DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. l6l 
of Arabia, Ethiopia, and India, was introduced 
into Egypt, from the port of Cosseir, which lies 
at the distance of three days' journey. The city 
retained the opulence it derived from this trade 
till the reign of Dioclesian, by whom it was rased, 
and the inhabitants extirpated, on account of their 
adherence to Christianity. In the time of Abul- 
feda, it was reduced to a hamlet. Cous, the Apol- 
linopolis Parva of the ancients, succeeded to the 
commerce and opulence of Coptos, and possessed 
it during the dominion of the Arabs. Abulfeda re- 
lates that it was the emporium of the commerce of 
Aden, the capital of Yemen, which, during the 
13th century, monopolized the trade of India and 
Egypt. When 'Egypt was conquered by the 
Turks, and the Indian commerce, after the cir- 
cumnavigation of Southern Africa, declined, Kene 
succeeded to the remains of this trade. At Cous 
no remains of antiquity exist, except the entabla- 
ture of an Egyptian gate, on the cornice of which 
a Greek inscription is engraved. * * The soil of 
Upper Egypt seems to increase in fertility, as the 
traveller approaches the site of the ancient The- 
bes. The cultivated fields produce luxuriant crops, 
in the proportion of thirty and fifty for one, while 
several crops succeed one another in the same year.t 
* Ripaud's Report on the Antiquities of Upper Egypt ? 
p. 48. 
f Sonnini's Travels, p. 619, 4to. 
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