DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 
were of Arabic structure, formed of the ruins of 
the ancient city ; they exhibited fragments of mo- 
numents, and concreted stony masses, consisting 
chiefly of fossil and sparry shells, irregularly unit- 
ed by a common cement. * From the neglect of 
the canals, and the encroachments of the sand, the 
city is now insulated in a desert, and exhibits few 
vestiges of those delightful gardens and cultivated 
fields, which continued even to the time of the 
Arabian conquest, and are described with such 
enthusiasm by Abulfeda. A few stunted syca- 
mores mark the course of the canal of Lower 
Egypt, but the eye searches in vain for " the 
" banks covered with perpetual verdure, and the 
" stately date, whose pliant head, crowned with 
" pendent clusters, languidly reclines like that of 
" a beautiful woman overcome with sleep." t The 
soil becomes sterile and sandy, in proportion to 
the distance from the canal ; and the district be- 
tween Alexandria and Rosetta retains the same 
general character of barrenness, though interspers- 
ed at intervals with villages and cultivated spots of 
ground. Various magnificent ruins are scattered 
over this arid track, formerly adorned with popu- 
lous cities, where we must look for the site of Nico- 
polis, of Zephyrium, and probably of Thonis, at an 
* Sonnini's Travels, 4to, p. 77, 
f Abulfedee Descr. iEgypt. a Micliaclis. p. 6, 
1-0 
