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country; but General Andréoffy does not think that thefe apprebenfions are well founded; for there is now on the eminence of which we speak only fome heavy gravel, which is too ponderous to be moved by the winds. As to the fands which proceed from the deferts of Lybia, fituated more to the weft, they fall into the valley of the Waterless River, and they cannot reach to Egypt before this valley is completely filled, and even that of the lakes of Natron; a circumstance which certainly will never happen, for thefe two vallies are very large; and the firft, though greatly encumbered with fand, is yet fo deep, that it requires forty minutes to reach its bottom by a very regular and eafy defcent.

The valley of the lakes of Natron contains fix different lakes, though two only have been marked by D'Anville. The length of thefe bafins is parallel to the direction of the valley, and not perpendicular, as Sicard has laid down: the falts which thefe lakes contain confift always of marine falt, natron, or mineral alkali, and a little of the fulphat of falt; but fometimes the natron predominates in the one, and the marine falt in the others; nay, there are even variations in this refpect between the parts of the fame lake.

The waters which fupply thefe lakes iffue from the acclivities on the right or eaftern fide of the valley; there is none iffues from the oppofite fide, nor does any flow into the valley of the Waterless River: they flow when the Nile commences its inundations. From thefe facts, it is probable that thefe waters proceed from the Nile, filtrating through that mafs of fix myriametres in extent, which feparates the valley of this river from that of the lakes.

Berthollet is of opinion, that the formation of natron arifes from the decompofition of the marine falt VOL. I.

produced by the carbonate of lime, by the affiftance of moisture or humidity.

The waters of two of thefe lakes have a red colour, and the falt of them poffeffes the fmell of the refe.

There may be met with in almoft every part of the valley gypfam, and banks of calcareous rock; and there is fome very fine chalk between the convent of El Baramous and that of the Syrians. The extraction of natron has been renewed about fifteen years; they tranfport it to Terraneh, where it is embarked on the Nile, either to defcend to Rofetta, and from thence to pafs into Europe, or to proceed to Cairo.

The environs of thefe lakes prefent no monuments of antiquity, unless we regard as fuch a ruined fort, the walls of which are built of natron, the remains of a glasshoufe, and four coptic convents.

Thefe laft are a kind of fortrefs, the doors of which are never opened but with the greatest precautions, on account of the fear which the Arabs infpire. the Arabs iufpire. Three of them contain within their walls wells of foft water, which are never dry. Sixty monks are fcattered about thefe dull and dirty habitations, the afylums of ignorance and indolence.

The only human beings who, befides these monks, frequent the valley of the lakes of Natron, are the tribe of Djeouabis; paftoral and peaceful Arabs, who encamp near thefe lakes in winter, and then employ themfelves in tranfporting the natron and thorny reeds. Thefe laft are cut at a place about three days journey from the lakes in the interior of the defert; they are ufed for making the finest mats: thefe Arabs alfo go and procure dates at Sioua, in the oafis of Armmon it is a journey of about twelve or fifteen days. It appears that the men of this tribe deferve not to be confounded with the rest S

of their countrymen. General Andréoffy describes them as being mild in their manners, and hofpitable in their condu&.

But, on the contrary, he gives a most unfavourable account of the Arabs in general. It is pretended that there people compenfate their piratical and predatory profeffion by the poffeffion of fome other eminent virtues; they boat, at leaft, of their fidelity in fulfilling their engagements; but our author entirely deftroys this factitious reputation. The Arabs of the two banks of the Nile have proved, he fays, that they regard in no manner the facredness of an oath; they violate any compact they make, according as intereft or fear may influence them what they call eating bread and falt with their new allies, which has been fo much vaunted, is merely a mummery confecrated by cuftom.

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It appears that the greatest and the most difficult fervice which any government could perform to Egypt, would be to fecure it from thofe forty thoufand wandering Arabs, who regard this country as their own, and who unceasingly commit in it every fpecies of violence, theft, and fraud. The chief of a village faid to General Andréolly, "We have had this year the plague and the Arabs.”

To the Editor of the Univerfal Mag.

SIR,

TO communicate to the favourites of fortune the means of acquir. ing, during fleep, fome of the agreeable fenfations which they experience in the day, may not, perhaps, be received with much attention; but if I turn to the million, and addrefs myfelf to the unhappy, the cafe will moft alluredly

be different.

It does not require much depth of understanding to know that a great portion of life is occupied in

fleep; but fome little knowledge is requifite to be able to indicate the means by which we may live in this ftate of apparent death; or, in other words, by which we may experience fenfations fo delightful and to interefting, that they are often fuperior to thofe of our waking hours.

I fhall therefore commence upon this curious fubject, by faying, first of all, that exercife, tenperance, and good humour, are the three moft important points; indeed, they muft regulate and produce that degree of health which is requifite in order to obtain a fleep from whence agreeable dreams may arife. A tolerably copious repaft thould always be preceded and followed by exercife, whence the ftomach receives an additional energy that renders its action upon the alimentary fubftances taken into it more effectual. But if these fubftances be in themfelves light and moderate, they will digeft more easily, the body will be more active, the mind more gay, and all the functions will operate in the most eafy manner. In this cafe fleep is natural, feldom refilefs, and the refufcitation of strength takes place in much lefs time. But it is not thus, when to that indolent ftate which fuperfluity of wealth engenders we add alfo the inconvenices which refult from luxury of food. It is then that the nightmare, unexpectedly taking place, oppreffes the grand fprings of the vital operations; a fcene of horror unfolds itself before the dormant foul; we fall from precipice to precipice; we are attacked in the midit of impervious forefts by beasts of prey, and by midnight affaffins; the infernal fpirits are conjured up in every variety of thape, and threaten and menace with all their furies. It has been obferved in England, that fince we have adopted the custom of dining when cur good anceflors fupped, and of going to bed when

necellity

neceflity made them rife, that apoplexies and other fimilar difeafes have been lefs frequent, from the fimple reason that the ftomach is thus enabled to digeft the weight of food it has received.

After temperance and exercife, comes good humour or gaiety, which may be confidered as a third neceffary step towards reaping advantage from that ftate of temporary nihi. lity into which we are plunged by Пеер. Good humour refults from that happy intermixture in which the elements of life are combined in the moft proper manner to produce a feries of confiftent actions neceffary to a regular fanguification; it animates ardent temperaments, in which are produced fuch exquifite and lengthened dreams, as can alone be generated by that combination; it directs the thoughts towards agreeable objects, and, expanding every ramification of fentiment, gives access to thofe, which, having interested us during the day, retain fufficient energy to re-produce themfelves during fleep in every varied form which il lufion can conjure up.

Having touched upon the three points which may be confidered as neceffary to the end propofed, let us now turn our attention towards the atmosphere of the place in which we fleep. The food of the day confifts of fubftances which are operated up. on, at certain times only, by the ftomach and intestines, to extract particular juices for the purpose of fupplying the deficiencies which are per. petually occafioned by the ordinary operations of life; but the air which we inhale into our lungs is taken in every hour and every minute; it is digefted like food in the ftomach, and, reduced to its smallest state, percolates through the pores to reach the blood which it thus vitalifes. We are very scrupulous about what comes to our table, because of the varieties of taste which may be excited before our victuals reaches that part where digeftion takes place; but we are

perfectly indifferent about the other, because we cannot taste it.

But, fixing the attention of my readers upon this last, I would advise them never to fleep in a small bedroom, where they cannot have a thorough current of air; and still lefs in those beds luxuriously ornamented with a profufion of drapery, intended rather to gratify the fight of those who enter the room, than to promote the health of those who fleep in the bed. Naturalifts have remarked, that water which boils cannot acquire a greater degree of heat while the particles which come in contact with the air can escape. Thus it may also be faid with regard to the putrefaction of living bodies, which cannot take place while the putrefcent particles can be expelled from the precincts of life. Nature has provided for thefe detergents, by placing on the furface of the human body, and especially in the lungs, a kind of fieve, or net-work, the vaft extent of which is almoft incredible. But if man, by remaining too long in a confined place, renders useless this forefight, the deleterious particles, beingre-abforbed, infects the circulating humour, and thus occafions uneafy fleep, or even difpofes to difeafes, the confequences of which may

moft ferious.

be

It has been calculated that one perfon can corrupt four pints of air in a minute; from whence we may eafily conceive how little time is neceflary to render impure the air of a close room, of a given fize; fuch, for example, as was the prifon of Calcutta, called the Black Hole, where fo many individuals perished in the midst of the moft excruciating agony. It is related in a bible (not that of the Septuagint) that Methufalem used to fleep in the open air, having only a fimple roof to fhelter him from the inclemencies of the weather. This choice of a patriarch who lived nearly ten centuries, confifting each of three hundred and fixty-five days, fix hours, according to Saci, fhews how atten

tive he was to the proper means of prolonging his exiftence. He was nearly five hundred years old when an angel defcended from heaven to endow him with the means of retarding the reft of his life, and exclaimed to him, "Arife, Methufalem, arife; build thyself a house, for thou hast yet five hundred years to live." But Methufalem, tired of existence, replied: "If I have only five hundred years to live, it is not neceffary that I fhould build a house; I fhall still fleep in the open air, as I have hitherto done."

As stagnant air, which is faturated with the perfpirable matter, is by no means fit for re-abforption, it follows, that, with all its deleterious qualities, it remains upon the fkin, occafioning to perfons of a delicate habit of body a tormenting itching, which awakens them out of their peaceful fleep, and will not let them again enjoy its plea furés: they turn and tofs about in vain, while the atmosphere which furrounds them is impure. In fuch a cafe, however, we may speedily get rid of fuch uneafinefs, by throwing the bed-cloaths off, and giving accefs to the air, which will attract the perfpirable matter, and relieve the skin from its overcharged burthen. As it is impoffible to be too precife with regard to those pre-difpofing caufes of agreeable fleep and comfortable dreams, let me therefore particularly recommend the following confiderations.

1. To fup lightly; fo that the vital actions which take place in the ftomach during the procefs of digeftion may be as little difadvantageous as poffible with regard to thofe that must pafs in the brain in order to produce dreams.

2. To fleep with very little covering, in a fpacious room, and on a bed fomewhat hard. The obfervance of this precept will be attended with two advantages in the first place, it will prevent the accumulation on the fkin of that excrementitious fluid, which will thus be enabled to evaporate in the atmosphere; and this external freshness will occafion a propulfion

towards the head, where the activity muft take place which is neceffary to the excitement of dreams.

3. The next and last principal point is with regard to the pofition of the head, which I would advise fhould be placed on a hard bolster rather than on a foft pillow, because this laft may contract too much heat around; and we fhould wear only a very thin night-cap. As in this refpect it is of importance that we should endeavour to render the circulation within the brain as eafy as pofible, we fhould place our head tolerably elevated, and fleep on the right fide in preference to the left: this laft advice is given for peculiar reasons, which can be known only by anatomifts.

I have now, Mr. Editor, arrived at the most difficult part of my task, and muft quit the fubject of fleep for the thorny one of intimating how to procure agreeable dreams! It is fomething to have pointed out the method by which to avoid bad ones, according to dietetic precepts; but I muft now endeavour to lay down rules for the converse of this.

A dream is a tacit reminifcence

of certain circumstances about which the mind has been occupied during the day, and the scattered parts of which are re-united in fuch a manner, and under fuch exterior forms, as beft please the foul during Deep. It is an active chain, the links of which, thrown here and there, only require an external force to join them, when they unite, and form a continuity of action. In order that this be done properly, the energy or power which joins must be free in its operations, and the links experience no obftacle in their motions; and this is to be produced by an obfervance of the preceding precepts. But as the actions in the prefent inftance are all internal, the will having no power as during our waking hours, we muft turn our attention towards that part where they act either to enliven or deprefs, according to the exigency of circumftances.

There are perfons who very feldom dream; I will not undertake to fay previously whether fuch perfons are capable of thinking, but I am of opinion that the caufe will be found in the dull phlegmatic texture of their brain. The charms of converfation with esteemed friends, and carried on with gaiety the preceding evening, must be favourable to dreaming,, because it occafions thofe agreeable ofcillations in the parts where the procefs of dreaming takes place. Among others alfo, this defect may arife from a contrary cause: the fenfitive organ in them is too dry, and incapable of thofe foft reminifcential undulations this may be remedied by increasing the moisture according to the numerous medical rules which exift for its augmentation. It is therefore neceffary to produce that intermediate ftate in which all the fibres poffefs fufficient vital energy, preparatory to the production of pleating dreams.

Every thing being thus propitious to the foul and body, if the foft murmurs of a rivulet, the harmoni ous tones of a flute, the delightful cadences of a female voice, or the warbling of birds, happen to agitate feparately the medullary net-work, the firft link of a fenfation of a fimilar nature, which receives impulfion, unites with the following, and thofe, in their turn, propel to a confentient action all the furrounding ones: and from all these fecondary fenfations, preferved within juft and regular bounds, proceed thofe agreeable fcenes which contribute to dreaming, and which we are fo willing to prolong. If the impulfions take place in a rapid and unintermitting manner, the refult will be painful and difcordant. Every dream is therefore a fecondary perception proceeding from the motions of a certain part of the brain which has been previously operated upon by a sensation. From hence it refults, that, in order to be great dreamers, the magazines of the memory must be well stocked with materials, and we must have previously fixed our attention a long time upon

a given object, so that it may be able powerfully to occupy the mind.

Those who, like myself, have frequently changed their abode, not always fleeping upon a very foft bed, and being likewife free from any very painful reflections, can, I dare fay, recollect dreams which they have had, and the origin of which they will readily confefs to have been a lively and active fenfation. Perfuaded of the truth of this from experience, I would recommend every perfon who wishes to enjoy a dream couleur de rofe (to ufe a Gallic expreffion) to bring ftrongly before their mind, ere they retire to reft, fome gay and agreeable idea, and to continue thinking of it until they fall afleeep. By adhering always to thofe precauti ons which I have laid down relative to the pofition of the body, there is every reafon to conclude that our dreams will be confonant to that fpecies of thought which occupies our mind when we fall afleep. If the fuccefs be equal to the attempt, then the following paffage of Petronius will have its due worth:

"Somnia quæ ludunt animos volitantibus umbris, Non delubra deum nec ab athere nu mina mittunt,

Sed fibi quifque facit."

As wealth augments the means of pleasure, I would advise those who poffefs it to be lulled into repofe with the foft notes of wind inftruments; and to the voluptuary, not to retire to the arms of fleep unless he has just quitted thofe of fome nymphs whofe charms and voices are the laft impreffions which his fenfes receive. The Sybarite Beaujeon prefents an inftance of this kind of blifs: he used to lay in a fufpended bed, which was moved to and fro by two beautiful women, in the midst of an atmofphere calculated to gratify his ol factory nerves: and by these means he procured nocturnal pleafures, perhaps nevertheless infufficient to compenfate him for those which day denied him,

But that it is the laft ideas impreffed on the fenforium previous to

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