196 TRAVELS TN UPPER 



channel, there was all the reason in the world \o 

 presume that, in a little time, no boat whatever 

 would venture to encounter that formidable bar. 

 In this case, they must perhaps have thought of 

 clearing out the canal of Alexandria, or, if the 

 carelessness of the inhabitants had infatuated them 

 to such a degree as to neglect a work of so much 

 importance, all communication by water must 

 have been interrupted between Alexandria and the 

 rest of Egypt, and commerce reduced to employ 

 the expensive transportation of merchandise by 

 land carriage. 



This is the mode generally adopted by the tra- 

 vellers and traders of Europe, as well as by those 

 who prefer a slight increase of expense to the risk 

 of being drowned in the boghass. This is the 

 conveyance I made use of in all the excursions I 

 ever undertook between Alexandria and Rossetta. 



Before I quit the coast, I must take notice of 

 the sea fishes which I had occasion to remark, 

 among the numerous species of which their fish- 

 ery consists. I have seen there that species of 

 thornback known by the name of the sea-eagle* 1 , 

 the flesh of which is hard and ill-tasted ; the sea- 



* Raia corpore glabro, aculeo Jongo serrato in caudd pinnata. 

 Arted. Gen. 45.- — Raia aquila. Lin. \ 



eat 3 



