ALEXANDRIA. 9 5 



to the Chinese historians, hy a powerful horde of 

 Tartars, a hundred and thirty years after its foundation. 



We can now return to African soil, and we find 

 that a city of incomparable splendour has arisen, 

 founded by Alexander, and bearing his name. For as 

 he was on his way to the oasis of Ammon, travelling 

 along the sea coast he came to a place a little west of 

 the Nile's mouth where an island close to the shore, 

 and the peculiar formation of the land, formed a 

 natural harbour, while a little way inland was a large 

 lagoon communicating with the Nile. A few houses 

 were scattered about, and this, he was told, was the 

 village of Rhacotis, where in the old days the Pharaohs 

 stationed a garrison to prevent the Greek pirates from 

 coming on shore. He saw that the spot was well 

 adapted for a city, and with his usual impetuosity 

 went to work at once to mark it out. When he re- 

 turned from the oasis, the building of the city had 

 begun, and in a few years it had become the residence 

 of Ptolemy, and the capital of Egypt. It filled up 

 the space between the sea and the lagoon. On the 

 one side, its harbour was filled with ships which came 

 from Italy and Greece and the lands of the Atlantic 

 with amber, timber, tin, wine, and oil. On the other 

 side were the cargo boats that came from the Nile 

 with the precious stones, the spices, and the beautiful 

 fabrics of the East. The island on which stood the 

 famous lighthouse was connected with the mainland 

 by means of a gigantic mole, furnished with draw- 

 bridges and forts. It is on this mole that the modem 

 city stands : the site of the old Alexandria is sand. 



When Ptolemy the First, one of Alexander's generals, 

 mounted the throne, he applied bimself with much 

 caution and dexterity to tbat difficult problem, the 



