[2]Now supposed to have been erected in honour of Severus.
[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.
[4]Hirtius, Bell. Alex. prope init.
[5]The miles spoken of are always geographical.
[6]See Major Rennel’s map.
[7]D’Anville with equal probability supposes Siwa to be Mareotis.
[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.
[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.