[Footnote 3: There happened a plague in 1796, which it is said carried off one half of the inhabitants. This estimate is possibly exaggerated; but no doubt it thinned them much; so that at present they cannot be near so numerous.] [Footnote 4: Hirtius, Bell. Alex. prope init.] [Footnote 5: The miles spoken of are always geographical.] [Footnote 6: See Major Rennel’s map.] [Footnote 7: D’Anville with equal probability supposes Siwa to be Mareotis.] [Footnote 8: The water in the river between Terané and Kahira was so shallow, that with a very small boat (Canjia) we had great difficulty in passing.] [Footnote 9: The condition of slave is so very distinct in Egypt from what it is in other countries, that they who defend the practice of trading in human flesh by its antiquity, and the general consent of nations, should be well aware how they adduce the example of Egypt.—In Kahira, when a slave is legally purchased in the market, if after any length of time he feel discontented with his master, has only to say, “Carry me to the market,” (Sûk-es Sultân,) and the master is legally compellable to offer him for sale. It can never be believed, that where a power so absolute as that of the proprietor over his slave, is supported by the sanctions of law, that no abuses of it should exist; but this single privilege greatly softens its asperity. The child of a female slave, begotten by her master, is ipso facto free, and a slave may authorize a free person to purchase his emancipation.] [Footnote 10: The Mamlûks suffer not the beard to grow till they be emancipated, and hold some office, as Cashef, &c.—A similar practice obtains among the Osmanli. The Ytch oghlans, though free in their persons, yet exercising a kind of servitude, shave the beard: so that though it be not absolutely the mark of a slave, the want of a beard seems to denote a dependent situation. Among the Osmanli, (European Turks) the beard is allowed to grow rather in conformity to the precept and practice of the Prophet, than as a national fashion. The Tatars wear no beard; and the Arabs alone shew great respect to that ornament.] [Footnote 11: The two last offices are annual.] [Footnote 12: The patacke may be rated at from three shillings to three and four-pence. The foddân is a given measure, taking its name from the quantity that a yoke of oxen can plough in a day, roughly taken, equivalent to an acre.] [Footnote 13: English edit. p. 188.] [Footnote 14: The length may be estimated at about three thousand five hundred yards.] [Footnote 15: The city is still infested with the usual herds of dogs, and the kites still shriek wildly over the canal; while the turtle-doves, unmolested by men or children, breed in the houses, building their nests under the projecting beams.]