Obfervations in Egypt. 401 



produced near Dami-ata and Rozeiio, where the Plains are 

 low, and confequently more eafily overflowed, than thofe 

 which lye higher up the River. 



Now fuch vegetable Produdions, as require iTioreMoifture,7?w&/gi«fi 

 than what is occafioned by the Inundation, are refreihed hywJerf'''^ 

 Water, that is drawn at certain Times out of the River, 

 and lodged in large Ciiterns, made for that Purpofe. Archi- 

 medes s Skrew ', feems to have been the Inftrument that was 

 antiently made ufe of uponthefe Occafions ; though, at prefent:, 

 it is not known; the Inhabitants fervingthemfelves either with 

 various Kinds of leathern Buckets, or elfe with a Sahah, (as 

 they call the TerfianWhctX,) which is the moil general and ufe- 

 ful Machine. Engines and Contrivances of both thefeKinds, 

 are placed all along the Banks of the Nile, from the Sea to 

 the Cataraols; their refpedive Situations being higher and 

 confequently the Difficulty of raifmg Water the greater, in 

 Proportion as we advance up the River, 



When therefore theirPulfe,Safranon(orC^r//:)i2»2/^i',) Melons, τ*-? Method 

 Sugar Canes &c. (all which are commonly planted in Rills,) VQ-th^fvi'In- 

 quire to be refreilied,they ftrike out a Plug,that is fixed in theBot-^''^"'"'' 

 tom of one of thefe Cifterns ; and then the Water guihing out, is 

 conduded, from one Rill to another, by the Gardiner ; who is 

 always ready, as Occafion requires, to ftop and divert the Tor- 

 rent, by turning the Earth againit it w^ith his Foot, and open- 

 ing at the iiuiie Time, with his Mattock, a new Trench to re- 

 ceive it. This Method of conveying Moifture and Nouriih- 

 ment to a Land that is rarely refreihed with Rain , is often 

 alluded to in the H. Scriptures; where alfo it is made the di- 

 ftinguifliing Quality betwixt Egypt and the Land 0*1 Canaan. For 

 the Land, (fays Mofes to the Children oilfrael, Deut.i 1. 10, 1 1.) 

 TJi/hither thou goefl in to poffefs it, is not as the Land of Egypt, 

 from whence ye came out, where thou fowedft thy Seed, and 

 wateredft it with thy Foot, as a Garden of Herhs : hut the 

 Land whither ye go to poffefs it , is a Land of Hills and 

 Valleys, and drinketh Water of the Rain of He alien. 



I have already obferved, that it feldom rains in the inland f'' ^''.^'* 



-' Inundation 



Parts of Egypt : but, upon the Coaft, from Alexandria. 2^'""^""''^^ 



Jf! . tT-i. ^^^ Rams iff 



along to Dami-ata and Tineh , they have their former and Ethiopia. 

 latter Rains, as in Barhary and the Holy Land. The periodical 



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 α,ξϋίιίνηιν 2i|a tj»®" μΛ^);^νη(, ίω mfonot fj$fi Ap;yjw!^f ό Swpcotiw®', ΙνομάζίΤΜ /ί ώϊ ίί ^μΛΊΟ)" ΚοχλΊοζ. 



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