CHAPTER II. 
EGYPT. 
General Vieiv of Egypt. — Alexandria. — Lower Egypt - 
Isthmus of Suez — Feium. — Upper Egypt.— The Sea Coast. 
— The Oases. — Recent Observations by Denon. — Hamilton. 
— Legh. 
r rom the narrow isthmus of Suez, consisting of 
barren sand, sprinkled at intervals over a low rocky 
base, expands the fertile valley of Egypt. With 
the name of Egypt are associated so many proud 
ideas of remote antiquity, and colossal grandeur, 
that no inconsiderable effort is required to discern 
the features of identity in the relations of modern 
* This chapter is written by Dr Leyden, and appears now 
for the first time. It was intended by him to form part of 
a larger work on Africa, the completion of which was pre- 
vented by his departure for India. It does not, accord- 
ing to the general plan of this work, exhibit the adventures 
and successive discoveries of travellers, but condenses into 
one view all the information which can be collected from 
them. This difference did not appear as a sufficient reason 
for withholding from the public so interesting a piece of 
descriptive geography, especially as the narrow track, 
within which travellers in this country are confined, renders 
their story usually little eventful, and confines the interest of 
their wwks to the description of the superb monuments by 
which Egypt is adorned. 
