EGYPT. 
38s 
flow the fi.it ftiore that feemed luminous, and the air dull 
and opa'que ; the yellow horizon (hewed the trees on its 
furface of a dirty blue; flocks of birds were flying off 
before the cloud ; the frighted animals ran loofe in the 
Country, followed by the inhabitants, who vainly at¬ 
tempted to colledl them together again. We could now 
eafily conceive the dreadful fituation of tliofe who are 
furprifed with fuch a phenomenon of nature, when crofT- 
ing the expofed and naked deferts ; where, as it (lands 
upon record, many thoufands have been overwhelmed 
and loft in k the fhoals of fand raifed by the kamfin 
winds. The next day, an aftonifhing mafs of duft, at¬ 
tended with fnnilar appearances, travelled along the de- 
fert of Lybia: it followed the chain of the mountains, 
and, when we flattered ourfelves that we were entirely 
rid of this peftilence, the welt wind brought it back, and 
once more overwhelmed us with this fcorching torrent; 
the light of the fun could pierce with difficulty through 
this denfe vapour; all the elements appeared to be in 
diforder; rain was mixed with whirlwinds of fire, wind, 
and duft; and, in this time of confufion, the trees, and 
all the other productions of nature, feemed to be 
again plunged in the horrors of chaos. If the defert of 
Lybia had Cent us thefe clouds of duft, thofe on the caft, 
■on the contrary, had been inundated with water; for the 
merchants who came from the borders of the Red Sea 
told us, that in the valleys they had the water up to the 
middle of their legs. When this deftructive fcourge fets 
in from the defert, the inundation of fand often over¬ 
whelms the country, changes its fertility to barren,nets, 
drives the labourer from his houfe, whofe walls it co¬ 
vers up, and leaves no other mark of vegetable life than 
the tops of a few palm-trees, which adds (fill more to 
the dreary afpeft of deftruflion. Thus the defert is con- 
fiantly encroaching on the fertile land ; and, were the wa¬ 
ter of the Nile to difcontinue its inundations, the whole 
vale of Egypt would eventually become a defert or bed 
of fand. 
“ Two days after this difafter, we were told that the 
plain was covered with birds, which were palling on from 
eaft to weft, like the dole files of an army ; and, indeed, 
we faw at a diftance the fields appear to move, like a 
broad torrent flowing through the country. Thinking 
that they might be fome foreign birds, we haftened out 
to meet them ; but inftead of birds we faw a cloud of 
locufts, who juft fkimnied the foil, flopping at each blade 
of grafs to devour it, then flying off to new food. If it 
had been the feafon in which the corn was young and 
tender, this would have been a ferious jdague ; for thefe 
children of the defert are as lean as active, and quickly 
devour every thing before them. It would be intereft- 
ing to know how they live and produce fuch multitudes 
in fo arid a defert; perhaps it was the rain that had fallen 
in the valleys which had fuddenly hatched them, and had 
produced this emigration, juft as certain wind bring 
(warms of mufketoes. The wind changing again in a 
contrary direction to their march, they were once more 
driven back into the defert. Thefe locufts are of a rofe- 
colour, fpeckled with black, very ftrong, fhy, and diffi¬ 
cult to catch.” It is during the kamfin, and difturbance 
of the waters of the Nile, that the crocodiles moft abound. 
Denon faw them from eight or ten to thirty feet long: 
but he fays they are by no means fo ferocious as has been 
pretended. 
During the latter days of the kamfin, the current of 
the Nile becomes fluggiffi, the waters lofe their ufual fa¬ 
llibility and tranfparency, and become green, throwing 
up flakes of foul mud, which exhale a mephitic odour: 
in Ihort, if is then no longer the bountiful river, the 
creator and preferver of Egypt; but it grows heavy in 
its motion, and would alarm the inhabitants of the banks, 
if its periodic reftomtion to its ufual date were not as co:i- 
ftant a phenomenon for them as it is furprifing to the cu¬ 
rious traveller. It keeps falling till the 17th of June, 
remains in ftagnation for two days, and on the 19th it 
Vo-l; VI. No. 358. 
begins to rife. te Tt is at this period (fays Denon) that 
the refidence in Upper Egypt is almoft infupportable; 
the winds are variable, and are conftantly changing from 
the eaft to the fouth, or the fouth-weft: this latter is 
terrible, for it troubles the atmofphere, obfeures the fun 
with a burning vapour, parches with third:, dries up every 
thing, inflames the blood, irritates the nerves, and makes 
life itfelf painful: it alfo oppreffes the lungs fo feverely, 
that one involuntarily feeks for cooler air to breathe in, 
feeling as if the mouth was an oven of fire ; if one in¬ 
hales the air by the noftrils, it afte&s the head ; and in 
again exhaling it, it feels like a gufh of blood rufhing 
over the air-paffages; every thing we touch is burning; 
and iron, even in the night, acquires as great a heat as it 
does in France in the dog-days, expofed to the noon-day 
beams of the fun.” 
During this muddy ftate of the Nile, the water is pu¬ 
rified by handing in jars, which Walfh calls alharras; 
but which tire more commonly known by the name of 
balajfes, from BalaHe, the town where they are manufac¬ 
tured, and from whence they are fent not only through¬ 
out Egypt, but alfo into Syria, and the ifles of the Ar¬ 
chipelago. They have the uncommon property of al¬ 
lowing water to tranfude through their pores, whereby 
it foon becomes clear and cool; they are made at little 
expence, and fold fo cheap, that they are fometimes ufed 
to conftriuft: the walls of houfes, and the pooreft inhabi¬ 
tant may fupply him felt with them in abundance. Na¬ 
ture gives the material in the neighbouring defert, which 
requires no further preparation; it is a fat, loapy, and 
compact, marl, which only requires moiftening and work¬ 
ing in the hands to be perfedlly duclile and tenacious ; 
and any veffels that are formed of it, when dried in the 
(hade and half baked in the fun, only require burning for 
a few hours with a little ftraw-fire, to be completed.. 
The people make rafts of thefe pots, which have beet* 
deferibed by almoft every traveller in Egypt: they arc 
thus carried down the Nile, part of them are fold 011 the. 
way, and the remainder are embarked at Rofetta and 
Damietta to be fent abroad. The fpongy nature of this 
earth makes the water tranfude, whilft the (limy particles 
fufpended in it are attradled to the fide of the veil'd, and 
the outer furface being always moiftened by the tranfu- 
dation, when there is the leaft breath of wind to promote 
evaporation, the water within the jar becomes as clear 
and cool as if it were iced. They are fometimes fumi¬ 
gated with benzoin, or perfumed with orange-flower, or 
other aromatics, to vary the infipid tafte of the water, 
which, however, when drunk from thefe vafes, is the 
bed in the world. Tt is curious to fee the immenfe car¬ 
goes of thele jars, v\ hich are either piled up on boats, or 
made into rafts, like the large floats of wood on our 
rivers, which are borne by the dream, and at the fame 
time carry their owners, who difpofe of them to good 
advantage. The life of thefe vafes appears to be of great 
antiquity, for they are reprefented of the fame form as at 
prefent, (landing on the lame tripods, and employed for 
the fame purpole, in hieroglyphic paintings, and on an¬ 
cient manuferipts. The poorer fort of women are con¬ 
tinually employed in fetching water in thefe jars. 
The violent heats prevail chiefly in June, July, and 
Auguft; during which, and the feafon of the kamfin, 
the paflage over the defert is moft arduous, and often fa¬ 
tal. The French loft many men in this dreary region, 
where the heat of the funds burnt their feet through their 
(hoes; and the fcorching rays of the fun, cracking the 
leathern jars which contained their water, expofed them 
to the fevered torture of unquenchable third. The Eng- 
lifli Indian army, in crofting from Coflir, experienced li- 
milar Ioffes and fatigues; as did the army of the grand 
vizier, in its inarch to Salahieh. But their fulferings 
were trivial, when compared to thofe of a party of rna- 
malukes mentioned by Denon, who taking the pals from 
the Kittah by the way of Redifi, nearly all of them pe- 
rifhed. “ This pafs (lays Denon) is never frequented by 
5 F the 
