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 when
the water comes in. 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 was a matter which drew my attention), I asked those who
dwelt nearest to the lake where the earth was which had been dug out.
These told me to what place it had been carried away; and I readily
believed them, for I knew by report that a similar thing had been done
at Nineveh, the city of the Assyrians. There certain thieves formed a
design once to carry away the wealth of Sardanapallos son of Ninos,
the king, which wealth was very great and was kept in treasure-houses
under the earth. Accordingly they began from their own dwelling, and
making estimate of their direction they dug under ground towards the
king's palace; and the earth which was brought out of the excavation
they used to carry away, when night came on, to the river Tigris which
flows by the city of Nineveh, until at last they accomplished that
which they desired.
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