Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 3.djvu/737

 THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 711

believe, hath been, the occafion of both, and very often the malice of the Arabs ; for there are in Egypt, from Siout down- wards, great remains of ancient works, vaft lakes, canals, and large conduits for water, deftined by the ancients to keep this river under controul, ferving as refervoirs to fupply a fcanty year, and as drains, or outlets, to prevent the over abundance of water in wet years, by fpreading it in the thirfly fands of Libya to the great advantage of the Arabs, rather than letting it run towafte in the Mediterranean. The mouths of thefe im- menfe drains being out of repair, in a fcanty year, contribute by their evacuation to make it ftill fcantier by not retaining water, and if after a dearth they are well fecured, or raifed too high, and a wet feafon follows, they then occafion a deftructive inundation.

I hope I have now fatisfied the reader, that Egypt was never an arm of the fea, or formed by fediments brought down in the Nile, but that it was created with other parts of the globe at the fame time, and for the fame purpofes ; and we are warranted to fay this, till we receive from the hand of Providence a work of fuch imperfection, that its destruction can be calculated from the very means by which it was firft formed, and which were the apparent fources of its beauty and pre-eminence. Egypt, like other countries, will perifh by x.hefut of Him that made it, but when, or in what manner, lies hid where it ought to be, inacceflible toa the ufelefs, vain inquiries, and idle fpeculations of man.

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