DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 118 
praises of its beauty, and their enthusiasm, which 
in every age has degenerated into a species of reli- 
gious adoration. An European, however, will not 
compare the thick and muddy waters of the Nile 
to the limpid streams of his native country ; nor 
will he who has seen the majestic rivers of the East 
be impressed with the grandeur of the greatest 
stream in Northern Africa. When the inunda- 
tion subsides, the greatest breadth of the river of 
Egypt is about 2000 feet, and its motion exceeds 
not three miles in the hour. * The inundation com- 
mences about the 17th of June ; the waters, which 
gradually rise, overflow their banks in the middle 
of August ; they attain their utmost height in Sep- 
tember, and from the end of that month gradually 
subside to the following solstice. The commence- 
ment of the inundation is extremely regular, but 
the period of its duration is more capricious, and 
the waters sometimes subside before the ground be 
thoroughly soaked. 
After the annual inundation, the soil of Egypt 
is covered with a stratum of pure black mould of 
different degrees of density, proportional to the co- 
lumn of water by which it is deposited. This mould, 
or rather slime, is of an adhesive and unctuous 
* Brown's Travels in Africa, &c. p. 65, 
VOL. II. PI 
