128 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



agreeable shelter from the beat of the sun. Tiie 

 date and pabn trees of Thebai's are to be found 

 tlicrc in equally great numbers. The apple-trees 

 produce fruits larger, and not so bad as those of 

 Tahla ; but the pastceas arc small, and of a very 

 inferior quality to those which I had eaten at Sioiit. 

 The markets arc filled with a prodigious quantity 

 of melons (agoiir)^ amongst which some are to be 

 seen of a monstrous size. These fruits do not as- 

 sume any regular form ; some are round, others 

 oval, and some are of a small size, and very much 

 lengthened out like a large cucumber. Finally, 

 the melons of this species are, generally speaking, 

 of a very bad quality ; their pulp is insipid, and 

 not very sweet. It is very rare to meet with such 

 as are even middling, and you never eat any that 

 deserve the epithet good. Nevertheless there is a 

 great consumption of them : the people of Upper 

 Egypt find in these melons a nourishment at a 

 low price, which abates thirst, and the sharpness 

 of the humours produced by the heat of the cli- 

 mate ; but the efiect of good pastceas is far more 

 certain, and far more agreeable. 



The city of Echnimm contains, like all those of 

 Egypt, a crowd of priestesses devoted to the worship 

 of a disgusting voluptuousness: they are accord- 

 ingly dedicated to the sensuality of the grossest of 

 mankind. The pencil of a magical style has de- 

 picted, 



