4]o Phyfical and MtfceUaneous 



The ophio- I have been informed that there are more than forty thou- 



phagi or Eat- -- , -j^ ^ . ^^ . , 



m of Set- land Perfons in Kairo and the neighbouring Villages , who 

 live upon no other Food than Lizards and Serpents. This Sin- 

 gularity entitles them , among other religious Privileges, to 

 the great Honour, of attending more immediately upon the 

 embroidered Hangings of black Silk, which are made every Year 

 for the Kaaha of Mecca, and conducted with great Pomp and 

 If/wwT" Ceremony, from the Caftle, through the Streets of Kairo. Upon 

 HaJgh/s'^lf thefe Occafions, there are Numbers of this Order, who fing 

 "" Kaaba. gj^^j dance before it ; throwing their Bodies, at certain Intervals, 

 into a Variety of enthuliaftick Geftures. Such like Ads of Devo- 

 tion, how ludicrous foever they may appear to us, have been al- 

 ways looked upon with Reverence by the Eaftern Nations. Thus 

 we find, T^a/. 14.9. g. that the Lords Name ivas to heprai/ed 

 in the Trance. And again, Tf. 1 5-0. 4.. that he was to he praifed 

 with the Timbrel and Dance. Agreeably to which Injunctions, 

 all the Women went out after Miriam with Timbrels andDances. 

 Exod. ly. lo. and David, in bringing the ^rk from the Houfe 

 <?/'Obed Edom, danced before the Lord. tSam. 6. 14. 

 w/ If If we except the Natron, Sal Armoniac, and the Foflil Shells 

 &? ^iriL that have been occafionally taken Notice of in the Defcription 

 of the TyramidSj there are few other Branches of the Natural 

 Hiflory of Egypt, that remain to be explained, but what may 

 be referred to the Nile. For, as it feldom rains in the inland 

 Parts of this Country, the different Species of Grain, Pulfe, 

 and other vegetableProdu6tions, are all of them intirely indebted 

 totheRiverfortheirGrowth andlncreafe. However thefefeveral 

 Kinds of Plants are not all raifed and nourifhed the fameWay. For 

 wS.'"''^ Barley and Wheat, (which are ufually ripe, the one, about the 

 Beginning, the other, at the latter End of^r//,) require no 

 further Culture and Refrefhment, than, in fome Part or other 

 ofO&ober, (the Inundation being then over,) to be either thrown 

 upon the Mud, or elfe to be beat or plowed gently into it. At this 

 Time alfo they fowFlax and na-^D, or Rice, as I fuppofe it may be 

 rendered, Exod. 9. 31. Now Wheat and PJce being of a flower 

 Growth, than Flax and Barley, it ufually falls out, in the Begin- 

 ning of March, that, when the formerKinds are not as yet grown 

 up or begin only to fpindle, the Barley is in the Ear, and the 

 Rice. I^ldX is boiled. The Plantations of Rice are kept, almoft conftant- 

 ly, under Water ; and therefore the larger Crops of it are 



pro- 



Nik, 



Flax 



