Kitap 22
15.10
Flowing more gently from there, through seven mouths, each of which has the appearance of an uninterrupted river, and is equally usable, it empties into the sea without being increased by any tributaries in Egypt. And besides many streams which flow from the main channel and fall into others nearly as great, seven are full of surges and navigable, and to them the ancients gave the following names: the Heracleotic, Sebennytic, Bolbitic, Pathmitic, Mendesian, Tanitic, and Pelusiac.Not all writers give the same names. We have for instance Canopic and Naucratic.
15.11
Rising, then, in the quarter which has been mentioned, it passes from the marshesAmmianus seems to accept King Juba’s opinion; cf. section 8, above. as far as the cataracts and forms many islands, some of which (it is said) extend over such wide-spread spaces that the stream hardly leaves each of them behind on the third day.
15.12
Of these two are famous, namely Meroë and Delta, the latter clearly so-called from the form of the triangular letter.Greek δ (inverted on our maps). But when the sun has begun to ride through the sign of the Crab, the river increases until it passes into the BalanceThat is, from the summer solstice until the autumnal equinox. ; then, flowing at high water for a hundred days, the river becomes smaller, and as the weight of its waters decreases, it shows the plains that before were navigable for boats now suitable for riders on horseback.
