JOHN LEDYARD. 325 



me be careful how I read, and, above all, bow I read 

 ancient history. You have heard, and read, too, 

 much of its inundations. If the thousands of large 

 and small canals from it, and the thousands of men 

 and machines employed to transfer by artificial 

 means the water of the Kile to the meadows on its 

 banks, if this be the inundation that is meant, it 

 is true : any other is false. It is not an inundating 

 river. I came up the river from the 15th to the 

 20th of August, and about the 30th the water will 

 be at the height of the freshet. "When 1 left the 

 river, its banks were four, five, and six feet above 

 the water; and here in town I am told they expect 

 the Nile to be only one or two feet higher at the 

 most. This is a proof, if any were wanted, that the 

 river does not overflow its banks. 



" I saw the Pyramids as I passed up the river, but 

 they were four or five leagues off. It is warm wea- 

 ther here at present ; and, were it not for the north 

 winds, that cool themselves in their passage over the 

 Mediterranean and blow upon us, we should be in 

 a sad situation. As it is, I think I have felt it hotter 

 at Philadelphia in the same month. The city of 

 Cairo is about half as large in size as Paris, and ia 

 said to contain seven hundred thousand inhabitants. 

 You will therefore anticipate the fact of its narrow 

 streets and high houses. In this number are con- 



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