must be startled by these extravagant assertions; and they will become
more palpable, if we assume the compass and measure the extent of
habitable ground: a valley from the tropic to Memphis seldom broader
than twelve miles, and the triangle of the Delta, a flat surface of
two thousand one hundred square leagues, compose a twelfth part of
the magnitude of France. A more accurate research will justify a more
reasonable estimate. The three hundred millions, created by the error
of a scribe, are reduced to the decent revenue of four millions three
hundred thousand pieces of gold, of which nine hundred thousand were
consumed by the pay of the soldiers. Two authentic lists, of the present
and of the twelfth century, are circumscribed within the respectable
number of two thousand seven hundred villages and towns. After a long
residence at Cairo, a French consul has ventured to assign about four
millions of Mahometans, Christians, and Jews, for the ample, though not
incredible, scope of the population of Egypt.

IV. The conquest of Africa, from the Nile to the Atlantic Ocean, was
first attempted by the arms of the caliph Othman. The pious design was
approved by the companions of Mahomet and the chiefs of the tribes;
and twenty thousand Arabs marched from Medina, with the gifts and the
blessing of the commander of the faithful. They were joined in the camp
of Memphis by twenty thousand of their countrymen; and the conduct
of the war was intrusted to Abdallah, the son of Said and the
foster-brother of the caliph, who had lately supplanted the conqueror
and lieutenant of Egypt. Yet the favor of the prince, and the merit of
his favorite, could not obliterate the guilt of his apostasy. The early
conversion of Abdallah, and his skilful pen, had recommended him to the
important office of transcribing the sheets of the Koran: he betrayed
his trust, corrupted the text, derided the errors which he had made, and
fled to Mecca to escape the justice, and expose the ignorance, of the
apostle. After the conquest of Mecca, he fell prostrate at the feet of
Mahomet; his tears, and the entreaties of Othman, extorted a reluctant
pardon; out the prophet declared that he had so long hesitated, to allow
time for some zealous disciple to avenge his injury in the blood of
the apostate. With apparent fidelity and effective merit, he served the
religion which it was no longer his interest to desert: his birth and
talents gave him an honorable rank among