N I 
now cited, arifes from human art. The lands near the 
river are watered by machines ; and, if they extend to 
any width, canals have been cut. The foil in general is 
fo rich as to require no manure. It is a pure black mould, 
free from Hones, and of a very tenacious unftuous nature. 
When left uncultivated, fiffures have been obferved, 
arifing from extreme heat, of fuch depth that a fpear of 
fix feet could not reach the bottom. Rain in Egypt is a 
very uncommon phenomenon ; the heat alfo is extreme, 
particularly from March to November; and, as a fupply 
of water was fo defirable, we need not wonder that the 
ufual period of the Nile’s inundation fhould be expefted 
with fo much anxiety, and that inftruments fhould be 
conftrufted for meafuring its increafe. Until the fummer 
folftice, this increafe is not much perceived ; but it conti¬ 
nues advancing till near the end of Auguft, and often 
even in September. The mehliias, or nilometer, at Ele- 
phantina, formerly denoted to what degree the inunda¬ 
tion would rife; the experience of' ages had afforded 
marks known to thofe whofe trufl it was to watch ; the 
governors of the provinces were inftantly informed, and 
the neceffary labours for the good of agriculture were 
regulated accordingly. When the Arabs conquered 
Egypt, the nilometer was at the fmall town of Halovan, 
facing Memphis. Ainrou deftroyed that ftately capital. 
Some ages after, a nilometer was built at one extremity of 
the ifland of Raouda; and the column to meafure the 
water was erected in the centre of a low chamber, the 
walls of which are exceedingly folid, and the bottom on 
a level with the bed of the Nile. The nilometer has 
never fince been changed ; and officers are now appointed 
to examine the progrefs of the inundations, which is daily 
proclaimed in the ltreets of Cairo by the public criers, to 
whom the people interelfed in the event give fome flight 
reward, and it becomes the news of the day. As Egypt 
pays no tribute to the grand fignior if the waters do not 
rife to fixteen cubits, the Egyptians often difguife the 
truth, and do not proclaim they have rifen to that height 
till they have furpaffed it. The day of this. proclamation 
is a day of rejoicing and a foleinn feaft among the Egyptians. 
The greateft breadth of this majeftic river may be com¬ 
puted at'iooo feet, or about a third of a mile. Its mo¬ 
tion is even flower than that of the Thames, and does not 
exceed three miles an hour. The water is always muddy ; 
in April and May, when it is cleareff, it has Hill a cloudy 
hue ; when it overflows, the colour is a dirty red. It is 
replete with a variety of Mi; but, except good and large 
eels, none of the fiffi have a ffcri< 5 t fimilitude to the Eu¬ 
ropean. In the year 1817, Monf. Girard, of the Royal 
French Inftitute, publifhed,in a Treatife on the Valley of 
Egypt, an analyfis of the mud of the Nile, fo celebrated 
by the fertility it communicates to the foil of that country. 
It appears, from chemical experiments made by M. Reg- 
nault, that, of 100 parts in the mud, there are in general 
11 of water, 9 of carbon, 6 of oxyd of iron, 4 of iilex, 4 
of carbonat of magnefia, 18 of carbonat of lime, and 48 
of alumen; but the quantities of filex and alumen vary 
according to the places where the mud is taken ; that on 
the banks of the river contains a great deal of fand, while 
in that at a diftance the argil is almoft pure. The abun¬ 
dance of this earth in the mud renders it proper for 
the purpofes of the arts. They make excellent bricks of 
it, and vafes of different forms; it enters into the fabri¬ 
cation of pipes; the glafs-makers employ it in the con- 
Itru&ion of their furnaces; the inhabitants of the coun¬ 
try parts cover their houfes with it, and confider it as a 
fufficient manure for their lands. 
It is not eafy, we are told, to conceive a more plea- 
furable mode of travelling than that by the Nile when it 
overflows. The great body of water, perfectly calm and 
unruffled, the banks on each fide covered with the rich 
produft of the hufbandman’s labour, form a fcene in every 
lenfe alluring. The paffengers are protefted by a Ample 
awning of branches from the immediate a< 5 tion of the 
fun ; and the great heat of the tropical latitude is affuaged 
Vol. XVII. No. 1163. 
L E. 8.9 - 
by a gentle breeze, which generally continues during four 
or five meridian hours. The mariners chant refponfive 
to the motion of their oars ; and the veffel offers an apt 
emblem of finding fortune in her moll profperous career. 
The narrow vale, through which the Nile purfues its 
courfe in Egypt, is bounded on either fide with barren 
rocks and mountains. The towns and cultivation are 
chiefly on the eaftern bank; behind which are vaft ranges 
cf mountains, extending to the Arabian Gulf, abounding 
with marble and porphyry, but almoll deftitute of water, 
and inhabited only by Bedouins. Acrofs thefe moun¬ 
tains is a folitary road to Coffeiron the Red Sea. On the 
weft, the hills lead to a vaft iandy defert, in which are the 
two Oafes 5 a name applied to iflands fituated in fand. 
The fources of the Nile, and the caufes of its inunda¬ 
tion and fertilizing powers, have been fubjefts of fpecu- 
lation and of hiftorical detail from almoft the remoteft pe¬ 
riod of antiquity. Thofe who wiffl to acquaint themfelves 
with the opinions of the ancients, may confult Herodotus, 
Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, and Pliny. The Nile, during 
the three months of its inundation, l'upplies Egypt, with¬ 
out the aid of rain, with a fufficient quantity of water for 
the reft of the year; and, as it thus facilitates, or rather in 
a confiderable degree fuperfedes, labour, it has beenftyled 
the fource of plenty and happinefs, and even of life itfelf. 
If Albuberque, the Portuguefe, had been able to execute 
his projeft of turning its courfe from Ethiopia into the 
Red Sea, this country, which is now fo rich, would have 
become a favage defert, furrounded by folitudes. See the 
article Egypt, vol. vi. p. 367. We need not wonder, 
therefore, that the Egyptians fhould always have pro- 
feffed, and that they fhould ftill retain, a kind of reli¬ 
gious veneration for the Nile. They have called it holy, 
blefi'ed, and facred ; and, on the appearance of the new 
waters, that is, on the opening of the canals, mothers are 
feen plunging their children into the ftream, from a be¬ 
lief that thefe waters have a petrifying and divine virtue, 
fuch as the ancients are faid to have attributed to every 
river. See, for farther particulars, the article Egypt, 
vol. vi. p. 367, 385. Gibfon’s Geography, vol. ii. and 
Bruce’s Travels. 
The Nile was reckoned in the number of the great gods 
of the Egyptians. To this beautiful river they gave the 
name ot Oceanus, Ypeus, andNilus; but it was origi¬ 
nally called Eg-yptus, (fee vol. vi. p. 293.) and it was alfo 
denominated Siris, which, by abbreviation, is the fame 
name with Ofiris, beeaufe in reality it reprefented that 
god. Of all the feftivals they celebrated in honour of 
this river, that of opening the canals, at the time of its in¬ 
undation, was the moft: iolemn and magnificent. At this 
feftival the ancient kings of Egypt affilted in perfon, ac¬ 
companied by their minifters, by all the grandees of the 
kingdom, and by an innumerable multitude of people. 
They anticipated their obligations to this river for the 
benefits which its inundation was to produce by throw¬ 
ing into it, in the form of facrifice, barley, corn, fugar, 
and other fruits. It is faid that on this joyful occaiion 
they made a facrifice of a young virgin, whom they 
drowned in this river. A cuftom ftill fubfiftirig at this 
day, fays Savary, feems to prove that' the Egyptians for¬ 
merly facrificed a young virgin to the god of the Nile; 
for they now make a ftatue of earth in the fhape of a girl, 
to which they give the name of “ the betrothed bride,” 
upon the dyke of the “ Khalig of the Prince of the Faith¬ 
ful,” which they throw into the river previoufly to the 
opening of the canal. At the feftival, when this cuftom is 
obferved, the pacha defeends from the caftle, accompa¬ 
nied by his whole court, and repairs in pomp to Foftat, 
where the canal commences that traverfes Grand Cairo. 
He places himfelf under a magnificent pavilion, prepared 
at the head of the dyke. The beys, preceded by their 
mufic, and followed by their mamalukes, compofe his re¬ 
tinue : the chiefs of their religion appear mounted on 
horfes richly caparifoned. All the inhabitants, on horfe- 
back, on foot, and in boats, are anxious to affilt at this ce- 
A a remony. 
