ns many rich Jews. The
country is never troubled with rain, ice, or snow, but is often afflicted
with insufferable heat. It is watered by the Nile, which begins to swell
every year in the month Elul, and continues swelling during that month and
Tisri[30], making the earth fruitful. The old Egyptians erected a fine
marble pillar of excellent workmanship in an island at this place, rising
twelve cubits above the ordinary surface of the river; and when the water
overflows that column, the inhabitants are satisfied that their whole
country is overspread for fifteen days journey. If the water rise only half
the height of the pillar, they then conclude that only half the country is
overflowed. A person is stationed by the pillar, who proclaims the height
of the water every day at noon. When the water rises to a sufficient
height, it indicates a year of fertility and plenty in Egypt; but when it
does not overflow, nothing is sown, and sterility and famine are the
consequences. The people of the country have trenches dug in their grounds,
in which great numbers of fish are caught when the river recedes, which
they either use in their families, or salt them for sale. These fish are
very fat, and supply oil for lamps. It is an old question, on which there
is great diversity of opinion, as to the cause of the overflow of the Nile;
but the Egyptians suppose, that it proceeds from the falling of heavy rains
in the land of Habash, which we call Havilah or Abyssinia. The fields are
usually sowed in the month of September, as the Nile has then retired into
its channel. Barley is reaped in February, and wheat in March; and in that
month, grapes, cherries, and almonds are ripe; and encumbers, gourds,
pease, beans, and lentils; and various pot-herbs, as purslain, asparagus,
lettuce, corianders, succory, coleworts, &c. The gardens and orchards are
watered by means of trenches filled from the Nile.

After passing Cairo, this great river divides into four branches, one of
which runs by Damietta, sometimes called Caphtor. The second runs near the
city of Rosir or Rosetta, not far from Alexandria. The third passes by
Asmon, a very large city on the eastern borders of Egypt. Near these great
branches, there are many cities, castles, and towns, to which people travel
partly by land, and partly by water. No country in the world can be
compared to this for the multitude of inhabitants; and the whole land is
plain, fruitful, and stored with good thin