assistance of the caimakan, or magistrate, he found the said functionary in great alarm, expecting every hour to be swept away by the Nile. "There was no boat in the village, and should the water break down their weak fences, the only chance of escape was by climbing the palm-trees, till Providence sent some one to their relief. All the boats were employed in carrying away the corn from villages that were in danger. Both in Upper and Lower Egypt the men, women, and children are left to be the last assisted, as their lives are not so valuable as corn, which brings money to the pasha. As this village was then four feet below the water, the poor Fellahs were on the watch day and night round their fences. They employed their skin-machines, or bags, to throw out the water which rose from under the ground; but if their fences should be broken down all would be lost." At another village described by the traveller, the distress of the people was very great. Some of them had taken refuge on a spot where there were only a few feet of land uncovered; and the water, he adds, was to rise twelve days more, and after that to remain twelve days at its height, according to the usual term of the inundation.*

It was probably to prevent the occurrence of such catastrophes, as well as to turn to a beneficial purpose the superfluous waters of the Nile, that the lake of Moris, and other similar receptacles, were formed by the ancient kings of Egypt. Although the valley of Fayoum supplied a natural basin for the grand reservoir now mentioned, yet as the canal which connected it with the river, together with the numerous dams which were necessary to regulate the current during the rise and fall of the inundation, were the fruit of human labour, we shall postpone the description of it till we come to the chapter on the Works of Ancient Art.

We have already remarked that Egypt is indebted for her rich harvests to the mould or soil which is deposited by the river during the annual flood. As soon as the waters retire the cultivation of the ground commences. If it has imbibed the requisite degree of moisture, the process of agriculture is neither difficult nor tedious. The seed is scattered over the soft surface, and vegetation, which almost immediately succeeds, goes on with great rapidity. Where

the land has been only partially inundated, recourse is had to irrigation, by means of which many species of vegetables are raised even during the dry season. Harvest follows at the distance of about six or eight weeks, according to the different kinds of grain,-leaving time in most cases for a succession of crops, wherever there is a full command of water. The cold season begins with December, and continues about two months. Spring appears in the first days of February, when the fruit-trees blossom, and the atmosphere acquires a delightful warmth. The period of summer may be said to commence in June, and to end at the close of September, although the transition from the one season to the other is so gradual that it is impossible to define the exact limits of either. During these four months the heat is intense, the fields to which the swelling river has not attained are parched like a desert, and no green leaf is seen but such as are produced by artificial irrigation. Autumn, which is only marked by a slight diminution of temperature, commences about the middle of October, when the leaves fall, and the Nile retires within its channel; and till the approach of that season which, from its relation to the rest of the year, must be called winter, the face of the country resembles a beautiful meadow diversified with lively colours. Thus is realized the description of Volney, who observed that Egypt assumed in succession the appearances of an ocean of fresh water, of a miry morass, of a green level plain, and of a parched desert of sand and dust.*

For various reasons, especially the want of wood and the low elevation of the whole plain from Rosetta to Assouan, the average degree of heat in Egypt is considerably greater than in many other countries situated in the same latitude. In summer, as long as the sun remains above the horizon, the atmosphere is inflamed, the sky is cloudless and sparkling, and the heat is rendered supportable only by the profuse perspiration which it excites. At Cairo, the medium temperature during that season has been estimated at ninety-two degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer. some occasions it has been known to rise as high as one hundred and twelve degrees; but such an intensity of heat is usually of short continuance, and almost never expe

* Travels, vol. ii. p. 10.

On

rienced except in the more confined districts of the Saïd. At sunset the wind falls, the air becomes cooler, and the vapour suspended in the atmosphere during the day is deposited in an abundant supply of dew. As the evening advances, a thin mist darkens the horizon, and spreads over the watery grounds; but during the night it becomes scarcely perceptible, and in the morning, when the sun has attained a certain elevation, it gradually ascends in the form of flaky clouds.

The copious evaporation, which necessarily takes place in a country distinguished one-half of the year by excessive heat and moisture, is hardly ever restored to the soil in the shape of rain. The clouds, it is true, sometimes collect in dark masses, and the atmosphere exhibits all the meteorological symptoms which in other climates indicate rain; but a shower, notwithstanding, is a very rare occurrence in Egypt. When this phenomenon does occur, it continues only a few minutes, and seems counteracted by some affinities, chymical or electrical, too powerful to be overcome by the ordinary principle of gravity. In the Delta rain is Dccasionally seen during the cool part of the year; but above Cairo it is almost never witnessed at any season. Thunder and lightning are still more infrequent, and are, at the same time, so completely divested of their terrific qualities that the Egyptians never associate with them the idea of destructive force, and are quite unable to comprehend how they should ever be accompanied with either fear or injury. Showers of hail descending from the hills of Syria, and sweeping along the plains of Palestine, are sometimes known to reach the confines of Egypt. But the production of ice is so extremely uncommon, that, on one occasion when it appeared in the low country, the Arabs collected it with the greatest care, and sold it, at a high price, to the European merchants of Alexandria.

The course of the wind, so variable in our climate, is almost strictly periodical on the banks of the Nile. In point both of strength and duration, the northerly breezes predominate,-blowing nearly nine months in the year. They continue with little intermission from May till September; but about the autumnal equinox they veer round to the east, where they remain nearly six weeks, with only slight deviations. About the end of February the gale

assumes a southerly direction, and fluctuates exceedingly till the close of April, when it again yields for a time to a more powerful current from the eastward.

The southerly winds are the most changeable, as well as the most unhealthy; traversing the arid sands of Africa, uninterrupted by rivers, lakes, or forests, they arrive in Egypt fraught with all the noxious exhalations of the desert. At their approach, the serene sky becomes black and heavy; the sun loses its splendour, and appears of a dim violet hue; a light warm breeze is felt, which gradually increases in heat till it almost equals that of an oven. Though no vapour darkens the air, it becomes so gray and thick with the floating clouds of impalpable sand that it is sometimes necessary to use candles at noonday. Every green leaf is instantly shrivelled, and every thing forined of wood is warped and cracked. The effect of these winds on the animal creation, too, is not less pernicious, sometimes even occasioning immediate death by sudden squalls which attack the victim before he is aware. The breathing becomes quick and difficult, the pores of the skin are closed, and a feverish habit is induced, owing to suppressed perspiration. The increasing heat pervades every substance; and water itself, no longer cool, is rendered incapable of mitigating the intolerable sensation by which the whole body is oppressed. Dead silence reigns in the streets; the inhabitants, by confining themselves to their houses, vainly attempt to elude the showers of dust, which is so fine and penetrating that, according to the oriental expression, it will enter an egg through the pores of the shell.*

These are the hot winds of the desert, termed by the Arabs simoom, and by the Turks samiel, and which have so often proved fatal to whole caravans, and even to large armies. When they continue longer than three days their effects become quite insupportable, especially to persons of a full habit of body. It is worthy of notice, at the same time, that the southerly breeze which, in the spring of the year, is attended with an intolerable heat, is, during the winter, noted above all others for an intense and penetrating cold. In the latter season the rays of the sun fall more

* Antis's Observations on Egypt; Volney's Travels, vol: ii. p. 61 Dr. Leyden on Egypt, in Murray's Africa.

obliquely on the desert, and the current of air which descends on Egypt is chilled by the snowy mountains of Abyssinia.

Such are the principal phenomena which characterize the climate of Egypt,-a country in the very atmosphere of which nature seems to have adopted new and singular arrangements. In that country, distinguished by an uncommon regularity of the seasons and of all the changes which the atmosphere presents, these meteorological facts were first ascertained with philosophical accuracy. But though the observations of the ancient sages of Thebes and Memphis, engraved on immense masses of granite, have defied the ravages of time and the still more destructive hand of man, we can only view the characters with regret, and lament that a wise and learned people may utterly perish before the monuments of their power and science have entirely passed away.

Egypt is usually divided into Upper and Lower, the latitude of Cairo presenting in our day the line of demarcation. But besides this distinction there is another of great antiquity, to which frequent allusion is made by the Greek and Roman anthors, namely, that of the Delta, the Heptanomis, and the Thebaid. According to this distribution, the first of the provinces just mentioned occupied the seacoast of the Mediterranean; the third the narrow valley of Upper Egypt; while to the second was allotted the intermediate space, which seems to have been divided into seven districts or cantons. At a later period when Egypt became subject to the Romans, the Arcadia of that people corresponded nearly to the ancient Heptanomis; and, about the conclusion of the fourth century, the eastern division of the Delta, between Arabia and the Phatnitic branch of the Nile, as high as Heliopolis, was erected into a new province under the name of Augustamnica. In modern times the Arabs have changed the classical appellation of Thebaid into Saïd, or the high country; the Heptanomis into Vostani; and the Delta into Bahari, or the maritime district.

The following table exhibits a succinct view of the territorial distribution of Egypt as recognised by modern geographers and the actual government of the country:—