AND LOWER EGYPT. 1^1 



great authority, and what he told us of the horde 

 of Gouniei was but ill adapted to inspire courage. 



My companions, whose imagination had been 

 struck by all that they had heard related of this 

 truly detestable place, appeared very much alarm- 

 ed ; the Syrian interpreter, as cowardly as villain- 

 ous, shed tears of dismay ; all blamed me severely, 

 and doubted not of our destruction when they saw 

 me seated upon the sand in the midst of a dozen 

 of these rascally fel/ahs, pulling out my purse 

 every minute, and paying the price of the idols or 

 antique medals to all those who brought me any. 

 I by these means made a tolerably large collection 

 of fragments of antiquity ; and I must say, in fa- 

 vour of the inhabitants of Gourne'i. that thev ob- 

 served the same good faith and precision in these 

 little dealings, which occupied us a great part of 

 the day, as if they had been the most upright 

 people in the world. 



Almost all the medals which I purchased were 

 of very small value. The greatest number of them 

 were copper, and Ptolemies. There were three or 

 four golden coins, but they were Arabian. Very 

 beautiful cornelians arecommonlyfoundamongthe 

 ruins, ready cut and fit for the engraver. Amongst 

 the objects of antiquity which were presented to 

 rac, a man shewed me one for which he demanded 



VOL. III. K an 



