THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 19 



Alexandria, and its environs, are part of the defert of 

 Barca, too high to have ever been overflowed by the Nile, 

 front any part of its lower branches ; or elfe there would 

 have been no necefiity for going fo high up as above Ro- 

 ietto, to get level enough, to bring water down to Alexan- 

 dria by the canal. 



Dr Shaw adds, that the ground hereabout may have been 

 an illand ; and fo it may, and fo may aimoil any other 

 place in the world ; but there is no fort of indication that it 

 was fo, nor viiible means by which it was formed. 



We faw no vegetable from Alexandria to Medea, excepting 

 fome fcattered roots of Abfmthium ; nor were thefe luxu- 

 riant, or promifmg to thrive, but though they had not a 

 very ftrong fmell, they were abundantly bitter; and their 

 leaves feemed to have imbibed a quantity of faline particles, 

 with which the foil of the whole defert of Barca is ftrongly 

 •impregnated. 



We faw two or three gazels, or antelopes, walking one by 

 onc, at feveral times, in nothing differing from the fpecies 

 of that animal, in the defert of Barca and Cyrenaicum ; 

 and the * jerboa, another inhabitant of thefe deferts ; but 

 from the multitude of holes in the ground, which we faw 

 at the root of aimoil every plant of Abfinthium, we were 

 very certain its companion, the f Ceraftes, or horned viper, 

 was an inhabitant of that country alfo. 



C 2 f rom 



* See a figure of this animal in the Appendix. f See Appendix. 



