at their Meals, as they do at other times, being feldom feen in any other Pofture. They live in a hofpitable, friendly Manner, their Houses being always open to their Acquaintance. Both Sexes are fond of Tobacco, which is ufually mix'd with Opium: The Master of the Houfe ufually lights the Pipe firft, (for they use but one) which, after he has fmok'd two or three Whiffs, he gives to his Neighbour, and he to a third, till it has gone round the Company, who fit crofs-legg'd in a Ring upon Mats: When they have continu'd fmoking fome time, they grow exceeding chearfuls but, when they fit too long at it, they grow mad, or stupid, The ordinary Way of Salutation is by joining their Hands, and lifting them up towards their Salutations. Breast, or Head, and bowing the Body a little; but when they appear before a great Man, they lift their join'd Hands to their Forehead, falling down on their Faces and Knees; and if it be before a Prince, they begin to creep towards him at a confiderable Distance; and in the fame manner they retire, after they are dispatched. And whoever has Occafion to petition his Superior, lies in this humble Pofture till he is spoke to, which is fometimes a con fiderable Time. Thefe People frequently marry Marriages. their Daughters at eight or nine Years of Age, and they have Children foon after; but are ufually paft the Peril by that time they are Five-and-twenty. The ordinary Food, in Sumatra, is Rice, and Sumatra, Goats-flesh, Buffalo, Beef, and Venifon. Their ufual Liquor is fair Water, or Tea; Arrack, or Spirits drawn from Rice and Sugar-canes, is very common here; they have alfo Palm Wine, and a Liquor drawn from the Branches of the Cocoa-tree. The ordinary Salutations are Salutations. perform'd by bringing one or both Hands to their Head; but, before any great Man, they proftrate themselves with their Faces to the Ground; and, like other Afiatics, fit cross-legg❜d on the Floor at their Meals, and whenever they meet or converse together. Gaming they love im moderately, both Cards and Dice; which were Gaming. probably introduced here by the Chinese; and few Days pafs without a Cock-match: They do not trim the Cock for the Engagement, as in Europe, but produce them with all their gay Plumage, and faften fuch murdering Inftruments to their Heels, of the Shape and Length of a Penknife Blade, that the Battle is over in an Inftant: One Stroke often brings down the ftouteft Cock; but the Conqueft is no T 4 admitted, Drefs of the Salutations The admitted, unless the Victor will strike or peck his Enemy, after he has dispatched him; for, if he does not, they draw Stakes. They will ftake their whole Fortunes upon one of thefe Encounters. As to the Inhabitants of the Inland Country, and Mountains, we have no Account of their Customs; but, as they are defcended from the Chinese, they probably retain many of their Customs. Drefs of the Ceylonefe is ufually a Waistcoat, of blue or white Calico, and a Piece of Calico wrapped about their Middles, with a Safh over it, in which they stick their Knife, which has usually a fine wrought Handle; they have a Hanger alfo, and ufually walk with a Cane; but the common People go naked to the Middle, about which they wrap a Piece of Calico, which reaches down to their Knees. The Women go in their Hair combed behind their Heads; they have a Waistcoat flourished, which fits close to their Bodies, and fhews their Shape: They wrap a Piece of Calico about them, which falls below their Knees; and is longer and fhorter, according to their Quality: They have Jewels in their Ears, in which they bore great Holes, and ftretch them out to a great Length. When they falute their Acquaintance, it is by holding out and Vifits. both their Hands with the Palm upwards, and bowing their Bodies; but one of a fuperior Quality holds out but one Hand, or perhaps nods his Head, The Women falute, by clapping the Palms of their Hands together, and carrying them to their Foreheads. When the nearest Relations vifit, they fit very referv'd and filent, and are at no time addicted to talk much. The principal Food is Rice, with fome favoury Soups, made of Flesh, or Fish: The better Sort will have fix or feven Dishes at their Tables, but they are most of them Soup, Herbs, or other Garden-ftuff; feldom more than one or two of Flefh or Fifh, of which they eat very sparingJy. The Meat is cut in little Pieces, and laid by the Rice; fo that they ufe no Knives or Forks, but they have Ladles and Spoons They have Brass and China Plates to eat on ; but the poorer Sort, who want thefe, make a' fhift with broad Leaves inftead of them. Their ufual Drink is Water, which they pour into their Mouths, holding the Bottle at a Distance from their Heads. If they have Rice and Salt in the House, the Poor look upon themselves to be well provided for: Beef, I think, they are prohibited to eat, if they are inclin'd to it; and, for Pork and Fowls, they choofe to fell these to Foreigners amongst them; and would think themselves hardly used, Diet. ! if they were compelled to make a Meal of either. The Wife dreffes the Food, and waits on the Hufband while he eats; and then fits down with her Children, and takes what he leaves. Of EGYPT. CLIMATE.] HE Air of Egypt is not healthful, the T Situation being very low; and the Mud, which covers the beft Part of it, after the overflowing of the Nile, fending up a noifome Vapour. The fandy Defarts, which inclofe Egypt on three Sides, render it exceffive hot: Nor are there more than two Springs in the whole Country, to refresh the parched Inhabitants. It feldom rains here in the Summer; but, in the Winter, modern Travellers affure us, it rains plentifully fometimes, especially in Lower Egypt; notwithstanding it was univerfally believ'd formerly, that it never rain'd here at all. The Fertility of Egypt has been long fince obferv'd, to be afcrib'd chiefly to the overflowing of the River Nile, which leaves a fattening Slime behind it; for the Soil is naturally a barren Sand, but the Fields the Water covers are, fome of them, so very rich, that the Hufbandmen are forced to mix Sand with the Earth, or their Grain would be too rank. GOVERNMENT.] The Egyptians are certainly a very ancient Nation; for it is generally agreed, that Cham, the Son of Noah, was the fame with Jupiter Hammon; and Mifraim, his Grandfon, the fame with Öfiris, the great Deity of the Egyptians; and from him, 'tis faid, defcended that Race of Monarchs, who had the general Denomination of Pharaohs. Egypt is at prefent a Province of the Turkish Empire; and is govern'd by a particular Bafla, or Beglerbeg, whofe Poft is generally efteem'd the moft honourable Government of any belonging to the Turkish Empire, having under him fifteen different Governments. RELIGION.] As to the Religion of the Mahometans of Egypt, it differs but little from that of the Turks. Hatching Chickens CUSTOMS.] The hatching Chickens in Ovens is one of the remarkable Cuftoms related of this Country. They put their Eggs in Ovens, which are heated with fo temperate a Warmth, and imitate fo well the natural Heat, that Chickens are formed and hatched in them. Thefe Ovens are underground, and the Hearth of them covered with Cotton, or Flax, to lay the Eggs upon. They begin to heat their Ovens in Ovens about 1 about the middle of February, and continue to heat them about four Months. They will lay in fometimes eight thoufand Eggs in an Oven; and, after eight or ten Days, they pick out the Good from the Bad, and then put out the Fire; and, having fhut up all clofe, they let them lie ten Days longer, when the Chickens are hatched; but there are few of them, which have not fome Defect. It is obferved, that nice People can diftinguifh one of thefe Pullets from another by their Palates. Pyramids. CURIOSITIES.] Between three and four Leagues to the Weft of Grand Cairo, ftand thofe three vaft Pyramids, fo juftly the Admiration of all that view them; That which has fuffered the leaft by Time and Weather, contains thefe Dimenfions; viz. the Side of the Square Bafe is 693 Feet, according to the Englifh Standard; its perpendicular Height is 499 Feet; confequently the whole Area of the Basis of this Pyramid is eleven Acres and upwards. But, notwithstanding the Height of this Pyramid has been fo much admired, the Spire of St. Paul's in London, before it was burnt, exceeded the Height of this celebrated Pyramid; for, according to Camden, the perpendicular Height of it from the Ground was 534 Feet. It is obfervable, that Thales Milefius, above two thousand Years ago, took the Height of thefe Pyramids by their Shadow, according to Pliny and Laertius. The Dimenfions of the fecond Pyramid, both as to Height, and the Area of the Bafis,. are equal to the firft; but there has been no Entrance yet difcovered into it; nor is it known, whether there be any Rooms or Apartments within, though it is highly probable there are. The third Pyramid ftands about a Furlong diftant from the fecond, upon an advantageous Rifing of a Rock, which makes it feem equal to the former at a Distance: But the perpendicular Height is only about 300 Feet, and the Area of the Bafis is fomething more than 90,000 fquare Feet. There are twenty more Pyramids difperfed about the Libyan Defart, moft of them inferior in Bulk to the former; except one, which stands twenty Miles South-weft of thofe above defcribed, and which is of the fame Dimenfions with the firft, but more decayed: It has also an Entrance on the North Side, but blocked up, fo that there is no getting in to fee the Apartments. Thefe Pyramids are fuppofed, by many, to have been built by the Ifraelites, and were the Sepulchres of the Egyptian Monarchs. Of BARBARY. ARBARY contains 1. Barca. 2. Tripoli. 3. Tunis. 4. Algiers. 5. Fez. 6. Morocco. B4 CLIMATE.] Barca is fcarce any thing else but a parched, barren Defart, with very little Water; there be ing only fome Spots near Villages, which afford. Barca. is tolerably fruitful; but all the reft Eastward is very barren. ful towards the West, being watered by feveral Rivers; but very poor towards the Eaft, for want of Water: The Southern Part is all Hills and Valleys, producing good 'Fruits, Corn, and Sugar: The Air is reckon'd whol fome, being cooled by the Sea. Algiers is very. Algiers. mountainous towards the Mediterranean Sea; but both Hills and Valleys are exceeding fruitful, where they are cultivated, abounding in Corn and Fruits; fuch as Dates, Olives, Figs, Grapes, and Almonds: They have also good Store of Wax and Honey; and their Coafts afford great Quantities of Salt. The Country, containing Fez and Morocco, produces abundance of Corn, Fex and and Copper; and is alfo finely diverfified with Mountains, and vast extended Plains, most of them very fruitful, and pretty well inhabited. The Air of Fez and Morocco is generally temperate, especially on the Mountains, and near the Sea-coafts, where they oftener complain of Cold than Heat. GOVERNMENT.] The Government of Algiers is, in Reality, an abfolute Monarchy to this Day, though it has fome Appearance of a mixt Government; because the Dey or Sovereign fometimes affembles a Divan, confifting of the chief Officers of State, and the Janizaries, and demands their Advice in Matters of Importance: But this, it feems, is only to screen him against popular Difcontents; for he acts by his fole Authority, whenever he pleases. The Dey is indeed elective; his Son never inherits by Defcent, and this Election is by the Turkish Army. The Moors of Spain, having been |