274 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



however low they may be reduced, become weary 

 at length of behig at the disposal of unprincipled 

 men; and (hat power which, stifling the dictates 

 of justice and of conscience, loses sight of the 

 privileges of humanity, and has no other recourse 

 to attain its object, hut the rigour of arbitrary 

 violence, cannot exist long, and must infallibly 

 sink, under the weight of its own oppression. 



The few days I passed at Tahla, during which I 

 did not often quit the house, as I was confined there 

 by the troubles which raged in the country, afforded 

 me an opportunity of making fresh observations on 

 the diseases of the country, and the method of cure 

 which the Egyptian physicians employed. They 

 distinguish several species of venereal diseases, ac- 

 cording tc tiic difference of the symptoms, and 

 Ihey bestow on them whimsical names, which it is 

 HO easy matter to explain. The generical deno- 

 mination is cirdhirek (the blessed). Sometimes it is 

 the disease of goats, and sometimes the disease of 

 camels. This last description is looked upon as the 

 most dangerous, and the most diflicult to eure. 

 Nothing is more simple than their treatment of 

 the diseases : it usually consists in eating a great 

 quantity of meat, in drinking strong brandy, and 

 in rubbing the body with oil and sulphur. Others 

 recommend a method of cure fully as simple, but 

 much more disgusting : it is to drink the water in 



which 



