34 'TRAVELS IN UpPER 



Kiaschef commanded at Ben'isouef, As I did not 

 choose to make any stay there, I dispensed with the 

 ceremony of visiting him. 



A dead calm had succeeded, on the 28th, to the 

 burning tempest from the south. Only, towards 

 four in the evening, a slight breeze from the north 

 arose : wc took the advanta<re of it to continue our 

 route, and we arrived in the night-time at Behe, a 

 large village, the residence of a Kiaschef, and situ- 

 ated on the same side with Ben'isouef, from whence 

 it is distant only about three leagues. You see here 

 a mosque, and a convent of Cophts. 



In this voyage by night, we run the greatest dan- 

 ger ima2;inable, through the neg-lio-cnce and un- 

 skilfulness of our boat-men. We ran foul, in the 

 most rapid current, of one of those large barges 

 which are called inauh, and which come down from 

 Upper Egypt very heavily laden. I know not how 

 our frail kanja sustained such a shock, without be- 

 ing dashed to pieces. This was not all ; and as if 

 we had been destined to perish at that very instant, 

 after having driven violently against the barge, a. 

 gust of wind came upon us unexpectedly, which, 

 taking our sails ahead, endangered our founder- 

 ing, and half filled our little vessel. We spent the 

 remainder of the passage, as far as Behe, in baling 

 out the water which the boat had taken in. 



Oa 



