DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT* 195 
tonus appears to have been an exile in this region, 
when the Oasis was ravaged, in the fifth century, 
by the Blemmyes, an Ethiopian tribe. The Ara- 
bians have preserved a tradition, that the district 
Al Wahat, which contains these Oases, was once 
populous and full of cities ; and Edrisi asserts, 
that the vestiges of trees, and the ruins of desert- 
ed habitations, were often in his time discovered 
amid its deserts. 
After comparing the ancient and modern popu- 
lation of Egypt, it may be proper to consider its 
comparative population. The ancients, Herodotus 
and Diodorus, estimate the number of cities in 
Egypt at 20,000 ; and Maillet, who was acquaint- 
ed with the country, absurdly adopts this compu- 
tation. As the utmost efforts of industry could 
not have put in a state of cultivation more than 
2250 square leagues, comprehending both the 
Oases, so extravagant an exaggeration, which al- 
lows nearly ten towns to every square league, must 
be admitted to betray the features of oriental fic- 
tion. Nature will not make her ancient moun- 
tains and deserts of sand recede, to confirm the 
romances of the historian or the traveller. The 
calculation of the ancients will appear still more 
incredible, if we reflect, that, from the cultivated 
land, must be deducted the site of so many cities, 
the ground occupied by that " street of magnifi- 
" cent edifices," wljich seems to have extended 
