328 



on fire, and at the same time darkened by whirlwinds 

 of dust."f 



" It is well known," says Mr. Rennell, " that tra- 

 vellers differ exceedingly, in their reports of the di- 

 mensions of the great pyramid, owing to the impossi- 

 bility of measuring the sides of its base ; which are, in 

 a great measure, covered with heaps of sandy drifted 

 against them by the winds."$ 



In speaking of the changes of the delta, Mr. Volney 

 observes, " these are not entirely owing to the Nile 

 and the sea ; the wind itself is a powerful agent, 

 which sometimes choaks up the canals, and drives 

 back the river, as it has done at the Canopic branch. 

 At others, it amasses the sand, and buries the ruins so 

 that their very remembrance is lost. Mr. Niebhur re- 

 lates a remarkable instance of this. While he was at 

 Rosetta, in 176&, he discovered, by chance, under the 

 sandy hillocks, to the southward of that city, several 

 ancient ruins, and among others, twenty fine marble 

 columns, of Grecian workmanship, without being able 

 to learn any tradition even of the name of the place. 

 This appears to me to have been the case with the 

 whole of the adjacent desert. This tract, formerly in- 

 tersected by large canals, and filled with towns, pre- 

 sents nothing but hillocks of a yellowish sand, very 



t Sonini's Travels, vol. iif. p. 32. Also page 24, and 224, on 

 the same subject. 



J Rennell's Herod, p. 360. 



