304 TRAVELS IN UlTER 



■u'hat lower a point of rocks, known by the 

 name of Dsjehel Nautl (the sailor's mountain), 

 because of an Egyptian mariner who is buried 

 there, and whom his companions have canon- 

 ized. 



PJiha was our last station before we arrived at 

 Cairo. The inundation was extending itself to 

 the westward, as far as the base of the immense 

 pyramid, which is visible several leagues from 

 Kiha. As far as I could form a judgment at the 

 distance I then was, it appeared to be erected 

 upon a hill, which was itself of a pyramidical form. 

 The summit appears to be broken. There is also 

 a little village on one side. 



Water-fowl seemed to be less common than in 

 that season when the Nile returns to its bed. But 

 if they do not appear so frequently on the river, 

 it is doubtless because the plains being inundated, 

 they extend themiSelves over a greater space. 

 Above the tops of lofty mountains, birds of prey 

 are seen hovering in great numbers ; these are 

 peaceable retreats to them, where they build their 

 nests in the holes of the rock. 



Scarcely had the morning of the 4th begun to 

 dawn, when the eagerness of the crew to arrive at 

 Cairo urged them to spread two immense sails on the 



boat. 



