affirm on their behalf that in their Divinations they were inclin'd to Astrology that they invented the occult Sciences and knew hidden Secrets that they made famous Talismans and noble Laws that they were the Authors of speaking Works and moving Figures that they raised high Structures and grav'd their Sciences on the hardest stones which were then soft like Earth water'd or Paste that they particularly excell'd in the Structure of Pyramids exactly built on which they made exquisite Talismans by means whereof they kept their Enemies from entering into their Cities and Provinces by that means giving a clear demonstration of the Prodigies of their Science and discovering the effects of their Wisdom Egypt was then they say divided into fourscore and five Provinces whereof there were forty five in the lower part and forty in the upper And in every Province there was a Governour taken from among the Princes of the Priests who are they of whom God speaks in the History of Pharaoh when he says Send Heralds through the cities to bring unto thee all the learned Magicians he means those Governours They say that the Cities of the Princes of the Magicians were built by Busiris The Priest who served the Stars was seven years in that Imployment and when he was come to that degree they called him Cater as much as to say Master of the Influences and then he sate in the same Seat with the King and the King led his Beasts to the Watering-place and brought them back that is did all his business according to his counsel When he saw him coming he rose up to receive him went to meet him and made him sit down Then the Priests approched and with them the Masters of the Arts who stood beneath the Cater Every Priest served one particular Star and was not permitted to serve any other and he was called the Servant of such a Star as the Arabians served every one his own God and were called Gabdosamse Gabdiagoth Gabdolgasi that is Servant of Samse or the Sun Servant of Jagoth Servant of Gasi The Cater said to the Priest Where is now the Star which thou servest The Priest replied It is in such a Sign such a Degree such a Minute Then he put the same question to another and when all had answered and that he knew the Position of all the Stars he addressed himself to the King and said thus to him It is requisite that you do such a thing to day that you send an Army to such a place that you clothe your self after such a manner that you speak at such a time and so of all he thought fit to be done in all the Kings Affairs and in all the Government of the Kingdom The King writ down all the Cater said and whatever he disapprov'd Then he turn'd to the Artists and said thus to them Grave thou such a Figure on such a Stone and Plant thou such a Tree and to another Make thou a Geometrical Draught of such a Work and so to all from the first to the last Immediately they all went every one to his Shop and beset themselves to do the works enjoyned them exactly following the design propos'd to them by the Cater They set down that day in a Register the Works performed therein and the Register was folded up and kept in the Kings Treasury Their Affairs were dispatch'd according to this order then the King when he had any Affair assembled the Priests without the City Memphis and the People met together in the Streets of the said City Then they made their entrance one after another in order the Drum beating before them to bring the people together and every one made some miraculous discovery of his Magick and Wisdom One had to their thinking who look'd on him his Face surrounded with a light like that of the Sun so that none could look earnestly upon him Another seem'd clad with a Robe beset with Precious stones of divers colours green red or yellow or wrought with gold Another came mounted on a Lion compass'd with Serpents like Girdles Another came in cover'd with a Canopy or Pavilion of light Another appear'd surrounded with Fire turning about him so as that no body durst come near him Another was seen with dreadful Birds perching about his Head and shaking their wings like black Eagles and Vultures Another made appear before him in the air dreadful and terrible persons and winged Serpents In fine every one did what was taught him by the Star he served yet all was but Apparition and Illusion without any reality insomuch that when they came up to the King they spake thus to him You imagin'd that it was so or so but the truth is that it was such or such a thing There was heretofore in ancient Masre which is Emsos a King-Priest named Gancam of the race of Gariac the Son of Aram of whom the ancient Egyptians tell several stories part whereof are beyond all likelihood He liv'd before the Deluge which he by his Science foresaw whereupon he commanded the Doemons who accompanied him to build him a Palace beyond the Equinoctial Line which the ruines of this Universe could not reach They built the Castle seated on the descent of the mountain of the Moon which is the Castle of Brass where are the Brazen Statues in number LXXXV out of the Throats whereof issues the Water of the Nile which falls into a Fen full of Gravel whence the water of the Nile flows into Egypt and other Climats distributed and proportionably compass'd for were it not for that it would spread over the greatest part of the Earth The Spirits having built him that Castle he had the curiosity to see it and make his abode therein To that end he sate in a Pavilion made purposely with much artifice and the Spirits carried him on their shoulders to the Castle where having consider'd the excellency of the Structure and beauty of its Walls with the Sculptures and the Paintings that were about it and the Figures of the Celestial Bodies and divers other wonderful things for in the greatest obscurity of the night people saw clearly without Torches There were Tables set and spread with all sorts of Meat yet none perceiv'd to set them there so all sorts of Drinks in vessels of Marble Gold and Silver which he made use of yet were they not increased or diminished In the middest of the Castle there was a Cistern of Water congeal'd into Ice whereof the motion might be perceived through that part which was frozen as one sees through a Glass what is contained in it Having considered all this he was astonished thereat and immediately returned into Egypt where he left for his Lieutenant and Successour his Son Gariac recommending his Subjects to him and the Government of the Kingdom and then he return'd to the Castle and continued there till he died He is thought to be Author of the Books of the Coptites out of
Ocean out of which they affirmed the Nile to take its origine but they explicated not after what manner this was done Others affirmed that this overflux proceeded from the Snow which they pretended was dissolved in Summer upon the sides of the Nile Herodotus refutes all these conjectures and then gives his own opinion which is that the Nile coming from some very remote parts of the South that is from a Countrey from which the Sun is far distant in Summer when it is very near Aegypt its course which at its coming out of the source is always equally big comes then quite to Aegypt without losing any thing of its fulnesse in regard the Sun consumes nothing or very little of it whereas in Winter it decreases much by the way for the contrary reason which is that the Sun being then directly upon its waters devours a great part thereof Strabo who thought not this reason of Herodotus more probable then the others recurs to that which he says had been observed by Homer when he called Aegypt that is to say the Nile in Homerical terms a River falling from Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He would therefore have the overflux of the Nile proceed from the Summer-rains which saith he are frequent in Ethiopia according to their Relation who have sailed on the Red Sea as far as the Countrey which produces Cinnamon as also of those who have been at the Hunting of Elephants The Relation of the Monk Cosmas inserted by the most Learned and Ingeniously curious person Monsieur Thevenot in the First Part of his Collections says methinks the same thing But besides that the sources of the Nile are at a far greater distance then is supposed by that reason alledged also by our Author in its proper place there is no great likelihood that the rains should be so frequent in Summer in a Countrey next adjoyning to Aegypt where it never rains and more Southerly then it Whence it comes that at this time the ablest Philosophers endeavours to find out some other cause of so considerable an effect and Monsieur de la Chambre among others by an extraordinary sagacity hath found out one for it in the Bowels of the Land of Aegypt whose Nitrous qualities stirred by the heats of Summer are in his judgement capable of causing the Waters of that River to rise up to so great an overflux as we see by experience that it does This opinion when we shall have comprehended the subtile Discourses and considered the excellent remarks whereby that great great person confirms it will doubtless be found the most likely to be true Monsieur Chapelain to whom most of the Virtuosi do now give an account not onely of their works but also of their designs out of the confidence they have of his excellent judgment and sincere advice told me not long since that the most Learned and most Eloquent Monsieur Vossius hath a Treatise ready on the same Subject wherein we are like to meet with many things yet unknown to us To make it appear then that I have also made some reflections on this Miracle I shall here set down the reason I have imagined to my self for it which does not contradict Homer though it agrees not with Strabo for it will haply suffice those who may not have the leisure to examine such as are more subtile I observe then in the first place that to my thinking it is affirmed by Macinus that the risings of the Nile are framed above Aegypt For towards the end of his forty eighth Chaliph he says that the Nile being very low in the time of Michael Patriarch of Alexandria that Prelate was sent by the Mustanser Choliph of Aegypt to the King of the Abyssines who upon his intreaty having cleared the passage of the Water it rose in Aegypt three Cubits in one night and came to its height I suppose next the two propositions by me already alledged That the sources of the Nile are far beyond the Equinoctial Line and That its course thence into Aegypt is in length above twelve hundred leagues that is fourteen of fifteen hundred I suppose further that at the Sources of the Nile as in many other places the Waters are higher in Winter then in Summer according to what is affirmed by F. Maffaeus in his first Book of the History of the Indies where he has this passage Processit ad ostium ingentis Fluvii qui exipsis Nili fontibus originem trahens Zaires ab incolis dicitur actanta aquarum vi praesertim hyeme sese in Oceanum infert ut prodatur in octaginta millia passuum ab eo vinci mare I suppose moreover that the Waters of the Nile when they are high advance within the Chanel wherein they flow at about the rate of four leagues a day according to what observation I have made upon the like occasion For those who have seen the Nile overflown in Aegypt have assur'd me that its course is about the same rate of swiftnesse as that of the Seine when it is in the same condition at Paris Now the waters of the Seine and the Rivers falling into it according to my computation when they are risen make about the same measure of way every day For at Montereul in Normandy where I writ this we have a small River which is of that number and into which there come Waters when it is high from about four leagues distance though its ordinary current comes but from the Spring of Ternant distant from it but a league and a half When this little River rises of a sudden by a storm as it happens often and that sometimes even in Summer the Waters are up but one day at Montereul which argues that those which come last are a day in running the four leagues whence they come There passes by Cernieres which is but half a league from the same place another small River into which there come Waters from a distance double to the other whence it comes that they are up two days whereas they are but one at Montereul In the last Inundation of the Seine which was great and sudden enough at the end of Winter in the Year 1665 by reason of the abundance of Snow which was dissolved in a short time I observed being then at Paris that the Waters began to rise the 18th day of February and continued till the end of that Moneth after which they notably decreased till the 10th of March which discovers that the last-arrived were twenty days coming from the places where the Snow was dissolved Those places I conceive to be about fourscore leagues from Paris and consequently those Waters had advanced about four leagues a day All this supposed I say for example that the Waters which cause the overflowing of the Nile this day being the first of August in Aegypt were got together in the places where its course began about a Year before whether occasioned by Rain or Snow melted Wherein there
feet on which you are mounted even in the place where you now are Immediately the King was obliged to put back his Horse from the place where he was seeing the water springing up under his Feet by the permission of God As soon as he was got to another place behold his Messengers returning to him tell him that the water was very much risen and augmented which forc'd him to a sudden departure to return with all speed to his Castle that he might take his Servants and his Children and dispose them into the Fortresses which he had prepared on the tops of the Mountains and where he had put in provisions as much as he imagin'd would be necessary But presently the Earth began to open and the Feet of the Horses to enter into it so that they could not get them out which obliged them to get off and to leave them there In like manner the doors of Heaven were opened and let fall a great Rain as if water had been poured out of great Earthen Pots so that the waters overtook them ere they could recover the Mountains and hindered their getting up to them They justled and thrust one another and knew not which side to turn by reason of the violence of the Thunder and Lightning and the greatness of the evil which was come upon them The Women carried their Children at their backs then when the water was come up to their mouths they cast them under their feet and endeavoured to save themselves Had God been disposed to have compassion on the Unbelievers he would have been merciful to the Mother and the Child One of Noah's Sons was with the King the Son of Darmasel when he came to fire the Ship His Father cried out to him O my dear Son Embarque thy self with us I will retire said he into a Mountain which shall secure me from the water Noah answered him according to what God had taught him I 〈…〉 onely the mercy of God which c 〈…〉 this day preserve any body from 〈◊〉 chastisements He was destined misery and destruction and he w 〈…〉 one of those who were drowned T 〈…〉 water rose above the Earth 40 C 〈…〉 bits and above the Mountains 〈◊〉 Cubits All that was upon the 〈◊〉 face of the Earth perished the Math 〈…〉 and Signs therefore were defaced 〈◊〉 the permission of God there remain 〈…〉 only the Ark and those within 〈◊〉 Those who adore the Stars affi 〈…〉 nevertheless that there rema 〈…〉 ed some places upon the Ea 〈…〉 which the waters of the Delu 〈…〉 reached not but the Mussulmans de 〈…〉 it The Persians whom God curs 〈…〉 say the History of the Deluge is n 〈…〉 true and make no mention of th 〈…〉 Prophecy of Noah in regard they a 〈…〉 Magi by Religion and adore the Fir 〈…〉 The Indians affirm in like manner that there happened nothing of it i 〈…〉 their Countrey and so also the Inhabitants of the Maritime Countries and of most of the Indian Islands They say the Ark continued on the water six Moneths that it Sail'd by all the Countries of the Earth in the East and in the West and that one week it compass'd about the place of the square Temple They had with them a large Sea-Pearl put on a Thread by means whereof they in the Ship distinguished between Day and Night and the hours of Prayer They had also their Cock which Crew to call up the People to Divine Service It is written in the Law of Moses that God swore by himself that he would not punish any Nation by the Deluge after the Nation of Noah I found says the Author of this Book Murtadi the Son of Gaphiphus on whom God have mercy in a Book the greatest part whereof was torn out the History of Noah with considerable Additions and Augmentations which I will fully set down here to the end this Book may want no advantage which may raise its value with those who shall read it or hear it read with the direction and assistance of God These Augmentations then relate that the Patriarch the Father of Noah Gods peace be with him dreamt that he saw issuing out of his Mouth a fire which burnt the whole Terrestrial World He thereupon awaked much astonished Some days after he dreamt again that he was upon a Tree in the midst of a great Sea without Shores which also astonish'd him very much After that there being born to him a Son the Prophet of God Noah the good tidings of it spread over the whole Earth and the Priest Galoumas related it immediately to Mechavel the Son of Darmasel assuring him further that the Terrestrial world should perish in his time that is in the time of Noah whose life was to be very long The Priests knew also by their Sciences that there would happen a Deluge which should drown the Earth and its Inhabitants but they always hoped to secure themselves from what should happen with King Darmasel The King therefore commanded that there should be strong Castles built on the tops of the Mountains that they might retire thither and be safe as they imagined They built seven Castles of that kind according to the number of their Idols whereof they gave them the names and graved thereon their Sciences After that Noah being grown up God grant him peace and mercy God sent him to them for an Apostle and there happen'd to him what God himself relates in his Book Noah was of delicate complexion his Head was somewhat long his Arms very large as also his Leggs his Thighs very fleshy his Beard long and broad he was large and thick He was the first Prophet that came after Edrisus and he is numbered among the famous Envoys for their constancy and resolution He liv'd 1250 years The Philosophers will not have him live so long as differing among themselves about long lives His law prescribed the profession of the Unity of God and the Sacred Combat against those who opposed the establishment of his Religion commanding the good and forbidding the evil ordered the following of things permitted and the avoiding of things forbidden and the observance of purity and cleanliness Almighty God had commanded him to induce his Nation to the proefession of his Unity to mind them of the good things they had received of him and to raise in them a fear of his indignation The History relates that Noah was born in the Reign of Mechavel the Son of Darmasel and that being two hundred years of age Mechavel died and had for Successor his son Darmasel who was much addicted to the worship of the Idols exalting them as much as lay in his power and commanding the People to serve them well In the mean time Noah began to Preach the Religion of Almighty God going through the Market-places the Assemblies the Temples the Inns and calling the people to God They kept his Preaching secret and discovered nothing of it to King Darmasel till such
of God Gracious and Merciful God bless Mahumet and his Family From Gabdol Omar the son of Chettabus Commander of the Faithful to the Nile of Egypt After that If thou hast flow'd hitherto onely by thy own virtue flow no more but if it hath been the Only and Almighty God that hath caused thee to flow we pray the Only Great and All-mighty God to make thee flow again Gods peace and mercy be with Mahumet the Idiot-Prophet and his Family Gamrou took the Note and came to the Nile one day before they celebrated the Feast of the Cross the Egyptians and others being ready to leave the Countrey for they could not carry on their affairs nor subsist therein but by the annual overflowing of the Nile but the next morning they found that God had caused the Waters to rise sixteen Cubits in one night So God delivered the Mussulmans out of that affliction praise and thanksgiving be to him for it Gabdol the son of Gamrou the son of Gasus Gods peace be with them both speaks thus of the Nile The Nile of Egypt is the Lord of Rivers God obliges all the Rivers from the the East to the West to wait on it at the time of its overflowing he turns them all into its Chanel and increases its course with their waters When God would have the Nile of Egypt to overflow for the convenience of the Inhabitants the other Rivers lend it their waters and God causes new Springs to rise out of the Earth When its course is risen to the height that God would he orders the waters to return to their Sources God All-mighty speaks thus of it And we have made them to issue out of the Gardens and the Fountains and out of the manured lands and out of the precious places The Gardens saith he were the two sides of the Nile from its beginning to its end upon both the Banks between Syene and Rasid Egypt had then sixteen Cubits of water accounting from the lowest part of the flat Countrey They empty'd and filled the Chanels and Rivulets of it every year What was yet more noble were the Places appointed for Orations which were a thousand in number upon which they called upon God for Pharao and they pray'd him to grant him a long life and to make him liberal and of easie access Aburaham the Semaguian in his Comment upon these words of Pharao Is not the Kingdom of Egypt mine and the rest of the Verse peaks thus There was then no greater King upon Earth then the King of Egypt for all the other Kings stood in need of Egypt All the Currents were made with the hands of Men and the Aqueducts and the Fountains and the Bridges all according to Measure and Geometrical proportion They drew them out of the Nile and brought them into all their Houses and into all their Castles and made them flow under the places of their Habitations detaining them when they pleased and dismissing them in like manner Mechacol the Son of Tabicus speaks of it in these terms I have read a hundred Books upon the Law of Moses and have found in one of them that there are seven Climats in the world which pray to God every year weeping and crying and say O Lord send plenty into Egypt and make its Nile flow For when Egypt is water'd we have Meat and Drink enough Withall there is on our surface of Wild Beasts and Reptiles and Tame and Rational Creatures Gabdol the son of Gamrou said By the true God I know not any year wherein the Inhabitants of Egypt went out of their Countrey to seek a subsistence elsewhere We shall never go out of it says one of them if some enemy do not force us thereto Not so reply'd he but your Nile shall be swallowed under ground so that there shall not be a drop of it left It shall be full of Sand-banks and the wild Beasts of the Earth shall devour its Fishes Jezidus the son of Chebibus speaks thus of it The Nile of Egypt in the time of Pharao and the Precedent Kings had People appointed to make its Chanels to repair its Bridges and Banks and to clear its Rivulets and Trenches of Oziers Ordures Paper-plants and what ever might obstruct the course of the Water when there was occasion to the number of six score thousand Work-men always ready to work Winter and Summer receiving their pay Monethly out of the publick Treasury as the Soldiery as well by Sea as Land receiv'd theirs out of the Kings Money The son of Lahigus saith that he heard it of one of Alexandria that the Nile one day discover'd a Rock on which there was somewhat written in the Roman Language which was read and signify'd as followeth I do what is good and he seems to forget it but when I do what is evil he remembers it well He who is such will not be long ere he meet with a long repose An Abbridgement of what is said of Pharao and how God destroy'd him by the Decree of his Divine Will Gali the son of Abutalchus speaks thus of him Pharao King of Egpyt was a Dwarf or little Man but seven spans in height Others say he was three Cubits high and that his Beard was two Cubits long so that when he sate he drew one Cubit of it on the ground before him He twisted up his Mustachoes and put them above his two ears When the water of the Nile was turned into Blood in the time of Moses Pharao drunk the juice of Orange-leaves with fine Sugar put into it Some affirm he was of low Stature mark'd with white spots and that he trod on his Beard it was so long Abubeker the Truth-teller Gods peace be with him said that Pharao had lost all his Teeth Others affirm he was of the Race of the Amalekites Others say he had a large fleshy face Others say they call'd him Abumarus that is Married Others say he was a Weaver of Ciprus an Inhabitant of Ispahan and that Haman was his Associate that both of them became poor and lost all they had so that necessity having forc'd them to quit the Countrey and run away they came together into Egypt and prevail'd so much by their sleights and artifices that they became Masters of it and that there happened to them what God revealed to Mahumet Gods peace and merey be with him as it is related by the son of Gubasus Others say that Pharao was a Coptite of a City named Damra the most Western of any in Egypt and that his name was Dolmes Mahumet the son of Gali the son of Gabdol the Teminian says thus A Barbarian Egyptian of the Inhabitants of Copta skill'd in the History of Egypt and what concerns the nature and properties of the Countrey told me that he found it written in one of their ancient Books that the Nile of Egypt hath its rising out of a Lake in the most remote Countries of the West on both
Gods mercy on him One of the Grandees of Egypt God shew him mercy related to me that heretofore in the Lampe-street in Masre on the Festival day after the great Feast of the Moneth Ramadan they set Kettles full of Flesh and Baskets full of Bread and that they called with a loud voice such as had need thereof as they call people to Water on the High-ways and that it happened sometimes the greatest part remained there all Night upon the place so few would take of it The remainder was carried to the Prisoners and they answered we have enough to live upon thanks be to God The Land of Egypt was then the most plentiful of any in the world the most Populous and the best cultivated and where there was more convenience of Habitation and Subsistance The Masich relates in his Annals and others affirm also that the Egyptians when they saw the Nile at the highest gave Almes released Slaves cloath'd Orphans relieved Widows and such as were destitute of Succour out of their thankfulness to God for the kindness he did them in raising the course of the Nile to its height They relate that Pharaoh after he grew Proud and Insolent and Impious commanded a Castle to be built on the descent of Mount Mactam and that his Visier Haman according to this order got workmen together from all parts of Egypt so that there were a hundred and fifty thousand Architects with what Trades-men Handy-craftsmen and Labourers were requisite He caused Brick and Mortar to be made Timber to be felled and Nails to be made then they began their Building and raised it so high that never any had done the like before for the Masons were no longer able to stand on their Feet to work But the All-mighty and All-good God about Sun-set sent Gabriel Gods peace be with him who smote the Castle with his Wing and cleft it into three pieces one whereof fell on Pharaoh's Army where it kill'd a thousand Men another fell into the Sea and appeared there like a high Mountain and the third fell into the Western Land There was not so much as one of the Coptites who wrought within it saved they all peperish'd They relate that thereupon Pharaoh was so proud as to cast an Arrow at Heaven God willing to try him returned his Arrow to him all bloody Whereupon he cry'd out I have killed Moses's God God is infinitely above what impious men can do he does what he pleases with his Servants God therefore at that very time sent Gabriel who did to the Castle as we have related One of those who were impious and proud and arrogant in the Land of Egypt was Caron the Cup-bearer He was an Israelite Cousin-german to Moses Gods peace be with him for Caron was the son of Jashar the son of Caheb and Moses was the son of Gamran the son of Caheb Others say Moses was Caron's Sisters son he was called Caron the Bright by reason of the beauty of his Face He was the most diligent of the Children of Israel in the reading of Moses's Law but he became a Hypocrite as the Samerian was and said Since the Prophecy belonged to Moses and the Sacrifice and the Oblation and the knowledge of the Law to Aaron what remains there for me They relate that Moses having brought the Chil-of Israel through the Sea gave Caron a Commission to interpret the Law and to collect the Offerings and made him one of the Chiefs The Offerings belonged then to Moses but he bestowed them on his Brother whereat Caron was troubled and envy'd them both and spoke thus to them Behold now the command is come absolutly into your hands and I have nothing to do with the affairs of the Children of Israel How long shall I suffer this It is God reply'd Moses who thus disposes of things I will not believe it reply'd Caron if you do not confirm it to me by a Miracle Then Moses commanded the Children of Israel to come all to him every one with his Rod then he ty'd all those Rods together and cast them into the Tent where God ordinarily revealed his Will to him They kept a Guard about the Rods all night and the next morning they found Aaron's Rod shaking with the Wind covered all over with green Leaves That Rod was made of a Branch of Almond-trees This is no more miraculous said Caron then what the Magicians daily perform He became thence forward more impious then before more wicked more envious and more malicious against Moses and Aaron as God affirms in his Book when he saith Caron was of the People of Moses but he was unjust towards them Injustice here signifies a persecution without any cause and a malicious and irrational Dispute Others affirm that Pharao appointed Caron to govern the Children of Israel and that he treated them injuriously and tyrannically Tyranny they say proceeds from greatness that is from the eminence and advantage which any one hath over others The advantage he had over them was grounded on his great Wealth and the multitude of his children He made say they his Garments larger by a span then theirs His Keys say they that is the Keys of his Store-houses were carried by sixty Mules Evere Store-house had its Key and every Key was but a Finger long they were of Leather Some affirm expounding that passage of the Book of the All-mighty and All-good God where it is said of him I have not received it but according to the knowledge which is within me that he was the best skilled of his time in the Law of Moses On the contrary others affirm he was skilled in Chemistry Saguid the son of Musib says that Moses had the Science of Chemistry and that he taught a third purt of it to Josuah the son of Nun a third to Caleb the son of Jethnas and a third to Caron but that Caron served the other two so well that he learnt the whole Science from them both and that afterwards he took Lead and Copper and changed it into pure Gold Others affirm that Moses taught his Sister Chemistry inasmuch as his Devotion made him despise Gold and that his Sister taught it Caron who was her Husband They relate that Moses said it was a provision for the life of this World and that he had no need thereof because it was a perishable thing and far distant from the truth which is All-mighty God and that he quitted what was perishable which his Devotion permitted him not to desire and satisfy'd himself with what was neer All-mighty God They say that Caron went abroad one day on a white Mule he had covered with a Foot-cloth of Purple and a Golden Saddle accompany'd by four thousand young Men and three hundred beautiful young Maids clad in Silk and set out with Jewels and Ornaments of great value and divers colours so that he had marching on his right hand three hundred young men and on his left
beauty of the Original and the Gold glittering in the two first pages after the manner of other Books cuâ—iously written in the East had not engaged my longer consideration of them whereby I was satisfied that the Italian Inscription was not answerable to the Arabian Art and could not forbear crying out O soeculum infelixâ— as Erasmus did upon a like occasion having found as he saith Commentaries on Mimus Publianus Qui neque coelum neque â—erâ—â—m attingerent tamen accuratissime depictos ceu rem sacram This impertinent title had no doubt been given our Manuscript by a person who had casually cast his eye on some passages where it mentions the Enchanters of Egypt and the same injury might haply have be done by a like precipitation to the Sacred Books of Genesis and Exodus wherein there is also mention made of those Magicians and the wonderful effects of their Magick which they had the impudence to compare with the Divine miracles of Moses and Aaron These Enchanters then are part of the subject of this Book but not all as being one of the things which many ages since had raised admiration in those who considered Egypt but not the onely one nor the principal in a Country where the Earth the Waters and the Air out-vy one the other in affording extraordinary subjects of Meditation to Philosophers upon natural things and whose Inhabitants have signalized themselves by their prodigious structures and by the invention even of Philosophy it self The Land of Egypt is it self a stranger in the place of its situation if we credit the conjectures of it of Philosophers who have attentively viewed and considered it it came thither from a Countrey so remote that the industry of men could never settle any Commerce for the importation of fruits from those places whence nature conveys them the very soil whereby they are produced The air there is in a perpetual serenity never disturbed at any Season of the Year with Snow Hail Rain Lightning or Thunder The Waters there rise to a prodigious height during the greatest heats of Summer when they are elsewhere lowest or dryed up and in Winter when they are every where either frozen up or over-flown they there gâ—id gently below their ordinary course The surface of the Earth is spread with a pleasant verdure with so sweet a temperature of the Air that the fairest Springs of other Countries come not near it In the Moneth of March the Harvest ready to be cut down guilds the pregnant Fields which are devested thereof before the Moneth of April And in the Moneths of July and August the same Fields are changed into so many Seas and the Cities and Villages into so many Islands by a fortunate inundation which spares the Inhabitants the trouble of tilling and manuring them as must of necessity be done elsewhere for the Egyptians have no more to do but to Sow the Seeds therein when the Waters are fallen away and slightly to stir the slime which is spread thereon that they may be covered which they did heretofore as Herodotus relates by driving Herds of Swine after the Sowers Thus do they get the Fruits of the most fertile piece of earth in the Universe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use the terms of the same Author most easily and without any trouble after they have gathered the productions of the Waters by a yet more easie fishing or rather as Aelian expresses it by an Harvest of Fish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which lie scattered on the slime in the midst of the Fields These natural prodigies have alwaies engaged the greatest wits in an enquiry into their causes which are reducible onely to two heads For the serenity of the Air proceeds no doubt from the nature of the adjacent and neighbouring Countries and Waters which are not apt to send thither any vapours which might be condensed into Rain Hail or Snow nor yet any mineral exhalations which might cause thunder and lightning and the other Miracles which are seen by the Raies of that delightful Sun are the effects of that admirable River which keeps the Inhabitants of that Countrey in such quiet after it hath brought them the soil which is to sustain and nourish them For the better understanding of this it is to be observed that Aegypt is only a Plain or rather a spacious Valley reaching in length from South to North from the Tropick of Cancer or a little beyond it to the Mediterranean Sea for the space of about two hundred and thirty Leagues and in breadth from East to West between two Mountains which are its limits one towards Arabia and the other towards Africk but not alwaies at an equal distance one from the other For at the Northern extremity along the Shore of the Mediterranean Sea that distance is about six score leagues above the places where Heliopolis heretofore stood and where now Cairo is about fifty leagues distant from the Sea it diminishes so for the space of about seventy leagues that the two Mountains are not above six or seven leagues distant one from the other Above that space they dilate again and the Countrey grows wider even to its Meridional extremitie which makes the upper Aegypt otherwise called Thebais Thus is Aegypt naturally divided into three parts which may be called Upper the Lower and the Middle In the Middle which is much narrower then the others and which our Author calls Gize as much as to say the passage was the City of Memphis near the Western Mountain on which not far thence there are several Pyramids and those of the most sumptuous In the upper Aegypt was heretofore the famous City Thebes which had a hundred Gates and was afterwards called Diospolis and Syene seated directly under the Tropick of Cancer so that the day of the Summer Solstice the Sun at noon shined to the bottoms of Wells and streight and perpendicular Pillars made not any shade and Elephantina beyond which presently began Ethiopia and Copta whence there was a way to the Red Sea the shortest and easiest of any along that Coast by which there were brought on Camels abundance of Indian Commodities which were afterwards embarqu'd on the Nile and the little Cataract where Strabo saies the Mariners fell down from the top to the bottom with their Boats in the presence of the Governour of Aegypt to make him sport and the Lake of Maeris with two Pyramids in the midst of it each six hundred foot in height three hundred under water and three hundred above and the Labyrinth yet more prodigious then the Pyramids In the Lower Aegypt are the mouths of the Nile whereof the two most distant one from the other make the Delta which is a Triangular Island the Basis whereof is the shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the two sides the two arms of the Nile which come to those mouths Cairo is above the Delta towards Arabia near the place where heretofore Heliopolis stood The Arabians now call
is nothing Miraculous or extraordinary For at that time it was Summer in Aegypt as it is this day and consequently at the same time it was Winter in those Places where the current of the Nile begins since the Sources of it are at a great distance beyond the Equinoctial Line where the Seasons are directly contrary to those which are on this side it The Waters therefore were then about those Sources higher then at any other Season but having fourteen or fifteen hundred leagues to advance ere they got to Aegypt after the rate of about four leagues a day they were about a year by the way and consequently there could not be an overflux of the Nile in that Province sooner then now And if it be true that the Ganges overflows also in Summer as Pliny and Modern Relations seem to affirm and that consequently it is now in the same condition in the Indies as the Nile is in Aegypt the cause may haply be the same For its course being but half the length of that of the Nile there needs but six Moneths for the Waters to get from the Sources to their Mouths it being supposed those of the Nile take up a whole Year Now it was Winter six Moneths before at the Sources of the Ganges which are on this side the Equinoctial Line as it was a Year ago at the Sources of the Nile which are beyond it The same is to be said of the River Menam As to the long continuance of the overflux of the Nile which is a hundred days according to Herodotus or rather six Moneths according to the same Author in another passage where he says that in his time the water flowed out of the Nile into the Lake Myris or Moeris during the space of six Moneths and returned out of the same Lake into the Nile at the same place whereat it had entred into it during the other six Moneths of the Year this continuance I say hath no other cause according to this position but that which prolongs the Inundations of other Rivers For it proceeds partly from the length of time that the Snow is dissolving or the Waters falling and partly from the different distance of the place from which they come into the Chanel of the Nile after the dissolving or falling For thence it comes that some get a long time after others from the place of their Rendezvous and consequently they come in like manner into Aegypt We see also in all other Rivers something like the overflowings of the Nile For many times the Seine for example is high and overflows at Paris when no rain has fallen thereabouts nor any Snow dissolved and it is ordinarily some days after the Rain is past or the Snow dissolved when the weather is fair and clear that its overflux is in its greatest force and height Moreover That the Waters which cause the augmentations of the Nile and its Inundations in Aegypt come from the Torrents the slâ—me which they bring along with them and which hath made some conjecture that it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seem to testifie it For the Waters which come from running Springs by ordinary Chanels are not muddy It may also methinks be inferred from the same slime that those Torrents force their way through cultivated and manured Lands for the Waters which fall from the Sky upon Desert and Untilled places are pure and clear in their descent thence If this be true with the conjectures we have mentioned before it must follow that the Meridional parts of Africk were inhabited and cultivated before Aegypt was in the World and that being granted if the Nitre of Aegypt be of the nature of our Saltpeter which is framed of old Manure amass'd and fermented a long time together it might seem to be rather an effect then a cause of the overflowing of the Nile But haply we have said too much of the Nile and Aegypt in a Preface which was to serve only for an Introduction to what is said thereof by our Author of whom the Reader might expect we should give some account though we have nothing to say of him but only what may be conjectured by the Reading of his Book according to which he was as I conceive of Cairo that is to say of Masre for thus is that Famous City called to this day by its Inhabitants as we have already observed and the name of Cairo under which it is known in Europe came to it from that which the Mugazzoldinil after he had conquered Aegypt caused to be built near it for the Quartering of his Militia and which he called Cahire or Cahâ—re that is to say the Victorious or Conqueress either for the reason given thereof by Macinus in the Year 362 or in regard that being the Habitation of the Soldiery it subdued in effect and caused its Commands to be obeyed not only by the Neighbouring City but also by the whole Empire of the Phatimite Chaliphs as the Camp near Rome in the time of the Roman Emperors Commanded both the City and the Empire and many times the Emperour himself Our Author then as far as I can conjecture was of the same Countrey with Macinus and lived about the same time that is above four hundred Years since For methinks he speaks of the Sultan the Macolcamel the Son of Abubeker the Son of Job as of a Prince Reigning in his time and he mentions not any other that Reigned since though he speaks of divers who had Reigned before The esteem which the Arabians have at this day for his work sufficiently appears in my judgment by the beauty of the Copy out of which we have made this Translation and which was communicated to us by the late Cardinal Mazarine's Library-keeper by the favour of Monsieur Colbert who amidst his infinite cares for what concerns the Glory of his Majesty and the happiness of his Subjects is some times pleased to think on our Arabian Muses and forgets not our labours in the distribution of the Favours which he obtains from his Majesty for those who seriously apply themselves to the noblest kind of Learning The Manuscript of the Onirocrit Mussulman whereof we have lately published the Translation was put into our hands by Monsieur de Montmor principal Master of Requests a Person as Eminent for his great Wit and rare Learning as his Quality I am glad to make this Discovery for their satisfaction who were desirous to know whence I had it and that it might be an acknowledgement of the kindnesses I have received from that Person upon that and divers other occasions But to return to our Aegypt Were there nothing butthe History or rather the Fable of Gebirus and Charoba and the Nymph Marina which is about the middle of this Work I should not repent me of the Translation of it for I little imagined to find in a Mussulman Author any thing so much allyed to the witty Fables of the ancient Greek and Latine
relapsing into the faults wherewith he was charged Noah Gods mercy to him expected till the day of one of their great Festivals on which they assembled themselves to serve their Idols He then came to them and said thus Say there is no other God then the true God and that I am his Servant and Apostle With those words the Idols fell down of all sides and the people fell upon Noah cruelly beating him making several wounds in his head and dragging him along the ground with his Face downwards Then the Heavens and the Earth the Mountains and the Seas cryed vengeance to God saying O Lord do you not see the cruel treatment made to your Prophet Noah The Almighty and All-good God made them sensible that that cruelty was exercised on himself that he would punish those Rebels and do right to Noah They afterwards carried Noah before the King who spoke thus to him Have not I already pardoned thee and opened my Fathers Prisons conditionally thou shouldst not return to thy faults I am replied Noah a Servant who does what he is commanded Who hath given thee that command said the King My God replyed Noah Who is that God said the King The Lord of the Heavens and the Earth said Noah the Lord of all Creatures And what hath he commanded thee said the King He hath commanded me replyed Noah to call you to his service and he commands you and your Subjects to forsake the Worship of Idols and to follow the ordinances of Prayer payment of the Sacred Tribute and the observance of Fasting And if we do it not said the King what will be the issue If he please replied Noah he will immediately destroy you and if he please he will give you time to reflect on your ways till a certain term Let thy God alone said the King and what he desires of us and do thou thy self give over importuning us How can I give over replied Noah when I am a Servant who does what is commanded him and cannot disobey his All-good and Almighty Master Then the King says the Author caused Noah to be imprisoned to make an oblation of him to the Idols as his Father had done before Presently after Saudib who was a powerful Lord and a Priest rebelled against the King and attempted to deprive him of his Crown The Wars which the King was engaged in against him diverted him from thinking on the business of the Prophet of God Noah and obliged him to put him out of Prison till he had the leisure to have him brought before him He afterwards agreed with Saudib by granting him a portion of the upper part of Egypt and return'd to his Royal Palace The Devil Gods curse on him soon began to sollicit him to put the Prophet of God Noah to death but Almighty God diverted him so that the affaires of Noah were in different postures The Son of Darmasel sent thereupon to all the Kings of the Earth desiring them to send him all the Priests and Doctors that they might dispute against Noah They came to him from all parts and disputed against the Prophet but he baffled them all Among others came to him the Egyptian Priest Philemon of whom we have already spoken God shew him mercy He disputed against him and Philemon acknowledged the Unity of God who directed him so that he became faithful and embarqued with Noah in the Ship After that God revealed his will to Noah in these terms Make the Ark and the rest of the Verse How shall I make it said Noah Then Gabriel came to him and shew'd him the Model of it ordering him to give him the Figure of a Gondola of glass He was ten years a building of it and he made it of the Indian Plane Tree a hundred Cubits in length according to the measure of his time and fifty Cubits in height and divided it into three Stories The people of his Countrey in the mean time pass'd by him and laughed and scoffed at what he did Some brought to him their little Children and charged them to beware of him And sometimes the Children seeing him endeavoured to hurt and disturb him When Noah had compleated the Ship he made the entrance on the side and it continued lying on the ground seven Moneths till they had offered up to their Idols three companies of those who had believed Noah Then was the Decree of their chastisement confirmed and God commanded Noah to put into the Ship two pairs of every species Whence shall I be able to get all that said Noah Immediately God commanded the four Winds to bring together about him all he had ordered to be put into the Ark which they did He took in at the first door the Wild and Tame Beasts the Reptiles and the Birds at the second which was that of the middle he took in Meat and Drink and the Body of Adam which was in a Shrine Then he entered himself at the highest door with his children and those who had believed in him Relations agree not about the number of the Faithful who entered into the Ark most affirm they were forty Men and forty Women When Noah and his Companions were got into the Ship the news of it came to the King who began to laugh at it saying Where is the water on which that Vessel is to Sail They knew well enough that the Deluge was to come but had no notice of the time of its coming that the will of God might be fulfilled upon them Upon that Mechavel the Son of Darmasel got on Horseback with a party of his People and went first to the Temple of his Idols where he stayed a while then went towards the place where the Ship was with an intention to fire it Being come near it he call'd Noah with a loud voice and Noah having answered him Where said he is the water which is to bear thee in this Ship It will be immediately with you replied Noah before you go out of this place Come down O Noah said the King and also those who are with thee O unhappy Man said Noah turn to God for behold his Chastisements are ready to fall upon you These words incensed the King so that he commanded fire to be cast into the Ship upon him and upon his Companions But immediately there comes a Messenger in great haste telling him for news that a Woman heating the Oven to bake her Bread water rush'd out of it as out of a great Torrent Unfortunate Man replied the King how could water come out of a hot Oven Unfortunate King replied Noah 't is one of the signs of my Lords wrath which is descending on you and yours according to what he hath revealed to me to threaten you withall Another sign of the same thing is that the Earth is going to shake and to stagger that the water is going to overflow it on all sides and that it is going to spring up under the Horse's
time as his enterprize having been observed Men bewared of him and the King heard of him They say that Mechavel God curse him imprisoned Noah 3 years before he died and that after his death his son Darmasel who was his Successor brought Noah out of Prison and commanded him to forbear corrupting Religion and exclaming against the Gods There was among them for their seven great Idols a Feast which they celebrated every year during which they assembled to offer Sacrifices and make Processions about the Idols The time of that Feast being come which is also the Feast of Jagoth the people came together from all parts and then Noah came to that Assembly and having pass'd through the midst of the People and cry'd with a loud voice O Friends say as I do There is no other God then the great God The people put their fingers into their Ears and their Heads into their garments but the Idols fell at Noah's cry which obliged the men to fall upon him and to beat him cruelly giving him several wounds in the head then dragging him along the ground with his face towards the Kings Palace into which they made him enter and brought him before him Have not I done thee a favour said the King in taking thee out of Prison though thou hast spoken against our Religion rail'd at our Gods and forsaken the footsteps of thy Fathers and Grand-fathers Mean time thou comest again to exercise thy Magick against the Gods so as thou hast made them to fall from their thrones torn from their stations and the places of their honour and their glory What hath forc'd thee to this extremity If these Idols replied Noah were Gods as you imagine they would not have fallen at my voice Fear God unhappy Prince turn to him and believe nothing equal to him for he sees you Who is he said the King who has made thee so confident as to speak to me in these terms I will sacrifice thy Bloud to the Idols He thereupon commanded him to be kept in prison till the day of the Feast of Jagoth that he might be sacrificed to him and that the Idols might at the same time be exalted to their thrones But he saw afterwards a Dream which startled him and obliged him to order Noah to be put out of prison giving out among the people that he was distracted Noah being afterwards 500 years of age had his son Sem and after him Cham and after him Jam then Japhet Their mother was named Noubaâ—he the Daughter of Enos the son of Enoch Noah was afterwards a long time preaching to hiâ— Nation yet could convert to the profession of the Unity of God but a small company of the meaner sort of people wherefore they made this reproach to him according to what God himself said to him Thou hast been followed by the drâ—gs of the people Noah was a Carpenter and those who believed in him were of his own profession He spent afterwards three Ages in preaching always to the people the Religion of Almighty God without other effect save that they grew the more impious and insolent Nay they kill'd some of those who believed in him and rifled their honses and then God revealed to him that of his Nation there would be no other Believers save onely those who had already embraced the Faith Noah despairing of their Conversion began to pray to God against them and to say O my Lord suffer not upon earth any habitation of the Unbelievers Then Almighty God commanded him to build the Ship then he smote them with Sterility as well to the Fruits of the earth as the Procreation of children making their women unable to bring forth and in like manner the Females of their Cattel incapable of generation and withdrawing his benedictions from their Orchards and Agriculture They invoked their Idols but it did bestead them nothing with God Then Noah began to build the Ship and spent three years in cutting down Indian Plane-trees and polishing them in making Nails and Pins and providing whatever was necessary then he set it together in the moneth of Regebe Those of his Nation would needs pass by him as he was at work laughing and making sport at him After he had finished it God commanded him to put into it two pairs of every species Those who embarqued with him of the sons of Adam and his own were Sem Cham and Japhet and the others who belonged to him and were of his family The Angels brought to him Adams Shrine which was in the Countrey of Tehama which is the Septentrional Territory of Meca There was also with him in the Ark the Egyptian Priest Philemon with his family and his daughters The rest were of the children of his Father and of his Grandfather Edrisus After the chastisement was completed by the destruction of the Inhabitants of the Earth that the Heaven had given a check to the Rains that the Earth by the permission of her Lord had drunk up the waters and that the Ark rested on Mount Gâ—edis they went out and built a City which they called The Match of Fourscore and which is at this day famous in its place under the name of Themanine which signifies Fourscore They say that the several Nations though they were not ignorant of the Deluge and that they knew well enough it was to come yet could not learn of their Priests precisely the time of its coming because it was the will of the Almighty and All-good God to punish them The Mountains cast stones at them and they knew not which way to turn to avoid the falling of the Rain and the Stones They say also that the water which fell was hot and corrupted as if i had come out of a boiling Pool of Sand. Some affirm that the Ship continued on the water a hundred and fifty days others that it continued 11 Moneths God knows how it was Some affirm also that the Deluge happen'd in the Moneth of Regebe and that the Ark nested on Mount Geudis the tenth day of the Moneth of Mucharram There were between the descent of Adam and the Deluge two thousand one hundred fifty six years When God would restore the Earth to a good condition he sent a wind upon the water which dry'd it and put a stop to the Springs The ordinary light return'd to the World and the Sun and the Moon and the Night and the Day Forty days after God commanded Noah to open the Ark. He opened it and let out the Raven to see how low the water was The Raven went out and stayed to feed on the Carrions of the dead and returned no more Whereupon Noah made imprecations against her that she might always be a Stranger and never a domestick Bird and that it should feed on Carrions Then he let out the Dove after her She soon return'd with her feet dy'd with the slime of the Earth which was grown hot Wherefore Noah prayed God to
by some of his own House He was a delicate young man and they travelled during the great heat of the Sun so that when they came near the Land of Egypt Masar made a kind of Arbour of the Boughs of Trees at the place now called Garisa that is to say the Arbour and covered it with the Grass he found on the ground Near that place he afterwards built a City which he called Darsan that is to say the Door of the Garden about which they planted Trees and sow'd the grounds and made sweet smelling Orchards Between Darsan and the Sea-side there were tilled Fields and Gardens and well cultivated grounds Masar's people were mighty robust and valiant They cut stones and raised remarkable Buildings and liv'd very much at ease for a long time Masar married a Woman of the Race of the Priests of whom he had a Son named Coptim and he was the Father of all the Coptites Afterwards at ninety years of age he married another Woman and had by her Sons Coptarim and Asmomus and Abribus who grew up and peopled the Land and were prosperous therein Their Cities were called from their names and will be so call'd till the day of Judgment They say the number of those who accompanied Masar was thirty Men and that they built a great City which they called Maca for Maca signifies thirty and that it is the City of Memphis Philemon afterwards discovered to them the Treasures of Egypt made them understand the writing of the Birbas opened the Pyramids for them and taught them the Talismans of their gates and the ways to be obey'd by the Spirits appointed over them He shew'd them the Mines of Gold and Silver and Topazes and Turqueses and Esnadosammes He taught them the Art of handling white and black Marble and Jasper whereof they made their Vessels and Instruments and the Pillars of their habitations He writ down for them the Operations of the Art which he attributed to a Man of his house named Moncatam who practised Chemistry upon Mount Mactam They say the origin of the art of working Marble as well White as Black came from Chemistry in as much as the waters and essences which they distill and circulate by their artifices passing through the earthen vessels he compos'd for them the white stone in Sand and Glass and made the hard red stone for them of a soft stone and red Arsnick or Sandarack and Pitch he kindled a fire thereon and ordered them by his wisdom He made Mills for them in the ground and caused these materials to be put into them then the stones came out figured after what manner they desired in all sorts of vessels Nay they say that the stones were soft with them from the break of day till the afternoon and that they made what they would of them Philemon taught them also to make Talismans for there came out against them out of the Sea certain Creatures which threw down their Buildings whereupon they made Talismans against those Creatures and they never came afterwards They built several Cities upon the Roman Sea and among others that of Racoda at the place where now Alexandria stands They made in the midst of that City a little Turret upon pillars of Copper guilt and set upon it a Mirrour consisting of a mixture of divers materials in length and breadth five spans and the Turret of the height of 100 Cubits according to their measure When therefore any Enemy came against them they made certain Operations on the Mirrour then they made the rays of it fall on the Enemy so that they burnt him This Turret and the Mirrour remained there till the Sea reach'd and destroyed them The Pharos also of Alexandria had not been made but for a Mirrour that was upon it and discovered those who came against them from the Roman Countrey One of the Roman Emperours prevailed so far by his artifices and great expences that he destroyed it It was of white Marble well design'd and well wrought They relate says the Author to whom God be merciful that God promised Noah Gods peace be with him to hearken to him in a prayer he should make for his son and that he deferred that prayer till the next morning at which time very early in the morning he was to call his son and him of his sons who should readily answer him God would bless when he had prayed for him and he who answered not should not have that benediction The readiest to answer was Sem wherefore he prayed God for him and his posterity and the most backward to answer were Cham and Japhet wherefore he prayed God against them Masar the son of Bansar the son of Cham was an useful and serviceable Young man for which reason Noah cherished him and he was always with him never leaving him Having therefore heard the prayer which Noah had made against his Grandfather and his children and the children of his children he fell a weeping and turned to Noah and said thus to him O Great Grandfather I have heard the Imprecations you have made against my Grandfather Cham and against his children and yet for my part I have been always obedient to you and ready to serve you Pray therefore unto God for me These words pleased Noah and immediately he put his hand on his head saying O great God behold here one of my sons who answered me when I have called him bless him him and his posterity and divert from them weakness and grief and affliction and give them generosity and valour and drive away far from them trouble care and displeasure Arm the middle of their bodies with girdles of Steel never let them be disabled to perform the Sacred voyage give them for their habitation a Land whereof the air is pleasant the waters sweet and the pastures green which may be the Mother of Nations and the relief of Men which may allure to it all sorts of persons Citizens and Countrey-people out of all the Plains and out of all the Mountains both far and near a Land that hath a River transcending all Rivers whereof the History may be the most admirable of Histories from which the Abysses of the Sea are derived which divides the Desarts of Countries with its pregnant surges and swollen waves from the remainder of Countries to the Metropolis of all other places the chosen City the Countrey of fair ways through which the noble Nile flows with its excellent waters on which the eye of the Almighty watches night and day supplied with springs and fair waters the Favourite of Heaven in all its parts adorned with a River coming from Paradise replenished with the favours of the Gratificator and the mercies of the Merciful where Plants sprout forth and thrive exceedingly where there is abundance of all sorts of good things and an aâ—fluence of all benedictions After that Noah prayed his Lord to subject the Land to Masar
him his son Axames and after him his son Lates and after him Tolma the Coptite otherwise called the Valide son of Masgab who was the Pharao of Moses and who governed unjustly and tyrannically attributing to himself what belonged not to him wherefore Moses destroyed him after he had given him the space of 400 years to be converted and drowned him and all his people and all the Egyptians who had followed him in the Red Sea by the virtue of his Rod according to the Decree of the Malediction of God as we shall relate hereafter if God give us leave Some would have the Pharao of Joseph to be the same with that of Moses grounding their conjecture on what Almighty God said of him A Believer of the house of Pharao said thus Joseph is already come to you heretofore and the rest of the verse God knows how it is AN ABRIDGMENT OF The Second Part of the Book OF THE PRODIGIES OF EGYPT THE Reverend Prelate the Doctor Murtadi the Son of Gaphiphus the Son of Chatem the Son of Molsem the Macdesian the Sapheguian Gods mercy upon him saith citing his Author That the Apostle of God Gods peace and mercy be with him said what follows When I was raised to Heaven I saw two Rivers and I asked Gabriel which they were He answered me thus They are the Nile and Euphrates The Son of Guebasus says that the same Apostle of God Gods peace and mercy be with him spoke thus The All-mighty and All-good God hath caused to descend from Paradise upon the earth five Rivers Sichone which is the River of the Indies Gichone which is the River of Balca the Tigris and Euphrates which are the two Rivers of Gueraca and the Nile which is the River of Egypt He made them descend from one of the Springs of Paradise seated at the lowest of its stories upon the wings of Gabriel Gods peace be with him and hath committed them to the custody of the Mountains causing them to flow upon the earth and making them useful for men for divers conveniencies of their Lives And that is it which the Almighty saith And we have made the Waters of Heaven to descend after a certain measure and have appointed them their habitation upon earth and we and the rest of the verse When the time of the going forth of Gog and Magog was come Almighty God sent Gabriel Gods peace be with him who took up by his Order from above the earth the Alcoran and Science and the Black Stone and the Support which is the place of Abraham Gods peace and mercy be with him and the Shrine of Moses Gods peace be with him with what was within it and these five Rivers mentioned before All this was taken up into Heaven And that is it which the Almighty saith And it is in our power to carry it away and when I have taken up these things from the earth the Inhabitants of it were the choice part of Religion and of the World And citing his Authors he speaks thus I have heard Abulamamus the Bahelian and Gabdollus the son of Basar the Mazenian who said The Apostle of God Gods peace and mercy be with him one day called his Companions together and said to them The All-mighty and All-good God shall enable you to conquer Egypt after me Make your advantage of the Fruits it brings forth for he who wants money wants not honesty for that Egypt is the Mother-nurse it supplies wherewithall to live plentifully Other Countries want her but she does not stand in need of any other Countrey He said to them also I have received it from Gabriel that God hath sent four Rivers out of Paradise the first of Wine the second of Milk the third of Water and the fourth of Honey Then the All-mighty and All-good God said I have made my particular standard of the Lord of Rivers which is the Nile in the book of God and it is a River flowing out of Paradise Megavius ask'd Cabay and said to him I ask thee in the Name of the great God giver of all good things Doest thou find in the Book of the All-mighty and All-good God that God declares his Will to this Nile twice a year I do replied he God tells her when he would have her flow and saith to her The All-mighty and All-good God commands thee to flow and she flows as far as God orders her and after that God discovers his Will to her and saith to her O Nile the All-mighty and All-good God commands thee to return to thy former condition and to praise him Jezidus the son of Chebibus speaks thus of it When Moses called upon God against Pharao and his Servants God hindered the Nile to encrease as much as it would have done Then they had recourse to Moses and desired him to pray to God for them which he did hoping they would believe in God This happened during the time they adored the Cross The next morning God had augmented the Nile for them 16 full Cubits Quisus the son of Chagegus affirms that somebody related it to him that Gamrou the son of Gazus after he had conquered Egypt having entered into it in the moneth of Baune which is one of the barbarous moneths the Inhabitants of the Countrey came to him and said Lord Commander our Nile which you here see governs its course according to a Law which it inviolably observes What Law is that says Gamrou When the 12th of this present moneth is come said they we take a young Maid a Virgin from her Father and Mother after we have satisfied them both and made them condescend to what we would do according to the custom we dress and adorn her with Jewels and Sumptuous Clothes then we bring her in the night time and cast her into the Nile and immediately it increases and spreads and raises its course This cannot be continued said Gamrou according to the Mussulman Law for the Mussulman Law destroyes the profane customs that have been in vogue before her So the Moneth Banne and the Moneth Abibe and the Moneth Mesri pass'd away and the Nile encreased not its course neither more nor less so that the Inhabitants of Egypt were upon thoughts of leaving the Countrey Gamrou seeing that writ of it to the Commander of the Faithful Omar Gods peace be with him acquainted him with what the Egyptians had said to him and desired to know his resolution thereupon Omar made him answer in these terms After that O Gamrou you have done what you ought to have done upon that occasion for the Mussulman Law abolishes the evil customs that have preceded it But I have inclosed a Note within the fold of this present Letter when you have read it take that Note and cast it into the Nile and God will do what he shall think fit Gamrou having receiv'd the Letter took the Note out of it on which he found these words written In the Name
sides whereof the Kings of the Moores have their Habitarions and that by the Lake there is a great Mountain always covered with Snow Winter and Summer out of which there falls down Water besides many Springs that are in the Lake and which do also supply some and that it is thence the water of the Nile comes which is afterwards augmented by Rains which augmentation happens in regard the Rains fall in Summer in the Countrey of the Moors whence it comes that the Nile overflowes in Summer and not in Winter in Egypt that in all the former Climat and in part of the Second the rains fall in the Summer and in like manner in India and in Sinda and in the other Countries which are in the same latitude as well in the East as in the West Jezidus the son of Chebibus saith that Moses the son of Nasirus speaks thus O Egyptians you know not what I would say neither you nor any other Inhabitanr of Egypt I have heard that one day the Nile became very low in the time of Pharao which oblig'd the Inhabitants of his Kingdom to come to him and say Cause the Nile to flow according to its ordinary course for behold our Cattel die and such as are big bring forth before their time I am too much incens'd against you replied Pharao to be so easily appeas'd and to restore you so soon the course of the Nile They departed and after a moneth returned to him again and said The Cattel perish the Trees dry up all is spoiled and destroy'd cause the Nile to flow for us I am not yet reconciled with you said he If you make not the Nile flow as it is wont replied they we will make another God besides you This reply troubled him but it was not in his power to do what they desired His Visier Haman was he who knew his secrets who disposed of all his affairs who heard his complaints and eased him of his grief He had slights and subtile insinuations which neither Pharao nor any other man could imitate One day Pharao spoke to him onely they two together and acquainted him with the discourse had passed between him and the Egyptians confessing to him that he could not do what they desired and that that business of the Nile was beyond his strength I cannot said he take any course in this case nor find any means to satisfie them What do you advise me therein Is that all that troubles you says Haman And what would you have me do in it replied the King Great King replied Haman they have not bethought themselves of asking you a thing which would have been much more impossible then this and might have given them greater occasion to proclame your weakness in all places What is that replied the King If any one of them said Haman had bethought him of requiring you to raise up his father or brother after their death that would have been more difficult to you then the affair of the Nile Speak not of such things says Pharao for Walls have ears But what advice do you give me in the affair of the Nile Light off your Mule said Haman and restore to every one what belongs to him and the Nile will resume its course You know replied the King that hitherto I have not wronged any one nor deprived my Subjects of any thing belonged to them that I should restore it again and as for my white Mule I promise you never to get on her back any more He had a white Mule which in swiftness no other Beast in Egypt could go before or indeed come near The Mule I mean said Haman is not the animal so called but Arrogance and Pride Humble your self before the God of Moses and Aaron acknowledge in your self what you ought give him thanks for his favours and confess his Omnipotence and Unity for you know well that he is the Creator and Preserver and that you are one of his Servants who can neither do him harm nor service Pray him that he would cause the Nile to flow for his Servants for he is merciful and meek he is not hasty and fears not that he hath not done a thing soon enough I will do it with all my heart said the King You have at last found out a way to deliver me out of my trouble Make an end O Haman as you have begun I shall not fail said Haman The Egyptians came afterwards to him the third time and said the same thing they had said to him the two former times His answer was this Repent you that you have disobeyed me We do repent us of it replied they Go your ways said the King to the end of the Upper Egypt clad and dressed the best you can They did so and there remained in Egypt but such as were not able to go out of it Pharao went up to them on his Mule then he turned a little aside from them alighted off his Mule prostrated himself on the ground and made his prayers to God in these terms Great God you know that I acknowledge there is none but you alone who can re-establish this Nile in its course and that I am obliged to this people in a thing which is not within the compass of my power and that I cannot keep my promise with them Cause it therefore to flow for them as it was wont and make me not infamous among them for you are full of leâ—ity and goodness you are not hasty nor impatient and fear not that you have not done a thing soon enough Immediately the Nile saith he swelled and flowed after a more excellent manner then it had ever done before or hath done since Then Pharao came up to them and said Return to your homes for I have restored the Nile for you into its course They thereupon prostrated themselves all before him and adored him and then returned to their habitations speaking continually of their King and incessantly resounding his praises He returned himself to his Castle but Gabriel went to meet him by the way in the shape of a Shepherd laid hold on the Bridle of his Mule and said to him Great King do me justice against my Servant What has thy Servant done to thee said Pharao I have a Servant replied Gabriel to whom I have been liberal of my kindnesses and favours and yet he persecutes me and those whom I love and obliges those whom I hate he is rebellious and disobedient to my commands ungrateful and not acknowledging the good I have done him even so far as to say he knows not who I am A very wicked Servant said Pharao If you bring him to me I will have him drown'd in the Red Sea and shall not content my self for his punishment with the water of the Nile which is sweet and pleasant Great King replied Gabriel let me have a Decree written to this purpose that whereever I shall find him I may punish him according thereunto
From God comes strength and power and all things return to him Know Lord Commander of the Faithful that the Countrey of Egypt is nothing but a blackish Soil and green Plants between a dusty Mountain and a reddish Sand. Between its Mountain and its Sand there are high-raised Plains and levelled Eminences It is surrounded by an Ascent which supplies it with provisions and is in compass from Syene to the extremities of the Land and the side of the Sea a Moneths riding for a Man on Horse-back Through the midst of the Countrey there runs a River blest in the morning and favoured of Heaven at night which rises and falls according to the course of the Sun and Moon It hath its time wherein the Springs and Sources of the Earth are opened to it according to the command given them by its Creator who governs and dispenses its course to supply the Province with sustenance and it follows according to the order prescribed it till such time as its waters being risen and its Waves rolling with noise and its surges being come to their greatest elevation the Inhabitants of the Countrey cannot pass from one Village to another but in little Boats and a man sees the little Wherryes turning to and â—ro as white and black Camels in the imaginations of the people Then when it is come to this condition behold it begins to return back and to confine it self within its Chanels as it came out of it before and rose up by little and little And then the most forward and the most slothful prepare themselves for labour they are scattered up and down the Fields in multitudes the people of the Law whom God preserve and the people of Alliance whom men protect they are seen stirring to and fro like Ants some weak others strong and wearying themselves out at the task imposed upon them for that is not obaained of them by their good will but by force and constraint by ill-treating and oppressing them They are seen searching into the Earth and turning up so much of it as hath been overflown and casting into it all sorts of Grain which they hope with the assistance of God will multiply therein And it will not be long ere the Earth puts off the black hew of its manure and cloaths it self in green and casts forth a pleasant scent while it produces Stalks and Leaves and Ears making a delightful show and giving a good hope the dew of Heaven watering it from above and the moisture giving nourishment to its productions from beneath Sometime there come certain Clouds with a little Rain sometimes there fall onely certain drops of water and sometimes none at all After that Lord Commander of the Faithful the Earth displayes her Beauties and makes a Triumph of her Favours cheering up the Inhabitants and assuring them of a good Harvest of her Fruits for the sustenance of them and their Cattel and to be Transported elsewhere and to make their Beasts multiply She appears now Lord Commander of the Faithful like dusty ground then presently it is a blewish Sea and as it were a white Pearl then like black Dirt then as green Taffata then as a piece of Embrodery of divers colours then like a fount of molten Gold Then they Harvest their Corn which being Thrash'd out passes afterward diversly among Men some taking what belongs to them and others what does not belong to them This vicissitude returns every year every thing in its Season according to the order and providence of the All-mighty may that great God be ever praised blessed be he the best of Creatures As to what is necessary for the carrying on of these Works and what should make the Countrey populous and well cultivated maintain it in a good condition and make it advance from good to better according to what hath been told us by such as are acquainted therewith as having had the government of it in their hands we have made a particular observation of three things The first is not to credit the malicious discourses of the meaner sort of people against the chiefest of the Countrey because they are envious and unthankful for the good which is done them The second is to lay out one third of the Tribute raised therein towards the reparation of Bridges and Causeys And the third is not to raise the Tribute out of any Species till it be in its perfection This is the Description of Egypt Lord Commander of the Faithful whereby you may know it as if you had seen it your self God continue you in your good conduct and make you happily manage your Empire and assist you to undergo the charge he hath imposed on you and inspire you with an acknowledgment of the favours he hath done you Peace be with you May God be praised and assist with his favours and benedictions our Lord Mahumet and those of his House and those of his party The Commander of the Faithful Omar Gods mercy on him having read says the Author Gamrou's Letter spoke thus He hath made an exquisite Description of the Land of Egypt and its Appurtenances he hath design'd it so well that it cannot be mistaken by such as are capable of knowing things Praised be God O Assembly of Mussulmans for the favours he hath done you by bringing you into the possession of Egypt and other Countries He it is whose assistance we all ought to implore They relate that when the House of Gamrou the son of Gasus was demolish'd and made part of the great Mosquey of Masre there was found in a corner a stone on which these verses were written Slight not a favourable occasion wherein thou maist stretch forth thy hand to do some good We live but to die and death is deceitfull from one hour to another there is a change of affairs They relate also that while the same Gamrou was Governour of Egypt certain Coptites came and made evil reports to him against certain persons about affairs which he knew nothing of thinking by that means to insinuate themselves into his favour and be powerful about him but he reproved them of it saying O ye Coptites who are here assembled know that when any one comes to give us evil reports of his Brother we shall advance his Brother to higher Dignity and debase the Detractor for the Detractor envies the prosperity of his Neighbour and endeavours to ruine him the cauldrons of his malice boil in his breast so that it rises up into his Tongue and these wicked discourses are the smoke of that fire which sets them a boyling He said also Gods peace be with him he who makes ill reports to thee calumniates thy self he who speaks ill to thee of another speaks ill of thy self He said sometimes to his Captains and those whom he employed about his affairs Use me not as a Dagger to stab people withall Shew your selves kind and obliging to all for who would live in peace must practise it Be carefull to