112 DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 
Arabs collected it from the ditches in the vicinity 
of Alexandria, and brought it for sale to the Eu- 
ropean merchants. 
Though the clouds which sometimes float over 
the level plain of Egypt never deposit a quantity 
of rain sufficient to fertilize the soil, yet, in a dif- 
ferent form, they produce a luxuriant vegetation. 
Gliding over the flat country, from the surface of 
which they are repelled by the current of rarefied 
air, they are accumulated by the westerly winds on 
the lofty mountains of Abyssinia, where, refrige- 
rated and condensed, they form the tropical rains, 
and, descending with the Nile, inundate the plain 
of Egypt. Upon this periodical inundation de- 
pends not only the annual fertilization of the soil, 
but the physical and political existence of the coun- 
try. Were it not for this regular supply of water, 
only a very small quantity of land could be culti- 
vated ; and the failure of this source of fertility 
would quickly convert the rich valley of Egypt in- 
to a desert, marked only by its more horrid deso- 
iation. From the waters of the Nile, the soil not 
only imbibes the quantity of moisture necessary for 
vegetation, but is richly manured by the sediment 
which they deposit. Hence the veneration of the 
Egyptians for the sacred river, 44 which is blest in 
" the morning, and favoured of Heaven at night, 
44 which rises and falls according to the course of 
44 the sun and moon hence their extravagant 
