AND LOWER EGYPT. I37 



wards five in the evening ; that is to say, at the 

 moment when the heat, less overwhehp.ing, might 

 have rendered the journey more supportable. A 

 Copht oi EcJvnimm had furnished me with a letter to 

 his brother-in-law, a rich inhabitant of Bardis, 

 We were received with very great civility. 



The modern town of Bardis, situated at nearly 

 eiffht ieajrues to the southward of Echmimm. has 

 nothing remarkable in it. Danville places in its 

 environs the ancient city of Pfolenwis-Hermn, the 

 largest ofThebais. and of which the particular go- 

 vernment had for its model, according to Strabo, 

 the form of the republican governments of Greece. 

 The plains which I had just traversed have the 

 smiling aspect of cultivation and abundance ; but 

 when you cast your eyes on the eastern shore, at 

 some distance above Kchmimm^ you are struck by a 

 truly frightful opposition: you see nothing but 

 sterile mountains, rocks piled upon rocks, the un- 

 inhabitable abode of barrenness and horror. 



The quantity of palm-trees of Theba'is is still 

 greater on the south than to the north of Bardis, 

 The plains are shaded with them, and they form, 

 with the numerous date-trees, little woods, which 

 enchant the signt. These downs are a productive 

 property of the inhabitants of thosccantons. When 

 I passed that v/ay it was the epocha of the gather- 

 ing- 



