408 



JOURNAL RELATING TO NUBIA. 



stopped by the rocks, with which the river at this place is filled, and 

 the channel so divided and reduced in the ordinary state of the stream, 

 as not to leave sufficient breadth or depth for boats. I therefore 

 quitted mine to proceed by land to the shore opposite Philae, and 

 procured asses for the journey. 



On the 10th of May I left Assouan, attended by an English 

 servant and an Arab from my boat, having two asses for riding, and 

 three for the baggage ; accompanied by Osman, the son of the Sheik 

 of Assouan, as guide and guard, and proceeded through the ruins of 

 the Arab town on the heights above Assouan. The desart here on 

 every side is broken by large masses of granite, most of which had 

 hieroglyphic characters sculptured on them. We arrived in about 

 two hours at the shore opposite to Philas. 



This place called by the natives Selwajoud, by Norden El HeifT, 

 merits all that has been said respecting the temples, and other 

 structures of antiquity which are to be found there. I remained at 

 Philas until the evening of the 11th. It was on the morning of that 

 day that I first saw the destruction caused by the locusts, of which an 

 immense swarm obscured the sky.* In a few hours after their 

 arrival, the palm trees were stripped of their foliage, and the ground 

 of its herbage. Men, women, and children employed themselves in 

 vain attempts to prevent the locusts from settling, howling repeatedly 

 the name of Geraad, the Arab and Nubian word for locusts ; throwing 

 sand in the air, beating the ground with sticks, and at night lighting 

 fires. Yet they seemed to bear the loss of their harvests without 

 murmur, blessing God that they had not the plague, which they said 

 always raged at Cairo when the locusts appeared ; this was actually 

 the case at that time. 



* " They darkened the sun" says the Prophet Joel, ii. 10., speaking of the flight of the 

 locusts. The word is written by Russel girad, Gryllus migratorius. L. In many parts 

 of Turkey the locust-birxl, Turdus Roseus, providentially appears at the same time with 

 the locusts and destroys great numbers. In some seasons when the grain of the corn is 

 too far advanced, these insects attack the cotton plants, mulberry, and fig leaves. — Russell, 



