Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology

Dec.3] PROCEEDINGS. [1889.

Theversionin the dictionary, writtenabout1882,is " Berechnungen
derLandereiencttbt,Kiesboden(xeru) 2°>°°o,die welche auf der
Hohegelegen sind (>itthr qa-t) 120,die welche sandigenBoden
enthalten 140 Aruren (oderahnlichesFeldmass)."
Withour new datumwe can entirely changethe face of this, and

give to all the words theirnaturalmeaning. | has probably
an I
nothingto do with sandysoil. Readalso ^ (with feminineo ) as

hat. atb is masculine.

" Account of the hat: low-lying 20 J, that whichis on the high

ground 120 of 1 : total 140." HereT varies withT as

a unit of measurement.
In modern Egypt also,the fields are divided intotwo classes,
the rat (j\n fromthe root ].., meaning'moist')correspondsto

kheru,and the sharaqi (Js\ji, ' dry by exposure to the sun ') to qat.

Bringingwaterto the high groundzT&S,Ci Y I , i.e. irrigating,

by means of canals and locks, thatwhichthe Nile couldnot reach,
wasreckonedamongstthe virtues of princes in the Early Middle
Kingdom(see Siut V, 7, and Rifeh,VII,f 22-3). ProfessorBrugsch

hasbroughtforwardsomeexamplesto prove that v\ means

' stony ground,'but there cannotnowbe a shadow of doubt about
its meaning in this passage. Moreoverthe word occursat Beni-

hasan (Khnumhotep, 1. 140, in the form ^\ Sr1^ , again

withoutanydeterminative of stone or pebbles. Thecontext of
the passage freely renderedis (the king fixedthe boundaries of
the nome),placinglandmarksat the southern andnorthernlimits,
" setting up them (or others ?) upon the meadows of the low-lying
land,%amountingto 15 land-marks set up in its fields." Thelow-
lyingland, subject to inundation, neededspecial carein marking
with a large number of stones, since the floods were likely to
obliteratemarksor sweep awayboundaries.

• Compare Baedeker,LmvcrEgypt,Englishedit.,p. 71.
  f Rifeh I and VIIaffordsomevaluableillustrationsof the Heracleopolite
  tombsat Siut, but contain no reminiscences of Tomb I. From this I conclude
  thattheyare anterior to the reign of Usertesen I, though Rifeh,TombVII,
  resemblesin plan the portico-tombs of Benihasan.
  J So Maspero ; my friend Dr. Krebs is wrong here.
  87