Ohfervations in Egypt. 4^1 



produced near Dami-ata and Rozetto, where the Plains are 

 low, and confequcntly more ealily overflowed, than thofe 

 which lye higher up the River. 



Now fuch vegetable Productions, as require moreMoifture,r/;«>&/. 

 than what is occafioned by the Inundation, are refreflied hymtl?"^ 

 Water, that is drawn at certain Times out of the River, 

 and lodged in large Cifl:erns, made for that Purpofe. Archi- 

 medes?, Skrew ', feems to have been the Inftrument that was 

 antiently made ufe of uponthefe Occafions ; though, at prefentj 

 It is not known ; the Inhabitants ferving themfelves either with 

 various Kinds of leathern Buckets, or elfe with a Sakiah^ (as 

 they call the TerfmnV^hQoi,) which is the mofl general and ufe- 

 ful Machine. Engines and Contrivances of both thefe Kinds, 

 are placed all along the Banks of the Nile , from the Sea to 

 the Catara(3:s ; their refpedive Situations being higher and 

 confequently the Difficulty of railing Water the greater, in 

 Proportion as we advance up the River. 



When therefore theirPulfe,Safranon(orC?r/^^»zay,) Melons, r^-? Method 

 Sugar Canes &c. (all which are commonly planted in Rills,) re-'^^^S 

 quire to be refrefhed,they ftrike out a Plug,that is fixed in theBot-'"'""''' 

 tom of one of thefe Cifterns ; and then the Water gufhing out, is 

 conduced, from one Rill to another, by the Gardiner ; who is 

 always ready, as Occafion requires, to ftop and divert the Tor- 

 rent, by turning the Earth againft it with his Foot, and open- 

 ing at the fame Time, with his Mattock, a new Trench to re- 

 ceive it. This Method of conveying Moifture and Nourilh- 

 ment to a Land that is rarely refreflied with Rain , is often 

 alluded to in the H. Scriptures; where alfo it is made the di- 

 fl:inguifliing Quality betwixt Egypt and the Land oWanaan. For 

 the Land, (fays Mofes to the Children oiljrael^ Deut.i 1. 10, 1 1.) 

 whither thou goefl in to poffefs it, is not as the Land of Egypt, 

 from whence ye came out, where thou f owed ft thy Seed, and 

 watered ft it with thy Foot, as a Garden of Herbs : hut the 

 Land whither ye go to poffefs it , is a Land of Hills and 

 Valleys, and drinketh Water of the Rain of Heaven. 



I have already obferved, that it feldom rains in the inland "^"^ ^''^'^ 



hiujidat'ton 



Parts of Egypt : but, upon the Coafl:, from Alexandria, alP^^^/^^'y^/ 

 along to Dami-ata and Tineh, they have their former and Ethiopia. 

 latter Rains, as in Barhary and the Holy Land. The periodical 



Died ]. I. pai. Qjqqqq 1 Aug- 



ifies 



