AND LOWER EGYPT. 28 1 



the boat, rendered my situation there neither more 

 secure nor more agreeable. At length we took 

 our departure on the 8th, carried along by the 

 violence of the wind and waves. The billows 

 dashed witli fury against the feeble barrier which 

 they had erected on the bark, and there was every 

 reason to apprehend that by softening the mud 

 which supported it, it would be very soon overset. 



At the moment of our departure we saw a vil- 

 lage on fire ; it was called Koiim el Arah. This 

 conflagration was the consequence of a war 

 among the Arabs, in which tlicy discovered nei- 

 ther valour nor generosity, and every act of which 

 was stamped with a treacherous and cruel revenge. 



We halted at Ahoiit'ige. Repairs were necessary 

 to our boat. What I foresaw had come to pass. 

 The bastion "of mud, which was erected on the 

 edge, had yielded to the fury of the waves ; the 

 earth, entirely softened, had in several places 

 opened a passage to the water ; the fronts of the 

 fascines had fallen down, and if we had proceeded 

 much farther on our voyage, the waves infallibly 

 would have washed over the vessel and sunk her. 

 The sailors began to rebuild this feeble barrier ; 

 but as this was a labour which required some 

 time, I embraced an opportunity v/hich presented 

 itself of proceeding to Siout by land. 



A Turk, 



