604. TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 
at laft come down, as great a fecret as ever, to thefe latter: 
times of bold and impartial inquiry, 
Tuoucu Egypt was not created- by the Nile, it was the: 
firft part that received benefit from it; it was there, in the: 
time of its overflowing, that it appeared in all its beauty,, © 
and Egypt meafured its profperity-or defolation by the a-. 
bundance or fcantinefs of this ftream. It was not, however,, 
‘in Egypt the inquiries into the time and caufe of its inun-- 
dation began; all thefe were fettled and reduced to rule be-. 
fore.a city was built within the reach of the inundation. . 
Man, that knew not the caufe, was alfo ignorant of the: 
limits of that inundation, having only in his mind a tradi-«. 
tion of deluges that had deftroyed the earth, traces of which: 
appeared.on every hill, He was with reafon aftonifhed to. 
fee, that, wild and wide as the torrent appeared, it was fub- 
ject to the controul,of fome power that prohibited it from. 
irregularity in the time of its coming, and forbade it to de- 
ftroy the land it was deftined to enrich ; they faw it fubfide. 
within its banks, and’overflow-no more after it had afford- 
ed to hufbandry the utmoft advantage it could receive. But 
what the controuling power was they knew not, confes 
quently could. never divine whether this regularity was 
tranfitory or perpetual; whether it was not liable, at fome- 
time, to break its bonds, and {weep both man and his las. 
bours together into the ocean, 
Wretner the Nile was conftant-to its time of ‘rifing, whe: . 
ther it did not revolve in fome cycle or period, or whether, ~ 
arrived at a certain number of inundations, it was not te 
flop and overflow no more, was what could only be deter- 
mined: 
