CHAP. lamentations. Pliny often mentions these jug

I.

glers'; and as their tricks have been noticed by other travellers, it is only now necessary to attest the existence of this extraordinary remnant of a very antient custom.

(1) Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. vii. c. 2. lib. viii. c. 25. lib. xxv. e. 10. lib. xxviii. e. 3.

Example afforded by a Naval Officer-Inaccuracy in the Maps of Egypt-Triple Harvest of the Delta-Mode of raising Water from the Nile-Summer Habits of the Egyptian Arabs-FICUS SYCAMORUS-Etesian Winds -MOTUBIS-Dancing Women-DEBE-SINDION and DERRAL-Turkish Cavalry-Arab Customs-FoUARACHMANIE-Description of the Country-DiseasesFacility of visiting Upper Egypt-KOUM SCHERIFF AMRUS-Birds-Singular Animal Appearance-PlantsEL BUREDGIAT-Remarkable Phænomenon-Tumblers -Abundance of Corn-Southern Point of the DeltaArrival at BULAC-View of the Pyramids-Visit to the

Reis

CHAP.

II.

Example

afforded by

a Naval Officer.

Reis Effendi-House of the French Institute-Jewel
Market-Interior of Caïro-Jugglers-Trees-Incense
-Gum Arabic-Plagues of Egypt-Statistics of Caïro
-British Army from India - Dinner given by the
Commander-in-chief-Discovery made by Brahmins in
Upper Egypt-Examination of an Abyssinian con-
cerning Bruce's Travels-Fidelity of that Traveller's
Observations confirmed.

WE left Rosetta on Monday, August the tenth, at seven A. M. and called upon Captain Hillyar, who had the command of some gun-boats to the south of the town, and whom we found stationed upon the river, on board one of those vessels. His late arduous services, in several engagements with the enemy, were then the subject of very general conversation. The Capudan Pasha, in testimony of the gratitude of the Turkish Government, had conferred upon him some trifling presents. But that which particularly excited the wonder of all his contemporaries, and which will convey the name of Hillyar to posterity, with honours more lasting than even those obtained by his valour and his victories, was the example offered by this distinguished officer to the navies of the world, in proving the possibility of fighting the battles of his

II.

country, and maintaining unrivalled discipline CHAP. among his crew, without the utterance of an oath by any man on board the ship he commanded.

in the Maps

We had convincing evidence of inaccuracy in Inaccuracy our best maps of the Delta, and of the course of the of Egypt. Nile, from the earliest comparisons we made in the country. That of Kauffer, published at Constantinople in 1799, is extremely incorrect; but it is less so than preceding documents. Soon after leaving Rosetta, we passed some extensive canals, conveying water to lands above the level of the river: these are supplied by wheels, sometimes turned by oxen, but more generally by buffaloes. They are banked by very lofty walls, constructed of mud, hardened by the sun. One of them, upon the western side of the river, exténded to the Lake Maudie. The land, thus Triple watered, produces three crops in each year; the the Delta. first of clover, the second of corn, and the third of rice. The rice-grounds are inundated from the time of sowing nearly to harvest: the seed is commonly cast upon the water, a practice twice alluded to in Sacred Scripture. Balaam prophesied of Israel', that "HIS SEED SHOULD

(1) Numbers xxiv. 7.

Harvest of

CHAP.

II.

دو

BE IN MANY WATERS.' In the directions given for charity by the son of David, it is written', "CAST THY BREAD UPON THE WATERS: FOR THOU SHALT FIND IT AFTER MANY DAYS.

When the rice-plants are about two feet high, Method of they are transplanted. Besides the method of ter from the raising water into the high grounds near the

raising Wa

Nile.

river, by means of buckets fastened to a wheel, where the land is not much elevated above the surface of the Nile, they use a simple, and probably a very antient contrivance, of lifting it in a basket lined perhaps with close matting or with leather3. Two men, holding the basket between them, by a cord in each hand fastened to the edge of it, lower it into the Nile, and then swing it between them until it acquires a velocity sufficient to enable them to throw the

(1) Ecclesiastes xi. 1.

(2) See the Vignette to this Chapter. They who are interested in tracing resemblances between the customs of the Chinese and Egyptians, may be informed that this manner of irrigating land, which certainly possesses something of singularity, is practised upon the rivers in China, without the smallest difference. An engraved representation of it is given in the account of Lord Macartney's Embassy. See vol. II. p. 359. Lond. 1797.

(3) Those baskets are made capable of containing water without lining. "The Mahrea Arabs have the art of making wicker baskets of so close a texture, that they carry in them, milk, water, and bouza." See Note to p. 189 of Browne's Travels, Lond. 1799.