t 

 2l6 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



nothing strains in the Oriental garb ; and, after 

 having worn it for some time, you become sensible 

 how incommodious are the strictures of our narrow 

 and scanty apparel, and you find the resumption 

 of it uneasy. My draughtsman and my two 

 French attendants had, in like manner, changed 

 their garments ; but they wore a habit less ample 

 and more spruce ; that of the serrachs, foot sol- 

 diers attached to the beys : mustachios garnished 

 pur lips, and long scimitars dangled along by our 

 sides. 



We left Cairo with heart-felt satisfaction, Octo- 

 ber 20th, 1771, at one o'clock in the afternoon, 

 and embarked on board a kanja, a species of boat 

 employed in the navigation of the Nile. Their 

 construction is elegant, and they sail remarkably 

 well ; you have them of various sizes. At the 

 same time that they serve for the conveyance of 

 merchandise, they have in the after-part, for the 

 accommodation of passengers, one or more well- 

 aired apartments, which would be abundantly 

 agreeable, were they not infested with myriads of 

 fleas, lice, bugs, and other vermin. During the 

 two days and two nights of our passage to Rossetta, 

 it was impossible for me to close my eyes for a 

 single instant, and my companions were in the 

 same deplorable condition. A prey to the inces- 

 sant bitings of a prodigious quantity of those 



abominable 



