circumstances, make a dead pause at, and soon fell asleep after the fatigues of an exhausting day. Mercy and goodness had followed us thus far; and my heart was lifted up in praise and thanksgiving.

Many an interesting thought and feeling passed through my mind, when, in the light of the early morning, I first beheld the waters of the ancient Nile sparkling before me. I thought of the miraculous transaction of which this very river was, doubtless, the scene, as recorded in Exodus vii. 15-21:-"Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river's brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand. And thou shalt say unto him, the Lord God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness; and, behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear. Thus saith the Lord, in this thou shalt know that I am the Lord: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand, upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall loath to drink of the water of the river. And Moses

and Aaron did so as the Lord commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank; and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt."

The Nile is one of the most interesting objects of natural history, in addition to those associations of idea which scripture affords in reference to it. It is the noblest river of the old world. For the immense distance of one thousand three hundred and fifty nautical miles (that is, from Ilak in Nubia, where the Nile is joined by the river Takazze), it rolls on to its mouths in the Mediterranean, without receiving one

tributary stream; an unexampled instance," as Humboldt has remarked, "in the hydrographic history of the globe." It is to this noble river that Egypt owes its fertility, and probably its existence.

The Nile is well known to be remarkable for an annual overflow of its waters to a vast extent; and affords one of the most striking instances of providential provision for furthering the process of vegetation. Various theories of this phenomenon. have been proposed by numerous writers, from Homer and Herodotus downwards; and various accounts also have been given of the process of inundation. The following observations of Bruce are interesting and valuable. He remarks:"The air is so much rarified by the sun, during the time he remains almost stationary over the tropic of Capricorn, that the winds, loaded with vapours, rush in upon the land from the Atlantic ocean on the west, the Indian ocean on the east, and the cold Southern occan beyond the Cape. Thus, a great quantity of vapour is gathered, as it were, into a focus; and as the same causes continue to operate during the progress of the sun northward, a vast train of clouds proceeds from south to north, which are sometimes extended much further than at other times. In April, all the rivers in the south of Abyssinia begin to swell; in the beginning of June, they are all full, and continue so while the sun remains stationary in the tropic of Cancer. This excessive rain, which would sweep off the whole soil of Egypt into the sea, were it to continue without intermission, begins to abate as the sun turns southward; and on his arrival at the zenith of each place, on his passage towards that quarter, they cease entirely. Immediately after the sun has passed the line, he begins the rainy season to the southward. The rise of the Nile at Cairo does not commence till June; the green colour, produced either by the influx of corrupt or stagnant waters, or by the action of the hot south winds on the sluggish stream, appearing about the twelfth of that month. The red appearance, occasioned by the arrival of the Abyssinian waters, takes place early in July, from which the rise of the river may perfectly

be dated, as it then begins to increase rapidly. By the middle of August it reaches half its greatest height, and it attains its maximum towards the end of September. From the twentyfourth of that month, the waters are supposed to decline, but maintain nearly the same level till the middle of October. By the tenth of November, they have sunk about half, and from that period continue to subside very slowly till they reach their minimum in April. The regularity with which these phenomena occur, will appear the more remarkable, when taken in connection with all the circumstances which distinguish this wonderful stream."

The swell of the river varies in different parts of the channel. In Upper Egypt, it is from thirty to thirty-five feet. At Cairo, it is about twenty-five feet; whilst in the northern part of the Delta, it does not exceed four feet; which is owing to the artificial channels and the breadth of the inundation; yet the four feet of increase is as necessary to the fertility of the Delta, as the twenty-three or thirty feet elsewhere. Very little rain ever falls in Egypt-and in Upper Egypt is scarcely known. In Lower Egypt, a very slight and almost momentary shower is all that is ever experienced, even during the cool part of the year. Therefore the irrigation which the land receives through the direct overflow of the Nile, and by means of the canals which convey its waters where the inundation does not directly extend, is quite essential to that fertility for which Egypt has at all times been proverbial. The inhabitants of Egypt have, with great labour, cut a vast number of canals and trenches, through the whole extent of the land. These canals are not opened until the river has attained a certain height, nor yet all at the same time, as the distribution of the water would then be unequal. The sluices are closed when the waters begin to subside, and are gradually opened again in the autumn, allowing the waters to pass on to contribute to the irrigation of the Delta.

We have, in all the details of the annual inundation of this river, a striking exemplification of the providence of God.

THE NILE-BOAT-CREW.

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The fertility of the country depends upon the waters reaching a certain medium; for, if they do not rise to a certain minimum, famine is the result; and if they exceed a certain maximum, consequences scarcely less calamitous resultwhole villages are then liable to be swept away, with all the corn, cattle, and inhabitants. The waters, however, usually reach this medium, which is higher or lower in different parts of the country, according as those parts are visited with less or more copious supplies of rain; the rise is so regular, that it may be calculated upon within a very few days of its taking place; and yet the actual cause of it exists at least two thousand miles from some of the parts where it is experienced. It is no wonder that the Egyptians, looking no further than to the river itself for the source of all their natural blessings, should deify and worship it.'

Early on the morning of the thirtieth of April, our Nile-boat was ready, the baggage on board, and soon we were on the broad bosom of the ancient river. Aft, upon the deck, we had a snug little cabin, with windows on each side: no beds, but a dewan, or raised and cushioned seat all roundjust enough to afford convenience for stretching out our limbs during the nights we were destined to spend on board. Our crew consisted of the Reis or captain, a fine dark complexioned Arab, in his white turban and white tunic; a pilot of the same caste; eight sailors, six of them Arabs, and the remainder Abyssinians. The latter were finely formed men, and as black as ebony. Besides the crew, we had Ahmet, a Copt, with a face like the sphynx, as our cook; and Ali Mahommed, a clever, intelligent Arab (speaking a little English and more Italian), as our butler, valet, footman, &c.-all in one! Our first meal, on the Nile, was breakfast: an amusing affair-of boiled meat, eggs, bread, buffalo's butter, and coffee, served up on a towel for a table-cloth.

We made way tolerably well, till towards the evening, when

1 See Bible Cyclopædia.

the wind tacked against us, and it was in vain to attempt progress. We laid by therefore patiently, in hope of one of those sudden changes which are SO common on the Nile, and of which we afterwards had frequent experience. Soon after midnight, the wind turned in our favour, and we made way most successfully. The noble river lay like a surface of glass around us; and the recently risen moon cast a lovely path of rays across the wide expanse; while our winged bark glided onwards amidst others of its kind, like objects in a dream. The grasshoppers were chirping their roundelay on the distant banks, and all our Arabs, except three, lay along on the deck, reposing after the labours of the day. The night was so lovely that it banished sleep from my eyelids. The silence of the scene was indescribable; and I felt too, I was in the region of wonder and august recollection; in the land to which the tender babe of Bethlehem was transported by night, in obedience to a divine command, beyond the reach of the tyrant Herod. It might have been such a night as this; and this very moon perhaps enlightened the pathway of its incarnate Creator. I remembered, moreover, that I was in the land over which Joseph ruled, and in which he glorified the God of Israel; where Israel groaned under cruel taskmasters; where Jehovah called forth his distinguished servants, Moses and Aaron, to their arduous work, and stretched forth his hand in marvellous and miraculous ministration, on behalf of a people whom he had chosen for himself, and bound to him by a lasting covenant.

If the loveliness of the night, and the current of thoughts in my mind had not kept me wakeful, I certainly should have been deprived of rest, by the swarms of vermin which broke loose upon me, when I lay down on the dewan. I found it quite useless to close my eyes, so I sat on deck, watching for the dawning of May-day. It was a bright dawning indeed, and the morning air was so bland and soft, there seemed to be health and restoration in it. The day passed delightfully, and we made steady way, with the almost level sandy banks of the river about us, seldom relieved even by a palm tree.