THE DELTA. 
133 
from St Macarius, who fixed his residence amid 
its solitudes. Acquiring in these dreary wastes the 
temper of ferocious animals, when they emerged 
from their deserts at the call of religious conten- 
tion, their excesses filled Egypt with consternation 
and dismay. Since that period their religious 
tenets have varied, but their habits have still con- 
tinued coarse and barbarous, and their dispositions 
have received little amelioration. 
From the sav^age deserts of Nitria, w^e turn with 
pleasure to contemplate the fertile and beautiful 
province of Garbie, the maritime part of which 
extends from Rosetta to Damietta. The soil of 
this district is not only more fertile than any 
other quarter of the Delta, but the ground is more 
level, and more frequently intersected by canals. 
The vestiges of cultivation are more numerous 
and diversified in their appearance, and the orange 
and lemon trees rise in irregular groves by the 
side of the pomegranate and anana. Through 
vistoes of palms, which raise their heads above 
other trees, the slender turrets of cities are dis- 
cerned. The number of inhabitants in this fertile 
district bears no proportion to its ancient popu- 
lation. Yet the vestiges of ruined cities in the 
Garbie, are neither so numerous nor important 
as in some other provinces of Egypt. The dif- 
ficulty of procuring materials for building has 
induced the natives to deface their ancient monu- 
