I 



4^0 Phjfical and Mtfcellcmeous 



as formerly, from Babylon to the River ' *, but the interjacent 

 Space is all of it upon a Level. Upon the Skirts hkewife of 

 the Inundation, where the Sphinx is ereded, the Soil, even 

 there, isfo far accumuhited, tliat, if tlie Sand liad not aheady 

 done it, very httle is wanting to cover it's whole Body With 

 Regard alfo to the Exclufion of the Sea, ( the expelling of 

 Typbon, as it was named in their antient Mythology,) we 

 are told \ that 'Dmyi'i-nta lyes now ten Miles diftant from 

 the Sea, which, in the Time of St. Lewis, (A. D. 1143.) was 

 a Sea-Port Town ; that Fooah^ which 300 Years ago, was at 

 the Mouth of the Cdnopic Branch of the River, is now more 

 than feven Miles above it: and again, that the Land, hc- 

 t^'wt Rozetto and the Sea, hath, in forty Years Time, gained 

 half a League. Such large Acceffions being continually made 

 to the Soil, would occafion feveral of the more antient Cities, 

 fuch as 'D ami- at a, Tineb, &c. (for Grand Kairo &c. is of a 

 later Date and built in a higher Situation ;) to be in the fame 

 Condition with Memphis^ were they not, in a great Meafure 

 fecurcd by fome neighbouring Mounds'; at the Hune Time 

 the Stream itfelf is diminiflied, by being carried, in fo 

 convenient a Manner, through a Number of Channels, 

 that every Part of the Country receives the Benefit of the 

 Inundation. 

 Thr '^Avt;ty However, it will be difficult to determine, with any Exadl- 



pf Mini th,]t ' r -K 



is left -»»v«-nef3, what Quantitv of Mud is thus annually left by the Nik^ 



/Illy Jry the ^"^ " 



Nile. A late Author ^ makes it equal to a tenth Part of the Water ; a 

 Weight certainly too great to be buoyed up by the Stream. 

 According to the Quantity of Sediment that is precipitated, 

 in their Water Jars, by rubbing the Sides of them with bitter 

 Almonds, the Proportion feemed to be fcarce one thirtieth Part 

 or about one Quart of wet Mud to eight Gallons of Water. But by 

 putting fome of the Hime Water to fettle in a Tube of thirty two 

 Inches long, I found the Mud, when perfedlly dry, to be nearly 

 "5 Part. And as in moft Places that are overflowed, the Water 



M^KioA 70 CJJtp avijiOfir/K. Id. ibid. p. jjj. 2 Vid. Dc(cription dc L'E^jptc par M. dc Maillet. 

 p. 9<5. &c. 3 It was, by the pulling down (iich Mounds as thcfc, by Sultan Mcll.tdhie, that 

 the Chrijliin Army, then encamped near K.,iiro, were drowned, A. D. 1199. 4 La vitcirc 

 lie cct atcroilVcment ell ailec a comprcndre, lorlljue on le reprefentc, que les eaux du Nil 

 (^nt C, tl•,^lll^l..,;s ^ i\ bourbeufesdans le terns de rAugmentation dece Heuve, que les boues 

 nt au nioins la dixidmc partie de Ton Volume. Dcfn'iption ilc L'Eg)pte par 



(ont fi troublees 

 & les fables io 

 M. MuilU't. p. 10^ 



ftagnates. 



