AND LOWER EGYPT, 277 



These beautiful Insects, which I saw again at 

 Rossetta, although only in the tnild season, enter 

 the houses and take up their abode in little holes 

 of the wall and in the wood. When they are 

 caught, th(y discharge a small quantity of a 

 liquid which has the smell of sulphur. 



One evening, on the terrace of a house, at a 

 small distance from my own hahitation, I heard 

 screams of agony which lasted for more than an 

 hour. On inquiry, 1 learnt that they proceeded 

 from a woman who had just been stung by a scor- 

 pion. A female was concerned, and this circum- 

 stance was sufficient to prevent my receiving any 

 intelligence of the consequences of the wound. 



At this season little lizai^s of uncommon 

 beauty throng on the shores of the Nile, and in 

 little pools of water. Gold and azure glitter in 

 long fillets over their whole body, and their tail is 

 of a beautiful sky blue. Those beautiful lizards 

 likewise approach, though not often, the habita- 

 tions of man. I perceived one oh the wall of a 

 house where 1 lod<rcd at Tahta, Excessive heat 

 is necessary to the propagation of their species, 

 and in fact I never met with them in the north of 

 Egypt. The Egyptians seemed to entertain a kind 

 of veneration for these little animals, for as I en- 

 deavoured to catch some of them with a stick 



T 3 upon 



