16 Lib. 17. are ov from the real difference of the Nile's infrom, which was not fo great the nearer it ap fuch ch'd the fea. are as the riches of Egypt depended on the inundalarge of the Nile, all the circumftances and different coutrees of its increase have been carefully confider'd; by a long series of regular obfervations, made dup. 789. thng many years, the inundation itself discover'd what ind of harveft the enfuing year was likely to produce. The Kings had placed at Memphis a meafure on which thefe different increases were marked; and from thence notice was given to all the reft of Egypt, the inhabitants of which knew, by that means, befor thischand, what they might fear or promife themselves mon from the harveft. Strabo fpeaks of a well on the banks of the Nile near the town of Syene, made for that purpose. Herod. P. 32. THE fame cuftom is obferved to this day at Grand Cairo. the court of a mofque there ftands a pil1.2. 19. ar, on which are mark'd the degrees of the Nile's Diod. 1. 1. creafe; and common criers every day proclaim in All parts of the city, how high it is rifen. The tribute paid to the Grand Signior for the lands, is fettled by the inundation. The day it rifes to fuch a height, is kept as a grand feftival; and folemniz'd with fire-works, feaftings, and all the demonftrations of publick rejoicing; and in the remotest ages, Threift flowing of the Nile was always attended the rains viverfal joy throughout all Egypt, that to the confuntain of its happiness. on the spot, hens afcrib'd the inundation of the Nile April, and Serapis; and the pillar on which was end of Auguft aife, was preferv'd religiously in the Nile's increase in The Emperor Conftantine havthree weeks or a nemov'd into the church of Alexfall in Abyffinia; ans fpread a report, that the Nile that the Nile bege by reafon of the wrath of Serabut fo flowly at er overflow'd and increas'd as ufual ars. Julian the Apoftate, a zealous protector protector of idolatry, caus'd this pillar to be replaced in the fame temple, out of which it was again remov'd by the command of Theodofius. ) 6. The canals of the Nile and spiral pumps. DIVINE Providence, in giving fo beneficent a river to Egypt, did not thereby intend, that the inhabitants of it fhould be idle, and enjoy fo great a bleffing, without taking any pains. One may naturally fuppofe, that as the Nile could not of itself cover the whole country, great labour was to be us❜d to facilitate the overflowing of the lands; and numberlefs canals cut, in order to convey the waters to all parts. The villages, which ftood very thick on the banks of the Nile on eminences, had each their canals, which were open'd at proper times, to let the water into the country. The more diftant villages had theirs alfo, even to the extremitie of the Kingdom. Thus the waters are fucceffi ely convey'd to the most remote places. Perfons are not permitted to cut the trenches to receive the waters, till the river is at such a height, nor to open them all. together; because otherwife fome lands would be too much overflow'd, and others not covered enough. They begin with opening them in Upper, and afterwards in Lower Egypt, according to the rules prescribed in a roll or book, in which all the measures are exactly fet down. By this means the water is difpofed with fuch care, that it fpreads it felf over all the lands. The countries overflowed by the Nile are fo extenfive, and lie fo low, and the number of canals fo great, that of all the waters which now to Egypt during the months of June, July and Auguft, 'tis believed that not a tenth part of them reaches the fea. Bur as, notwithstanding all thefe canals, there are abundance of high lands which cannot receive the benefit of the Nile's overflowing; this want is fupplitune C 2 plied by spiral pumps, which are turned with oxen, in order to bring the water into pipes, which convey it to thefe lands. Diodorus fpeaks of fuch an engine (called Cochlea Ægyptia) invented by Archimedes in his travels into Egypt. 7. The fertility caus'd by the Nile, THERE is no country in the world where the foil is more fruitful than in Egypt; which is owing entirely to the Nile +. For whereas other rivers, when they overflow lands, wash away and exhauft their vivific moisture; the Nile, on the contrary, by the excellent flime it brings along with it, fattens and enriches them in fuch a manner, as fufficiently compenfates for what the foregoing harvest had impair'd. The hufbandman, in this country, never tires himfelf with holding the plough, or breaking the clods of earth. As foon as the Nile retires, he has nothing to do but to turn up the earth, and temper it with a little fand, in order to leffen its ranknefs; after which he fows it with great eafe, and with little or no expence. Two months after, it is covered with all forts of corn and pulfe. The Egyptians generally fow in October and November, according as the waters draw off, and their harveft is in March and April. As THE fame land bears, in one year, three or four different kinds of crops. Lettices and cucumbers are fown first; then corn; and, after harvest, several forts of pulfe which are peculiar to Egypt. the fun is extremely hot in this country, and that rains fall very feldom in it; 'tis natural to fuppofe, that the earth would foon be parched, and the corn and pulfe burnt up by fo fcorching a heat, were it not for the canals and refervoirs with which Egypt abounds; and which, by the drains from thence, amply fupply wherewith to water and refresh the fields and gardens. A THE Nile contributes no lefs to the nourishment of cattle, which is another fource of wealth to Egypt. The Egyptians begin to turn them out to grafs in November, and they graze till the end of March. Words could never exprefs how rich their pastures are; and how fat the flocks and herds, (which, by reafon of the mildness of the air, are out night and day) grow in a very little time. During the inundation of the Nile, they are fed with hay and cut ftraw, barley and beans, which are their common food. A MAN cannot, fays Corneille le Bruyn in his tra- Vol. 2. vels, help obferving the admirable Providence of God to this country, who fends at a fixed feafon fuch great quantities of rains in Ethiopia, in order to water Egypt, where a fhower of rain scarce ever falls; and who, by that means, causes the driest and moft fandy foil, to become the richest and most fruitful country in the universe. ANOTHER thing to be obferved here, is that, (as the inhabitants fay) in the beginning of June and the four following months, the north-eaft winds blow conftantly, in order to keep back the waters which otherwife would flow too faft; and to hinder them from discharging themfelves into the fea, the entrance to which these winds bar up, as it were from them. The ancients have not omitted this circumstance. THE fame Providence, whofe ways are wonderful Multiforand infinitely various, difplayed itself after a 'quite mis fapidifferent manner in Palestine, in rendering it exceed- entia. ingly fruitful, not by rains, which fell during the Eph. 3.10. courfe of the year, as is ufual in other places; nor by a peculiar inundation like that of the Nile in Egypt; but by fending fixed rains at two feafons, when the people were obedient to God, to make them more C 3 fenfible fenfible of their continual dependence upon him. God himself commands them, by his fervant Mofes, Deut. 11. to make this reflection. The land whither thou goeft 10-13. in to poffefs it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou fowedft thy feed and wateredst it with thy foot as a garden of herbs: But the land whither ye go to poffefs it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven. After this, God promifes to give his people, fo long as they fhall continue obedient to him, the former and the latter rain: The first in autumn, to bring up the corn; and the fecond in the fpring and fummer, to make it grow and ripen. 8. Two different profpects exhibited by the Nile. THERE cannot be a finer fight than Egypt at two feafons of the year*. For if a man afcends fome mountain, or one of the largeft pyramids of Grand Cairo, in the months of July and Auguft, he beholds a vaft fea, in which numberless towns and villages appear, with feveral caufeys leading from place to place; the whole interfpers'd with groves and fruittrees, whofe tops are only visible, all which forms a delightful profpect. This view is bounded by mountains and woods, which terminate, at the utmost diftance the eye can discover, a moft lovely sky. On the contrary, in winter, that is to fay, in the months of January and February, the whole country is like one continued fcene of beautiful meadows, whose verdure, enamelled with flowers, charms the eye. The fpectator beholds, on every fide, flocks and herds difperfed over all the plains, with infinite numbers of hufbandmen and gardeners. The air is then perfumed by the great quantity of bloffoms on the *Illa facies pulcherrima eft, cum jam fe in agros Nilus ingeffit. Latent campi, opertæque funt valles oppida infularum modo extant. Nullum in medi 2 terraneis, nifi per navigia, commercium eft: majorque eft lætitia in gentibus, quo minus terrarum fuarum vident. Senec. Nat. Quæft. l. 4. c. 2. orange, |