96 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



with the water, may probably be part of the ruins 

 of the ancient Pharos ; so that in modern times 

 vessels are shipwrecked on the fragments of the 

 noblest monument that ever was reared for their 

 preservation. 



The sandy bottom of new harbour is filled with 

 rocks and rubbish ; and this humid field of ruin 

 frequently becomes that of the most horrible deso- 

 lation. Cables are worn and cut to pieces by con- 

 tinual friction on the stones. Ships pressing; on 

 each other in one line of direction along the ridge, 

 are hardly able to resist the violence of the north 

 wind, and the fury of the billows which it raises, 

 especially in the winter-time, that is, during the 

 months of November, December, and January* 

 the period when the air is a little cooled by the 

 'rains and stormy gales. On the approach of those 

 tempests, the crews desert their ships, for fear of 

 being dashed in pieces with them on the merciless 

 shore. The first ship whose cables give way falls 

 upon her next neighbour, and forces her from 

 her moorings ; the two together are driven with 

 increased violence upon a third, which is incapa- 

 ble of withstanding the increased shock, and, in an 

 instant, the whole series is confounded, crashed to 

 fragments, swallowed up. Scarcely a year passes at 

 Alexandria, without exhibiting disasters of this 



sort, 



