440 Phyfical and Mifcellaneous 



as formerly, from Bahjlon to the River ' •, but the interjacent 

 Space is all of it upon a Level. Upon the Skirts likewife of 

 the Inundation, where the Sphinx is ereded, the Soil, even 

 there, is fo far accumulated, that, if the Sand had not already- 

 done it, very little is wanting to cover it's whole Body. With 

 Regard alfo to the Exclufion of the Sea, ( the expelling of 

 Typhon, as it was named in their antient Mythology,) we 

 are told \ that T>aml-ata lyes now ten Miles diftant from 

 the Sea, which, in the Time of St. Lewis, (A. D. 1143.) was 

 a Sea-Port Town ; that Vooah, which 300 Years ago, was at 

 the Mouth of the Canopic Branch of the River, is now more 

 than feven Miles above it : and again , that the Land, hQ- 

 twht Rozeiio and the Sea, hath, in forty Years Time, gained 

 half a League. Such large Acceifions being continually made 

 to the Soil, would occafion feveral of the more antient Cities, 

 fuch as Dam'i-ata, Tineh, &c. (for Grand Ka'iro &c. is of a 

 later Date and built in a higher Situation ;) to be in the fame 

 Condition with Memphis, were they not, in a great Meafure^ 

 fecured by ibme neighbouring Mounds ' ; at the fame Time 

 the Stream itfelf is diminiflied, by being carried, in fo 

 convenient a Manner, through a Number of Channels, 

 that every Part of the Country receives the Benefit of the 

 Inundation. 

 rhe G}uavt;ty Howcvcr, It wlll be difficult to determine, with any Exaft- 

 h left ^«««-nefs, what Quantity of Mud is thus annually left by the Nile. 

 Nile/ ' ' A late Author * makes it equal to a tenth Part of the Water ; a 

 Weight certainly too great to be buoyed up by the Stream. 

 According to the Quantity of Sediment that is precipitated, 

 in their Water Jars, by rubbing the Sides of them with bitter 

 Almonds, the Proportion feemed to be fcarce one thirtieth Part 

 or about one Qiiart of wet Mud to eight Gallons of Water. But by 

 putting fome of the fame Water to fettle in a Tube of thirty two 

 Inches long, I found the Mud, when perfedlly dry, to be nearly 

 ^° Part. And as in moil Places that are overflowed, the Water 



I Va.yjs i' scii' ara τ? ;7>«70«ιίΐ( (Babvlonis) 19 μί'χε.ι titiM y^^mwja.-, Λ' «f isn r*s σοτα,ωκ Τζ^χο) i^ 

 κοχλία» 75 ύΛγ divayoujiY. Jd. ibid. p. jjf. 2 Vid. Defcription dc L'Egypte par M. dcAIa'iUet. 

 p. 9(5. &c. 3 It was, by the pulling down fuch Mounds as thcfe, by Sultan Mcttadine, that 

 the Chrifli an Army, then encamped near Kairo, were drowned, A. D. 1199. 4 La viteiTe 

 de cet accroifl'ement eft aiiee a comprendre, lorfque on ie rcprefcnte, que les caux du Nil 

 font fi troublees & ίΐ bourbeufes dans ie terns de I'Augmentation de ce Mcuve, qae les boues 

 & les fables font au moins la dixidme partie de fon Volume. Defcr'tpt'ion de L'Egypte par 

 M. Muillet. p. 103. 



ftagnates. 



