1G2 Of the Checks to Population in Bk. i. 



great is as fatal to the husbandman as one that is 

 deficient; and the ancients had, in consequence* 

 drains and outlets to spread the superfluous waters 

 over the thirsty sands of Lybia, and render even the 

 desert habitable. These works are now all out of 

 repair, and by ill management often produce 

 mischief instead of good. The causes of this neg- 

 lect, and consequently of the diminished means 

 of subsistence, are obviously to be traced to the 

 extreme ignorance and brutality of the govern- 

 ment, and the wretched state of the people. The 

 Mamelukes, in whom the principal power resides, 

 think only of enriching themselves, and employ for 

 this purpose what appears to them to be the sim- 

 plest method, that of seizing wealth wherever it 

 may be found, of wresting it by violence from the 

 possessor, and of continually imposing new and 

 arbitrary contributions.* Their ignorance and 

 brutality, and the constant state of alarm in 

 which they live, prevent them from having any 

 views of enriching the country, the better to pre- 

 pare it for their plunder. No public works there- 

 fore are to be expected from the government, and 

 no individual proprietor dares to undertake any 

 improvement which might imply the possession 

 of capital, as it would probably be the immediate 

 signal of his destruction. Under such circum- 

 stances we cannot be surprised that the ancient 

 works are neglected, that the soil is ill cultivated, 

 and that the means of subsistence, and conse- 



* Voyage dc Velncy, tom. i. c. xii. p. 170. 



