that are laid waste, shall be desolate FORTY YEARS, &c. Behold I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the avages of his army." We cannot but lament that this observation, and others of a similar nature, which in times like the present more especially appear to us so important, should have entirely escaped the attention of the editor for surely he who once so happily illustrated the excellence and truth of Christianity, by contrasting it with the imposture of Mohammed, might have wielded with peculiar propriety and force those weapons, which even a Mohammedan historian not unfrequently supplies for the defence of our most holy faith.

In page 134, this Arabian author quotes a long and curious passage from the work of Aristotle on the Parts of Animals; and Dr. White, in his Note, has very judiciously remarked an extraordinary coincidence between two great writers of distant ages and nations: the same passage of the Greek Philosopher having been quoted with nearly the same view, and for a similar purpose, by Stillingfleet, in his Origines Sacra, vol. ii. p. 270. (Oxford edition.)

Abdollatiph (p. 158.) mentions Busir, or Abousir, or Abouzire, (for they are only different modes of spelling the same word,) in a passage which Dr. W. has thus translated. • Invenimus autem juxta Busiram Pyramides multas, quarum unam dirutam, moxima tamen parte integram, cum mensuravissemus a basi, observavimus non minorem eam fuisse, quam sint Pyramides due Al Gize.' Now the manner in which the author speaks of Busir in this passage, and in pages 89 and 156, convinces us that Pococke's version in p. 89 is incorrect, and that juxta Busiram should be substituted for in Busira. Moreover, as Abdollatiph, in page 156, clearly states Busir to be in the neighbourhood of the Catacombs, agreeably to the express testimony of two modern travellers, Paul Lucas and Hasselquist; and as in this passage he adds also another determinate and distinct mark of locality, namely its proximity to the great ruined Southern Pyramid; (which is unquestionably the same that is marked Qin Plate XVIII. of Bp. Pococke's Travels;) we have satisfactory grounds for correcting the site of Busir, as laid down in the Maps of D'Anville and Rennell: who, misled probably by a passage in Pliny, have placed Busir several miles too far to the northward, nearer to the Pyramids of Giza than to those of Saccara. As it is highly important to rectify the errors of writers of such eminence, we are somewhat surprised. that these circumstances are not pointed out by the editor in his notes.

In

In the first chapter of his second book, the author (as we have before stated) treats of the Rise of the Nile, the causes of its increase, and the laws by which it appears to be regulated. The momentous importance of this subject to the welfare of Egypt clearly appears from the second and third chapters; in which Abdollatiph details with great minuteness the melancholy history of a famine, occasioned by a failure in the usual increase of the Nile, which occurred during his own residence in Egypt. The same cause, indeed, in this extraordinary country, has in every age produced similar effects; and the narrative of Abdollatiph cannot fail to recall the attention of the serious reader to that famine recorded in the Book of Genesis, which, under the direction of Divine Providence, prepared the way for such stupendous events, by inducing the Patriarch Jacob and his sons to take up their residence in Egypt. When we recollect that the produce of the land is here always proportioned to the overflowing of the Nile, we cannot but remark with what matchless simplicity, and at the same time with what strict propriety and truth, the scene of Pharaoh's dream is laid by the river, while both the fat and lean kine are emphatically represented as coming up out of it, and feeding on its banks.-And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, in my dream, behold I stood upon the bank of the river. And behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fat-fleshed, and well-favoured, and they fed in a meadow. And behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor, and very ill-favoured, and lean-fleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness. And the lean and the ill-favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine. And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill favoured as at the beginning. So I awoke. And I saw in my dream, and behold, seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good. And behold seven ears withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears.-And Joseph seid unto Pharaoh, the dream of Pharaoh is one God hath sherved Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one. And the seven thin and ill-favoured kine, that came up after them, are seven years; and the seven empty ears, blasted with the east wind, shall be seven years of famine.

The famine, and the pestilence which ensued, of which Abdollatiph has so forcibly described the direful effects, were accompanied with peculiar horrors; and history, whether sacred or profane, no where exhibits to our view a more dreadful picture of calamities and crimes. The narrative of the present author bears every internal mark and character of truth; and the judicious critic will not hesitate a moment in admitting

2

its

its authenticity, though the facts which it records were before altogether unknown to the European world. Fortunately, we have it in our power to adduce one testimony in support of the narrative of Abdollatiph, which, as it is neither cited nor mentioned in the notes, has evidently eluded the inquiries of the learned and laborious editor. This testimony is that of Elmacin, in his Universal History; a part only of which was published by Erpenius, under the title of Historia Saracenica. The following passage, of which we subjoin an English translation, we have had an opportunity of copying from a MS. of that part of the work of Elmacin which still remains unpublished:

وفي هذه السنة سبع وتسعين وخمس ماية] كان الغلا بالديار المسرية وبلغ القمح كل أردب خمسة دنانير مصرية واستمر ذلك قريب من ثلاثة سنين فعدم الناس القوت وأكلوا بعضهم بعضا واكلوا اولادهم واكلوا الميتة وخرج من الديار المصرية خلقا كثيرا باولادهم واهاليهم الي الشام والسواحل

"In the same year (597) there was a great dearth over the land of Egypt, so that a measure of wheat called an Irdab was sold for five Egyptian Dinârs. And this distress continued nearly three years; and men were so destitute of sustenance, that they were compelled to eat each other, and even their own children, and to feed on animals that perished. Great multitudes therefore of people, with their children and servants, emigrated to Syria, and the coasts of the sea."

As specimens of the narrative of Abdollatiph, we shall here select two or three passages, of which we shall venture to give an English translation; adhering to the spirit rather than the letter of the original. The limits of our Review do not permit us to make larger extracts, but we earnestly recommend to our readers a perusal of the whole story, horrible as it is; and we recommend it not merely with the view of gratifying a lau dable curiosity, but because it has a most powerful tendency to humble our pride, by demonstrating our constant dependence on the bounty of Providence; by teaching us that even the gifts of Nature, as they are called, are not more permanent than those of Fortune; and by reminding us that what has happened to others may possibly happen to ourselves.

Page 212. When first the poor began to feed upon human flesh, stories of this kind went abroad, and formed the universal subject of discourse; while every one expressed the utmost horror and aversion at the crime, and astonishment at its novelty. These sensa tions were afterward worn out by the force of example, and the calls of hunger: the practice became familiar; and human flesh was

sought

sought not only as a necessary support, but as one of the greatest luxuries of life. It was reckoned among the first delicacies of the table, and was dressed in many different ways. Afterward when the practice became more general, and had extended through every part of Egypt, the astonishment and abhorrence which it had formerly excited ceased; and to express or listen to such sentiments was no longer disgraceful.

I saw a woman dragged and mangled by ruffians in the market.. place. They took from her a roasted child which she had provided for her sustenance. The people in the market scemed entirely to disregard this horrid spectacle, and pursued their own business and employment with the utmost unconcern. I observed no surprise, nor even disapprobation, in their countenances; while I was struck with the deepest astonishment at the sight, and the insensiblity with which they beheld it. So powerful is the effect of custom, which can divest the most unnatural and prodigious crimes of their horror, by presenting them repeatedly to the senses, and reducing them to the level of the most common objects and trivial occurrences !'

Again, page 233. Of the number of the poor who perished with hunger, it is impossible to form any probable estimate: but I will give the reader some information on this subject, whence he may form a faint idea of the mortality with which Egypt was then afflicted. In Mesr, and Cairo, and their confines, wherever a person turned, he could not avoid seeing or stumbling over some starved object, either already dead, or in the agonies of death. From Cairo alone nearly 500 were daily carried out to the burying ground; and so great was the mortality in Mesr, that the dead were thrown without the walls, where they remained unburied. But afterward, when the survivors were no longer able to throw out the dead bodies, they were left wherever they expired, in the houses, shops, and streets. The limbs of the dead were even cut in pieces, and used for food; and instead of receiving the last offices from their friends, and being decently interred, their remains were attended by persons who were employed in roasting and baking them.

In all the distant provinces and towns, the inabitants became entirely extinct; except in the principal cities, and some of the larger towns, such as Kous, Ashmunein, Mahalla, &c. and even there but a few survived. In these days, a traveller might pass through a city, without finding in it one human creature alive; he saw the houses open, and the inhabitants lying dead on their faces, some grown putrid, and others who had recently expired. If he entered into the houses, he found them full of goods, but no one to make use of them; and he saw nothing wherever he turned, but a dreadful soli. tude, and universal desolation. This account rests not on the infor. mation and authority of a single person, but of many, whose several assertions mutually confirmed each other. One of them gave me his relation in the following words: "We entered a city, where no living creature was to be found; we went into the houses, and there we saw the inhabitants prostrate and dead; all lying in a wretched groupe on the ground, the husband, the wife, and the children. Hence we passed into another city, which contained, as we had heard, 400

shops

shops of weavers. It was now a desert, like the former: the artificer had expired in his shop, and his family lay dead around him. A third city, which we afterward visited, appeared like the former, a scene of death and desolation. Being obliged to reside some time in this place for the purpose of agriculture, we hired persons to throw the bodies of the dead into the Nile, at the rate of ten for a Dirhem. Wolves and Hyænas resorted hither in great numbers, to feed on the corpses.'

It is highly creditable to Abdollatiph, that, though the crimes which he describes were so extremely common, and the temptations to commit as well as the opportunities of committing them so extremely powerful and inviting, yet he never lost sight, even for a moment, of those virtuous principles which had hitherto regulated his conduct; not does he ever speak of these offences, without the most pointed abhorrence and detestation.

Page 239. The selling of free persons had now become a common practice; and a beautiful girl might be purchased for a few Dirhems. Two young girls were offered to me for a Dinar; and I saw two girls, one of whom was a virgin, exposed to sale for eleven Dirhems. For five Dirhems, a woman offered to sell me her daughter, who was beautiful beyond description; and when I upbraided her with the heinous nature of the crime, she bade me take her as a present. Women, who had any share of beauty, frequently prostrated themselves before men, and intreated them to purchase or dispose of them. Many, who thought these practices lawful, sent their purchased slaves into Erak, and Chorasan, and other parts.

What appears to me most unaccountable of all the wonders which 1 have related, is that notwithstanding the Koran frequently reproves mankind for their impenitence, and for plunging themselves without remorse into sin, they should persist in their wickedness, as if they were entirely exempt from the common lot of humanity.'

In page 271. &c. we meet with some remarkable anatomical facts and observations, which cannot but be highly interesting to those who are curious in tracing the history of that science from its earliest periods. The passage runs thus in the Latin version of Dr. White:

Inter ea que vidimus, hoc mirum est. Cum multi eorum, qui mecum assidue essent in re medica instituendi, studium collocassent in Auctoribus Anatomicis (et ad docendum et intelligendum difficilibus, eo quod verba non sufficerent ad rem, quæ ante oculos versaretur, accurate describendam) una mecum ii facti sunt certiores, esse in Makso collem, super quo ossa jacerent multa. Egressi igitur illuc, vidimus collem ossibus abundantem, longeque extensum; in quo parum abfuit, quin minus esset soli vel aquoris [quod appareret,] quam cadaverum [in eo jacentium.] Ex specie externa,

que in oculos incurrit, dixeris esse viginti millia et amplius: erantque in classes quasi distributa, pro ratione temporis quo ibi essent posita.

"Fam de figuris ossium articulisque eorum, item juncturæ eorum proportione et modo, item de eorum situ, ea didicimus, quæ ex libris haurire nobis haud REV. APRIL, 1802. integrum

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