ented, and I think with justice, as one
of the wonders of the world. I do not consider it as meriting this
appellation so much on account of its periodical and regular floods, in
which respect it is resembled by several other rivers, as on account
of another circumstance, in which, so far as I know, it is without a
parallel.

The Nile resembles the path of a good man in a wicked and worthless
world. It runs through a desert--a dry, barren, hideous desert; on the
parts of which adjoining its course it has deposited the richest soil in
the world, which it continually waters and nourishes. This soil has
been the source of subsistence to several powerful nations who have
established and overthrown mighty kingdoms, and have originated the
arts, the religion, the learning and the civilization of the greater
part of the ancient world. These nations, instructors and pupils, have
perished; but the remains of their stupendous labors, the pyramids and
the temples of Egypt, Nubia, and in the countries now visited for the
first time, at least for many ages, by minds capable of appreciating
the peoples who erected them, are more than sufficient to excite
astonishment and respect for the nations who founded them. The few in
stances that I have mentioned are such as have presented themselves to
my notice in sailing up the river, without my having the opportunity to
scrutinize them particularly, or time or means to pursue any researches
in the vicinity of those I have seen, by which doubtless many more would
be discovered. Some future traveler in these interesting and remote
regions, who may have the power and the means to traverse at his leisure
the banks and islands I have seen and admired, will, I believe, find
his labors rewarded by discoveries which will interest the learned, and
gratify the curious.

A voyage up the Nile may be considered as presenting an epitome of the
moral history of man. We meet at almost every stage with the monuments
of his superstition, his tyranny, or his luxury; but with few memorials
of his ingenuity directed with a view to real utility. We also every
where behold the traces of the vengeance of Almighty Justice upon his
crimes. Everywhere on the banks of the ancient river we behold
cities, once famous for power and luxury, a desolation, and dry like a
wilderness; and temples once famous, and colossal idols once feared, now
prostrate and confounded with the dust of their worshippers. "The flocks
lie dow