Part L Travels into the h ev ant. 161 
ence, for it is more uneafie than dangerous, which happens when the Water 
of the Nile begins to rife ; there is a kind of Inflammation, or Wild-fire, 
that runs over the whole Body, which exceedingly torments People by its 
pricking and flinging ; and when you drink to eafe and refrefti your felf, 
whilft you are drinking, and after, you feel fuch fharp prickings, that you would 
think there were an hundred Needles ftuck into you all at once ; the Vrovencids 
call that Dei Jrellcs, and it is an Inconvenience that lafts almoft three Months. 
la Marchy i6<,S. after fome days of high Winds, a certain Diftemper broke 
out, which Degan with a Head-ach and Fever , and continued with a great 
Rhume : The Fever lafted not above two or three days at moft, but it ren- 
dered Men fo feeble, that all the Limbs feemed to be broken, and if Preferva- 
tives were not ufed, the Patients relapfed into a Fever, that held them three 
Weeks or a Month, all in Caire from the higheft to the loweft, both Aged and 
Young were feifed with it, and there was nothing to be heard every where 
but Coughing ^ this Diftemper was fo contagious , that it infeded by the 
Breath. They called it Chamaa, becaufe of a certain Song made fome-^^"» Chmaa. 
Months before, which began with ^WC/7iiw^^z, and ended with Ha^ ha, ha. 
Now feeing that Diftemper caufed great Coughing, it was thought every one 
fung H^, ha^ ha ; wherefore the Bafha prohibited the finging of that Song with 
forauch Rigour,that when the Sous-bafha found any one finging it in the Streets, 
though it had been but a Child, he ordered him to be laid down and Baflio- 
nadoed -, becaufe they fancied that the Song was the caufe of the Diftemper, 
which fpread fo far, that afterwards we learnt at Jentfalem, and in other 
Places about, that they had been troubled with it at the fame time ; nay, the 
Corfairs who took us, had all had it at that time. I was told at Caire, that 
ten Years before, fuch another Diftemper had raged there, which they called 
Aîakafi, that made thofe who were troubled with it, think all their Limbs 
to be broken; and they were Cured by eating of Oranges, which made them 
.fodear at that time, that an Orange was worth half a Piaflre, fo long as 
that Difeafe lafted. Once every feven Years they have a Plague in ^^^ypt, 
making (during that time) the Circuit of the Turkifti Empire, and yet it 
had been tliere a little before I came, two Years one after another, fweeping 
away each Year, ( as 1 was told) an Hundred thoufand Souls. All Difeafesin 
Caire are more dangerous during the Hhamchin , than in any other time. Uhmchin. 
Hhamchin., is as much as to lay a Cinqimntine, becaufe during fifty days time, 
bad Winds blow. In the Year 1657. the Hhamchin began the feventh of A^ril^ 
and it begins every Year much about the fame time. During thefe fifty days 
there blows a hot Wind, which brings a great deal of Sand into the Town; 
fo that it gets not only into the Chambers, but alfo into Trunks, let the 
Windows and Trunks be never fo clofe fhut ; and when you go to Bed, you'll 
find the Sheets full of it. Thefe Winds are fo hot, that they ftop the Breath, 
and kill many People in the Caravans ; as I faid before. Whilft this Hhamchin 
lafts, all Difeales are dangerous, and continue to be fo commonly from that 
time until the 13, 14, 15, i5, of Jme^ when the Drop or Dew falls infal- xhe Dew or 
libly in the Night-time, after which, Difeafes are not Mortal. This Drop is a Drop of 
Dew which falls in one of the aforefaid Nights, and after that the Plague it ^&ypi' 
felf is no longer Mortal. 
CHAP. 
