DAMIETTA. 419 
brother, who was asurgeon,which he as gravely declined. I accepted 
the excuse, and said I would visit his master on the morrow. We 
again walked in the evening to the merchant's door, where the 
pedestal had been removed, and copied the Greek inscription, 
which was as follows : 
H BOTAH KAI O AHMOS 
AOTKION noniAAION BAABON 
nPESBETTHN TIBEPIOT 
KAATAIOT KAISAPOS 
SEBASTOT TEPMANIKOT 
TON nATPXlNA THS nOAEOS. 
April SO. — In the morning I visited the Governor. He received 
me at the custom-house, met me near the entrance, and conducted 
me to a very next little apartment, which opened into a little 
garden, where pinks and roses were in full bloom. He gave me 
the seat of honour, and paid the usual compliments. General 
Andreossi had mentioned a column in a mosque which has a Greek 
inscription on it. I requested permission to enter the mosque and 
copy it, which he granted, and ordered one of his people to attend 
me. Vincenzo recognised in him an old friend, who had saved his 
life at Tripoli, when they were both in the service of Ali Pacha. He 
is a brave soldier, but haughty and uninformed. He has been here 
three years. Damietta, which formerly was the paradise of Egypt, 
where the gardens abounded with groves of oranges, and every fruit, 
where the finest rice was raised in the greatest profusion, is now 
totally changed, in consequence of the stream of the Nile having 
taken to the canal of Menouf, instead of passing to Damietta. The 
gardens have vanished, the rice fields are sown with wheat, and 
