Chap. XII. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 253 



not owing to the Nile not overflowing as ufual, but to the bad go- 

 vernment of the country, and the negledl of agriculture Now, 

 how extraordinary a change is this, from a country fo populous 

 as antient Egypt was, and abounding fo much with corn and every 

 other neceffary of life, to a country fo thinly inhabited as Egypt is 

 at prefent, and where the few, that are left in it, are dying, for want 

 of bread ? Inftead of being the healthieft of all civilized coun- 

 tries, it may now be faid to be the feat of difeal'e : For the plague is 

 feldom out of it; and ahnoft all the plagues, which at different times 

 have aflBlfted Europe, have come originally from Egypt. And be- 

 fides the plague, which at times makes prodigious havoc among 

 them, they are eaten while alive by worms, and particularly by one 

 very great worm, called the tape-worm ''•. 



* See Haflelquift's Travels. 



CHAP, 



