AND LOWER EGYPT. 3OI 



selves : but toward the west, the mountains are 

 much farther removed, and sometimes to so great 

 a distance, that they are scarcely perceptible from 

 the river. The former, that is to say, those which 

 are washed by the Nile, project above, while the 

 middle and lower parts retire, being furrowed 

 lengthwise over the whole front which borders 

 the Nile to the very summit, as if the waters had 

 flowed to this height against their declivity, and 

 had there marked the successive diminution of the 

 elevation of their course. Another general obser- 

 vation which the navigation of the Nile enabled 

 me to. make, is, that when these mountains, or 

 rather these masses of rock toward the east, con- 

 fine the current of the Nile, the shallows or sands 

 on the opposite shore advance also to a point, and 

 leave a very narrow channel to the river, which is 

 exceedingly formidable to navigators. 



The Nile began to diffuse over the plains her 

 fertilizing waters. The canals were successively 

 filling. The part of Egypt where I then was, 

 may be reckoned the most beautiful country in 

 nature ; that where the eye embraces situations 

 the most picturesque, and contrasts the most 

 striking. Towards the west, the country pro- 

 duces an abundance, which ages of cultivation 

 have not xhaustcd. Villages upon eminences 

 surroundcci with water, appear with the trees 



which 



