THE NILE. 
115 
and brought it for sale to the European mer- 
chants. 
Though the clouds which sometimes float ovei- 
the level plain of Egypt never deposit a quantity 
of rain sufficient to fertilize the soil, yet, in a 
different form, they produce a luxuriant vegeta- 
tion. Gliding over the flat country, from the 
surface of which they are repelled by the current 
of rarefied air, they are accumulated by the west- 
erly winds on the lofty mountains of Abyssinia, 
where, refrigerated and condensed, they form 
the tropical rains, and, descending with the Nile, 
inundate the plain of Egypt. Upon this perio- 
dical inundation depends not only the annual fer- 
tilization of the soil, but the physical and politi- 
cal existence of the country. Were it not for 
this regular supply of water, only a very small 
quantity of land could be cultivated j and the 
failure of this source of fertility would quickly 
convert the rich valley of Egypt into a desert, 
marked only by its more horrid desolation. 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^ *' which is blest in the morn- 
" ing, and favoured of Heaven at night, which 
*' rises and falls according to the course of the 
>sun and moon;'' hence their extravagant praises 
