,08 VOYAGE UP THE NILE, 
^'Ij^f- of frogs/' the " plague of lice," the '* plague of 
" — V ' flies," the " murrain, boils, and blains," prevail, 
so that the whole country is " corrupted," and 
" THE DUST OF THE EARTH BECOMES LICE, 
UPON MAN AND UPON BEAST, THROUGHOUT THE 
LAND OF Egypt." This application of the words 
of Sacred Scripture affords a literal statement 
of existing evils ; such an one as the statistics 
of the country do now warrant. In its justifi- 
cation, an appeal may be made to the testimony 
of all those who have resided in the country 
during the very opposite seasons of its prospe- 
rity and privation ; during the inundation, and 
when the flood has retired ; or before it takes 
place, in the beginning of the year. At the 
period of the overflow, persons who drink the 
water become subject to a disorder called 
''prickly heati' this often terminates in those 
dreadful wounds alluded to in the Sacred 
Writings, by the words *' boils and blains." 
During the months of June, July, and August, 
many individuals are deprived of sight, owing 
to a disorder of the eyes peculiar to this coun- 
try. Europeans, having no other name for it, 
have called it Ophthalmia, from the organs it 
afflicts. There was hardly an individual who 
did not suffer, more or less, the consequences 
()( this painful malady. It commences with a 
