AND LOWER EGVPT. 229 



trom corruption those seeds and roots which are 

 exposed to be moistened by it, had fallen, and 

 thev were still talkino; at Kous of its wonderful 

 effects. This circumstance gave me an opportu- 

 nity of examining a cuticular disease, attributed 

 to this dew of one night, and which is the natu- 

 ral consequence of an excessive heat at that season 

 of the year. I saw several people whose face and 

 body were covered in many places with large 

 pimples, which they call hal>e Niii (sprouts or 

 seeds of the Nile), and which resemble those of 

 an ordinary eruption, only that they rise much 

 more considerably. This indisposition, which is 

 by no means dangerous, and which goes off of 

 itself, is perhaps the same with the peJegra of the 

 Milanese, and the mal de la Rosa of the Asturias. 

 I have heard it asserted that it attacked stranfrers 

 more commonly than the natives of the country ; 

 notwithstanding, out of four Europeans which 

 formed our party, not one of us was affected 

 by it. 



63 



