44 Egypt is gradually augmented 



Channel; and thereby becomes incapable of preparing the ad- 

 jacent Plains for Tillage, by overflowing them ; the Event and 

 Confequence feems to be very apparent ; that, for Want of 

 this annual Inundation; or, of the former and latter Rains, as in 

 other Countries ; Eg)>p, from being the 7nofl fertile, by being 

 overflowed, mufl:, as I have aflTerted, (Tr^i;. p. 44,1.) become 

 the mo ft barren Tart of the Uni'verfe, for Want of it. I do not 

 indeed fay that this will happen in our Times : my Intent was 

 only to ftiew the Pofllbility of it, (the Nile being all along per- 

 mitted to overflow and cover thefe Lands,) in fome future 

 Generations. 

 to'^Se'^fuJ- -^^^ notwithftanding it is granted, in feveral Places, by this 

 p^°J^^^^>"|- Author ', that confiderable Additions have been and are ftill 

 the Soil, making to the Soil, yet he will not acquiefce in This Conclufion, 

 which I have drawn from it. For it is urged by him, (p. x^o. 

 Vol. I.) that, by the perpetual falling of the ft on/ Tar tides, 

 hr ought down with the Nile, the Channel itfelfrifes in propor- 

 tion to ifs Banks. And belides, (ibid.) that great i^antities 

 of Soil are aBually wafted or carried away by the Crop : and 

 ftill, ( p. 198. ) provided the Lands did rife fo high in Lower 

 Egypt as not to be overflown, they would only be in the fame 

 Condition with the Teople of Upper Egypt, who are obliged to 

 raife the Water by Art. Thefe are the principal Objedions 

 which are urged, by this Author, againft this Part of my 

 Hypothefts. 

 wtthStwa- ^ow, with Regard to the laft of thefe Objedlions, it may 

 rail ' ba"?en" ^^ obfcrvcd of Egypt, as well as of all other Countries, that 



I There are fome Grounds to think that the Soil o{ Egypt has rifen fome Years near half 

 an Inch, without confidering what is carried away of the Produce of the Earth. For on 

 • the Banks of the Nile I obfcrved that the Soil was in feveral Strata or Cakes of about that 

 Thicknefs. p. 2jo. Nothing certain can be faid as to the Rife of the Soil i for thefe 

 Banks being high, pofljbly their Strata of Earth might be made only at the Time ot fuch 

 Inundations [they could be made at no other} as overflowed thofe Banks, where we are to 

 fuppofe ( but for what Reafon,) the Sediment muft have been greater than in the ordinary 

 overflow. It is poflible alio that this might not be the Sediment of one Year. p. 2yi. The 

 Ground rifing proportionably at the Sea and every where elfe. p. 198. The Soil o{ Egypt 

 except what additions it has received from the overflow of the Ni/f, is naturally Tandy. 

 p. 197. It is Salt or Nitre and the rich Quality of the Earth, which is the Sediment of the 

 Water of the Nile, that makes Egypt fo fertile, ibid. A Cubit tnore of water might be necef- 

 fary to overflow the Lands plentifully before Petronius's Time, than what was in Herodotus'^, 

 the Earth being rifen and the Canals made. p. 2y2. The Ground has rifen il-ven feet and an 

 half at HeliopoUs. p. 2j, The Ground is fo much rilen, that I could not come to any 

 Certainty with Regard to the Height of their Pillars, p. 21 y. The Pillars oi Hadjar Sil- 

 cili ( which is built on a Rock, and therefore without the reach of the Nile) are the only Co- 

 lumns I faw to the Bottom, p. 217. 



where 



