their vain regard to the inundations of the Nile, points out one of their peculiar characteristics; and which is aptly and beautifully illustrated by the prophet Ezekiel in a passage wherein God speaks to Pharaoh-hophra, or Apries, thus: "Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself." Ezek. xxix. 3. The Almighty perceived an insupportable pride in the heart of this prince, a sense of security, and confidence in the inundations of the Nile, as though the effects of this inundation had been owing to nothing but his own care and labour, or those of his predecessors, and not, as in reality they were, dependent on the gracious influences of Heaven. So prone is man by nature to forget the source from whence all blessings flow.

Besides the plants enumerated above, which grew anciently in Egypt, at the present day the following are successfully cultivated in that country: winter plants, which are sown after the inundation, and reaped in about three or four months after; peas, vetches, lupins, clover, coleseed, lettuce, poppy, and tobacco: summer plants, which are raised by artificial irrigation, by means of water wheels, and other machinery; Indian corn, sugar cane, cotton, indigo, and madder. Rice is sown in the spring, and gathered in October, chiefly near Lake Menzaleh. Fruit trees, which grow mostly in gardens near the principal towns; the mulberry, and Seville orange, which ripens in January; apricots in May; peaches and plums in June; apples, pears, and caroobs at the end of June; grapes at the beginning of July; figs in July; prickly pears at the end of July; pomegranates and lemons in August; citrus medica in September; oranges in October; and sweet lemons and banana in November. Some of these plants may have grown anciently in Egypt, but we know of no data whereon to make such an assertion.

GOLD AND SILVER MINES.

Egypt was proverbial for its riches. See Exod. xii. 35; Ezek. xxxii. 12; Heb. xi. 26. This arose partly from its fertility, and partly from its extensive commerce. But that which chiefly rendered the people rich in gold and silver, for which they were celebrated, was their mines of these precious metals. Their gold mines were in the desert of the upper

country. Their position, still known to the Arabs, is about S. E. from Bahayreh, a village opposite the town of Edfou, in latitude 24° 58', on Apollinopolis Magna, and at a distance of nearly ten days' journey from that place in the mountains of the Bisharéeh. Arab authors place them at Gebal Ollágee, a mountain situated in the land of Bega, which word points out the Bisháree desert, being still used by the tribe as their own name. The gold lies in veins of quartz, in the rocks, bordering an inhospitable valley and its adjacent ravines; but the small quantity they are capable of producing by immense labour, added to the difficulties of procuring water, and other local impediments, would probably render the re-opening of them an unprofitable speculation. In the time of Aboolfidda, indeed, who lived about A.D. 1334, they only just covered their expenses, from which circumstance, they have ever since been abandoned by the Arab caliphs. The toil of extracting the gold in ancient times, according to the account of Agatharchides, was immense, and the loss of life in working the mines appalling.

He thus describes the process: "The kings of Egypt compelled many poor people together with their wives and children, to labour in the mines, wherein they underwent more suffering than can well be imagined. The hard rocks of the gold mountains being cleft by heating them with burning wood, the workmen then apply their iron implements. The young and active, with iron hammers, break the rock in pieces, and form a number of narrow passages, not running in straight lines, but following the direction of the vein of gold, which is as irregular in its course as the roots of a tree. The workmen have lights fastened on their forehead, by the aid of which they cut their way through the rock, always following the white veins of stone. To keep them to their task, an overseer stands by, ready to inflict a blow on the lazy. The material that is thus loosened, is carried out of the galleries by boys, and received at the mouth of the mine by old men and the weaker labourers, who then carry it to the Epopta or inspectors. These are young men, under thirty years of age, strong and vigorous, who pound the broken. fragments with a stone pestle, till there is no piece larger than a pea. It is then placed on grinding-stones, or a kind of millstone, and women, three on each side, work at it till it is reduced to fine powder. . . . The fine powder is then passed on to a set of workmen called Sellangees, who place it on ə

finely-polished board, not lying in a flat position, but a little sloping. The Sellangee after pouring some water on the board, rubs it with his hand, at first gently, but afterwards more vigorously, by which process the lighter earthy particles slide off along the slope of the board, and the heavier parts are left behind. He then takes soft sponges, which he presses on the board rather gently, which causes the lighter particles to adhere to the sponge, while the heavy shining grains still keep their place on the board, owing to their weight. From the Sellangees the gold particles are transferred to the roasters, who measure and weigh all that they receive, before putting it into an earthen jar. With the gold particles they mix lead in a certain proportion, lumps of salt, a little tin, and barley bran, and putting a cover on the jar that fits tight, and smearing it all over, they burn it in a furnace for five days and nights without intermission. On the sixth day, they cool the vessel, and take out the gold, which they find somewhat diminished in quantity: all the other substances entirely disappear. These mines were worked under the ancient kings of Egypt, but abandoned during the occupation of the country by the Ethiopians, and afterwards by the Medes and Persians. Even at the present day, (about BC. 150,) we may find copper chisels or implements in the galleries, (the use of iron not being known at that time,)* and innumerable skeletons of the wretched beings who lost their lives in the passages of the mine. The excavations are of great extent, and reach down to the sea coast."

This process appears to be represented in the paintings of tombs executed during the reign of Osirtasen, and some of the ancient Pharaohs. We are not informed when they were first discovered, but we may suppose that the mines were worked at the earliest periods of the Egyptian monarchy. The total of their annual produce is said by Hecatæus to have been recorded in a temple founded by a monarch of the 18th dynasty. He also notices an immense sum produced annually from the silver mines of Egypt, which amounted to 3,200 myriads of minæ, each of which was 1 lb. 4 oz. 6 dwt. English weight. In a sculpture of Thebes, also, Osymandas is represented dedicating to the deity the gold and silver he annually received from the mines through

* This author must, therefore, mean copper in the early part of this extract, though he uses a word properly rendered iron.

VOL. I.

4

out Egypt, which in silver alone amounted to this enormous

sum.

Besides these mines, there were others of copper, lead, iron, and emeralds, all of which were valuable. These mines still exist in the deserts of the Red Sea. The same districts also abound in sulphur, which was most probably made use of by the ancient Egyptians.

CHAPTER II.

TOPOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF EGYPT.

In ancient times, Egypt comprehended a great number of cities. Herodotus relates, indeed, that under Amasis, who lived about 570 years B. C., there were 20,000 inhabited cities in that country. Diodorus, however, with more judgment and caution, calculates 18,000 large villages and towns; and states that, under Ptolemy Lagus, they amounted to upwards of 30,000, a number which remained even at the period when he wrote, about 44 years B.C., when the population of Egypt was reduced from seventeen to thirteen millions of inhabitants. According to Theocritus, the number of towns, at an earlier period, was 33,339; he may here, however, include some of the neighbouring provinces belonging to Egypt, as he comprehends Ethiopia, Libya, Syria, Arabia, Pamphylia, Cilicia, Caria, and Lycia, within the dominions of Ptolemy Philadelphus. Other authors may also occasionally have extended the name of Egypt to its possessions in Libya, Ethiopia, and Syria; since, making every allowance for the flourishing condition of this highly fertile country, the number of towns they mention is too disproportionate for the sole valley of Egypt. Our knowledge of the more ancient cities of Egypt is very limited, and that knowledge for the most part is preserved by existing remains. Among the most remarkable of these cities is

NO, NO-AMMON, DIOSPOLIS, OR THEBES.

Thebes was indeed the most ancient capital and renowned city of Egypt. It was probably built by the first settlers, Misraim and his family, whence Egypt is generally styled "the land of Misraim" in the original Scriptures, though usually rendered the land of Egypt. The origin of the city