f&jt TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



falfe meafures in tlie Nilometcr by the fovereign is abfo- 

 hnely impracticable. Suppofmg the height of the Milo- 

 meter, when at 8 cubits, mewed that there was juft corn 

 enough to maintain the inhabitants, and that the tenant 

 knew, by the quantity of land meafured r that he had bare- 

 ly what was to pay his rent and fupport his family ; this 

 he mull know before he fowed, becaufe he meafured im- 

 mediately after the inundation ; and this he mull know 

 likewife by the corn he borrows for feed from his landlord, 

 who, as I have faid, furnifhes his tenant both with feed and 

 labouring utenlils. If, then, he finds he can barely main- 

 tain himfelf, and not pay his rent,, upon the proclamation 

 at the Nilometer, he deferts his farm, and neither plows 

 nor fows *, but flies to Paleftine to the Arabs, or into the 

 cities, and.brings famine along with him. The next year 

 there is a plague, and fweeps alTthcfe poor wretches, in a 

 bad ftate of health by living upon bad food, into their 

 graves, fo that the introduction, of a fuppofed falfe meafure,. 

 directly advanced by Dr Shawf, and often alluded to by 

 others, but always without poffibility of foundation, is ons 

 of the many errors he has fallen into.. 



He knew nothing but of the Delta, never was in Upper, 

 and no confiderable time even in Lower Egypt, but when 

 the Nile had overflowed it, and I fuppofe never converfed with 

 a fellah, or Egyptian peafant, in his life. All his wonders are 



in 



* This was apparently the reafon why Jofeph, who had bought not only the lands, but 

 the people of Egypt likewife, transferred them from farms, not convenient for them, to o- 

 ihers where they could thrive. The fame they do fpontaneoufly at this day, now they are 

 Sk& f E>r Shaw, chap, ii, fc& 3. p. 383, 



