Belzoni considered the tract between the first and second cataract of the Nile as the hottest on the globe, owing to there being no rain.  The natives do not credit the phenomenon of water falling from above.  Hence it is that all monuments are so nicely preserved.  Buckingham found a building left unfinished about 4,000 years ago, and the chalk marks on the stones were still perfect.

Pompey’s Pillar is 92 feet high, and 27-1/2 round at the base.

Water is the absolute master, former and secondary agent of the power of motion in everything terrestrial.  It is the irresistible power which elaborates everything, and the waters contain more organized beings than the land.

Rivers hold in suspension 100th of their volume (more or less) of mud, so that if 36 cubic miles of water (the estimated quantity) flow daily into the sea, 0.36 cubic miles of soil are daily displaced.  The Rhine carries to the sea every day 145,980 cubic feet of mud.  The Po carries out the land 228 feet per annum, consequently Adria which 2,500 years ago was on the sea, is now over 20 miles from it.

The enormous amount of alluvium deposited by the Mississippi is almost incalculable, and constantly renders necessary extensive engineering operations in order to remove the impediments to navigation.

As an exponent of the laws of friction, it may be stated that a square stone weighing 1,080 lbs. which required a force of 758 lbs. to drag it along the floor of a quarry, roughly chiseled, required only a force of 22 lbs. to move it when mounted on a platform and rollers over a plank floor.

The flight of wild ducks is estimated at 90 miles per hour, that of the swift at 200 miles, carrier pigeons 38 miles, swallows 60 miles, migratory birds have crossed the Mediterranean at a speed of 120 miles per hour.

The Nile has a fall of 6 ins. in 1,000 miles.  The rise of the river commences in June, continuing until the middle of August, attaining an elevation of from 24 to 26 feet, and flowing the valley of Egypt 12 miles wide.  In 1829 it rose to 26 cubits, by which 30,000 persons were drowned.  It is a terrible climate to live in, owing to the festering heat and detestable exhalations from the mud, etc., left on the retiring of the Nile, which adds about 4 inches to the soil in a century, and encroaches on the sea 16 feet every year.  Bricks have been found at the depth of 60 feet, showing the vast antiquity of the country.  In productiveness of soil it is excelled by no other in the world.

How to Splice a Belt in Order to Make it Run Like an Endless Belt.—­Use the toughest yellow glue prepared in the ordinary way, while hot, stirring in thoroughly about 20 per cent of its weight of tannic acid, or extract of tan bark.  Apply to the splice and quickly clamp together.  The splice should be made of scarfed edges extending 3 to 6 inches back, according to thickness of belt.  The surface to be perfectly clean and free from oil.