AND LOWER EGYPT. 243 



I was very desirous to visit some spacious grottos, 

 cut in the rock, about a league to the west of Gour- 

 nei, the sepulchres of the ancient monarchs of 

 Thebes. But I could find nobody who would un- 

 dertake to conduct me thither ; the Scheick himself 

 assured me, that the people of Goz^tr;/*?/ being at war 

 with some neighbouring villages, a few of whose 

 inhabitants they had lately killed, it would be im- 

 prudent to expose myself with guides taken from 

 among them, who, far from affording me protec- 

 tion, would rather be the cause of bringing down 

 upon my head the effects of an implacable revenge. 



If the whole day which we passed in a place of 

 such bad repute was somewhat disagreeable, the 

 night was extremely unpleasant. One of the most 

 spacious, and at the same time one of the least sub- 

 stantial cottages had been assigned us, in which we 

 were very closely confined. We had taken every 

 precaution in our power to guard against surprise 

 or attack from without, but not one of us had 

 thought of another species of mischievous beings 

 within doors. Scarcely had we stretched ourselves 

 along our carpet upon the ground, than a legion 

 of rats, of an extraordinary size, covered our apart- 

 ment ; we felt them continually running over us 

 and biting us every moment. This was not all : a 

 very tempestuous wind had risen ; our frail cottage 

 could not resist its violence ; every now and then 



R 2 it 



