AND LOWER EGYPT. 293 



hastened to the spot with my sabre in my hand, 

 and applied a few strokes to the shoulders of the 

 aggressors with the flat side. They immediately 

 quitted their hold ; but an exclamation was heard 

 over all the boat. An infidel to strike a. Mussul- 

 man ! It was an offence unpardonable, and which 

 threatened me with instant death. They were 

 talking oi throwing me overboard. Tiie Re'is, in- 

 stead of appeasing the tumult, as great a fanatic 

 as the rest, cried louder than any of them. I re- 

 tired with my companions into the chamber 

 which we occupied, and we entrenched ourselves 

 as well as we could, fully expecting to be at- 

 tacked. The fire-arms, however, with which we 

 were supplied, appeared to the desperadoes who 

 surrounded us, formidable enough to prevent 

 their approach, and they contented themselves with 

 murmuring and concerting plans of revenge. 



Through the lattice of my chasnber, I perceived 

 at ScheickAhade^ the ruins of Antinoe^ and on the 

 same eastern coast, Bemhassav, a village at the toot 

 of a mountain of rock, rising perpendicularly, in 

 which the ancients have hollowed out sepulchral 

 caverns. A little tower and a forest of palm-trees 

 form a beautiful contrast with the rugged aspect of 

 the rocks which border this bank of the Nile. The 

 village of Savouadi succeeds to this. There the 

 ruins of several ancient buildings are perceptible. 



u 3 The 



