HOSETTA. 39 
with expedition as well as with comfort ; and, 
indeed, without his aid we should not have been 
allowed the use even of the djerm which we had 
engaged for the undertaking. 
We employed the remainder of this day in 
fitting up a kind of tent, or cabin, by means of 
mats and the branches of palm-trees, upon the 
stern of our vessel ; lining it with our mosquitoe- 
nets, to protect us from the swarm of those 
insects upon the river. The inundation had 
begun, and the rapidity of the current was 
thereby exceedingly increased. The price of pwceof 
, . , f, . . Ill Provisions. 
every article oi provision had become very 
high, since our last visit to Rosetta. For half a 
pound of tea we were obliged to pay near two 
pounds sterling-. The difference between the 
markets of this place and Damiata was astonish- 
ing, considering the short distance that separated 
the two towns. This will appear in stating the 
value of a dollar ; which, in Rosetta, was equi- 
ralent, either to half a sheep, or to three geese, or 
four fotvls, or eight hundred eggs. In Damiata, for 
the same sum, might be purchased, either two 
sheep, SIX geese, iwelvefotvls, or eight hundred eggs. 
The coj^ee of Mocha, when Rosetta was first cap- 
tured, might be obtained almost for nothing ; 
but it had been all sold, and a great deal of it 
