THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 711 
believe, hath been, the occafion of both, and very often the 
malice of the Arabs; for there are in Egypt, from Siout down- 
wards, great remains of ancient works, vaft lakes, canals, and 
large conduits for water, deftined by the ancients to keep this 
river under controul, ferving as refervoirs to fupply a fcanty 
year, and as drains, or outlets, to prevent the over abundance 
of water in wet years, by {preading it in the thirfty fands of 
Libya to the great advantage of the Arabs, rather than letting 
it run towafte in the Mediterranean. The mouths of thefe im- 
menfe drains being out of repair, in a fcanty year, contribute 
by their evacuation to make it ftill fcantier by not retaining 
water, and if after a dearth they are well fecured, or raifed 
too high, and a wet feafon follows, they then occafion a 
deftructive inundation. : 
I nope I have now fatisfied the reader, that Egypt was 
never an arm of the fea, or formed by fediments brought 
down in the Nile, but that it was created with other parts 
of the globe at the fame time, and for the fame purpofes; 
and we are warranted to fay this, tal we receive from the 
hand of Providence a work of fuch imperfection, that its 
‘deftruction can be calculated from the very means by which 
it was firft formed, and which were the apparent fources of 
its beauty and pre-eminence. Egypt, like other countries, 
will perifh by the fat of Him that made it, but when, or in 
what manner, lies hid where it ought to be, inacceflible to 
the ufelefs, vain inquiries, and idle fpeculations of man. _ 
CHAP. 
