44 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



companions, who was placed as a sentinel, gave u* 

 notice of the approach of a gang of robbers. We 

 had only time to escape to the boat, which was im- 

 mediately pushed ofl' shore, and we got clear, with 

 only the menaces and bullying of those barbarians. 



You observe also, on each side of the gate, holes 

 cut for the hinges which sustained the folding- 

 doors. The country people say that these doors 

 are at Cairo, and that they were transported thither 

 by a devil. Paul Lucas saw them there covered 

 with plates of iron, and serving to close up an arch 

 which is near the palace of the grand provost*, 

 without doubt the OiuiU, the officer who at Caiyo 

 is intrusted with the affairs of the police. A con- 

 siderable number of pillars were still standing at 

 the other extremity of the city of Antinoe, to- 

 wards the mountains. All the remainder presents 

 nothing but a confused mass of pieces of architec- 

 ture broken and overthrown. 



On the opposite side of the mountain, which 

 terminates, towards the west, the ancient enclo- 

 sure of Antinoe, you distinguish a considerable 

 number of openings dug in the rock. These ca- 

 verns were undoubtedly places of sepulture, the ca- 

 tacomhs. There are places such as these all over 

 Thebais, principally in the environs of great cities. 



* Nouvelle Relation d'Egypte, page 384. 



along 



