66 
TRxiVELS IN AFRICA, 
Other ftriking and antient features of this diftinguiflied ftream, 
are the rafts of BelaJJes^ or large white jars, ufed for carrying 
water ; little rafts of gourds, on which a fmgle perfon conducts 
himfelf with great philofophical dignity acrofs the ftream ; and 
the divers, who, concealing their heads in pumpkins, approach 
the water-fowl unperceived, and feize them by the legs. Con- 
cerning the crocodile and hippopotamus fo much has been faid, 
that I defpair of adding any thing new. The latter I never 
faw or .heard of in Egypt ; in Nubia they -are faid to abound. 
The crocodile itfelf feems reduced in number, and is confined 
to the diftridt above Affiut, where he is dangerous to bathers. 
A young man bathing at Dendera, a day or two before I 
arrived, had his leg bitten off by one of thofe unwieldy animals. 
Parallel to the Chalige * runs the principal ftreet. It fhould 
be obferved that the houfes of the Europeans are all on the 
Chalige^ the ftench of which has been fuppofed to operate in 
producing the peftilence, to which that order of men is how- 
ever the lead fubjedt. The mofques in Kahira are computed 
at more than three hundred ; four or five of them far exceed- 
ing the reft in fplendor. The yama el A%-her is a very confi- 
derable eleemofynary eftabliftiment, fupplying chiefly poor 
ecclefiaftics, to the amount of fome thoufands, with broth and 
other articles. Moft of the mendicants in Kahira are eccle- 
fiaftics, who urge their ftudies as an excufe for idlenefs. Blind- 
nefs, I know not from what caufe, affeding one or both eyes, is 
* The city is ftill infefted with the ufual herds of dogs, and the kites ftill 
fliriek wildly over the canal; while the turtle-doves, unmolefted by men or 
children, breed in the houfes, building their nefts under the projecting beams. 
extremely 
