Histories

they have a raft made of tamarisk wood, fastened together with matting of reeds, and a pierced stone of about two talents' weight; the raft is let go to float down ahead of the boat, connected to it by a rope, and the stone is connected by a rope to the after part of the boat.

So, driven by the current, the raft floats swiftly and tows the “baris” (which is the name of these boats,) and the stone dragging behind on the river bottom keeps the boat's course straight. There are many of these boats; some are of many thousand talents' burden.

When the Nahr an- Nil [31.1,30.166] (river), AfricaNile overflows the land, only the towns are seen high and dry above the water, very like the islands in the +Aegean Sea [25,38.5] (sea) Aegean sea. These alone stand out, the rest of Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt being a sheet of water. So when this happens, folk are not ferried, as usual, in the course of the stream, but clean over the plain.