The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-03-05

We yesterday made a mistake over which,
we suppose all the school boys of the town
have been chuckling, if they have time in
these bustling daya, to thiuk Of anything so
common place their school books. We
called Morris, Meroe, substituting the great
city for the great lake We certainly knew
better, yet we made the mistake. We are not
sorry for it, however, since it furnishes us
with another occasion to show, not only that
there is, literally, nothing new under the sun,
but that the ancients did some things on
scale and in a style which the moderns csnnot
hope to rival.
Lake Morris was said by HERODoTUs to have
been g. 900 stadia in circumference. Now, as
"A stadium was 202 OF our yards, this would
give circumference of Al miles. The diam
eter then, was about l3S miles, and the area
equal we should think TO the whole country
bounded by line running from Richmond 10
tho North Carolina line the James River from
Richmond to Lynchburg, line from Lynch
burg TO the North Carolina line, and the North
Carolina line rs far down rs the point of in
tcrsec ton with the line from Richmond. In
other words, an extent of country equal TO
the whole south side of James River from Pc
tersburg to Lynchburg, was covered by the
waters of this lake, which, the same authori-
ty tells us, were ABOUT TWO nuHuIeu CUNTS
deep. The bed of the lake, he farther says
WAS excavated by human hands. AS a proof
OF the fact, he states that there We're, in his
day, two pyramids in IL, the half of each
of which was above the water and the
other half below il. He says il was construct.
ed by q king called MGHIs. to regulate the
depth OF the water upon the country exposed
TO the foundations of the Nile. If everything
no alo il hp ST
pendous work ever devised and executed by
human forethoug hit and energy. The Pyra-
mids sink into absolute insigniicsnce beside
IT, The canal and locks that led 10 it, from
the Nile, were on the most stupe ndous scale.
Our reference TO the discovery of the site
of Lake Morris was founded on our rPcollec-
ton of IL lee ture delivered by the late GEO. r
GLrDDoy, in this city, ten years ago. We
know scarcely any thing of Esyptoiogy, which
seems of late years TO have assumed the rank
OF a distinct science. As well
collect, MT G. narrative ran nearly as fol =
lows Ancient writers had distinctly marked
the site OF Lake Morris, by placing il seventy
or eighty miles from Menu his, and stating
that il lay between that city and Arsnce, now
pile OF ruiks, going by the name of Medinet
Ell Faioum. As this position corresponds with
that Of the modern Birket- Caroun, "A compa-
ratively Insignificant affair, only about one
hundred and fifty miles in circumference,
travellers concluded that this was the real
Morris, and that the father OF history had
drawn upon his imaginatio for his facts
This conclusion they drew while they
were standing on the very ground that
the Pharaotic lake had occupied. Nor was
IL wonderful, considering what a vast cir
cumference the old lake occupied II this
city had once been the centre of lake
extending sixty miles from it in all direc lions,
the boundaries could hardly be found by
travelling from spot 10 spot inside of the cir
cnmfsrence. LgrsiUs had greater faith In the
old Greek chroncler. lie had seen his state.
ments so often justified by modern discoveries,
that he thought IL better to test them than TO
content himself with giving him the lie
Making IL thorough eYamina ton, he discov.
srea the remains OF two pyramids answering
10 the locality OF those described by HEsoDo-
TVS FROM these he took his departure, judg
ing hat they lay ut a certain distance from
Inc eifcntnierenee. At the suppose ed distance
nc Ioahd traces OF emban nents &c an.
sSsIIhg 10 the circumference In ques ton and
soitowihg them, he found that they led him
oach 70 me place he started from Hence h.
eonc'haed mat HERoDorrs had told the truth.
aus, m nearly as We can recoliect WAS thr
substance Of that portion OF the lecture. We
not aiiogether certain that LgrsIrs was III.
explorer IN question, but we believe he was.