180 
DESCRIPTIONS Of EGYPT* 
the mountains and the Nile seldom exceeds an 
hundred paces. In some places, the declivities of 
the valley are cultivated to a considerable height, 
and thickets of acacia flourish on the tops of the 
hills. The rocks of granite do not extend far be-' 
yond the cataract, but are interrupted by strata of 
sandstone, which contain numerous nodules of si- 
lex. The valley widens as its ascends, and ruins 
of considerable edifices are still apparent, particu- 
larly at Dendour, Dikka, and Sabua. Dendour 
is equally distant from the cataract of Syene and 
Deir or Derri, one of the last Egyptian stations in 
Nubia. This station was visited in 1737-8 by Fred. 
L. Norden, who attempted to penetrate as far as 
the second cataract, but was unable to surmount 
the difficulties which he encountered at Deir. 
These difficulties did not consist so much in the 
nature of the journey, as in the rapacity and jeal- 
ousy of the inhabitants of this frontier post. Their 
chief declared to Norden, that one of their pro- 
phets had announced, " That there would come 
" Franks in disguise, who r by presents, by sooth- 
" ing and insinuating behaviour, would traverse 
" the country, examine its situation, and after- 
" wards return with a great number of other Franks 
" to conquer the country, and exterminate the in- 
" habitants/' * We have lately seen the conjec- 
* Norden's Travels, Vcl. II. p. 150. 
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