I'tsConfiftence^is the vein that produces theEagle-ftone: of 
which there are many in the Bahr Bat a ma, a great fan<iy 
valley.Butthefe ftonesare of a difFerentComplexion from 
Porphyry, as you may perceive by thofe I fent yoU; which 
alfowill affiftyour Conjedures of their original. 
However, I caat pronounce that there is no Porphyry 
hereabouts ; For in the chief Monaftery of the 4 now re- 
maining (of 3 (J (J as many as are days in the longeft year) 
dedicated to the Blejfed-Firjrin ; the 2 ftones which le-- 
cure theirEntrance areof the like,if notthe very fame lub- 
ftance : which I more particularly obferv'd upon the ac- 
count of their ingenious Contrivance. For thefe poor 
people, lying otherwife at the mercy of the roving 
rabs , with thefe 2 Mill-ftones (for that's their makej 
thus make good their Gate againft them, (or rather their 
paffage ; ) into which they run them, and then drive a 
great wooden wedge between them on the infide, which 
fb fattens them that they cannot be loofed but upon the 
infide neither. And of fuch a lortof Porphyry, is the 
noted Sphynx (a mighty head and flioulders 110 feet in 
compafsj yet ftanding by the Northern Pyramids. 
I have indeed been told of the place upon mount 
nai, whence this Porphyry came : but fo they fliew the ve- 
ry Rock where the 2 excellent double Rows of Pillars, 
in the Church of Bethlehem were hewn ; tho I went a- 
way fatisfied that 'twas a quite different fort of itone. A- 
nother tells of a Pillar of the fame make yet lying 
there : and if this be certain, you need feek no further. 
Albeit, I muft tell you that the ftones brought then<:e, 
with theReprefentation of a Buck (it muft needs be cal- 
led^ upon them y fome of which you had, thoreddiflij 
are of a much finer^and more even texture. 
Wanfleben writes of a great many , more Southerly ; 
but I know him too well to believe all that he fays for Go- 
fpel. And a more fobermau, Father Carlo Francifcod 
Orleans y now Superior of the Capucines at Cairo , who 
went 
