136 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



and harbour were subsequently restored by Gabinius, 

 a Roman general. It must at one time have been a 

 handsome city ; for we read that in the time of St 

 Jerome its ruins were still a subject of admiration. 

 There is a marsh near, where a friend who accom- 

 panied me had last year killed a wild boar ; and a 

 little below it, a stream which is carried through the 

 limestone ridge by an artificial cutting, and spanned 

 by an old Roman single-arched bridge in good preser- 

 vation. Below this it expands into a deep, narrow, 

 very sluggish stream, known as the Crocodile river. 

 My friend assured me that the existence of crocodiles 

 is no myth, for he had himself seen the carcass of 

 one not long since, which had been killed by the 

 natives. The Arab tradition as to the origin of these 

 animals in the river is, that there was once a quarrel 

 between two brothers whose properties were divided 

 by the stream, and that one was more powerful than 

 the other, and constantly threatening to annex his 

 property, on which the latter applied to an influential 

 friend in Egypt for help. His friend replied that he 

 was unable to come himself, but sent him instead a 

 brace of crocodiles to put into the dividing river; 

 and by this simple means he succeeded in protecting 

 his property ever after. I found a very good English- 

 built boat submerged in this stream, and on inquiry 

 was informed that the irrepressible British tourist 

 had contrived to get it here, expressly for the purpose 

 of hunting crocodiles; but I could hear nothing as 



