hy the Mud of the Nile. 47 



of Water, are greater in one Place than another; the deeper 

 Places being, for the moll Part, fucceeded by Flats and Shal- 

 lows, whither thefe loofe fandy Particles are driven; and 

 where they remain quiet and undifturbed, 'till the next Inun- 

 dation. 



Of the fame Nature and Origine like wife are the Bars of oftheBm 

 Rivers ; which are a like Colledion of Sand and Gravel, forced 

 down by the Impetuofity of the Stream ; 'till, upon their nearer 

 Approach to the Sea, they become themfelves retarded, and 

 the more weighty Contents of them flopped and arrefted, by 

 the heavier Column of the Water, or by the more violent and 

 fuperior Force and Activity of the Waves, of the Sea. As the 

 Mouths of the Nile therefore, and particularly the Ca?7opic, 

 which is the largeft, is^ remarkably incommoded with Banks of 

 this Kind, (which rencfer the Navigation oftentimes exceeding- 

 ly dangerous ;) there is no fmall Probability, that, the Bed of Q^J^,t^'^o5- 

 thcNile, mull be fo far from receiving any annual Increafe, ^hgfe/"''^^*^ 

 from thefe Itony Particles, that it mull be a conliderable Lofer, 

 by fuch large Contributions of them, as are conftantly accu- 

 mulated, more or lels, at thefe Places. As to the Mud, pro- some Mud 



. . -"^ of the Ni/e 



perly fo called, it feems to make little or no Part of thefe Ob- (carried ofF 

 llru6lions; for, being itfelf of a light Nature and eafily buoy- 

 ed up by the Stream, it is vifibly carried off, to the Diflance 

 of fever al Leagues, into the Sea : where it is laying a Founda- 

 tion, for future Acceffions, to the Land of Egfpt. 



Befides, if the Bed of the Ni/e was railed by the fubfidincf of ^^ ^^^^ Bed 



. . ■' t" of the Ni/e 



the llony Particles, brought alons with the Stream : the like "'^^' ^y the 



111 11 T^- -T^ • i-Tv,TiT ^ l^rccipitatioii 



would happen to all Rivers, m Proportion to their Muddinefs. of its itony 



. P>irticles,the 



Becaufe it mav be prefumed, that the Mud, buoyed upbvRi-'^'^'^^ofother 



■' _ rn Riverswould 



vers, is all of the fame Nature and Connilence, however it"^"e ''^ Pro- 



. ~, . portion. 



may accidentally differ in Colour or Other Refpe6ls. As then 

 there are few or no Rivers, but what are Muddy in fome De- 

 gree or other ; and not only fo, but are at fome Sealbns, for 

 feveral Days or Weeks together, no lefs muddy than the Ni/e ; 

 why fliould not They, by precipitating the ftony Particles (pro- 

 vided there were any) of their Mud, have the like Property 

 of raifmg Their Beds and Channels ? We need not indeed infill 

 upon their receiving equal Augmentations, with the Bed of the 

 Ni/e ; it is enough, in the prefent Queftion, if they receive 



M ^ any 



