Page:Arabian Nights Entertainments (1728)-Vol. 4.djvu/67

an addreſſing himſelf to the Sultan of Caſgar, the young Gentleman of Mouſſoul, ſaid he, went on thus.

When I was grown pretty tall, and beginning to keep Company with the World, I happened one Friday to be at Noon Prayers, with my Father and my Uncles, in the great Moſque of Mouſſoul. And after Prayers were over, the reſt of the Company going away, my Father and my Uncles continued ſitting upon the beſt Tapeſtry in the Moſque, and I ſat down by ’em. They diſcourſed of ſeveral Things, but they fell inſenſibly, I do not know how, upon the Subject of Voyages. They extoll’d the Beauties and peculiar Rarities of ſome Kingdoms, and of their principal Cities. But one of my Uncles ſaid, that according to the uniform Report of an infinite Number of Voyages, there was none in the World a pleaſanter Country than Egypt and the Nile; and the Account he gave of ’em infus’d into me ſuch a charming Idea of them, that from that very Moment I had a Deſire to travel. Whatever my other Uncles ſaid, by way of Preference to Bagdad and the Tigris, in calling Bagdad the true Reſidence of the Muſſeman Religion, and the Metropolis of all the Cities in the Earth, all this made no impreſſion upon me, My Father joined in his Opinion with thoſe who had ſpoken on the Behalf of Egypt, which gave me a great deal of Joy. Say what you will ſaid he, he that has not ſeen Egypt, has not ſeen the greateſt Rarity in the World. All the Land there is Golden, I mean ’tis ſo fertile that it inriches its Inhabitants. All the Women of that Country are charming, either in their Beauty, or in their agreeable Carriage. If you ſpeak of the Nile, pray where is there a more admirable River? What Water was ever lighter or more delicious? The very Slime it carries along in its overflowing, fattens the Field ſo, that without manuring they produce a Thouſand times more than other Countries that are Cultivated with great Labour. Do but mind what a Poet ſaid of the Egyptians, when he was obliged to depart Egypt. “Your Nile loads you with good Offices every Day; ’tis for you only that it travels ſo far. Alas! in removing from you, my Tears are going to run as abundantly as its Water; you are to continue in the Enjoyment of its Sweetneſſes, while I am condemned to rob my ſelf of ’em againſt my Will.”