NUBIA. 
177 
seldom exceeds an hundred paces. In some 
places, the declivities of the valley are cultivated 
to a considerable height, and thickets of acacia 
flourish on the tops of the hills. The rocks of 
granite do not extend far beyond the cataract, 
but are interrupted by strata of sandstone, which 
contain numerous nodules of silex. The valley 
widens as it ascends, and ruins of considerable 
edifices are still apparent, particularly at Den- 
dour, Dikka, and Sabua. Dendour is equally 
distant from the cataract of Syene and Deir or 
Derri, one of the last Egyptian stations in Nubia. 
This station was visited in 1737-8 by Fred. L. 
Norden, who attempted to penetrate as far as the 
second cataract, but was unable to surmount the 
difficulties which he encountered at Deir. These 
difficulties did not consist so much in the nature 
of the journey, as in the rapacity and jealousy of 
the inhabitants of this frontier post. Their chief 
declared to Norden, that one of their prophets 
had announced, " That there would come Franks 
" in disguise, who, by presents, by soothing and 
" insinuating behaviour, would traverse the coun- 
" try, examine its situation, and afterwards re- 
" turn with a great number of other Franks to 
" conquer the country, and exterminate the in- 
" habitants.''* We have lately seen the conjec- 
* Norden s Travels, Vol. II. p. 150. 
VOL. II. M 
