AND LOWER EGYPT. 245 



receipts for every disease. Whenever he was con- 

 sulted, he turned over his repository, and never 

 gave an answer till he had met with a passage 

 which he thought might apply to the case of his 

 patient. One of my people who was troubled with 

 ague-fits, seemed to address him with a tone of 

 confidence. After being informed of the symptoms 

 which attended the fever, this unpractised physi- 

 cian sought a long while in his book, which in 

 similar cases prescribed acid fruits, such as lemons, 

 pomegranates, &cc. &c. &c. and the smoke of a 

 burnt fish bone, which the aguish man ought to 

 inhale. But, shutting the book, he added, from 

 his own stock of science, " There is no remedy 

 ** more effectual against fevers than ivritlen cha- 

 " racters\' that is to say, small billets on which 

 certain words are written, and which are either 

 swallowed or carried about as a charm. 



This quack, who had been brought from a great 

 distance to cure the chief of Gournei, did not so 

 much as know his disease, although he had been 

 with him several days. When I had gone away 

 he followed me to ask what I thought of the case. 

 " Look," said I to him, '* in your book under the 

 " article fistulas, and you will discover the nature 

 ** of that disease, and perhaps the remedy ; but 

 " lose no time, for the gangrene- begins to appear, 

 " and in a very short period your patient will die, 



R 3 " if 



