17'2 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



petuatcd in Kgypt from the most remote antiquity: 

 for Caylus has given us the figure of a vase in use 

 amongsttheancicntEgyptiaus, the bottom of which 

 was formed in like manner*; and Paul Lucas 

 found a simihir one amidst the ruins of Dendera \. 



In these parts of Upper Egypt you frequently 

 meet with whole districts filled with water-melons. 

 They are sown in the sand on the bank of the river; 

 and it is in this situation, wliere the burning heat 

 co-operates with the freshness of the water which 

 moistens the stalks, that this fruit acquires its grate- 

 ful and refreshing pulp ; where, under a scorching 

 atmosphere, it is sought after as affording a nou- 

 rishment equally wholesome and agreeable. 



A dead calm having continued during the whole 

 of the 2 ad, we could not reach Neguade^ on the 

 west of the Nile, till after mid-day, although we 

 had left Ballas, between which and Neguade ihcxQ 

 was only three leagues distance, at daybreak. 



It is conferring too much honour on Neguade to 

 style it, as some have done, a city; for it scarcely de- 

 serves the title of a market-town, being in fact no- 

 thing else than a village somewhat larger than the 

 rest. It is almost entirely peopled with Cophts, 



* RecueJl d'Antiquites, pi. 15, No. i. 

 \ Voyage in 1714. vol, iii. 



among 



