V. 
PYRAMIDS OF SACCARA. 217 
hanging: so low that it might be reached by the chap, 
hand. One variety was called Balack MahacU: 
the average height of this did not exceed ten or 
twelve feet. Another bore the name of Balack 
Seawee, which grew somewhat taller. A femate 
of uncommon beauty made her appearance out 
of one of the huts, without any veil; and, to add 
to the rarity of such a sight, her complexion 
was fair, much more resembling that of a Cir- 
vassian than of an Egyptian woman. The quan- 
tity of pigeons hovering about these villages is 
quite astonishing. We also saw flights of larks 
of a very large size. All the country, as far as 
the eye extended, was so covered with water, 
that no particular course of the Nile could be 
perceived : it was more like a sea than a river. 
The Pyramids of Saccdra appeared in the distant 
view, beyond a country rich in plantations and 
full of villages : they are less regular in their 
structure than those of Dfna. The Arabian side 
of the Nile is not so fertile as the Libyan. To- 
wards Mokatam, the country below the heights 
seemed to be quite a desert. Mount Mokatam 
is itself variously perforated by cavernous ex- 
cavations : these were either the habitations or 
the sepulchres of the earliest settlers upon the 
eastern side of the Nile. At a neighbouring 
village, called Etterjile, two gun-boats, and one 
