AND LOWER EGYPT. lOI 



lent and implacable persecutor was the %'ery man 

 with whom I resided. Possessing the confidence 

 of ihcK'kJS chefs, he arrogated to himself the autho- 

 rity of making exactions upon those of his nation 

 who had adopted a religions persuasion preached 

 by strangers; and frequentl)' these last were obliged 

 to collect considerable sums, in order to prevent 

 the effects of his animosiiy. Besides, all those 

 Catholics, at least most of them, were poor and 

 wretched ; they lived in a stale of misery and 

 depression. Not a Bey, not a Kiaschcf, not one 

 Mahometan in ofhce, being able to do without 

 the assistance of the Cophts in the management 

 of their affairs or in the exercise of their employ- 

 ments, reposed any confidence in them, or em- 

 ployed their services if they could help it. Whilst 

 they promised them happiness after death, they 

 rendered them very miserable during their life- 

 time ; and philosophy knows well how to appre- 

 ciate the nature of the services which they receive 

 from our monks. 



The cure procured roe several little antique 

 stones, the engravings of which had some merit. 

 It was more easy to collect these works of anti- 

 quity in Upper Egypt than in the lower part, where 

 the travellers who daily frequent it have rendered 

 them very scarce. It is after the heavy rains of 

 winter in the north of Egypt, and after the inun- 

 dation of the Nile in the south, that the Egyptians 



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