EGYPT, AND SYRIA. 149 
purify and cool the water, in a greater degree than might be 
imagined. The people of the country however drink the 
water that remains within, not that which has pafTed through " 
'the jar or bottle. 
On going to Cofsir, I had fent my baggage forward to Afliut. 
Nothing remained therefore but to find a fmall boat, on my 
return to Ghenne, in which to be conveyed to AlTiut. This 
offered itfelf on the fecond day, and two Derwifhes were my 
companions in that journey, one of them a very intelligent 
man. "We flopped at all the principal towns, but without any 
new occurrence, and reached Afliut on the 21ft. 
I remained in that city till the 30th, when we fet fail for 
Kahira, or rather trufted ourfelves to the current, the wind 
blowing conftantly from North-weft. I flopped a night at 
Benefoef, intending to have palTed thence to Feiume : but 
finding it not eafy to meet with a conveyance, declined that 
journey, and arrived in Kahira on the 8th of December. 
The wind, which was high during our excurfion to Cofsir, 
and afterwards on the Nile, contained fuch penetrating cold, 
that, on coming to Afliut, I found myfelf affected flrongly with 
a fever. A large dofe of James's powder however removed it. 
A fliort time before my arrival at Ghenne, two Greeks, who 
were going to feek their fortune, as they reported, in Habbefli, 
came to Kous. The one had a fmall fupply of money, of 
which the other was deftitute — Words arofe between them, and 
fome 
