NUMBERS. 241 



writes, " we see them sunning themselves on the 

 sand-banks.". 



The traveller ascending the Nile does not encounter 

 them until he reaches Upper Egypt. Mr. Combes 

 (" Voyage en Egypte, en Nubie," &c.) reports, that the 

 first he met with on his route was found above Syout. 

 " I had but just embarked when they pointed'out to 

 me a crocodile stretched out in the sun. He was, as 

 it were, embedded in the sand, and appeared to be 

 asleep. Nevertheless, he lifted his head at our ap- 

 proach, and slipped slowly into the Nile." According 

 to the people of the country, these animals do not 

 pass below Said, because a venerable sheik had said, 

 " You may come here, but you must not pass this bar- 

 rier." But above this point they rapidly become very 

 numerous, as may be judged by the following little 

 picture, in the neighbourhood of Keneh : " Some of 

 the palm trees in the neighbourhood of the towil 

 were bending under the weight of enormous crocodiles 

 suspended from their branches, and swinging in the 

 wind. The hunters, who had made a successful war 

 on these formidable animals, had left them to dry in 

 the sun, in order afterwards to offer them to the gentry 

 of the country." Having passed Luxor and proceed- 

 ing towards Eineh, Mr. Combes remarks that, 



" Since we left Djirjeh, when the weather was calm 

 and the sun hot, the numerous sand-banks scattered 



B 



