by the quantity. Being lightly impregnated with nitre, they are only a gentle aperient to those who take them to excefs. I will not fay, with many writers, they make the wo men prolific, and give ftrength and plump-' nefs to the men; the faithful hiftorian ought to stop where the marvellous begins, and re-late only what he can warrant. In Lower Egypt, the neighbourhood of the fea, the large lakes, and the abundance of the waters, moderate the fun's heat, and preferve a delightful temperature. Strabo and Diodorus Siculus, who long lived here, did not think the country unhealthy.. They have praifed its fruitful foil, its grateful productions, its stately monuments, and its great population; without mentioning the dreadful maladies of which the moderns have made it the feat. Herodotus pofitively fays, "The Egyptians are the most "healthy people on earth, which advantage. they owe to the falubrity of the air, and temperature of the climate, which feldom "varies; for most of the difeafes of men ought to be attributed to the rapid viciffi"tude of the feafons." To fome moderns, who have never feen this fine kingdom, and, especially, 66 especially, to M. Paw, it was referved to teach us a contrary doctrine. He pretends that, at present, "this country is become, "by the negligence of the Turks and Arabs, the cradle of the peftilence; that another "epidemical difeafe, equally dreadful, appears here, occafionally, brought to Cairo "by the caravans of Nubia; that the cul<ture of rice engenders numerous maladies, "that the want of rain and thunder occa+ *frons the air of the Thebais to acquire a "violence that ferments: the humours of "the human body, &c. (b)" These affertions have an air of probability which might inpofe on people who have not lived in Egypt; but M. Paw has ventured opinions in his closet, without the guidance of expe rience had he lived here, facts would have demonftrated the contrary. In vallies, inclofed by high mountains, where the atmosphere is not continually renewed by a current of air, the culture of rice is unwholefome, and the husbandman, often, pays with his life the rich harvest the earth yields. But not fo near Damietta and Rofetta. The plains are nearly on a level (b) Recherches fur les Egyptiens et les Chinais. with with the fea; neither hill nor height impede the refreshing breath of the north, which drives the clouds and exhalations of the flooded fields fouthward, continually purifies the atmosphere, and preserves the health of the people. Whether this, or any other, be the cause, of which I am ignorant, certainly, the husbandmen who cultivate the rice are not more fubject to diseases than those of the Thebais, who do not. I paffed the whole year amidst rice fields, which I every day went to fee watered, without finding the leaft inconvenience. An old furgeon, a native of Nice, and who, thirty years, had practifed at Damietta, has repeatedly confirmed what I have advanced on the healthiness of the country. The greatest torment of the inhabitants are the gnats and mufquitos, which, rifing by millions out of the marshes, swarm in the air and the houses. The handkerchief must be held in the hand all day. It is the first thing a visitor receives, and, at night, it is necessary to sleep under mufquiteros. Diseases of the eyes are the commoneft in Egypt, where the blind are numerous. This affliction ought not, wholly, to be attributed to ONE G Y P T. 215 to the reflected beams of a burning fun; for the Arabs, who live amidst fands, generally, have good eyes and a piercing fight: nor must we think, with Haffelquift(c), whose ftay was fhort in this country, that the difeafe was occafioned by the exhalations. of the ftagnant waters; for the French merchants, whofe houfes are on the banks of the canal of Grand Cairo, that for fix months in the year contains water the smell of which is infupportable, would be all blind, and for thefe fifty years not one has loft his fight (d). The origin of this disease, no doubt, is the Egyptian cuftom of fleeping in the open air, on the terraces of their houses, or near their huts, during fummer. The abundance of nitre in the atmofphere, and of night dews, attack the delicate organ of fight, and render them blind of one eye, or both. Eight thousand of thefe unfortunate people are decently maintained in the great mofque of Grand Cairo.. The fmall pox and ruptures are alfo very common in Egypt, without committing great (c) Voyage d'Egypte. (d) One, only, of thefe merchants became blind; but he lived in the city, not near the canal wherefore this proves nothing in favour of Hafelquift's opinion. ravages. As to pulmonary diseases, which, in cold countries, carry off fo many, in the prime of youth, they are unknown in this happy climate. Thofe, I am perfuaded, who are attacked by these cruel diseases, would recover health in a country where the air, oily, warm, moift, and replenished with the perfume of plants, and the oil of the earth, feems most favourable to the lungs (e). I must own, however, there is an unhealthy feason in Egypt. From February till the end of May, the fouth winds blow, at intervals, and load the atmosphere with a fubtle duft, which makes breathing difficult, and drive before them pernicious exhalations. Sometimes the heat becomes infupportable, and the thermometer fuddenly rifes twelve degrees. The inhabitants call this (e) M. Paw pretends the Egyptians have, in all ages, been leprous; but Herodotus, Strabo, and Diodorus Siculus, who knew the country well, do not mention the difeafe; a proof it was unknown there, in their time. In the Archipelago ifslands I have seen leprous people, fequeftered from fociety, as they were among the Jews, inhabiting huts, near the road fide, and afking alms: but in Egypt I never, in all my travels, met one of these wretches. feafon |