92 TRAVELS TO THE EAST. 
creature fubfift in it ? Are not thefe defarts ufelefs 
fpots on the earth ? Such are the queftions of a per- 
fon who carts a hafty eye on thefe wild plains. But 
if he remains there a little time, and is not fright- 
ened by the fcorching heat of the fun, or the flying 
fand, bends himfelf down a little, and looks around 
him with attention, he will in this dry fandy wilder- 
nefs find a confirmation of that truth, that the 
Creator hath not made any thing in vain : and that 
no place is to be found on our globe, which is not 
by nature deftined for fome living creature. In the 
afternoon we let out on our return, and came to a 
little fine wood of the Egyptian Acacia (Mimofa 
Nilotic,) which had on one fide a large field planted 
with Turkey wheat. I here faw that Acacia, like 
moft other trees, hath its gall (Galla) which is foft, 
white, confifts of feveral coats, with many cells. 
This was now full of caterpillars, who without 
doubt bring forth a fmall fly (Cynips) which time 
would not permit to fee. We faw the herb Purflain 
growing in the moift places, where the water that 
ran from the fields had ftagnated. We came to a 
fwampy defart, overgrowing with the thorny Reft 
Harrow, and covered with the Ibis. This plant, 
which occafions fo much trouble to the hufband- 
men in Scania, is no lefs common in Egypt, I have 
feen it in many other places cover whole fields. If 
the Egyptians were defiraps of tilling all the land 
fit for hufbandry, they would certainly fpare no 
pains to deftroy this pernicious weed ; but they fol- 
low, with the fame religious zeal as other nations, 
the footfteps of their anceftors : the fon lets the 
water run on thofe fields where the father and 
grandfather did the fame; and the fields which 
then brought forth thorns and thirties, continue to 
produce the far 
ue weeds under the children and 
grand 
