292 



frith rains during the months of May, June, and 

 Juh.* 



But it is not until ahout the month of July, that any 

 difference is perceivable at Cairo. On the first of July, 

 17 1 4, for instance, the water of the Nile was raised 

 two inches. It continued to rise, alternating, however, 

 from two to eight, until the 17th, when its rise was as 

 bigh as fifteen inches. It again alternated, from the 

 19th to the 26th, between fifteen and six inches per 

 day. From the 27th to the 3 1st, its increase was ra- 

 pid, from ten inches to forty-eight per day, amounting 

 in all to a little more than fifteen cubits. f 



Now according to Denon's account, there was no ap- 

 pearance of alluvion until the 17th ; for he says, " The 

 Nile, after having risen for some time at the daily rate 

 of two inches, came at length to an increase of a foot 

 each day ; at which period, the water began to be mud- 

 dy, which appears to shew, that the Nile, in its course, 

 traverses some large lakes, whose limpid waters are 

 forced down the stream by the torrents of rain, from 

 the Abyssinian mountains, and that the discolouration 

 of the Nile does not happen, till the arrival of these 

 last in Egypt."J 



* It is said to continue even through August, and that it re- 

 quires three weeks, after the commencement of the rainy season, 

 before the effects of these rains are seen at the plains of Egypt, 

 Lab'i'% History of Abyssinia. 



f Hiaw's Travels, pa^e 43 1. 



\ Denou's Travels, page 19. 



