24 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



We had proceeded nearly seven leagues in the 

 course of this day ; the north wind continued to be 

 favourable to us ; but it blew sometimes violent 

 squalls, and in whirlwinds which, but for the 

 precautions I was careful should be observed, and 

 which would have given no uneasiness to the 

 Egyptian mariners, might have rendered it danger- 

 ous. These whirlwinds are very frequent upon the 

 Nile ; they communicate their motion to that part 

 of the river on which they bear, and cause it to 

 boil up. I had the pleasure of seeing, in the plain 

 of Sakkara, columns of sand, raised by the wind 

 almost to the clouds, and preserving in their im- 

 mense height the perpendicularity of a perfect 

 cylinder. 



That chain of mountains which, at the back of 

 Toura, v/as close to the banks of the Nile, retires 

 here, and leaves a vast space for cultivatian. 

 There are no longer here the level plains of the 

 Delta, and the other cultivated parts of Lower 

 Egypt, which by easy waterings are moistened suf- 

 ficiently to produce fertility. The waters of the 

 river flowed in their natural bed, between two 

 steep shores. In order to water their lands, the 

 inhabitants are obliged to employ machines for 

 drawing up the water. These are a kind of swipe- 

 levers, placed upon a horizontal cross-bar, and to 

 which leathern buckets are fastened. A man, half 



covered 



