AND LOWER EGYPT. £23 



If the houses of Echnimm were of a better con- 

 struction, this would be a very beautiful cit}'. The 

 streets are broad and straight. This disposition of 

 streets, without which no city can pretend to be 

 remarkable, is wanting, generally speaking, to the 

 other cities of Egypt, for the streets are very nar- 

 row, crooked, and badly levelled But the houses 

 of this place, like those of the other considerable 

 towns in the southern part of Egypt, are built 

 with bricks, not burnt, but simply baked with clay, 

 and dried in the sun. These bxicks arc cemented 

 with earth. There results from this kind of ma- 

 son-work a grayish tint spread over all the build- 

 ings, and which presents a dull and gloomy ap- 

 pearance. If there were to happen an alteration 

 in the seasons, and were it to rain in these coun- 

 tries, as in the part of Egypt v/hich borders upon 

 the sea, the houses would be seen to melt away, 

 and fall down. Those of persons of note, from 

 their employments or their riches, arc more solid, 

 being constructed Vvith bricks half burnt. The 

 walls are adorned with several rows of large earthen 

 pots, of different forms and sizes, which serve as 

 an asylum to pigeons ; and almost alttheliouses 

 have, besides, their roofssurraountedwith a pigeon- 

 house, a sort of square and spacious tower. 



A chain of mountains, of steep and barren rock, 

 encircles the city to the eastward. It reflects the 



heat 



