Kitap 17
1.4
The Nile, when it leaves the boundaries of Ethiopia, flows in a straight line towards the north, to the tract called the Delta, then cloven at the head, (according to the expression of Plato,) makes this point the vertex, as it were, of a triangle, the sides of which are formed by the streams, which separate on each side, and extend to the sea, one on the right hand to Pelusium, the other on the left to Canobus and the neighbouring Heracleium, as it is called ; the base is the coast lying between Pelusium and the Heracleium.
1.4
An island was therefore formed by the sea and by both streams of the river, which is called Delta from the resemblance of its shape to the letter (δ) of that name. The spot at the vertex of the triangle has the same appellation, because it is the beginning of the above-mentioned triangular figure. The village, also, situated upon it is called Delta.
1.4
These then are two mouths of the Nile, one of which is called the Pelusiac, the other the Canobic and Heracleiotic mouth. Between these are five other outlets, some of which are considerable, but the greater part are of inferior importance. For many others branch off from the principal streams, and are distributed over the whole of the island of the Delta, and form many streams and islands; so that the whole Delta is accessible to boats, one canal succeeding another, and navigated with so much ease, that some persons make use of raftsIn the text ὀστράκινα ποοͅθμεῖα earthen-ware ferry boats. The translation is not literal, but a paraphrase. Hac saevit rabie imbelle et inutile vulgus Parvula fictilibus solitum dare vela phaselis, Et brevibus pictae remis incumbere testae. Juv xv. 12i. floated on earthen pots, to transport them from place to place.
1.4
The whole island is about 3000 stadia in circumference, and is called, as also the lower country, with the land on the opposite sides of the streams, the Delta.
