238 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



nate the remainder of his enemies. I was between 

 two bands of combatants, equally undisciplined 

 and nntractable, and both disposed to commit the 

 greatest excesses. The disorder attached to these 

 troops, of which the men who composed them 

 possessed none of the qualifications of a true sol- 

 dier but his bravery, infected the districts through 

 which their cohorts passed. Themselves phmder- 

 ing and destroying, they left the country open to 

 plunder and devastation. Robbers stripped travel- 

 lers by land, and pirates seized the boats on the 

 Nile. Clans of Arabs renewed ancient quarrels, and 

 had frequent skirmishes together; one village fought 

 against another ; in a word, on these occasions, 

 violence, confusion, and licentiousness, werecarried 

 to their highest pitch; and the stranger unpro- 

 tected, because authority no longer existed, could 

 not fail to fall a victim in the general convulsion. 



It was impossible for me to remain any longer 

 in the places which the superb city of Thebes for- 

 merly filled. These cantons, very dangerous even 

 during the most tranquil periods, were on the eve 

 of becoming unpassable for every one but robbers. 

 Neither could I think any more of advancing to- 

 wards the cataracts. Exclusive of the perils I 

 should run from a more barbarous population in 

 that southern country, the enemies of Mourat, 

 into whose hands I aiight be delivered, would 



certainly 



