DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4668#0074
56 The House of Osiris. [Ch.
immense watershed of Eden. And as, accord-
ing to the same account, the first traces of the
never-ceasing current of human wandering
commenced on the Eastward of the garden,
so does the stream of the infant Nile, which
takes its rise near this point, tend Eastward
of the grand meridian before bending South-
ward towards the lake which still bears the
patriarchal name of the Egyptian Nou ; * and
attempts which may be counted literally by the hundred,
and which have gone far towards rendering any true
exposition of human development an almost hopeless
achievement—the garden is constantly confused with the
watershed, and the " heads " of the rivers with their full
courses, while the single river is omitted altogether.
* From the same source a good deal of light may, I
tliink, be thrown upon the scriptural account of the
Deluge, regarded as a phenomenal inundation of the
Nile valley, the dwelling-place of the primeval family,
as I have endeavoured to show elsewhere ; and this,
again, will be found to react upon various questions
connected with the early settlement of Egypt; the
worship of Nou, the deity of the water; the sacred ark
of Amen, the prototype of the ark of Moses ; the especial
reverence paid to the Niloineter, or " Tat," the symbol
of the divine Nou, with its threefold measure of the inun-
dation ; the sudden immergence of that lonely yet majestic
immense watershed of Eden. And as, accord-
ing to the same account, the first traces of the
never-ceasing current of human wandering
commenced on the Eastward of the garden,
so does the stream of the infant Nile, which
takes its rise near this point, tend Eastward
of the grand meridian before bending South-
ward towards the lake which still bears the
patriarchal name of the Egyptian Nou ; * and
attempts which may be counted literally by the hundred,
and which have gone far towards rendering any true
exposition of human development an almost hopeless
achievement—the garden is constantly confused with the
watershed, and the " heads " of the rivers with their full
courses, while the single river is omitted altogether.
* From the same source a good deal of light may, I
tliink, be thrown upon the scriptural account of the
Deluge, regarded as a phenomenal inundation of the
Nile valley, the dwelling-place of the primeval family,
as I have endeavoured to show elsewhere ; and this,
again, will be found to react upon various questions
connected with the early settlement of Egypt; the
worship of Nou, the deity of the water; the sacred ark
of Amen, the prototype of the ark of Moses ; the especial
reverence paid to the Niloineter, or " Tat," the symbol
of the divine Nou, with its threefold measure of the inun-
dation ; the sudden immergence of that lonely yet majestic