NIGHT WATCH (nit woch). Before the Cap tivity the night was divided into three .parts, or watches, the first extending to midnight, the second to the crowing of the cock, the third to sun rise. During the time of Christ the night was di vided into four watches of three hours each.
NILE (nil). The name Nile, although not oc curring in the A. V., is often referred to under dif ferent names and titles.
1. Skee-khore' (Heb. nrr;,, dark turbid), seems to be indicative of a very dark color (Is. xxiii :3; Josh. xiii:t3; Chron. xiii:s; comp. Gen. xv:18).
2. Yeh-ore' (Heb. 18'„ channel; the same as the ancient Egyptian Atur, Aur, and the Coptic ciere or iara (Ps. lxxviii :44; ,Ezek. xxix :3, sq.; XXX : 12 ; comp. Is. xxxii :21 ; Job xxviii :1o).
3. "The Nachal of Egypt" (Heb.
nakh'al mits-rah-yint, stream of Egypt "has generally been understood to mean 'the torrent' or 'brook of Egypt,' and to designate a desert stream at Rhinocorura, now EljAreesh, on the eastern border. This name must doubtless signify the Nile, for it occurs in cases parallel to those where Shihor is employed (Num. xxxiv :s ; Josh. xv :4, 47: Kings viii :65 ; 2 Kings xxiv :7; Is. xxvii: 12), both designating the easternmost or Pelusiac branch of the river as the border of the Philistine tcrritory, where the Egyptians equally put the border of their country toward Kanaan or Kanana (Canaan). It remains for us to decide whether the name signifies the 'brook of Egypt,' or whether Nachal be a Hebrew form of Nile. The Hebrew word nachal might have been adopted as very similar in sound to an original proper name" (Smith, Bib. Dict.).
4. "The rivers of Cush" (Heb. 61D nah' ar-ay koosh), are mentioned only in the perplex ing prophecy contained in Is. xviii. By it we must prohably conclude "the rivers of Ethiopia" to be the confluents or tributaries of the Nile.
5. "The river of Egypt" (I-I eb. r-.72r.D mits-raffyim), mentioned with the Euphrates (Gen. xv :I8).
6. The Nile is sometimes poetically called "The Sea" (Heb. m7, yawm, ls. xviii:2; Nah. iii:8; Job xli :31, and perhaps Is. xix :5), so known among the Arabs at the present time. " 'The river' clearly applies to the Nile in Is. xix :5, and there, also, in a parallelism with the Nile as 'the sea.' And the Nile has been smitten in that portion of it which is known as 'the seven streams,' five of those streams being now closed from sight" (Trumbull, Kadcsh-barnca, p. 348, sq.). (Mc. & Str. Cyc.; Barnes, Bib. Dict.) This great river of Egypt and of Africa, is prob ably the second longest river in the world, its en tire length being estimated at 4,000 miles. It is connecte0 with the earliest history of the Egyptian and the lsraelitish nations (Exod. ii :3; vii :20, 21 ; Num. xi :5; Ps. cv :29; Jer. xlvi :7, 8 ; Zech. xiv: 17, 18). The Nile is not named in the New Tes tament. The discovery of the true source of the Nile, and the reason for its annual overflow, are two scientific problems which have been discussed for upward of 2,000 years. The course of the stream is now known for about 3,3oo miles, and with two interruptions--the cataract of Syene (Assouan) and the Upper Cataract—it is claimed by Bae deker's Handbook on Lower Egypt to be nay.
gable throughout nearly the whole of that distance. But as there are many other cataracts, this state ment cannot be correct. The principal stream is now known to be the \Vhite Nile, while the B/uc or Block Nile is of greater importance in con tributing to the annual inundation of the lower river. The two streams unite at the town of Khartoom, the capital of Nubia, and from this point to the mouths of the stream at Damietta and Rosetta, upward of 1,800 miles, it falls 1,24o feet, and attains its greatest width a little below Khar toom and a little above Cairo, at each of which places it is about 1,100 yards wide. The sourcc of the White Nile is doubtless Lake Victoria Nyanza, the largest part of which lies south of the equator, and from 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the level of the sea. The White Nile is so named froin the color of the clay with which its waters are stained. The Blue Nile resembles a mountain torrent, being liable to rise suddenly with the Abyssinian rains and sweep away whatever it encounters in its rapidly descending course. The source of the Blue Nile is high up in the Abyssinian mountains, from 6,000 to to,000 feet above the sea level, and in springs which are regarded with superstitious veneration by the neighboring people. A number of festivals were celebrated in connection with the annual rise of the Nile, which appear from the monuments to have been common as early as the fourteenth century B. C. The height of the Nile was measured by the Nilometer, a square well having in its center an octagonal column, on which were inscribed the ancient Arabic measures and Cufic inscriptions. This was erected in A. D. 716, and was used to determine the height of the overflow, upon which was based the rate of taxa tion. The government, however, cheated the poor people by false statements of the overflow, indi cated by this measurement. The papyrus reeds— whence paper is designated—the flags, the lotus, and the various colored flowers formerly beautify ing the banks of the river have nearly all dkap peared, thus fulfilling prophecy (Is. xix :6, i')• This river, so intimately associated with the early history of the human race, is a favorite resort for tourists, who can go in steamers as far as the First Cataract, near Assouan (Syene), where were the great quarries which supplied stone for ancient Egyptian monuments, and from Phike up to Aboo-Simbel and the Second Cataract. The Nile voyage, broken by donkey rides and visits to the pyramids, tombs, and ruins of temples and palaces of the Pharaohs, is one of the greatest enjoyments and best recreations of body and mind. (Schaff, Bib. Dict.) "A curious legend in the Targum describes the burial of Joseph's coffin in the Nile and its redis covery by Moses; the Egyptians never, of course, used the river in this way."