that the Barbarians come It is said Abulseriphus insomuch that they shall come to the Land that is to the Countrey of Emesse and then there will be no other Sanctuary but Jerusalem and they shall have no other sustenance but Lupins He afterwards entertained him with long Discourses which to avoid tedeousness we shall abridge Then he said to him Lord Commander of the Faithful if our Countrey had no other advantage then what God says of it in the History of his Prophet Joseph Gods peace be with him when he speaks thus to the King Give me the oversight of the Store-houses of the Land it were enough Hasam the son of Isaac says that Joseph Gods peace and mercy be with him when he was Master of Egypt and highly favoured by the Rajan his Pharao after he had passed a hundred years of age was envyed by the Kings Favourites and the Grandees of his Court by reason of the great power he had and the Kings great affection towards him and that they one day spoke thus to him Great King Ioseph is now grown very ancient his knowledge is diminished his beauty is decay'd his Judgment is impaired and his Wisdom is departed from him Pharao liked not their remonstrances and was so far from approving their discourses that he gave them harsh language so that for a good while after they durst not say any thing to him concerning Ioseph but two years after they renew'd their formes envious discourses whereupon the King said to them Tell me wherein you would have me make a tryal of his abilities Alphiom was then called Geouna that is to say the Fenne and served for a Common Sewer to the Upper Egypt and a passage for the water They therefore agreed together about what they should propose to the King for the tryal of Ioseph Gods peace and mercy be with him and spoke thus to Pharao Command Ioseph to turn the water of Geouna and force it thence that you may have a new Province and a new revenue The King thereupon sent for Ioseph and said to him You know how dear such a Daughter of mine is to me and you see it is time I should assign her some place where she may be Mistress and whereof the Revenues may be sufficient to maintain her and I do not find any Lands besides my own which I can give her unless it be Geouna For that Land is neither too near nor at too great a distance and there is no coming into it of any side unless it be through desart and dangerous places the case will be the same with her none can come near her on any side but through desart and dangerous places Another besides Hasam says that Alphiom is in the midst of Egypt as Egypt is in the midst of other Countries in regard one cannot get into Egypt on any side but through places that are desart and full of danger That is true great King said Ioseph according to Hasam when does it please you to have it so for it will be with the assistance of All-mighty God The sooner
a mystery secret and nuknown to any other besides himself therefore the care thereof belongs only to a Chenifian Mussulman who has Religion and Faith He afterwards advis'd with the Lawyers of Egypt who counselled him to bestow that charge on the Lawyer Gabdol the son of Gabdolsalem the Schoolmaster Others say he was called Gait and that his Sirname was Abulredad He was a very ancient man who read the memorable actions and sayings of the Prophet in the great Mosquey of Masre and who had been before a Schoolmaster teaching children The Mamunus gave him the charge of Governour of the Nilometer after it was fully built in the Year CCXLIV and allotted him 7 Crowns of Gold monethly for his Pension which has ever since been continued to his Successours Others say it was Mutavacquel who caused it to be built They say also that the Coptites had heretofore a Nilometer in the Castle of Cire The Romans also had one in the Castle at Babolsaguir Gabdorrachaman says after Chaled who had it from Iachi the son of Bequir I came said he to the Nilometer of Memphis just as the Measurer entered into the Fustata to carry thither the good news of the Augmentation of the Nile I have heard moreover said the Author a third story upon the cultivation of the Land of Alphiom from Mahumet the Son of Gali the Son of Gabdol the Son of Sachar the Teminian who spoke of it in these terms sincerely citing the Author from whom he had it I have heard said he of a man who was of the Barbarians of Egypt and well versed in the Affairs of his countrey and its History and its Antiquities living in a village named Phacat that he had found it in a book that Alphiom was heretofore a Land full of Briars and Thorns where nobody lived and that about that time the daughter of a Roman Emperour having misbehaved her self and her offence having been notorious all over the Roman Empire even in the most remote Islands of the Sea her father resolved to put her out of all places under his Jurisdiction and to send her to Sea He put aboard with her her Mother her Servants and all her Retinue and whatever belonged to her and caused them to get out into the Main Sea having beforehand ordered that Favourite of his whom he had entrusted with this affair that when they met with violent Winds he should dispose the Ships to sail into a countrey out of which they should never return This Order was put in execution and the Sails were hoised in the midst of the Sea in the midst of a Tempest which blew every way so that it carried away the Ships and cast the Princess with those that accompanied her streight into Egypt where she made up the Nile till she came to the Manhi at a place where now Lahon is There she went ashore and got on horseback with some of her People to take a view of the Countrey seeking a place where she might make her habitation and set up her rest for she had been told her Fathers will and knew it was his design she should have perished in the Sea After much riding she came to the place of Alphiom and saw it covered with Briars and Trees and Pastures and Standing Waters and compass'd all about as it were with the Sea after she had taken a full prospect of it she returned to the Ship and said to her Mother that she had found a place where they might settle themselves and which they might cultivate for their subsistence that there was not such another in the world and that she had made choice of it for her aboad and retirement Do what you please said her Mother to her She therefore sent her Retinue before on Mules which they had with them in their Ships then they took their way and advanced as far as Matartares which is in the midst of the City of Alphiom remaining to this day The water overflowed Alphiom from the Manhi when the Nile was at the highest and when it was very low the water ebbed from Alphiom When therefore she saw the water gone back from Alphiom she began to build Cities to cut down what Trees were requisite and to clear the ground of the Reeds the Paper-plants and the Tamarisk which grew there Then she bethought her of a way to lay out the Money she had brought with her and sent some of her Servants to the Villages and to the Cities to get people together so that there came to her a great number of poor people and necessitous Tradesmen to whom she distributed wherewithall to subsist and did them many favours employing them in digging the Chanel of the Manhi as far as Alphiem They wrought it and began the design thereof but they afterwards found they could not bring it to perfection whereupon they gave it over This is manifestly seen at this day by the tracks that are left of it It is on the East side of the City of Alphiom They raised the Bank of Lahon that it might retain as much water as they stood in need of They relate moreover says the Author a fourth Story concerning the manner how the Land of Alphiom was peopled Pharao say these commanded Joseph to reduce it and proportionably to distribute the waters which flowed thence Joseph did it and so settled all that it might last to the end of times upon the surface of the earth The Lahon is at this day in that posture save that Abagon Gabdolmelic the son of Iezidus has added something thereto on that side which is towards the wall of the Sources He also raised in the City of Alphiom a little Structure which is of no use The yearly Revenue of Alphiom was 365000 Crowns of Gold without exaction or injuring or tyrannizing over any person But since it hath been successively in the hands of several wicked Governours who have laid Impositions according to their avarice the Benediction hath departed from Alphiom and the rest of the Countrey the best cultivated places are grown desolate most of the passages and villages were ruined and its Revenues abated more and more And yet if the Princes would cast their eyes on this Countrey and cause it to be râ—peopled and provide for the observance of Justice and Equity therein its Revenues would return to what they were before But God knows what is concealed from Men. As to Ioseph's Prison in Egypt and the Benediction which God gives upon the Prayers made there this is one of the Stories related thereof There was heretofore Commander in Egypt the Achesidian so called from the name of his Master Abulchasam Gali the son of Achesides who gave him the management of the Affairs of his Government even during his life for a long time so that after the death of Abulchasam Caphor the Achesidian continued sole Governour of Egypt and was put into the Government of that Province by the Prelate the
course and obliges it to do its duty who commands it to encrease and it obeys and who causes it to fall after it hath acquitted it self of what people needed from it What is there more admirable then these prodigies For my part I am a poor man who have lost my fight and whose curiosity can reach only those miracles and rarities which may be learnt by the ear But who comes it that those who see well who have leasure and live near these miracles have not the curiosity to divert themselves in the contemplation thereof He thereupon took me by the hand and recited these verses to me Pray unto him who hath liv'd upon the Mount to dictate unto thee the History of himself and cause him not to weep unless it be with my tears I cannot see remote countries with my eyes but it may be I shall see them by the means of my ears Whereupon he fell a weeping so that he made me weep also and said to me O Brother know that the sighs of the poor blind man will never end in this world and that they will not cease till he hath casted death and that God hath promis'd him that if he patiently endure the affliction of his blindness and loss of his sight and shall have taken it as coming from God and chearfully accepted it he will justifie him and bring him into Paradise For the blind man is dead among the living The Law of God commands a man to salute him it is an act of faith to eat with him it is an Oblation to God to sit down with him 't is a merit of reward to discourse with him 't is a thing of obligation to give him an almes he who takes him by the hand in his necessity obtains the remission of his sins Then he said further to me Know that what oblig'd me to take the pains to come to this place was somewhat told me by a certain Scholar while we were together in the Colledge 'T was of his father that he spoke to me and he was of that Country of Gize My father said he told me that while he was a young man he went and came many times night and day by these Pyramids his affairs obliging him thereto and that he and some other young men about his age went up on the top of them and sometimes into them without any other design then to divert themselves One day among others said this father to his son according to what he added about noon being mounted on a beast which I had as I kept along my direct way passing near these Pyramids I saw a company of Cavaliers mounted some on Horses and others on Camels and some people a foot marching along with them as it were in a Procession about the Pyramids Whereupon thought I to to my self Who are those that make a Procession about the Pyramids now at noon Is it not for some accident newly happen'd in the City I thereupon made towards them so that I came pretty near them and look'd upon them very earnestly But I found as I view'd them at a nearer distance that they had neither the stature nor meen of ordinary men and I made the same judgement of their Horses and their Camels Which oblig'd me to recommend my self to God after which I saluted them and they return'd my salutation and spoke thus to me Be of good courage thou shalt have no harm We are a company of Mussulmans of the number of the Doemons who believe in God and in his Prophet When the Doemons return a mans salutation he may believe himself safe enough as to them When therefore thou shalt meet with creatures which thou thinkest not to be men salute them for if they salute thee again they will be faithful if they do not return thy salutation they will not be faithful it will therefore concern thee to recommend thy self to God that he may preserve thee from them for by that means it will not be in their power to hurt thee After that I saw among them a Demon whom they honoured much and whom they acknowledg'd as it were for their Protector and Superiour to whom one of them spoke thus See you the beauty and the excellency and the workmanship of that Structure and of that Architecture the solidity of those buildings and the goodness of their situation This reply'd he is an effect of their wisdom who inhabited the land before us who were mightier then we and fignaliz'd themselves by more noble marks then we can do upon the earth I had heard what the ancients said of these Pyramids and was desirous to see and consider them my self before my death should we now at the time we live in attempt the making of such works as these we should not compass them even though men joyn'd with us to carry on the work Nay though we should content our selves with the building of but one Pyramid we should not be able to do it what pain therefore would it be to make as many as there are here After that they departed as it were in order to their return and one of them bid me Adieu and spoke thus to me O man endeavour to forbear walking abroad at noon rather sleep at mid-day for the Devils do not sleep at that time Now this is it that obliged me to come to these Pyramids which are such Miracles of Workmanship that the Doemons themselves cannot make the like Why shall I not feel them at least with my hand Besides here is a Youth who represents things so well to me that I comprehend them as if I saw them my self I thank God who guides my Imagination so well We find in the Book of the Lives of great and illustrious persons who have flourished in several times that Masre God preserve it was anciently called Babelain and that that name had been given it in regard that Babel being heretofore the seat of the Empire of Gueraca and Syria when the Kingdom of Masre came to be great and famous in the world the Coptites called it Babelain pretending by that name to raise the lustre of its State and to exalt the glory and dignity of its Empire as if they would say the ancient Babel was but one Babel and that Masre was Babelain that is to say two Babels Whence it came that after the Romans got to be Masters of Syria they said the Land of Egypt is Babylon and made great account of that Province by reason of the conveniences they had thence by Sea and by Land so that that name continued to it Then upon its being taken by the Mussulmans under the Reign of Omar Gods peace be with him by the conduct of Gamrou the son of Gasus Gods mercy on him an Arabian Poet made Verses wherein he acknowledged the favour God had done them in that conquest and the abundance and variety of good things and wealth which they had acquired by that victory
is nothing Miraculous or extraordinary For at that time it was Summer in Aegypt as it is this day and consequently at the same time it was Winter in those Places where the current of the Nile begins since the Sources of it are at a great distance beyond the Equinoctial Line where the Seasons are directly contrary to those which are on this side it The Waters therefore were then about those Sources higher then at any other Season but having fourteen or fifteen hundred leagues to advance ere they got to Aegypt after the rate of about four leagues a day they were about a year by the way and consequently there could not be an overflux of the Nile in that Province sooner then now And if it be true that the Ganges overflows also in Summer as Pliny and Modern Relations seem to affirm and that consequently it is now in the same condition in the Indies as the Nile is in Aegypt the cause may haply be the same For its course being but half the length of that of the Nile there needs but six Moneths for the Waters to get from the Sources to their Mouths it being supposed those of the Nile take up a whole Year Now it was Winter six Moneths before at the Sources of the Ganges which are on this side the Equinoctial Line as it was a Year ago at the Sources of the Nile which are beyond it The same is to be said of the River Menam As to the long continuance of the overflux of the Nile which is a hundred days according to Herodotus or rather six Moneths according to the same Author in another passage where he says that in his time the water flowed out of the Nile into the Lake Myris or Moeris during the space of six Moneths and returned out of the same Lake into the Nile at the same place whereat it had entred into it during the other six Moneths of the Year this continuance I say hath no other cause according to this position but that which prolongs the Inundations of other Rivers For it proceeds partly from the length of time that the Snow is dissolving or the Waters falling and partly from the different distance of the place from which they come into the Chanel of the Nile after the dissolving or falling For thence it comes that some get a long time after others from the place of their Rendezvous and consequently they come in like manner into Aegypt We see also in all other Rivers something like the overflowings of the Nile For many times the Seine for example is high and overflows at Paris when no rain has fallen thereabouts nor any Snow dissolved and it is ordinarily some days after the Rain is past or the Snow dissolved when the weather is fair and clear that its overflux is in its greatest force and height Moreover That the Waters which cause the augmentations of the Nile and its Inundations in Aegypt come from the Torrents the slâ—me which they bring along with them and which hath made some conjecture that it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seem to testifie it For the Waters which come from running Springs by ordinary Chanels are not muddy It may also methinks be inferred from the same slime that those Torrents force their way through cultivated and manured Lands for the Waters which fall from the Sky upon Desert and Untilled places are pure and clear in their descent thence If this be true with the conjectures we have mentioned before it must follow that the Meridional parts of Africk were inhabited and cultivated before Aegypt was in the World and that being granted if the Nitre of Aegypt be of the nature of our Saltpeter which is framed of old Manure amass'd and fermented a long time together it might seem to be rather an effect then a cause of the overflowing of the Nile But haply we have said too much of the Nile and Aegypt in a Preface which was to serve only for an Introduction to what is said thereof by our Author of whom the Reader might expect we should give some account though we have nothing to say of him but only what may be conjectured by the Reading of his Book according to which he was as I conceive of Cairo that is to say of Masre for thus is that Famous City called to this day by its Inhabitants as we have already observed and the name of Cairo under which it is known in Europe came to it from that which the Mugazzoldinil after he had conquered Aegypt caused to be built near it for the Quartering of his Militia and which he called Cahire or Cahâ—re that is to say the Victorious or Conqueress either for the reason given thereof by Macinus in the Year 362 or in regard that being the Habitation of the Soldiery it subdued in effect and caused its Commands to be obeyed not only by the Neighbouring City but also by the whole Empire of the Phatimite Chaliphs as the Camp near Rome in the time of the Roman Emperors Commanded both the City and the Empire and many times the Emperour himself Our Author then as far as I can conjecture was of the same Countrey with Macinus and lived about the same time that is above four hundred Years since For methinks he speaks of the Sultan the Macolcamel the Son of Abubeker the Son of Job as of a Prince Reigning in his time and he mentions not any other that Reigned since though he speaks of divers who had Reigned before The esteem which the Arabians have at this day for his work sufficiently appears in my judgment by the beauty of the Copy out of which we have made this Translation and which was communicated to us by the late Cardinal Mazarine's Library-keeper by the favour of Monsieur Colbert who amidst his infinite cares for what concerns the Glory of his Majesty and the happiness of his Subjects is some times pleased to think on our Arabian Muses and forgets not our labours in the distribution of the Favours which he obtains from his Majesty for those who seriously apply themselves to the noblest kind of Learning The Manuscript of the Onirocrit Mussulman whereof we have lately published the Translation was put into our hands by Monsieur de Montmor principal Master of Requests a Person as Eminent for his great Wit and rare Learning as his Quality I am glad to make this Discovery for their satisfaction who were desirous to know whence I had it and that it might be an acknowledgement of the kindnesses I have received from that Person upon that and divers other occasions But to return to our Aegypt Were there nothing butthe History or rather the Fable of Gebirus and Charoba and the Nymph Marina which is about the middle of this Work I should not repent me of the Translation of it for I little imagined to find in a Mussulman Author any thing so much allyed to the witty Fables of the ancient Greek and Latine