the Egyptians, who confecrated a virgin to the Nile, and whom, in times of dearth, they fometimes threw into the waters. The mound is presently destroyed, and the waters, no longer meeting an obstacle, flow toward Grand Cairo. The Pacha throws gold and filver coins into the stream, which good swimmers immediately dive for, and bring up. This action may be regarded as a kind of homage paid to the Nile, the fource of the wealth of Egypt. The inhabitants appear intoxicated with joy; they congratulate and pay compliments to each other all day; and fongs of thanksgiving are every where heard. A number of female dancers, affemble on the banks of the Khalig, and regale the fpectators with their lascivious dances. All is mirth and good chear, and the very poor themselves feast. This univerfal rejoicing is not surprising: the fate of the country depends on the inundation, and, when it arrives, all behold the hopes of harveft, the picture of plenty, and anticipate the promised good, The evenings prefent a fpectacle still more agreeable. All the great fquares of the city are floated, and the families affemble in boats adorned adorned with tapestry, rich cushions, and every convenience luxurious eafe can wifh. The ftreets, mofques, and minarets, are illuminated they row from fquare to square, taking with them fruits and refreshments. The most numerous affembly is ufually at Lefbekia, which is the largest square in the city, and near half a league in circumference; it forms an immenfe bafon furrounded by the palaces of the Beys, which are embellished with various coloured lights. Many thousands of boats, to the mafts of which lamps are fufpended, produce an evervarying illumination. The clear and starry heavens, which, there, are feldom obfcured by mifts, and the profufion of artificial lights on the waters, give all the brilliancy of day to the sweet refreshing coolness of night. Imagine, Sir, the pleafure with which the people, who have been scorched twelve hours by a fun fo ardent, come and breath the cool air of thefe lakes; feldom are the charms of this nocturnal scene disturbed by impetuous winds; they fall at fun-fet, and gentler airs agitate the atmosphere. I own the caprice of Oriental manners is a tax on the European. Men affociate only with men, and women with women; the charm of whose society is here procured with difficulty. The disguise neceffary, and the attendant dangers, warn the reason, and compel prudence. The lamps are obliged to be always kept lighted; this is a precaution neceffary for the public fafety, which the Oualli, who goes from place to place, takes care to see punctually observed. If this officer, who fuperintends the police, finds a boat without light, he is justified in beheading all the perfons on board; and, unlefs a fuitable prefent restrains the arm of the executioners who accompany him, he inftantly, and rigouroufly, executes his right. When the Ramazan happens during the inundation, this month, fo dreadful to the poor, is a time of continual banquetting among the rich, who pass their nights feasting on the waters. During the day they fleep in a vast hall, where pure air circulates near a marble bafon; where a fountain of limpid water plays, and the brinks of which are furrounded by the Arabian jafmine and odoriferous flowers. The falubrity of this apartment is maintained by a north window always open, near the fummit of the dome: thus, while the hufbandmen broil in the fields, bedewing the earth with the fweat of their brow, the rich pafs their time in voluptuous flumbers, amidst cooling airs, and the balfamic exhalations of plants. The utmost ambition of a Turk, who is not in place, is to live agreeably, and wholly free from cares; but the Beys, on the contrary, preyed upon by fear, placed at the head of a republic impoverished by their devaftations, dazzle for a moment, then difappear, cut off by the fword of their colleagues, or the poifon of their flaves. Egypt has for numerous ages, been inundated, which has prodigiously raised the soil; this fact is attefted by obelisks, buried fifteen or twenty feet, and porticos that have half difappeared. Their ancient cities, built on artificial mounts, and the mounds they raifed, fhewed the Egyptians dreaded the high inundations. At prefent the land is fo much higher that the waters feldom rife to as to injure agriculture. When they are under fixteen cubits a famine is threatened, and the years of abundance are thofe of between eighteen and two-and-twenty cubits. When the waters exceed this, they lay too long long on the ground, and prevent its being fown; which, however, feldom happens. On the contrary, inundations below the medium often leave the high lands fruitless. Were the canals opened, the mounds repaired, and the great refervoirs filled, they might water a much larger extent of country, and procure harvests infinitely more abundant. It would be poffible to enfure a regular inundation to Egypt, and a never-failing fertility; but this must be by conquering Ethiopia, or forming a treaty with its inhabitants, by which they might be permitted to confine the waters of the Nile, where they disperse themselves over the fands that lie to the weft, "In the year 1106, when Elmestanfor "was Sultan of Egypt, the inundation totally failed. The Sultan fent Michael, patriarch of the Jacobines, with magnifi"cent presents, to the Emperor of Ethiopia, who came to mect, received him favourably, and demanded the fubject of "his embaffy. Michael replied, that the "waters of the Nile having failed, had "made the Egyptians dread all the horrors "of famine, and thrown them into the ut "moft |