THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN that in the reign of this king the mines passed entirely into the hands of the Egyptians. The important building operations which he carried out in Egypt absorbed the greater portion of his energy, but he appears to have made his officers at Semna and Kumma undertake the duty of registering on the rocks the maximum height of the waters of the Nile during the Inundation, for several years. These observations were, no doubt, intended to assist the irrigation officials in Egypt in calculating the times when the great canals and basins should be opened, and their waters discharged on the surrounding fields. They were made many times during the king's reign, i.e., in the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 14th, 15th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 30th, 32nd, 37th, 40th, 41st, and 43rd years, and the greater number of them are cut on the rocks on the east bank, at Kumma.' The inscription referring to the o nn =>i I I o 1— /'v'A D X''''*' riMtMSDii ||£?£o IN.SCRIPTION ON A ROCK AT SEMNA RECORDING THE LEVEL OF THE NILE IN THE 23RI) YEAR OF THE REIGN OF AMEN-EM-HAT III.

30th year was cut out by Lepsius and taken to Berlin, where it is now preserved in the Royal Museum (No 1161).'-If these register marks really represent the height reached by the waters during the Inundation, it appears that the summer Nile flood rose about twenty-six feet higher than it does at the present time."* The belief that the Nile levels marked on the rocks at Semna and Kumma had some special connection with Lake Moeris in the Fayyilm has long held the field, but in recent years the view has been gaining ground that Lake Moeris never existed, and if this be so, we must cease to think that the registers of Nile levels at Semna and Kumma were anything more than records made for general irrigation purposes in ancient Egypt. Many authorities ' See Lepsius, Denkmaler, Bd. ii., 139.

See the official Verzeichms, p. 111.

•' See Lepsius, Letters, p. 239.

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