mity prefents. Conftantly augmenting, without turning any part of their flore into circulation, avarice feizes and englurs thefe treafures, while the plains in which they are buried affords not the leat indication or guide to future refearch. The numerous Noguais who have died, without telling their fecret, have already occafioned the lofs of valt fums: hence it may be prefumed thefe people are perfuaded, that, were they forced to abandon their country, they might leave their money without lofing their property. In fact, it

would be the fame to them at five hundred leagues distance, fince they only poflefs it in idea; but this idea is fo powerful among them, and fo delightful, that a Tartar is frequently known to feize the object he covets for the fole pleasure of enjoying it a moment. obliged to rellore it, he is likewife obliged to pay a confiderable fine; but he has had his wifh, and is fatisfied. The avarice of a Tartar never flays to calculate eventual lofs, but enjoys the momentary gain."

Soon

“IF

F we confider it in relation to what conflitutes the real power of a fate, the politician will, perhaps, look with a kind of contempt on this great metropolis of the world, this nurfe of every fcience and every art, now become a province of the feebleft of all empires. But the political philofopher will confider it in a light more worthy of his attention, fhould he difcover, in the climate, production, and population of Egypt, the means by which it has been rendered fo celebrated. These advantages, which ages cannot deftroy, and which have refifted the greatest revolutions, will appear to him preferable to fuch as, like chemical compofitions, are to be decompofed by the contrary procefs to that by which they were produced.

Such have been, no doubt, thofe kingdoms, the memory of which has been preserved by hiftory, though geography can now fcarcely point out the fituation of

their capitals. We fhall perceive, that in Egypt, the greatest kings endeavoured to acquire fame, by labours useful for the cultivation of the country with thefe they appeafed that thirst for glory which, among other monarchs, was perpetually productive of violence and rapine.

"If fo prodigious a lake as that of Maris, may be fuppofed to be formed by the hands of men, the utility of this immenfe refervoir would be the greatest monument of the beneficence of the Pharahs: but if the extent and depth of this lake leave fome doubt as to its origin, none can be entertained with regard to that of the canals of Jofeph, or Trajan, that of Alexandria, or thofe of Delta: they are vifibly the work of human industry.

"The facility with which the country is watered, leaves no part of it uncultivated; and the richnefs of the foil, by multiplying the harveft, maintains and aniinates the population. There is no country

to

pertains alfo to its commerce, augments its riches; and the luxury which follows thence is increafed to fuch a degree, that gold is efteemed common; nor can the richeft manufactures of india give fatisfaction.

"Whatever, in another state, could only be the effects of an adminiftration well informed, and conftantly guided by the most falutary principles, arifes in Egypt from the nature of the foil. The riches of its productions fatisfy the avidity of its tyrants, and defend the cultivators from theit tyranny. The furplus of its corn, become abfolutely neceffary for Arabia-Felix, by furnishing its commerce with new and certain exchanges, affords its activity the most folid and independent bafis. The principal ports of Egypt are Suez and Alexandria; but it is not in thefe that we can judge of the importance of commerce. Where there are no political regulations, there cannot exist either individual companies, exclufive privileges, or fubaltern monopoly; commerce na turally finds its level; it is feized on by credit, the cultivator is its affociate; and its agents receive Wages.

falt of natron, employed in the tan neries, fal ammoniac, useful for tin-work, fenna and faffranum for dying, and the most valuable gums and drugs, are objects of commerce equally important.

"The poverty of the cities I have just mentioned, may, without doubt, be referred to this principle; they are only the hired agents of commerce. Suez, efpecially, is remarkable for the penury of its inhabitants. The Arabs have ufurped the right of becoming the carriers of commerce, without renouncing that of plundering the merchants, as often as anarchy promifes them impunity.

"Befides the corn Egypt exchanges with Yemen, for the coffee with which Europe, but particularly Turkey, is fupplied, rice, flax,

1785.

"Sugar is the only article in which the industry of the Egyp tians is confined to what is neceffary for home confumption; and the little powder-fugar, which is exported to Conftantinople, gives no great idea of the goodness of that commodity, brought from the Higher Egypt and refined at Cairo.

"Delta, likewife, produces a great quantity of fugar-canes; but they are only cultivated for the pleasure of the inhabitants, who ufe them in their repafts.

"A more useful branch of induftry is that of the linen manufacture; it is under no regulations, and extends as far as the cataracts; as does the culture of indigo. In this burning climate, where no clothing is worn but a linen fhirt, or frock, which is always dyed blue, the furplus of this manufacture affords another article for exportation. The coafts of Syria, and the whole inland country, quite up to Damafcus, are fupplied with falt from the pits of the Lower Egypt.

"It is worthy obfervation, that foreign plants, brought into Egypt, degenerate to fuch a degree as to be incapable of reproduction. This is the cafe of indigo; and, what is not less rema kab'e, is, that the fields of indigo, which are every year fown with fresh feeds, brought from Syria, furnish the Egyptians with a very fine dye, though this fame plant is of much inferior qua lity in its original foil.

"It is plain, from this remark, that the indigo of Syria fhould be

F

tranf

transplanted, but that the richness of the foil, and heat of the fun, in Egypt, make that country a kind of hot-houfe, which damages the quality of the feed.

"To this fertility and richness of the productions of Egypt, muft be added a moft falubrious air. We fhall be more particularly ftruck with this advantage, when we confider, that Rofetta, Damietta, and Manfoora, which are encompaffed with rice-grounds, are much celebrated for the healthinefs of their neighbourhood, and that Egypt is, perhaps, the only country in the world where this kind of culture, which requires ftagnant waters, is not unwholesome. Riches are not there deftructive to the lives of

men.

"The researches I have carefully made, concerning the plague, which I once believed to originate in Egypt, have convinced me, that it would not be fo much as known there, were not the feeds of it conveyed thither by the commercial intercourse between Conftantinople and Alexandria. It is in this laft city that it always begins to appear; it but rarely reaches Cairo, though no precaution is taken to prevent it; and when it does, it is presently extirpated by the heats, and prevented from arriving as far as the Saide. It is likewife well known, that the penetrating dews, which fall in Egypt about midfummer, deftroy, even in Alexandria, all remains of this diftemper.

"It is only upon the fhores of the Mediterranean, to the diflance of ten leagues, within land, that rain is known in Egypt; very rarely does it extend farther. At Cairo they have hardly two hours gentle rain in a whole year. The noi e of thunder is never heard, and ftorms, no where frequent in E

gypt, always difcharge their fury on the deferts of Lybia and Arabia, where there is nothing to deftroy. Thus, every thing concurs to confer on Egypt the most precious gifts of nature. Birds, of every kind, and of the most rare fpecies, feem to haften thither in flocks, to enjoy the beauties of the country, and add their various melody to the gaiety of its inhabitants.

"The Nile offers a moft interefting picture of this kind. The banks of this river, as well as those of all the canals, are crowded with vast numbers of peasants; continually employed in watering the country, either by their own labour, or the management of those animals which relieve it. An infinite number of draw-wells, worked with a wheel, are contrived for this purpofe; the waters, which are raised, are poured into a channel, and diftributed among the grounds, at a distance from the river, by various canals, which the induttry and activity of the cultivator prepares, with intelligence and economy. Women, occupied with the cafe of their families, are feen carrying home water, for its ufe, in jars upon their heads; others wath their linen, bleach that which is newly made, fpread it out, and give themfelves up to that chearfulnes and gaiety, fo natural to them on every occafion, making the air refound with their fhrill voices, the ululatus of the Romans. The barges, which pafs from one city to another, the boats employed in the conveyance of commodities, and the navigation which commerce maintains, add to the variety and motion of the scene.

"This navigation is principally remarkable for the agility of the watermen, and the manner in which they

they convey the pottery-ware, made in the Higher Egypt. It will be neceffary, before this is explained, to obferve, that the earthen pans, made to preferve water, ought to be the bigger, the farther thofe for whofe ufe they are intended dwell from the river; and as the inhabitants of the Lower Egypt refide at the greater distance, the potters, who dwell in the Higher, contrive, accordingly, the raft by which they convey their wares. The largest jars, faftened by their handles, form the first row of the raft; the middle-fized are placed next, and the leath uppermoit; the proprietor contrives for himfelf a convenient itation, and, furnished with a long pole, commits himself to the courfe of the waters, without fearing running aground on a foft clay, which can do no damage. Thus he arrives at Delta, and foon gets rid of his pile of pottery, by the fucceffive fale of all the materials of which it is compofed.

"The Egyptians, naturally mild and timid, are alfo fprightly and temperate. All their actions partake of this character; they are terrified by the leaft accident, and familiarized by the smallest encouragement. The taste of this people for dancing, has introduced into Egypt female dancers, who have neither modesty nor referve, and only please by the contrary extravagance.

"The Egyptians, were it not for the brownnefs of their tanned skins, would certainly have a fine complexion. Their perfons are genteel and well fhaped. Both the men and women wim like fish. Their clothing is only a blue fhirt, which but indifferently conceals the pudency of the women; the men gird it round them, for convenience, while they labour; the chil

dren always go naked, and I have feen girls, eighteen years old, still children, in that refpect.

"Mahometanifm is the principal religion of the Egyptians; but they have added to it an infinity of ceremonies, derived more from their own love of fhew than the precepts of the prophet.. Fraternities of penitents, nocturnal proceffions with wax-candles, vestments proper for that kind of devotion, chantings and mournings at intervals, and the epulum ferale, are fo many practices which belong more to the fuperftition of their anceftors than the new law they have received.

"The Egyptians, notwithstanding, have lefs ferocity in their prejudices than the Turks, who have lefs fuperftition; the reafon of which is, that thefe latter are. proud, while the Egyptians are only weak. We may perceive, that the pomp which attends their ceremonies, is more regarded by them than the thing fignified; and that their gaiety and licentiousness have more part in the pilgrimages they undertake, than the faint to whof honour they affemble.

"The most revered of thefe are the Imman Chafi, at Cairo, and the Iman of Tinta, a city fituated in the centre of Delta. This last faint is called Sayd, Achmet, and Bedouit. In the month of July, more than two hundred thousand perfons, from the Higher and Lower Egypt, throng to this tomb. Commerce, which turns every thing to its advantage, has established near it a confiderable fair, where dancers and mountebanks are found, in plenty, during the time it lafts. Tinta then contains every thing which can contribute to the amufement of the pilgrims: and the fhek of the mofque of Sayd, Achmet, FL and