Egypt is divided into Upper and Lower; the former is a long valley, beginning at Syene, and ending at Grand Cairo. Two ridges of mountains, which take their departure from the laft cataract, form the lofty outlines of Upper Egypt: their parallel direction is from north to fouth, till they reach Grand Cairo, where, feparating to the right and left, the one stretches towards mount Colzoum, and the other terminates in fand-banks, near Alexandria. The former confists of high rocks and cliffs, the latter of fandy hills, the base of which is a calcareous ftone. Beyond these mountains are deferts, bounded by the Red Sea on the eaft, and extending over Africa to the weft; in the centre lies that long plain the greatest width of which does not exceed nine leagues. Here the Nile rolls his waters between two infurmountable barriers: now filent and tranquil, following the course which nature and art have traced; and anon an impetuous torrent, red with the sands of Ethiopia, fwelling, overflowing his banks,

Egypt had increased, by the immenfe quantity of fand which the courfe of the Nile carries with it; and, had they followed the fea-fhore, the admeasurement would have been confiderably augmented.

and fpreading his waters over the country for the space of two hundred leagues. In this celebrated valley, man first fought, and first beheld, the light of fcience, whofe radiance, diffufing itself over Greece, (b) has fucceffively enlightened the rest of the world. This valley, though still as fruitful as in the happy days of Thebes, is much less cultivated; its famous cities are laid level with the duft ; laws and arts have been trodden under foot by defpotifm and ignorance, and their throne ufurped.

Lower Egypt includes all the country lying between Grand Cairo, the Mediterranean, the Ifthmus of Suez, and Lybia: fkirted by arid fands, this immenfe plain, contains flips of land well cultivated, on the borders of the canals, and in its centre that triangular inland to which the Greeks gave the name of Delta, formed by the two branches of

(b) Herodotus, Strabo, and Diodorus Siculus, pofitively affirm the Greeks obtained moft of their knowJedge from Egypt. Thence it was that Orpheus and Homer brought mythology, and the daughters of Danaus the myfteries of Ceres. The Philofophers of Greece ftudied aftronomy there, and their legiflators the principles of government.

the

the Nile, which divide at Batn el Bakara, (the Cow's Belly) and empty themselves into the fea below Damietta and Rofetta. This ifland, the most fruitful on earth, has loft much of its extent, fince the time when Canopus and Pelufium were its limits. (c) The eastern bulwark of Egypt having been destroyed by conquerors, and those who cultivated the earth becoming expofed to the inroads of the Arabs, the inhabitants have retired farther into the country. The canals, which with their ftreams brought fertility, are dried up: and the earth ceafing to be watered, and continually expofed to the burning heats of the fun, is become a barren fand. Scattered over the plains which formerly contained fruitful fields, and flourishing cities, (d) on the Pelufiac, Tanitic, and Mendefian arms, which all flowed from the Damietta branch. of the Nile, we only find, at present, miferable hamlets, furrounded by date-trees, and deferts. These canals, formerly navigable, (e) (c) Strabo, lib. 17.

(d) Bubaftus, Pelufium, Phacufa, and all the cities which flood in the eaftern part of the Delta, are totally destroyed.

(e) The Pelufiac, Tanitic, and Mendefian branches were formerly navigable.

bear little refemblance to their former ftate, and no longer communicate with the lake Menzala, except a very little while during the time of the inundation; they are dry all the rest of the year. By digging them, and removing the mud which the river has left, fince the Turks have been masters of Egypt, the country they traverse would become fertile, and the Delta reftored to its ancient grandeur.

Having obtained a general idea of Egypt, please, Sir, to fix your attention on this rich country, and the changes it has undergone, Anterior to thofe times of which history preferves any certain record, a people defcended from the mountains, which border on the cataract, into the valley the Nile inundates, (f) then an impracticable morafs, overrun with reeds and bulrushes. After repeated, and often fatal trials, they discovered fome salutary plants; among these were the lotus, (g) which Herodotus

(f) Herodotus, p. 40. Euterpe; Diodorus Siculus, lib. 1. and Strabo, lib. 17. all afcertain the fame fact,

(g) The lotus is an aquatic plant peculiar to Egypt, which grows in rivulets, and by the fide of lakes; there are two fpecies, the one bearing a white, the other

a blue

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dotus calls the lily of the Nile; the reed we have named the fugar-cane, and which in this country has preserved its primitive appellation caffab, or reed; (b) the colocaffium, (i) the onion, and the bean. Many years

a blueish flower. The calix of the lotus blows like that of a large tulip, diffufing a sweetness like the fmell of the lily. The root of the firft fpecies is round, refembling a potatoe; and is eaten by the inhabitants who live near the lake Menzala. The rivulets, near Damietta, are covered with this majestic flower, which rifes about two feet above the water. Mr. Paw affirms it is no longer found in Egypt, and defcribes a plant no way resembling the lotus. Recherches fur les Egyptiens & les Chinois, page 150. No wonder this learned man was miftaken, fince most of the travellers who have been in Egypt never faw the lotus, which does not grow on the great canals of the Nile, but among the inland rivulets.

(h) Some authors fay the fugar-cane was brought from India to Egypt; perhaps, the method of cultivating it only was brought. It feems to me to be a native of a country which produces many fpecies of reeds, and where it grows wild. Its very name induces this belief.

(i) The colocaffium is a plant well known to botanists. It is particularly cultivated by the inhabitants of Damietta vaft fields overfpread with its large leaves are feen near this city. Its root is in the form of a cone, and larger than that of the lotus, with a taste less insipid than the potatoe.

paffed