Won't the land tremble for this, And everyone mourn who dwells in it? Yes, it will rise up wholly like the River; And it will be stirred up and sink again, like the River of Egypt.
"This we learn (says Dr. Shaw) l, not only from the sixteen children that attend the statue of the Nile, but from Pliny also; and likewise from a medal of Hadrian in the great brass where we see the figure of the Nile, with a boy upon it, pointing to the number sixteen. Yet in the fourth century, which it will be difficult to account for, fifteen cubits only are recorded by the Emperor Julian m as the height of the Nile's inundation; whereas, in the middle of the sixth century, in the time of Justinian, Procopius n informs us that the rise of the Nile exceeded eighteen cubits; in the seventh century, after Egypt was subdued by the Saracens, the amount was sixteen or seventeen cubits; and at present, when the river rises to sixteen cubits, the Egyptians make great rejoicings, and call out, "wafaa Allah", that is, "God has given them all they wanted".''