EGYPT, AND SYRIA. 63 
quarter. It however often happens, that families are conneded 
with a particular fpot for a great length of time. I have met 
with perfons of that defcription at Ben- Alt near Afliut, whofe 
anceftors of the fifth remove had refided in the fame fpot. 
" I ufed to fmoke tobacco," (faid one of them, a very old man,) 
" but it coft me almoft a para a-day, and times are always 
" growing worfe, fo now I am fatisfied with a dry reed, till the 
" mafter (lij^.) free me from thefe embarraffments." 
I fhall now return to the topography and population of this 
great city. It has been originally walled, but at prefent only 
fragments remain. The dimenfions of the city from North to 
South * greatly exceed thofe from Eaft to Weft. There are 
feveral open fpaces, but the houfes, generally fpeaking, are clofe 
to each other. The Challge^ which pierces the city from North 
to South, commencing near Mifr-el-Attike', affumes various 
afpedls, according to the feafon of the year. Its moft per- 
manent character is that of a dunghill, a public receptacle for 
all kinds of olfal. Before the rife of the Nile, it is cleaned, and 
becomes a ftreet ; it is then filled by the increafe of the river, 
and exhibits the appearance of a canal covered with boats. 
Here it may be remarked in general concerning that noble 
river, that its rife feems to remain the fame as in the moft 
antient times, namely, fixteen cubits, or twenty-four feet in 
perpendicular height. The medium increafe is nearly four 
* The length may be eftimated at about three thoufand five hundred yards. 
inches 
