wide ocean of the Wilderness naturally suggests these questions, but their solution is neither easy nor obvious. Desaix endeavoured to settle the difficulty, like a French philosopher, and arrived per saltum at the sweeping conclusion, that nature expended all her art in the perfection of the rest of the world, and left the Desert but half

made up.

This explanation is not very satisfactory; and, for want of a better, perhaps you will suffer me to offer my opinion on the subject. The Deserts I imagine, from the peculiarity of their situations, were the last places from which the waters of the Deluge retired; consequently the deposition of sand, in those places, was much greater than elsewhere. This sand is identical with that of the ocean, it is formed of the same transparent particles of quartz and silex. In all probability, in ancient times, it did not occupy the tenth part of the surface which it now does; but when population diminished and cultivation ceased, the sands in the interior were dispersed by the prevailing winds, particularly those of the north and west, over the plains, and the soil, for want of irrigation, became an arid surface plantation,

which above all impedes the accumulation of sand beyond it, when no longer attended to, favoured the desolation of the land.

On the seacoast, particularly of Egypt, the flatness of the country allows a free passage to the winds, which come loaded from the shore with particles of sand. This I particularly remarked on the shores of Rosetta and Damietta, near the Boghas, the setting up of a small stick on the shore would be a sufficient nucleus, in the course of a few months, for the formation of a mountain of sand. One thing is certain, that wherever there is water, no matter in what part of the Wilderness, there vegetation is to be found. The stopping up of canals, and the want of irrigation, are the great causes of desolation which favour the extension of the Desert.

The country from San to Salehie, and probably to Suez, was formerly a cultivated country: the ruins of palaces, such as those of Zoan and that of the Beit Pharoon, now in the middle of the Desert, prove that the country around them must have been cultivated, and that at a very short period before our era.

But though I have brought you into the Wil

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derness, I must not lead you into a labyrinth of speculations on its formation: I have, perhaps, something of more interest to say to you of Suez, and of the route of the Israelites, but this I must defer till I again have the pleasure of addressing

you.

I am, my dear Sir,

Yours very truly,

R. R. M.

LETTER XXXIV.

TO THE REV. D. M'PHERSON.

MY DEAR SIR,

Damietta, July 1, 1827.

THE town of Suez is a miserable place of abode, hemmed in between the arid Desert and a boisterous sea. There is not a spring within several miles of it, nor any sort of verdure in its vicinity. The water is carried from El Naba, near the fountains of Moses, seven or eight miles from Suez, and the provisions are brought from Cairo; the Governor has the water he drinks brought from the latter place, a distance of eighty miles, and he calculates the cost at a piastre a glassful.

The water of El Naba, though the best in the neighbourhood, has a saline bitter taste, which it is difficult to distinguish from that of a solution of glauber salts. It affected my stomach the first day, and shortly after produced a ringworm on

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my cheek, which occupied half my face; it increased daily in size, till it at length reached the lower eyelid. I thought it high time to check its progress, and this I accomplished, after trying a variety of remedies, by rubbing the surface with diluted muriatic acid thrice a day; the pain of the application was considerable, but the disease was wholly removed in the course of four days.

Suez is the Sierra Leon of Egypt: importunate Turks are appointed to offices, which they seldom live to enjoy long. Every one complains of ill health; the burning sun and the bitter water, in a short time, undermine the strongest constitutions. I believe there was not a respectable inhabitant of Suez who did not apply to me for advice. Diseased liver was very common, but enlargement of the spleen* was much more so. On this side of the Red Sea plague is little known, its ravages

* In all places where remittent, and especially intermittent fevers prevail, I found the spleen invariably affected; and, lately, in Rome, I had an opportunity of seeing the bodies of several patients opened, who had died of the malaria intermittent in the hospital of San Spirito; in every one of these the spleen was enlarged, sometimes occupying half the abdomen.