132 DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 
To the west of Nitria, and extending in the 
same direction, lies the valley of the river with- 
out water, denominated by the Arabs*, Bahar Be- 
la Ma, which is conjectured to have formed the 
communication between the lakes Moeris and Ma- 
reotis, and is separated from the valley of Nitria 
by a ridge of calcareous stone, covered with sand. 
As this valley forms the western barrier of Egypt, 
all vegetation is choked, and the soil is encumber- 
ed with banks of the sand which it intercepts, as 
it is drifted from the interior of Africa. By im- 
peding the progress of this moving desolation, and 
rendering the incessant agency of the wind less 
dangerous, it has preserved the cultivated banks of 
the Nile from destruction, and permitted the na- 
tives, who attribute this effect to the talismanie 
power of the Sphinx of the Pyramids, to enjoy their 
dreams of superstitious credulity. In some places, 
however, the progress of the sands is marked in a 
picturesque manner, by the large and beautiful 
sycamores, originally rooted in the alluvial soil, 
which wither in solitary grandeur on the arid 
downs, now covered with sand. In the valley of 
the dry river, various kinds of stones are found, 
which appear to have been brought from the pri- 
mitive mountains of Upper Egypt ; as silex and 
siliceous stones, gypsum, quartz, and quartzose 
crystallizations, geodes, jasper, and Egyptian peb- 
bles. But the most curious production of the val- 
ley is the petrified wood in which it abounds. 
