23

that an acrid matter exudes from the soil, which has proved injurious even to the pyramids";

not extended? As to the circumstance of shells being frequently found on the summits of mountains, many naturalists are of opinion that this may have been produced by earthquakes, to which cause also the deluge has by some been ascribed. Our countryman, Woodward, considers this fact of shells being found on mountains, as an incontestable proof of a deluge; which opinion is contradicted by Linnæus, in his System of Nature, who says, that he could find no certain marks of a deluge any where; his words are, "Cataclysmi universalis certa rudera ego nondum attigi, quousque penetravi." In return, we have recently been informed by Sir William Jones, that in the oldest mythological books of Indostan there is a description of the deluge, nearly corresponding with that of the Scriptures. After all, it is my opinion, that the dove returning with an olive-leaf, pluckt off, was the strongest proof of the universality of the deluge; for hereby "Noah knew that the waters were abated from the earth." After the waters had covered the earth 150 days, the tops of the mountains were seen;" a plain proof that they had been covered; and whether the waters were in a stagnated or a turbulent state, there can be no reason why the leaves of trees should not float on their surface either singly or adhering to branches.

23 Acrid matter.]-In every part of Egypt, on digging, a brackish water is found, containing natrum, marine salt, and a little nitre. Even when the gardens are overflowed for the sake of watering them, the surface of the ground, after the evaporation and absorption of the water, appears glazed over with salt.-Volney.

24 Injurious to the pyramids.]—Norden informs us, that the stones of the great pyramid on the north side are rotten; but he assigns no cause for this phenomenon.-T.

It appears from experiment, that the water of the Nile

and that the only mountain in Ægypt which produces sand is the one situate above Memphis. Neither does Ægypt possess the smallest resemblance to Arabia, on which it borders, nor to Libya and Syria, for the sea-coast of Arabia is possessed by Syrians. It has a black and crumbling* soil, composed of such substances as the river in its course brings down from Ethiopia. The soil of Libya we know to be red and sandy; and the earth, both of Arabia and Syria, is strong and mixed with clay.

XIII. The information of the priests confirmed the account which I have already given of this country. In the reign of Moris, as soon as the river rose to eight cubits, all the lands above Memphis were overflowed; since which a period of about nine hundred years has elapsed; but at

leaves a precipitation of nitre; and all travellers, of all ages, make mention of the nitrous quality of the atmosphere. To this cause Pococke and Savary agree in imputing those diseases of the eyes, so common and so fatal in Ægypt. Eight thousand blind people, according to this latter author, are decently maintained in the great mosque of Grand Cairo. It may seem a little remarkable, that of this quality and probable effect of the air, Herodotus should make no mention.-T.

* The soil or mud that is thus conveyed, buoyed up into the stream, is of an exceedingly light nature, and feels to the touch like what we commonly call an impalpable powder.- Shawe.

present, unless the river rises to sixteen, or at least fifteen cubits, its waters do not reach those lands.

If the ground should continue to elevate itself as it has hitherto done, by the river's receding from it, the Egyptians below the lake Moris, and those who inhabit the Delta, will be reduced to the same perplexity which, they themselves affirm, menaces the Greeks. For as they understand that Greece is fertilized and refreshed by rain, and not by rivers like their own, they predict that the inhabitants, trusting to their usual supplies, will probably suffer the miseries of famine; meaning, that as they have no resource, and only such water as the clouds supply, they must inevitably perish if disappointed of rain at the proper seasons.

25 To sixteen.]-See remarks on chapter 5th.-T.

26 Probably suffer.]-It follows, therefore, that the Ægyptians had no knowledge of those seven years of famine which afflicted their country during the administration of Joseph. These, however, were the more remarkable, as occasioning an entire change in the constitution of the state. The people at first gave their gold and their silver to the prince in exchange for corn: they afterwards resigned to him their flocks and their herds, and ultimately became his slaves.—Larcher.

I am rather surprized to find this note left in the 2d edi tion of Larcher, particularly after the manly and honest profession of his preface; where he says, "Intimement convaincu de toutes les vérités qu'enseigne la Religion Chrétienne, j'ai retranché ou reformé toutes les notes qui pouvoient la blesser.

XIV. Such being the just sentiments of the Ægyptians with respect to Greece, let us enquire how they themselves are circumstanced. If, as I before remarked, the country below Memphis, which is that where the water has receded, should progressively, from the same cause, continue to extend itself, the Egyptians who inhabit it, might have still juster apprehensions of suffering from famine. For in that case, their lands, which are never fertilized by rain", could not receive benefit

27 By rain.]-In Upper Egypt they have sometimes a little rain; and I was told that in eight years it had been known to rain but twice very hard for about half an hour.— Pococke.

Maillet quotes Pliny, as affirming there were no rains in Ægypt; he however affirms that he had seen it rain there several times. Pitts, an eye-witness, confirms Maillet's account of the rain of Ægypt, assuring us that when he was at Cairo it rained to that degree, that having no kennels in the streets to carry off the water, it was ancle deep, and in some places half way up the leg. When the sacred writer therefore says (Zech. xiv. 11.) that Ægypt has no rain, he must be understood in a mollified sense.- Observations on Passages of Scripture.

It rains but seldom in Ægypt, the natural cause of which in the inland parts, is, I imagine, the dryness of the sands, which do not afford a sufficient moisture for forming clouds, and descending in rains.-Norden.

Rain is more frequent at Alexandria and Rosetta, than at Cairo, and at Cairo than at Mineah, and is almost a prodigy at Djirda.

When rain falls in Egypt, there is a general joy amongst the people. They assemble together in the streets, they sing, are all in motion, and shout, Ya Allah, Ya Mobarek -Oh God, Oh Blessed.-Volney.

The

from the overflowings of the river. The people who possess that district, of all mankind, and even

The earth burnt up with the violent fervour, never refreshed with rain, which here falls rarely, and then only in the winter. Sandys. On the subject of rain in Ægypt M. Niebuhr observes, that in Lower Egypt it rains very often, and at Alexandria almost every day in November and December. Rain is not so uncommon at Cairo as some pretend to have remarked. I had been assured it sometimes does not fall there for two years together; but during my stay in that city, from November 1761 to August 1762, it fell very often, and in the first of these months so heavy, that, as the streets are not paved, it was impossible to cross them without boats.

It seldom rains in the inland parts of Egypt, but upon the coast from Alexandria, all along to Damietta and Pineh, they have their former and their latter rains, as in Barbary and the Holy Land.

The following is from Vansleb, a French traveller of credit. The event which he describes happened a little above Cairo:"Le Samedy une pluye ayant commencé de grand matin, elle dura jusqu'a midy sans discontinuer, et en si grand quantité que notre barque coula presque a fonds; et j'aurois souhaité pour lors que quelqu'un de ceux qui disent qu'il ne pleut point en Egypte y eut esté, car il auroit esté convaincu du contraire. Cette pluye fut suivie de vents froids et im

petueux.

La nuit suivante il fit encore une pluye aussi grande que cette du matin, et continua jusqu'a trois heures apres le lever du soleil. Lors que cet astre eut dissipé les nuages, il s'eleva un bon vent," &c.—p. 355.

The same author in another place:

"Le temps ordinaire des pluyes et des vents qu'on pourroit comparer avec nostre automne commence au mois de Decembre, et dure les mois de Janvier et Fevrier, quoy qu'a Alexandrie et a Rosette il pleuve encore hors de cette saison a cause du voisinage de la mer. Il pleuvoit fort a Rosette