ELEPHANTINE — CATARACTS. V/S 
feet in height, the second five, and the third, 
which is situated lower on the river, of still greater 
height.* The boats of the Arabs both ascend 
and descend these rapids, which do not corres- 
pond to the magnificent descriptions of them left 
by the ancients. Among the ancient poets, who, 
in their descriptions, have depicted it as a scene 
of sublimity and grandeur, Lucan deserves to be 
particularly mentioned, t But even the historians 
and naturalists have caught the enthusiasm, and 
describe, in the most brilliant colours of fancy, 
the roaring, dashing, and foaming of the agitated 
stream, the tremendous whirlpools it forms, and 
the rapidity of the current, which is compared to 
the velocity of an arrow. The Persian garrison 
are described by Seneca as stunned by the loud 
and dreadful echos of the waterfalls, and retreat- 
ing from its vicinity to a more quiet station. t 
* Pococke's Travels in Egypt, Vol. I. p. 121. 
f — Quis te tarn lene fluentem 
Moturum tantas violenti gurgitis iras 
Nile, putet ? Sed cum lapsus abrupta viarum 
Excepere tuos, et precipites cataractas, 
Ac nusquam vetitis ullas obsistere cautes 
Indignaris aquis ; spuma tunc astra lacessis ; 
Cuncta fremunt undis, ac multo murmure montes 
Spumeus invictis canescit fluctibus amnis. 
Lucan, PharsaL 1, x, 315- 
X Seneese Nat. Quaest. lib. iv. c. 2. 
