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Egypt becomes an immense lake, where buildings, temples, and cities
appear as floating upon the inundation. Nor is this event a subject of
dread to the inhabitants; on the contrary, the overflowing of their
river is a day of public rejoicing to all the natives, which they
celebrate with songs and dances, and every symptom of extravagant joy.
Nor is this to be wondered at, when you are informed that this
inundation renders the soil which it covers the most abundant in the
world. Whatever land is covered by the waters, receives such an increase
of fertility, as never to disappoint the hopes of the industrious
husbandman. The instant the waters have retired the farmer returns to
his fields and begins the operation of agriculture. These labours are
not very difficult in a soft and yielding slime, such as the river
leaves behind it. The seeds are sown, and vegetate with inconceivable
rapidity, and, in a few weeks, an abundant harvest of every kind of
grain covers the land. For this reason all the necessaries of life are
easily procured by the innumerable multitudes which inhabit the country.
Nor is the climate less favourable than the soil; for here an eternal
spring and summer seem to have fixed their abode. No frost nor snow is
ever known to chill the atmosphere, which is always perfumed with the
smell of aromatic plants that grow on every side, and bring on a
pleasing forgetfulness of human care. But, alas! these blessings, great
as they may appear, produce the effect of curses upon the inhabitants.
The ease and plenty which they enjoy, enervate their manners, and
destroy all vigour both of body and mind. No one here is inflamed with
the sacred love of his country, or of public liberty; no one is inured
to arms, or taught to prefer his honour to his life;--the great business
of existence is an inglorious indolence, a lethargy of mind, and a
continual suspense from all exertion. The very children catch the
contagion from their parents; they are instructed in every effeminate
art--to dance in soft unmanly attitudes; to modulate their voices by
musical instruments, and to adjust the floating drapery of their dress.
These are the arts in which both sexes are instructed from their
infancy; but no one is taught to wield the arms of men, to tame the
noble steeds in which the country abounds, to observe his rank in war,
or to bear the indispensable hardships of a military life. Hence this
celebrated country, which has been in ev