4-^0 Phyficctl and Mifcellaneous 



The ophio- I have been informed that there are more than forty thou- 



yhzgl or Eat- ^ . ^ 



ers of ser- fand Perfons in Aairo and the neishbourins; Villages , who 

 live upon no other Food than Lizards and Serpents. This Sin- 

 gularity entitles them, among other religious Privileges, to 

 the great Honour, of attending more immediately upon the 

 embroidered Hangings of black Silk, which are made every Year 

 for the Kaaha of Mecca, and conduced with great Pomp and 

 ;^^" Ceremony, from theCaftle, through the Streets oi Kairo. Upon 



Tke'ir Ceremo- 



nies m C071- 



theh Gro-wth 

 &c. to th. 

 Nile. 



mlligflf thefe Occafions, there are Numbers of this Order, who fing 



the Kaaba. a,^(j dancc before it ; throwing their Bodies, at certain Intervals, 

 into a Variety of enthufiaftick Geftures. Such like Afts of Devo- 

 tion, how ludicrous foever they may appear to us, have been al- 

 ways looked upon with Reverence by the Eaftern Nations. Thus 

 we find, Tfal. 149. g. that the Lord' s Name was to he prai/ed 

 in the Dance. And again, Tf. 15Ό. ψ. that he was to he praifed 

 with the Timbrel and Dance. Agreeably to which Injunolions, 

 all the Women went out after Miriam with Timhrels andDances. 

 Exod. 15•. lo. and David, in hr'inging the Ark from the Houfe 

 <?/ObedEdom, danced before the Lord. %Sam. 6. 14. 



S If If we except the Natron, SalArmoniac, and the Foflil Shells 

 that have been occafionally taken Notice of in the Defcription 

 of the pyramids J there are few other Branches of the Natural 

 Hiftory of £^^^^^, that remain to be explained, but what may 

 be referred to the Nile. For, as it feldom rains in the inland 

 Parts of this Country, the different Species of Grain, Pulfe, 

 and other vegetableProduftions, are all of them intirely indebted 

 totheRiverfortheirGrowthandlncreafe. However thefefeveral 

 Kinds of Plants are not all raifed and nouriilied the fameWay. For 



wheTt.**'' Barley and Wheat, (which are ufually ripe, the one, about the 

 Beginning, the other, at the latter End οι April,) require no 

 further Culture and Refreiliment, than, in fome Part or other 

 oW&ober, (the Inundation being then over,) to be either thrown 

 upon the Mud, or elfe to be beat or plowed gently into it. At this 

 Time alfo they fowFlax and hdcd, or Rice, as I fuppofe it may be 

 rendered, Exod. 9. 31. Now Wheat and Rice being of a flower 

 Growth, than Flax and Barley, it ufually falls out, in the Begin- 

 ning of March, that, when the formerKinds are not as yet groivn 

 up or begin only to fpindle, the Barley is in the Ear, and the 



Rice. ΐ^Ιαχ is boiled. The Plantations of Rice are kept, almoit conftant- 

 ly, under Water ; and therefore the larger Crops of it are 



pro- 



Flax. 



