ISO 
DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 
had not been sufficient, the remains of an exten- 
sive artificial wall, about twenty-four feet thick, 
formed of huge stones, and running from north to 
south, is asserted to have been discovered in this 
desert.* This the Arabs suppose to have been 
formed by an ancient Egyptian king, and term it 
Tha Wall of the Old Man. In the cells of this 
arid region, the ancient Ascetics, equally igno- 
rant and uncivilized as the savage Troglodytes 
who preceded them, lived a life, according to the 
expression of Sicard, more angelic than human. 
The monasteries of St Anthonv and St Paul are 
still inhabited by Coptic monks, who, while they 
claim an absolute power over daemons, serpents, 
and wild beasts, are unable to protect themselves 
from the Arabs of the desert. In the vicinity of 
these monasteries the only partridges in Egypt 
are found.! To the east of Syene, at the distance 
of about forty miles. Mount Baram indicates the 
situation of the Basanites Lapis Mons of Ptolemy, 
from the quarries of which a hard black stone, 
often employed in forming domestic utensils, has 
long been dug. The Roman station, Castra La^ 
pidarioriim, is supposed to have been situated in 
its vicinity. The city Alabastron lay much lower 
in the desert of the Thebaid, and almost in the 
* Maillet, Deser. de I'Egypte, p. 321. 
f Granger, Voyage en Egypte, p. 400. 
