7 i.2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



^^r^^= 



CHAP. XVIII. 



Inquiry about the PoJJibility of changing the Courfe of the Nile — Caufe of 



the Nutla. 



IT has been thought a problem that merited to be confider- 

 ed, Whether it was poflible to turn the current of th< N le 

 into the Red 8ea, and thereby to famifh Egypt ? I think the 

 queftion mould more properly be, Whether the water of the 

 Nile, running into Egypt, could be fo dimmiihed, or divert* 

 ed, that it mould never be fufficient to prepare that country 

 for annual cultivation? Now to this it is anfwered, That 

 there feems to be no doubt but that it is poflible, becaufe 

 the Nile, and all the rivers that run into it, and all the rains 

 that fwell thofe rivers, fall in a country fully two miles a- 

 bove the level of the fea ; therefore, it cannot be denied, that 

 there is level enough to divert many of the rivers into the 

 Bed ea, the Indian, and Atlantic Oceans, or, perhaps, flill 

 eafier, by turning the courfe of the river Abiad till it meets 

 the level of the Niger, or pafs through the defert into the 



Mediterranean. 



x Lalitala, 



