384 
E GYP T. 
For thefe codumes Denon acknowledges liirilfelf indebted gular of any in the world, Tlie fky is ahnod always 
to the pencil of citizen Rigo, a member of the inflitute beautifully, ferene ; and, after feven or eight in the morn* 
of Cairo. ing, not a fingle fleeti. g cloud can be perceived to in- 
To tiie wretched policy of the Egyptian government, tercept the. burning rays of tlie'fun. It feldom rains in 
aided by internal warfare, plague, pedile'nce, &c. irmd the interior pfirts ; but, on the fea-eoad, and near Alex- 
bc attributed the late wonderful depopulation of the andria, it rains frequently in what may be called the 
country. From upwards of eight millions of inhabitants, wintertime. Tile {bowers, however, are fhorr, though 
the number is now calculated not to amount to one half, heavy, and are’immediately fucreeded by a fine clear 
Indeed Browne dates the general population at only two fky. But the want of rain is fiipplied by the heavy 
millions and a half; but Walfli, the lated writer on the dews which fall during the night. The effect of them 
fpot, ediniates the number at three millions ; of which is perceived in the morning, when, as foon. as the fun 
300,000 are fuppofed to inhabit Cairo, which is the me- appears above the horizon, the ground fmukes as copi- 
trono'is of all Africa ; and from fix to feven thoufand in ^pufly as if a great quantity of rain had fallen. The con- 
Alexandria. ftant ferenity of the Iky affc'rds the adyantage alfo of very 
Tiie common language of Egypt is the Arabic. Tlife clear and bright nights ; fo that the moon is fcarcely 
Contic, which has been called the vernacular toneme, is ever overclouded, but Pn'ines with extreme ludre. The 
faid, by Browne, to be extinct. “ Numerous refearc'nes, 
(fays this author,) have enabled me to afeertain the fa£t. 
In Upper Egypt, however, they unknowingly retain feme 
Coptic words, fuch as Boy uni, the name of a month. Ne- 
verthelefs, iu the Coptic rrionaderies, the prayers are 
read in Arabic, and the e pi die and gofpel in Coptic ; 
but tiie pried is a mere parrot, repeating a dead letter. 
Coptic manuscripts are found in fome of the comments, 
and leave to copy them might be obtained from the red- 
dent patriarch,” 
The current coins in Egypt are thofe of Turkey, and 
Spanilh dollars, at the rate of 15c? parats to the dollar. 
The ignorance of the people in this Country, in general 
is fo great, that it is with the utrriod difficulty they can 
be prevailed on to receive in payment any European coin, 
either of gold or diver, except the Spanilli dollar, and 
its fubdividoiis. A great number of Roman coins were 
found by the French, in their various refearches amongd 
the ruins; but none of thefe fell into the hands of the 
Engli'fh. The following were all the curiofities Surren¬ 
dered by the French to the Britidi army, which have 
been firice brought to London : An Egyptian larcopha- 
gus, with hieroglyphics, of a done called by the French 
'(trcche vote, from the mofque of St. Athana'dus in Alex¬ 
andria. Ditto of black granite, from Cairo. Ditto of 
bafaltes, from Menouf. The fid of a coloffean datue, 
fu.ppofed to be Vulcan, found in the ruins of Memphis. 
Five fragments of datues, with lions heads, black gra¬ 
nite, brought from the ruins of Thebes. A mutilated 
figure kneeling, black granite. Two datues, white mar¬ 
ble, fuppofed to be Septimius Severns and Marcus Au¬ 
relius, found in Alexandria. A done, of black granite, 
with three inferiptions, hieroglyphic, Coptic and Greek, 
found near Rofetta. A datue of . a woman fitting, with 
a lion’s head, black granite, from Upper Egypt. Two 
fragments of lions heads, black granite, fro A Upper 
Egypt. A fmall figure kneeling, with hieroglyphics, 
black granite, from Upper Egypt. Five fragments of 
datues, with lions heads, black granite, from Upper 
.Egypt. A fragment.of a farcophagus, black granite, 
from Upper Egypt. Two fmall obelifks, remarkably 
fine, with hieroglyphics, bafaltes, from Upper Egypt. 
A colloffean ram’s head, of a done called by the French 
rauge grais , from Upper Egypt. A datue of a woman 
fitting on the ground, of black granite ; between the feet 
is a model of a-capital of a column of the temple of Ilis 
at Dettdera, A fragment,of a datue, with a lion’s head, 
black granite, from Upper Egypt. A ched of oriental 
manuferipts, amounting to fixty-two, Coptic, Arabic, 
and Turkifit, belonging to the library of the French in. 
ditute at C.drb. 
Several antiquities \vere found by the Englifii ; the 
mod valuable were the figure of a Roman foldier, as 
large as life, and a large tablet, the infeription of which 
dated, that whatever this belonged to, was erected in 
honour of Septimiiis Severus, by "the veterans of the 
eleventh legion. A'done was alfo found covered with hie¬ 
roglyphics, of the fame unknown kind as tiie Mem non. 
The climate of Egypt "is fuppofed to be the mod re¬ 
nights in March, April', and May, are often damp and 
chilly. “ In the evening of the 1,5th of May (fays De¬ 
non) it thundered; a yery- rare occurrence in this coun¬ 
try, which happens hardly oftenei than once in a geriera- 
ti. n, by a concourfe of circum'dances perhaps not diffi¬ 
cult of explanation. The north wind, which is the mod 
condant of all thofe that prevail in this part of tiie world, 
brings-from tiie fea the clouds of a colder region, rolls 
them along through the valley of Egypt, where's burn¬ 
ing fun rarefies them and reduces them to vapour; when 
this vapour is driven into Abyffinia, the fouth wind, 
which erodes the lofty and ccd.d mountains of this coun¬ 
try, fometinies brings back a few fcattered clouds, which, 
as they experience but little change of temperature when 
returning over the lnindd valley of the Nile in flood¬ 
time, remain condenled, and at times produce, without 
thunder or temped, fmall liady dvowers. But, as the 
ead and wed winds, which are in general the parents of 
dopms, both crofs burning deferts, which either abforb 
the clouds, or raife the vapour to fuch a height as to be 
able to pafs over the narrow valley of Upper Egypt, 
without being able to undergo detonation by the opera¬ 
tion of the waters'of the river, the phenomenon of thun¬ 
der becomes fo rare an occurrence to the inhabitants of 
this country, that even the thinking people who refide 
here do not attempt to affign to it a .phyfical cattle. 
Having quedioned a perfon in tiie law on tiie caufe of 
thunder, lie replied, with the perfect confidence of con- 
viition “ We know very well that it is an angel, but 
fo fmall in dature that lie cannot be perceived in the air; 
lie lias, however, the power of condufting the clouds of 
tiie Mediterranean into Abyffinia, and when tiie wicked- 
nefs'of men is at its lieiglit, He makes his voice to be 
heard, which is a voice of menace and reproach ; and, as 
a proof that lie has alfo the difpofal of piinidiment, lie 
opens.a little way tiie gate of heaven, whence darts out 
the lightning ; but as the clemency of God is infinite, 
never is his wrath carried further in Upper Egypt.” 
At this feafon of the year the lawjin , or dedroying 
wind, is tifually experienced. Sometimes, indeed, it 
rages violently in April; but chiefly in May., It is thus 
deferibed by Denon :..Thekam(m may be termed the hur¬ 
ricane of'Egypt, and the dejert. Its name, kairifiti , dignifies 
fifty ; becaufe it continues more or lefs for fifty days. It 
is equally terrible by the frightful fpedacle which it ex¬ 
hibits y/hen prefeht, and by the confequ nces which fol¬ 
low its ravages. We had already patfed with feenrity 
one half of tiie feafon in wliich it ufiutlly appears; when, 
in the evening of tiie i8;h of May, I felt, mylelf entirely 
overcome by a' fnffocating heat; it feemed as if the fluc¬ 
tuation of the air was fuddenly fufpended. I was brack 
on nfy arrival with my companions at tiie bank of the 
Nile, with a new appearance of nature ail around me; 
this was a kind of light and colours which I had not be¬ 
fore been. The fun, without being concealed, had lod 
its rays ; it had even lefs ludre to the eye than the moon, 
and gave a pale light without (hade ; the wafers of the 
Nile no longer refleded' its rays, but appeared in agita¬ 
tion ; every thing had changed its ufual aiped; it was 
- now 
