Ohfervations in Egypt. 4^^ 



'^trical Pikes, called Soltani Belad'i eFackefi, in all ΐφ Stamhole 



" Pikes : though in another Letter, " 1 6 of thefe 'Peeks are only 



" made equal to 1 1 Engltfj Yards ". But as I was informed, (for IjJ/'^^^f '^ 



could not set Admittance into the Chamber of the Mikeas, tot'eeke/iZ/ro- 



'^ tmo Digits, 



make the Obfervation myfelf, ) the Stamholine or Great Teek, 

 the fame with the HajenKean, of thirty two Digits, is what they 

 compute by at prefent'. 'Till fuch Time therefore as this 

 Meafurc can be better adjufted•, we will fuppofe it to be the 

 Great Cuhit^ or Cubit of Conflantinople, which being, according 

 to our Profeflbrs Greaves and Bernard, liSs Foot long, or be- 

 twixt ita and 2w, as I meafured it, we may take it, in round 

 Numbers and to avoid Fraftions in the future Calculations, to 

 be a Meafure of twenty five Inches. 



In the Month of December, the Channel of the Nile above ue Ό:ρώ of 

 the Mike as , was, at a Medium, about three of theie ώΐ mntcr 

 Cubits in Depth, and, as far as I could judge by the Eye,''^'""''" 

 little more than half a Mile in Breadth. But in falling 

 down the Branch of Dami-ata, in the fame Month, (and the 

 River might probably be fliallower in the Three following,) we 

 frequently ftruck upon the Ground, in the very Middle of it, 

 though our A^eflel drew lefs than three Foot of Water. In the J/ g^f f 

 Middle οι June, when the Nile was confiderably augmented, (for j*^^"^''^^ "-f 

 neither the Beginning, nor the End of the Inundation falls out 

 every Year at the fame Time',) there were few Parts of the 



I M. Ma'illct makes the Peel^, by which the Nile is meafured, to be equal to twoFrencb Feet, 

 i. e. to two Fcec two Inches nearly of our Meafure. La mcfure dont on fe fert au Kaire, pour 

 coiDio'itre Γ elevation dc I' eaii, cout'ient v'lngt quatre ponces, on deux p'leds de Roj. ** Pour etre 

 capable de couvr'tr toutes les terres, il fuut que I' accroijfenient du Nil monte jufqu a vingt quatre 

 Draas, c'eft-a-dhe qnarante huh pteds. Defcript. de i'Egjpte. p.6o. But as none of the Eallcrn 

 Mcalures, which I have feen, are commenfurate to the French Foot, the Meafure he mentions, 

 may be well fuppolcd to be the Stamboline P^f^ that I am fpeaking of. 2 According to 

 the following Account, which was kept by S'ignore Gabr'iel'i for thirty Years, the NUe arrived 

 at the Height of fixteen Cubits, viz.. 

 A. D. 



giO* The Letter Ρ denotes the Plague to have raged that Year. 



R r r r r X main 



