AND LOWER EGYPT. 201 



travels through climates of fire, I had learned to 

 support all the ardour of the orb of day; fully 

 convinced, besides, that there is never too much 

 light for a traveller who wishes to procure useful 

 information. I have since travelled over the same 

 ground in the day-time: it is computed to be a 

 Journey of about twelve hours. Carriages not 

 being in use there, they employ mules, which you 

 find ready for hire, both at Alexandria and Ros- 

 setta, at a fixed and very moderate price. Their 

 pace i» a very long amble, by means of which they 

 can cover a great deal of ground, without fati- 

 guing themselves too much. These animals were 

 so habituated to the road, that it'was unnecessary 

 to guide them, and that, whether by night or by 

 day, they never deviated from their course, which, 

 on a moving sand, can neither be traced nor 

 formed into a path ; they had, accordingly, neither 

 bridle nor bit, but only a sorry halter. 



Though there be no place of habitation on this 

 route, it is not, properly speaking, a desert. You 

 see on one side, for half the way, and at a little 

 distance, a few straggling houses and a town ; and, 

 through the remainder, you meet with si^ns which 

 indicate that the habitations of men are not very 

 remote. Besides, the traveller has no reason to be 

 apprehensive of the violent gusts of wind from the 

 south, so formidable in the vast plains of sand with 



which 



