RUINS OF THEBES. 
i50 
the branches long and naked, the leaves narrow, 
and the flowers minute and white, sometimes 
tinged with yellow. Its bark is rough and brown, 
and the branches are armed with long white 
spines.* Were extensive forests of the acacia 
diffused over the sandy plains of Egypt, the basis 
of the soil of which consists frequently of vegeta- 
ble mould, it is probable that extensive arid dis- 
tricts might be reclaimed from desolation to their 
original fertility. 
The ruins of the great Thebes, the ancient ca- 
pital of Egypt, the city of Jove, the city of the 
hundred gates, from each of which issued two 
hundred warriors, with their horses and chariots, 
overwhelm the mind with astonishment, by their 
magnitude and magnificence, while they, at the 
same time, exhibit the most melancholy picture 
of the instability of human greatness. When the 
Scythians invited Darius to follow them to the 
tombs of their ancestors^ we accompany their 
dreary route through the desert, and contemplate 
the solemn visit of the pastoral tribes to the ve- 
nerable graves of their fathers. It is with feel- 
ings such as these the traveller should tread on 
the ruins of Thebes, and contemplate the cradle 
of the human race. If ever a nation aimed at 
immortality of fame, and sought to astonish and 
* Sonnini's Travels, p. 637, 4t.o» 
4G 
