Ohfervations in Egypt. 4^5- 



'' trical Pikes^ called Soltani Belad'i e Fackefi, in all 14. Stamhole 



" Pikes : though in another Letter, " 1 6 of thefe Teeks are only 



" made equal to 1 1 Eriglifi Yards ". But as I was informed, (for I J/'^^^^^f '^ 



could not eet Admittance into the Chamber of the Mike as ^ toPeek<//-;VO' 



two Ds^iis, 



make the Obfervation myfelf,) the Sta7nholine or Great'Peek, 

 the lame with the Hajem^an, of thirty two Digits, is what they 

 compute by at prefent'. 'Till fuch Time therefore as this 

 Meafure can be better adjufted, we will fuppofe it to be the 

 Great Citht, or Cubit of Conflantinople^v^hxch being, according 

 to our Profeffbrs Greaves and Bernard, i?!!. Foot long, or be- 

 twixt Its and 2TS, as I meafured it, we may take it, in round 

 Numbers and to avoid Fradlions in the future Calculations^ to 

 be a Meafure of twenty five Inches. 



In the Month of December, the Channel of the Nile above The D:pih of 

 the Mike as , was, at a Medium, about three of thck Ihl mnur"' 

 Cubits in Depth, and, as far as I could judge by the Eye, 

 little more than half a Mile in Breadth. But in falling 

 down the Branch of T)ami-ata, in the fame Month, (and the 

 River might probably be fliallower in the Three following,) we 

 frequently ftruck upon the Ground, in the very Middle of it, 

 though our Veflel drew lefs than three Foot of Water. In thej^ g^f f 

 Middle oijune, when the Nile was coniiderably augmented, {forf^Jf"^'^^' "^ 

 neither the Beginning, nor the End of the Inundation falls out 

 every Year at the fame Time',) there were few Parts of the 



1 M. Maillet makes the Peek,, by which the Nile is meafured, to be equal to twoFrcncb Feet, 

 i. e. to two Fcec two Inches nearly of our Meafure. La meftire dont on fe fert au Kaire, four 

 conm'ttre V elevation de I' eati, conuent vhigt qiiatre pouces, ou deux pieds de Roy. ** Pour etre 

 capable de coiivrir toutes les terres, d fuut que I' accroijfement du Nil monte j'ufqu a v'lngt qiiatre 

 Draas, c'eji-a-d'tre quarante butt pteds. Defcript. de I'Egjpte. p.6o. But as none of the Eaftern 

 iMeafurcs, which I have fecn> are commcnfuratc to the French Foot, the Meafure he mentions, 

 may be well luppoied to be the Stawboline Pff^ that I am fpeaking of. 2 According to 

 the following Account, which was kept by Signore Gabr'ieli for thirty Years, the Nile arrived 

 at the Height of fixtecn Cubits, viz.. 



§0* Tlie Letter P denotes the Plague to have raged that Year. 



R r r r r X main 



