AND LOWER EGYPT. 267 



We immediately re -embarked, but it was only to 

 encounter another species of danger. The wind 

 blew stron^x from the north ; the river, whose course 

 is here confined by a ridge of rocks which projects 

 into its bed, was furrowed by deep surges, parti- 

 cularly in those places where the rapidity of the 

 current has to struggle, though with superior force, 

 against the resistance of the wind. Having endea- 

 voured to gain the thread of the current, we found 

 the billows so high and so boisterous, that our little 

 hanja^ which had no ballast, was on the point of 

 being overset. With much trouble and danger wc 

 reached the foot of the mountain, where we re- 

 mained, in expectation that towards night the wind 

 would subside, which is generally the case. 



We had been forewarned at Kelhe, that this 

 place was reckoned the most dangerous passage for 

 navigation on the Nile. No boat ventured here 

 alone; pirates here exercised a continual trade of 

 plundering both day and night. Before our eyes, 

 we beheld one of their most formidable retreats. 

 Several caverns, hollowed out of the rock, served 

 them lor a habitation and an observatory, from 

 whence they took cognizance of vessels at a dis- 

 tance, the attack and plunder of which they had 

 time to project. In all probability, they considered 

 their number to be at that time insufficient to cope 

 with us. We continued upon our guard, and they 



did 



