TO CAIRO. 07 
jP! ' ’ 
. Who heats down the jar, receives a reward from 
' 1 e officer who commands the troop. Their third. 
Qtercife is to throw a lance. Inftead of lances, whilll 
. e y are learning, they ufe branches of palm-tree* 
i Vlt h which they ride after one another in full gal- 
I faw all their revolutions as I was riding by 
wf ^ ace exerc *ffi> between Old and New Cairo, 
lc . re they affemble three days in the week* under 
0 infpeclion of an officer of diftinflion. 
1 spent the 13th, on an illand dire&ly oppofite 
*d Cairo. I had here an opportunity of feeing the 
ie ed of the Nile, of which frequent mention is made 
n the Scriptures. There are two forts of Reed 
growing near the Nile : one of them has fcarce any 
‘inches, but numerous leaves, which are narrow, 
jtooth, channeled on the upper furface, and the 
ffiant is about eleven feet high* The Egyptians 
j,, a vC ropes of the leaves; They lay them in water 
hemp, and then make good and ftrong cables 
th which with the bark (Integumentum) of 
e Date tree, are alraoft the Only cable ufed in the 
J e ' Th ey lrtak e floats of this Reed, which they 
‘ e When they hffi with nets, The other fort is of 
o. eat confequence. It is a fmall Reed, about two or 
j‘ ree fcer high, full branched, with ffiort, ffiarp, 
t k C ^"hke leaves : the roots, which are as thick as 
Co’iCj 6111 ’ cre ^P and mat themfelves together to a 
ord' 1 era ^ e ^iflmce. I his plant feerns ufelefs in 
0 *-y life > bu t to this is the very foil of Egypt 
Wi l / 0r the . matted roots have flopped the earth 
fea C 1 1 oated ,n the waters, and formed out of the 
pl a c ° u ntry that is habitable. Before I left this 
l t TV 1 ohferved attentively the ffiore of the Nile. 
Vhir-r^ Confifts of hand, which is compofed of a 
1 t Quartz, or Criftalline particles, united to 
H feme 
