AND LOWER EGYPT. 361 



of falcon ; and I killed, near a little pool of water, 

 two young woodcocks, vulgarly called wMte-tails, 

 and by the Proven 9a! s bechots *. The male and 

 the female were together. 



'£> 



On continuing our route towards the sea, the 

 grounds which the Nile had overspread, were slip- 

 pery, miry, and intersected with ditches. Our 

 beasts fell down, sinking into the sloughs, and 

 frequently leaving us in the water or in the mud. 

 No one of us was exempted from such accidents as 

 these, nor from the mutual pleasantries which we 

 passed upon each other. At length we arrived near 

 that narrow and formidable pass of the bar which 

 enclo&es the Nile. The sea, agitated from the 

 main, broke against it with fury, and there lifted 

 up its perturbed waves, mingled with foam and 

 sand. We saw at this spot the tops of the masts of 

 two germes which had been cast away some days 

 before, and upon the coast, sailors employed in 

 bearing away the dead bodies of some of their com- 

 rades which the sea had thrown upon the shore. 



The coast is low, and entirely formed of sand; 

 it was covered with a number of water-birds, such 

 as goelands, sea-larks, herons *J~, &c. &c. These 



* Becasseau. BufFon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. ct pi. enlum. No. 

 643. — I'ringa ochrojun. Lin. 



-j- Htion commun. Button, Hist. Nat. des Ois. et pi. enlum. 

 No. 787. — Ardea cinerea. Lin. 



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