Expt. and equable increase of the earth from the fediment of the waters is impoffible. 7. Our author made a great number of trials of the water of the Nile during the time of its inundation in different places. At Baf boch, when just coming down from the cultivated parts of Abyffinia, and before it enters Sennaar, the fediment is compofed of fat earth and fand, and its quantity is exceedingly fmall. At the junction of the Nile and Aftaboras the quantity of fediment is very little augmented; confifting ftill of the fame materials, but now moftly fand. At Syene the quantity of fediment was almoft nine times greater than before; but was now compofed almost entirely of fand, with a very fmall quantity of black earth. The conclufion of our author's experiments, however, is different from what we should have been led to expect from those just men ́tioned. "The experiment at Rofetta (fays he) was not fo often repeated as the others: but the refult was, that in the ftrength of the inundation the fediment confifted moftly of fand; and, towards the end, was much the greater part earth. I think thefe experiments conclufive, as neither the Nile coming fresh from Abyffinia, nor the Atbara, though joined by the Mareb, likewife from the fame country, brought any great quantity of foil from thence."

8. Our author goes on to obferve, that had the Nile brought down the quantities of mud which it has been faid to do, it ought to have been moft charged with it at Syene; as there it contained the whole that was to be conveyed by it into Egypt Inftead of this, however, the principal part of the fediment at this place was fand; and this is very naturally accounted for from the vast quantities of fand taken up by the winds in the deferts between Gooz and Syene. Here our traveller frequently faw vaft pillars of this kind of fand, which is fo fine and light as to form an impalpable powder, traverfing the defeit in various directions. Many of these were driven upon the river; and when it became calm in the evening, fell down into it entirely; thus affording materials for the many fandy islands to be met with in the Nile.

9. Mr Bruce adopts the opinion of those who fuppofe that there has been a continual decrease of water fince the creation of the world. In this cafe, therefore, if the land of Egypt had been continually increafing in height while the water that was to cover it decreased; there must have been frequent famines on account of the want of a fufficient inundation. But fo far is this from being the cafe, that, according to the teftimony of several Arabian MSS. there had not, when Mr Bruce was in Egypt, been one scarce feafon from the lownefs of the inundation for 34 years; tho' during the fame space they had three times experienced a famine by too great an abundance of water, which carried away the millet.

10. If there had been fuch an increase of land as Herodotus and others fuppofe, it must now have been very perceptible in fome of the most ancient public monuments. This, however, is by no means the cafe. The base of every obelisk in Upper Egypt is to this day quite bare and vifible. Near Thebes there are ftill extant two Coloffal ftatues, plainly defigned for nilometers, and which ought by this time to have been almoft covered with earth; but notwithstanding the length of time these have remained there, they are ftill bare to the very base.

131

rife of the

The strongest argument which the advocates for the Egypt. increase of land of Egypt can make ufe of is, that the meafures by which the quantity of inundation is determined are fmaller now than in former times; and thefe fmall measures are faid to have been introduced by the Saracens. On this Mr Bruce very Opinions of jully obferves, that fuch an expedient could not various au have anfwered any good purpofe; as no decreafe of thors conthe measure could have augmented the quantity of Cering the corn produced by the ground. M. Savary obferves, Nile in asthat, to render his calculation concerning the growth cient times, of land in Egypt abfolutely exact, it would be neceffary to determine the precife length of the Greek, Roman, and Arabian cubit; and even to know the different alterations which that measure had undergone among thefe people: But this nicety he thinks needlefs; looking upon the general fact to be fully eftablifhed by what he had faid before. Mr Bruce, however, has treated the subject with much greater accura cy. He obferves, that from the fituation of Canopus, the diftance betwixt Egypt and Cyprus, and the extenfion of the land to the northward, it appears that no addition of any confequence has been made to it for 3000 years paft. The only argument left for the increafe of land therefore must be taken from the nilo. meter. The ufe of this inftrument was to determine the quantity of inundation, that fo it might be known whether the crop would be fufficient to enable the people to pay the taxes exacted of them by the fovereign or not. The first step was to know what space of ground was overflowed in a given number of years; and this being determined by menfuration, the next thing was to afcertain the produce of the ground upon an average. Thus becoming acquainted with the greateft and leaft crops produced, together with the exact extent of ground overflowed, they were furnished with all the neceffary principles for conftructing á nilometer; and nothing now remained but to erect a pillar in a proper place, and divide it exactly into cubits. This was accordingly done; the pillar was firft divided into cubits and thefe again were fubdivided into digits. The firft divifion of this kind was undoubtedly that mentioned in fcripture, and called the cubit of a man; being the length of the arm from the middle of the round bone in the elbow to the point of the middle finger; a measure still in ufe among all rude nations. As no ftandard could be found by which this measure might be exactly determined, authors have differed very much concerning the true length of the cubit when reduced to our feet and inches. Dr Arbuthnot rec. kons two cubits mentioned in fcripture; one of them containing one foot nine inches and of an inch; the other one foot and of a foot; but Mr Bruce is of opinion that both of thefe are too large. He found, by menfuration, the Egyptian cubit to be exactly one foot five inches and three-fifths of an inch; and Herodotus mentions, that in his time the cubit used for determining the increase of the Nile was the Samian cubit, about 18 of our inches. The latter alfo informs us, that in the time of Moeris, the minimum of increase was 8 cubits, at which time all Egypt below the city of Memphis was overflowed; but that in his time 16 or at least 15 cubits were neceffary to produce the fame effect. But to this account Mr Bruce objects, that Herodotus could have no certain information concerning the nilometer, because he himself says that the

1006

3 D 2

Τσόσ

priests,

Egypt. priests, who alone had accefs to it, would tell him nothing of the matter. Herodotus alfo informs us, that in the time of Moeris, great lakes were dug to carry off the waters of the inundation; and this fuperfluous quantity Mr Bruce fuppofes to have been conveyed in to the defert for the ufe of the Arabs, and that by fuch a vaft drain the rife of the water on the nilometer would undoubtedly be diminished. But even granting that there was fuch a difference between the rife of the water in the time of Moeris and in that of Herodotus, it does not appear that any thing like it has appeared ever fince. Strabo, who travelled into Egypt 400 years after the time of Herodotus, found that eight cubits were then the minimum, as well as in the time of Moeris. From fome paffages in Strabo, however, it appears that it required a particular exertion of industry to caufe this quantity of water produce a plentiful crop; but there is not the leaft reason to fuppofe, that the very fame induftry was not neceffary in the time of Moeris; fo that ftill there is not any increase of land indicated by the nilometer. About 100 years afterwards, when the emperor Adrian vifited Egypt, we are informed from unqueftionable authority, that 16 cubits were the minimum when the people were able to pay their tribute; and in the fourth century, under the emperor Julian, 15 cubits were the ftandard; both which accounts correfpond with that of Herodotus. Lastly, Procopius, who lived in the time of Juftinian, informs us, that 18 cubits were then requifite for a minimum.

132

No increase

thefe ages

From these accounts, fo various and difcordant, it is of land in obvious that no certain conclufion can be drawn. It can reafon is not indeed easy to determine the reafon of this dif ably be fur-ference in point of fact. The only conjecture we can pofed; offer is, that as it appears that by proper care a fmaller quantity of water will anfwer the purpofe of producing a plentiful crop, fo it is not unreasonable to fuppofe that at different periods the induftry of the people has varied fo much as to occafion the disagreement in queftion. This would undoubtedly depend very much upon their governor; and indeed Strabo informs us that it was by the care of the governor Petronius, that fuch a fmall quantity of water was made to anfwer the purpofe. The conclufion drawn by Mr Bruce from the whole of the accounts above related, is, that from them it is most probable that no increase of land has been indicated by the nilometer from the time of Moeris to that of Juftinian.

133 Nor in

dern times.

thor, is the proclamation understood at this day. From Egypt. his own obfervations, however, Mr Bruce concludes, that 15 cubits are now the minimum of inundation, and as this coincides with the accounts of it in the times of Herodotus and Adrian, he supposes with great probability, that the fame quantity of water has been neceffary to overflow this country from the earliest accounts to the prefent time.

On the conquest of Egypt by the Saracens, their more mo- barbarous and ftupid khalif deftroyed the nilometer, caufing another to be built in its ftead, and afterwards fixed the standard of paying tribute confiderably below what it had ufually been. The Egyptians were thus kept in continual terror, and conftantly watched the new nilometer to obferve the gradual increafe or decrease of the water. On this he ordered the new nilometer to be deftroyed, and another to be confructed, and all accefs to it to be denied to the people. Which prohibition is ftill continued to Chritians; though our author found means to get over this obftacle,, and has given a figure of the inflrument itfelf That the people might not, however, be fuppofed to remain in total ignorance of their fituation, he commanded a proclamation to be daily made concerning the height of the water, but in fuch an unintelligible manner that nobody was made any wifer; nor, according to our au

134 M. Sava

Pharos re

It now remains only to take notice of what is faid by M. Savary concerning the former distance of the ry's opinion ifland of Pharos from the land to which it is now join-concerning ed. With regard to his other affertions concerning the the ine of city of Metelis having been once a fea-port, M. Volney fured by M. proves that he has quoted Strabo unfairly, and confe- Volney. quently no ftrefs is to be laid upon them. The principal, indeed the only, evidence therefore which remains, is the paffage already quoted from Homer, viz. that "the island of Pharos is as far dittant from one of the mouths of the Nile as a veffel can fail in one day before the wind." "But (fays M. Volney) when Homer fpeaks of the diftance of this ifland, he does not mean its distance from the fhore oppofite, as that traveller (M. Savary) has tranflated him, but from the land of Egypt and the river Nile. In the fecond place, by a day's fail we must not understand that indefinite space which the veffels, or rather the boats, of the ancient Greeks, could pass through in a day; but an accurate and determined measure of 540 ftadia. This measure is afcertained by tierodotus, and is the precife ditance between Pharos and the Nile, allowing, with M. d'Anville, 27,000 toifes to 540 ftadia. It is therefore far from being proved, that the increase of the Delta or of the continent was fo rapid as has been reprefented; and, if we were difpofed to maintain it, we fhould ftill have to explain how this fhore, which has not gained half a league from the days of Alexander, fhould have gained eleven in the far fhorter period from the time of Menelaus to that conqueror. The utmost extent of the encroachment of this land upon the fea, however, may be learned from the words of Herodotus; who informs us, that the breadth of Egypt, along the feacoaft, from the gulph of Plinthine to the lake Serbonis. near mount Cafius, is 3600 ftadia; and its length from the fea to Heliopolis 1500 ftadia." Allowing therefore the ftadium of Herodotus to be between 50 and 51 French toifes, the 1500 ftadia juft mentioned are equal to 76,000 toifes; which, at the rate of 57,000 to a degree, gives one degree and near 20 minutes and an half. But from the aftronomical obfervations of M. Niebuhr, who travelled for the king of Denmark in 1761, the difference of latitude between Heliopolis, now called Matarea, and the fea, being one degree 29 minutes at Damietta, and one degree 44 minutes at Kosetta, there is a difference on one fide of three minutes and an half, or a league and an half encroachment; and eight minutes and an half, or three leagues and an half on the other."

Thus the difpute concerning the augmentation of the land of Egypt by the Nile feems to be abfolutely decided; and the encroachments of it on the fea fo trifling, that we may juftly doubt whether they exift, or whether we are not entirely to attribute the apparent differences to thofe which certainly take place betwixt the ancient and modern menfuration. M. Volney gives a very particular defcription of the face of the country; but takes notice of the inconveniences under which travellers labour in. this country, by which it is rendered extremely difficult,

to

Manfalout for the space of more than 25 leagues, ac- Egypt. cording to the teftimony of Father Sicard.

Egypt. to fay any thing certain with regard to the nature of the foil or mineral productions. These arife from the barbarity and fuperftition of the people, who imagine all the Europeans to be magicians and forcerers, who come by their magic art to discover the treafures which the genii have concealed under the ruins. So deep rooted is this opinion, that no perfon dares walk alone in the fields, nor can he find any one willing to accompany him; by which means he is confined to the banks of the river, and it is only by comparing the accounts of various travellers that any fatisfactory know. ledge can be acquired.

135 Volney's

the face of the coun

try.

According to this author, the entrance into Egypt account of at Rofetta prefents a moft delightful profpect, by the perpetual verdure of the palm-trees on each fide, the orchards watered by the river, with orange, lemon, and other fruit-trees, which grow there in vaft abundance; and the fame beautiful appearance is continued all the way to Cairo. As we proceed farther up the river, he says, that nothing can more refemble the appearance of the country than the marshes of the lower Loire, or the plains of Flanders: inftead, however, of the numerous trees and country-houfes of the latter, we muft imagine fome thin woods of palms and fycamores, with a few villages of mud-walled cottages, built on artificial mounds. All this part of Egypt is very low and flat, the declivity of the river being fo gentle, that its waters do not flow at a greater rate than one league in an hour. Throughout the country nothing is to be feen but palm-trees, fingle or in clumps, which become more rare in proportion as you advance; with wretched villages compofed of huts with mud-walls, and a boundless plain, which at different feafons is an ocean of fresh water, a miry morafs, verdant field, or a dufty defert; and on every side an extenfive and foggy horizon, where the eye is wearied and difgufted. At length, towards the junction of the two branches of the river, the mountains of Cairo are difcovered on the eaft; and to the fouth-weft three detached maffes appear, which from their triangular form are known to be the pyramids. We now enter a valley which turns to the fouthward, between two chains of parallel eminences. That to the east, which extends to the Red Sea, merits the name of a mountain from its steepnefs and height, as well as that of a defert from its naked and favage appearance. Its name in the Arabic language is Mokattam, or the bewnmountain. The weftern is nothing but a ridge of rock covered with fand, which has been very properly termed a natural mound or caufeway. In fhort, that the reader may at once form an idea of this country, let him imagine on one fide a narrow fea and rocks; on the other, immenfe plains of fand; and in the middle, a river, flowing through a valley of 150 leagues in length and from three to feven wide, which at the diftance of 30 leagues from the fea feparates into two arms; the branches of which wander over a foil almoft free from obftacles, and void of declivity.

From comparing his own obfervations with thofe of other travellers, our author concludes, that the bafis of all Egypt from Afouan (the ancient Syene) to the Mediterranean, is a continued bed of calcareous ftone of whitish hue, and fomewhat foft, containing the fame kind of fhells met with in the adjacent feas, and whieh forms the immenfe quarries extending from Saouadi to

136

account of

&c.

Mr Bruce, however, gives us a much more particular Mr Bruce'saccount of the fources from whence were derived the vast quantities of marble met with in the remains of the deferts, ancient buildings in this country. These he difcovered marble, mountains, during his journey from Kenne to Coffeir on the Red Sea, before he took his expedition to Abyffinia. He' gives a moft difmal idea of the deferts through which he paffed. What houfes he met with were conftructed, like thofe M. Volney mentions, of clay, being no more than fix feet in diameter, and about ten in height. The mountains were the most dreary and barren that can be imagined; and the heat of the fun fo great, that two fticks rubbed together only for half a minute would take fire and flame. In these burning regions no living creature was to be met with, even the poifo- nous ferpents and fcorpions not being able to find fubfiftence. The firft animal he faw was a fpecies of ants in a plain called Hamra from the purple colour of its fand; and it was remarkable that thefe infects were of the fame colour with the fand itfelf. No water was any where to be met with on the furface; though at a place called Legeta there were fome draw-wells, the water of which was more bitter than foot itself. At Hamra the porphyry mountains and quarries begin, the ftone of which is at first foft and brittle; but the quantity is immenfe, as a whole day was taken up in paffing by them. These porphyry mountains begin in the latitude of nearly 24 degrees, and continue along the coaft of the Red Sea to about 22° 30', when they are fucceeded by the marble mountains; these again by others of alabaster, and thefe laft by bafaltic mountains. From the marble mountains our author felected twelve kinds, of different colours, which he brought along with him. Some of the mountains appeared to be compofed entirely of red and others of green marble, and by their different colours afforded an extraordinary fpectacle. Not far from the porphyry mountains the cold was fo great, that his camels dieds on his return from Abyffinia, though the thermometer food no lower than 42°.

Near to Coffeir he discovered the quarries whence the ancients obtained thofe immenfe quantities of marble with which they conftructed fo many wonderful : works. The first place where the marks of their operations were very perceptible, was a mountain much higher than any they had yet paffed, and where the ftone was fo hard that it did not even yield to the blows of a hammer. In this quarry he obferved that. fome ducts or channels.for conveying water terminated; which, according to him, fhows that water was one of the means by which these hard ftones were cut. In four days, during which our author travelled among thefe mountains, he fays, that he had "paffed more granite, porphyry, marble, and jafper, than would build Rome, Athens, Corinth, Syracufe, Memphis, Alex-andria, and half a dozen fuch cities." It appeared to him that the paffages between the mountains and which he calls defiles, were not natural but artificial openings; where even whole mountains had been cut out, in order to preferve a gentle flope towards the river. This defcent our author fuppofes not to beabove one foot in 50; so that the carriages must have gone very eafily, and rather required fomething to re

tard

in the form of finall logs cut flanting at the ends, and Egypt. might eafily be taken for petrifactions, though he is convinced that they are real minerals.

Egypt. tard their velocity than any force to pull them for ward. Concerning the mountains in general, he obferves, that the porphyry is very beautiful to the eye, and is difcovered by a fine purple fand without any glofs. An unvariegated marble of a green colour is generally met with in the fame mountain; and where the two meet, the marble becomes foft for a few inches, but the porphyry retains its hardness. The granite has a dirty brown appearance, being covered with fand; but on removing this, it appears of a grey colour with black spots, with a reddifh caft all over it. The granite mountains lie nearer to the Red Sea, and feem to have afforded the materials for Pompey's pillar. The redness above mentioned feems to go off on expofure to the air; but reappears on working or polishing the ftone farther. The red marble is next to the granite, though not met with in the fame mountain. There is also a red kind with white veins, and vast quantities of the common green ferpentine. Some famples of that beautiful marble named Isabella were likewise obferved; one of them of that yellowish caft called quaker-colour, the other of the bluifh kind named dovecolour. The most valuable kind is that named verde antico, which is found next to the Nile in the mountains of ferpentine. It is covered by a kind of blue fleaky ftone, fomewhat lighter than a flate, more beautiful than most kinds of marble, and when polished having the appearance of a volcanic lava. In thefe quarries the verde antico had been uncovered in patches of about 20 feet fquare. There were fmall pieces of African marble fcattered about in feveral places, but no rocks or mountains of it; so that our author conjectures it to lie in the heart of fome other kind. The whole is fituated on a ridge with a defcent to the east and weft; by which means it might eafily be conveyed either to the Nile or Red Sea, while the hard gravel and level ground would readily allow the heaviest carriages to be moved with very little force.

737

Travellers have talked of an emerald mine in these of a fi po- deferts; but from the refearches of Mr Bruce, it does fed emerald mine. not appear to have any existence. In the Red Sea indeed, in the latitude of 25° 3, at a small distance from the fouth-western coaft, there is an ifland called the Mountain of Emeralds; but none of thefe precious ftones are to be met with there. Here, as well as on the continent, there were found many pieces of a green pellucid fubftance; but veined, and much fofter than rock-cryftal, though fomewhat harder than glass. A few yards up the mountain he found three pits, which are fuppofed to have been the mines whence the ancients obtained the emeralds; but though many pieces of the green fubftance above mentioned were met with about these pits, no figns of the true emerald could be perceived. This fubftance, however, he conjectures to have been the fmaragdus of the Romans. In the mountains of Coffeir, as well as in fome places of the deferts of Nubia, our author found fome rocks exactly refembling petrified wood.

138

Stones of a curious aj. peara..ce.

The only metal faid by the ancients to be produced in Egypt is copper. On the road to Suez are found great numbers of thofe ftones called Egyptian fints and pebbles, though the bottom is a hard, calcareous, and fonorous ftone. Here alfo M. Volney tells us, that the ftones above mentioned, and which refemble petrified wood, are to be met with. Thefe, he fays, are

139 Salt lakes

140

mould of

derived

F. Sicard mentions two lakes, from the water of s which is produced annually a great quantity of falt containing much mineral alkali; and M. Volney informs us, that the whole foil of this country is impreg nated with falt; fo that, upon digging to fome depth in the ground, we always meet with brackish water impregnated in fome degree with the mineral alkali as well as with common falt. The two lakes mentioned by Sicard are fituated in the defert to the weft of the Delta; and are three or four leagues in length, and about a quarter of a league in breadth, with a folid and ftony bottom. For nine months in the year they are without water; but in the winter time there oozes out of the earth a reddif violet-coloured water, which fills the lakes to the height of five or fix feet. This being evaporated by the return of the heat, there re mains a bed of falt two feet thick and very hard which is broken in pieces with iron bars; and no lefs than 30,000 quintals are procured every year from thefe lakes. So great is the propenfity of the Egyptian foil to produce falt, that even when the gardens are overflowed for the fake of watering them, the furface of the ground, after the evaporation and abforption of the water, appears glazed over with falt. The water found in the wells contains mineral alkali, mariue falt, and a little nitre. M. Volney is of opinion, Vegetable that the fertile mould of Egypt, which is of a black colour, differs effentially from that of the other parts; Egypt not and is derived from the internal parts of Ethiopia along originally with the waters of the Nile. This feems to contradict from what he had before advanced against M. Savary con- Ethiopia. cerning the increase of the land of Egypt by means of the waters of this river: but there is no reafon at all to fuppofe this kind of earth to be of a foreign origin; it being always the result of vegetation and cultivation. Even the most barren and sandy spots in the world, if properly watered, and fuch vegetables planted in them as would grow there, in time would be covered with this black earth as well as others and of this kind of artificial formation of foil travellers give us a remarkable inftance in the garden of the monks at Mount Sinai, where the country is naturally as barren as in any place of the world. "The monks of Sinai (fays Dr Shaw), in a long procefs of time, have covered over with dung and the fweepings of their convent near four acres of naked rocks; which produce as good cabbage, roots, fallád, and all kinds of pot-herbs, as any foil and climate what forver. They have likewife raifed olive, plum, almond, apple, and pear trees, not only in great numbers, but of excellent kinds. The pears particularly are of fuch efleem at Cairo, that there is a prefent of them fent every year to the bafhaw and perfons of the first quality. Neither are their grapes inferior in fize and flavour to any whatfoever: it being fully demonftrated, by what this little garden produces, how far an indefatigable industry can prevail over nature; and that several places are capable of culture and improvement which were intended by nature to be barren, and which the lazy and flothful have always fuffered to be fo."

From this general account of the country, we may reafonably conclude, that the natural fertility of E

gypt

141 Natural

142 Method of

The only caufe of all this fertility is the Nile, withpurifying out which the whole country would foon become an and cooling uninhabitable defert, as rain falls very feldom in this the water in Egypt. part of that world. It flows with a very gentle ftream through the flat country, and its waters are very muddy, fo that they must have time to fettle, or even require filtration before they can be drunk. For purifying the water, the Egyptians, according to M. Volney, ufe bitter alinonds, with which they rub the veffel containing it, and then the water becomes light and good; but on what principle this ingredient acts, we cannot pretend to determine. Unglazed earthen veffels filled with water are kept in every apartment; which by a continual evaporation through their porous fubftance, render the contained fluid very cool even in See Eva- the greatest heats*. The river continues muddy for fix poration. months; and during the three which immediately precede the inundation, the ftream being reduced to an inconfiderable depth, becomes heated, green, fetid, and full of worms. The Egyptians in former times paid divine honours to the Nile, and ftill hold it in great veneration. They believe its waters to be very nourishing, and that they are fuperior to any in the world; an opinion very excufable in them, as they have no other, and large draughts of cold water are among their higheft luxuries.

143 Of the

This river, fwelled by the rains which fall in Abyfinundation finia, begins to rife in Egypt about the month of May ; of the Nile. but the increafe is inconfiderable till towards the end of June, when it is proclaimed by a public crier thro' the streets of Cairo. About this time it has ufually rifen five or fix cubits; and when it has rifen to 16, great rejoicings are made, and the people cry out Waffah Allah, that is, that God has given them abundance. This commonly takes place about the latter end of July, or at fartheft before the 20th of August; and the fooner it takes place, fo much the greater are the hopes of a good crop. Sometimes, though rarely, the neceflary increafe does not take place till later. In the year 1705, it did not fwell to 16 cubits till the 19th of September; the confequence of which was, that the country was depopulated by famine and peftilence.

We may eafily imagine that the Nile cannot overflow the whole country of itfelf in fuch a manner as to render it fertile; for which reafon there are innumer able canals cut from it across the country, as has already been obferved, by which the water is conveyed to diftant places, and almost every town or village

has one of thefe canals. In thofe parts of the coun- Egypt. try where the inundation does not reach, and where more water is required than it can furnish, as for watering of gardens, they must have recourfe to artificial means for railing it from the river. In former times they made ufe of Archimedes's fere w*; but that is now. See Hydifufed, and in place of it they have chofen the Persian drolatics. wheel. This is a large wheel turned by oxen, having a rope hung with feveral buckets which fill as it goes round, and empty themselves into a ciftern at the top. Where the banks of the river are high, they frequently make a bafon in the fide of them, near which they fix an upright pole, and another with an axle acros the top of that, at one end of which they hang a great ftone, and at the other a leathern bucket; this bucket being drawn down into the river by two men, is raised by the defcent of the ftone, and emptied into a ciftern placed at a proper height. This kind of machine is ufed chiefly in the upper parts of the country, where the raifing of water is more difficult than in places near the fea. When any of their gardens or plantations want water, it is conveyed from the cifterns into little trenches, and from thence conducted all round the beds in various rills, which the gardener eafily ftops by raifing the mould againft them with his foot, and diverts the current another way as he fees occafion.

Nilometer

The rife of the inundation is measured, as has 144 already been obferved, by an inftrument adapted for defcribed. the purpofe, and called mikeas, which we translate nilometer. Mr Bruce informs us, that this is placed between Geeza and Cairo, on the point of an island named Rhoda, about the middle of the river, but fomewhat nearer to Geeza. It is a round tower with an apartment, in the middle of which is a ciftern neatly lined with marble. The bottom of this ciftern reaches to that of the river, and there is a large opening by which the water has free accefs to the infide. The rife of the water is indicated by an octagonal column of blue and white marble, on which are marked 20 peeks or cubits of 22 inches each. The two lower moit of thefe have no fubdivifions; but each of the rest is divided into 24 parts call digits; the whole height of the pillar being 36 feet 8 inches.

&c.

145

When the river has attained its proper height, all of the ca the canals are opened, and the whole courtry laid un-nals by der water. During the time of the inundation a cer- which the tain vortical motion of the waters takes place; but water is notwithstanding this, the Nile is fo easily managed, conveyed, that many fields lower than the furface of its waters are preferved from injury merely by a dam of moiftened earth not more than eight or ten inches in thickness. This method is made ufe of particularly in the Delta when it is threatened with a flood.

As the Nile does not always rife to an height fufficient for the purposes of agriculture, the former fovereigns of Egypt were at valt pains to cut proper canals in order to fupply the deficiency. Some of these are ftill preferved; but great numbers are rendered ufelefs through the indolence or barbarity of their fucceffors. Thofe which convey the water to Cairo, into the province of Fayoom, and to Alexandria, are best taken care of by government. The laft is watched by an officer appointed for that purpose, whose office it is to hinder the Arabs of Bachria, who receive this fuperfluous water, from turning it off before Alexandria be