Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Narrative Of The Expedition Of Buonaparte, And A Particular Account Of The Glorious Victory Of Admiral Nelson Over The French Fleet.
iMs surrounded by a stair-case in the whole of its length , the descent of which is so easy that camels and oxen go down it without the least difficulty . Cairo is three leagues in circumference ; but within this enclosure there are anunrber of gardens , back yards and unoccupied grounds , together with large heaps of ruins . Travellers differ much in their opinions respecting its population : according to Baron Totte if amounts
ro j 7 oo , ooo souls ; while Volney brings it only to 250 , 000 . But it is difficult to ascertain it with any strict precision , as the Mussulmen labour under a superstitious prejudice against all kind of counting , and therefore keep no registers either of births , deaths , or marriages . _ Among the curiosities that arrest the attention of a traveller irr ' this city may be numbered the prodigious quantity of hideous dogs that
everywhere infest the streets—kites that hover over the houses , annoying the inhabitants with their importunate and lugubrious cries-. Instead of destroying either of them , the Mussulmen hold them in profound respect , feed them with what falls from their tables , and sometimes go even so far as to found hospitals for the reception of straggling dogs ! Another strange phenomenon to be remarked in this city is , the prodi gious number of blind persons who are everywhere to be met with . ' Among one hundred persons , ' says Volney , ' it is not
uncommon to find twenty of them blind , ten blind of one eye , and twenty with their eyes enflamed and reddened over with purulent sores . ' The primary cause of this disease is supposed to be the predominance of saline particles in the air , which particularly abound in Delta ; and the secondary causes are , the iilthiness of the Egyptians and the quality of their food . In a climate scorched bthe sunwater is the first of all
necesy , saries . . . The Nile alone , unaided by the heavens , furnishes water - to the Egyptians . It is . therefore with well-grounded reason' that the Egyptians have from time immemorial entertained , and still do entertain , the most awful veneration for the Nile , which they call their _ ' holy and blessed Nurse . ' They anciently established festivals in its honour , and raised altars to it as to their Gods , or as to the mo .-t
powerful agent of their divinity ; and indeed , without the benefit of the Nile , what would become of Egypt ? What would it be but a long valley of barren sands , the abode of tygers and other wild beasts . . By the help of the Nile , it becomes the most fertile and the most irriguous soil in the world . During the first days of the month of June the Nile begins to swell , but its encrease is scarcely sensible till about the 24 th . At that period its waters begin to thicken , and grow muddy , and become of a reddish colour ; it continues to swell till towards the end of
August , and frequently until the middle of September . Repeated and sure experience proves that the degree of inundation most favourable to the fertility of the soil , is from ei ghteen to twenty-four fee ; . * When it hasattained this height the people abandon ' them-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Narrative Of The Expedition Of Buonaparte, And A Particular Account Of The Glorious Victory Of Admiral Nelson Over The French Fleet.
iMs surrounded by a stair-case in the whole of its length , the descent of which is so easy that camels and oxen go down it without the least difficulty . Cairo is three leagues in circumference ; but within this enclosure there are anunrber of gardens , back yards and unoccupied grounds , together with large heaps of ruins . Travellers differ much in their opinions respecting its population : according to Baron Totte if amounts
ro j 7 oo , ooo souls ; while Volney brings it only to 250 , 000 . But it is difficult to ascertain it with any strict precision , as the Mussulmen labour under a superstitious prejudice against all kind of counting , and therefore keep no registers either of births , deaths , or marriages . _ Among the curiosities that arrest the attention of a traveller irr ' this city may be numbered the prodigious quantity of hideous dogs that
everywhere infest the streets—kites that hover over the houses , annoying the inhabitants with their importunate and lugubrious cries-. Instead of destroying either of them , the Mussulmen hold them in profound respect , feed them with what falls from their tables , and sometimes go even so far as to found hospitals for the reception of straggling dogs ! Another strange phenomenon to be remarked in this city is , the prodi gious number of blind persons who are everywhere to be met with . ' Among one hundred persons , ' says Volney , ' it is not
uncommon to find twenty of them blind , ten blind of one eye , and twenty with their eyes enflamed and reddened over with purulent sores . ' The primary cause of this disease is supposed to be the predominance of saline particles in the air , which particularly abound in Delta ; and the secondary causes are , the iilthiness of the Egyptians and the quality of their food . In a climate scorched bthe sunwater is the first of all
necesy , saries . . . The Nile alone , unaided by the heavens , furnishes water - to the Egyptians . It is . therefore with well-grounded reason' that the Egyptians have from time immemorial entertained , and still do entertain , the most awful veneration for the Nile , which they call their _ ' holy and blessed Nurse . ' They anciently established festivals in its honour , and raised altars to it as to their Gods , or as to the mo .-t
powerful agent of their divinity ; and indeed , without the benefit of the Nile , what would become of Egypt ? What would it be but a long valley of barren sands , the abode of tygers and other wild beasts . . By the help of the Nile , it becomes the most fertile and the most irriguous soil in the world . During the first days of the month of June the Nile begins to swell , but its encrease is scarcely sensible till about the 24 th . At that period its waters begin to thicken , and grow muddy , and become of a reddish colour ; it continues to swell till towards the end of
August , and frequently until the middle of September . Repeated and sure experience proves that the degree of inundation most favourable to the fertility of the soil , is from ei ghteen to twenty-four fee ; . * When it hasattained this height the people abandon ' them-