390 
the lion. 
sions be made without danger, even 
when the colony is at peace with 
the natives of the country. This, 
however, does not involve a con- 
tradiction, for there are in Senegal, 
as. in every other part cf Africa, 
troops of robbers, who carry away 
whatever they meet with, and who 
wage war with all the world. A 
person may, therefore, be in dan- 
ger even in time of peace, more es- 
pecially as one or other of these 
gangs are always scouring the coun- 
try. These robbers never attack 
the inhabitants of the colony on 
their own ground; but whenever 
they find them upon the. territories 
of their enemies, they fail not to 
lay hold of the occasion, to the 
ruin of those whom curiosity leads 
abroad. In fine, in order to give a 
just idea of this wretched colony, 
let it suffice to observe, without ex- 
aggeration, that it is the most de- 
testable spot on the face of the 
earth ; and that nothing but utter 
ignorance, or a total want of any 
other means of subsistence, can in- 
duce a man to settle there. 
Of the Mikkias, or Nilometer, and of 
the rising of the Nile. 
From Nicbuhr’s Travels in Arabia, &c. 
ETWEEN Masr-el-atik and 
Geesh, in the middle of the 
Nile, is the isle of Rhodda, which 
formerly communicated with those 
two cities by two bridges of boats, 
that no longer subsist. In the flou- 
rishing days of Fostat, the island was 
covered with gardens and villas. But 
since Cairo has become the capital of 
Egypt, Masr-el-atik, Bulak, andeven 
Birket-el-Hadgi, are preferred as si- 
tuations for gardens and villas. 
Neither can such excur- . 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1792. 
‘This island shews, at present, no- 
thing remarkable, except, that on 
its southern extremity stands a wall, 
which has been built to break the 
force of the current. Upon this ex- 
tremity standsalsoa mosque,in which 
is the famous Mikkias or Nilometer. 
This is well known to be a bason 
having a communicaticn. with the 
Nile, on the middle of which stands 
a column that serves to indicate the 
height of the waters of the river. 
Norden has given a draft of it, 
finer than the origioal, which is 
mouldering fast away; for the Turks 
will not Jay outthe smallest expence, 
even upon the most necessary repairs. 
Iknow not whether any person 
has yet measured the breadth of the 
Nile. By a geometrical operation, 
I found it to be 2946 feet. With- 
out knowing this measure, one can 
form no idea of the astonishing mass 
of water which this river carries 
down, when in its full height. 
The Nile, it is well known, be- 
gins every year to rise about the 
middle of June, and continues ris- 
ing 40 or 50 days; it then falls, by 
degrees, till, in the end of May 
next year, itis at the lowest. The 
causes of its rise are now well known. 
During the hot months of the year, 
rain falls every day in Habbesch or 
Abyssinia ; ‘and al] that rain water is 
collected into the Nile, which, from 
its entrance into Egypt, till it reach- 
es the sea, runs through a wide vale. 
It does not rise alike high through 
all Egypt. I durst not measure it 
near the Mikkias ; but, from obser- 
vations made at Geesh, I saw that, 
at Cairo, the full height is at least 
twenty-four feet above its ordinary 
level. At Rosetta and Damietta it is 
only four feet. But this vast differ- 
ence is not surprising ; for, at Cai- 
ro, the Nile being confined to one 
channel, 
oh i ee 
