THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. 125 



nant of the partiality of the builders for their firfl domi- 

 ciles ; an imitation of the Hope*, or inclination of the fides 

 of mountains, and that this inclination of flat furfaces to 

 each other in building, gave afterwards the firft idea of Py- 

 ramids f. 



A number of robbers, who much refemble our gypfie^, 

 live in the holes of the mountains above Thebes. They are 

 all out-laws, punifhed with death if elfewhere found. Of- 

 man Bey, an ancient governor of Girge, unable to fuffer 

 any longer the diforders committed by thefe people, order- 

 ed a quantity of dried faggots to be brought together, and, 

 with his foldiers, took poffemon of the face of the moun- 

 tain, where the greateft number of thefe wretches were: 

 He then ordered all their caves to be filled with this dry 

 brulh wood, to which he fet fire, fo that mofl of them were 

 deftroyed ; but they have fince recruited their numbers, with*-- 

 out changing their manners. . 



About half a mile north of El Gourni, are the magnifi- 

 cent, ftupendous fepulchres, of Thebes, The mountains 

 of the Thebaid come clofe behind the town ; they are not 

 run in upon one another like ridges, but ftand mfulated 

 upon their bafes ; fo that you can get round each of them. 

 A hundred of thefe, it is faid, are excavated into fepulchral, 

 and a variety of other apartments. I went through feven of 

 them with a great deal of fatigue. It is a folitary place ; 



and 



* See Norden'f views of the Temples at Efne and Edfu. Vol; ii. plate ■&. p. 80. 



f This inclined figure of the fides, is frequently found in the fmall boxes within, the. 

 muiumy-chtfb. 



